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The Jewish Gospels
In July 2008 a front-page story in the New York Times reported on the discovery of an ancient Hebrew tablet, dating from before the birth of Jesus, which predicted a Messiah who would rise from the dead after three days. Commenting on this startling discovery at the time, noted Talmud scholar Daniel Boyarin argued that �some Christians will find it shocking—a challenge to...more
Hardcover, 200 pages
Published
April 1st 2012
by New Press, The
(first published March 20th 2012)
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Boyarin, who teaches at UC Berkeley and has written previously on Paul from a Jewish perspective, makes a very compelling case that Jesus saw himself as the embodiment of common Jewish notions of the Messiah/Son of Man contrary to what much of contemporary biblical scholarship has established as a supposed consensus, namely, that much of the "high" Christology of Christianity originated after the death of Jesus in a purely Gentile environment. Using texts like Daniel 7, Isaiah 53, the Similitude...more
There are attempts in the Christian community to better understand the Hebrew origins of the contents of the New Testament, especially the person of Jesus the Messiah - Yeshua HaMashiach. This has led to a number of books that contain some excellent background material.
In a recent publication, Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture and rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, has added to the richness of our understanding of the Gospels. His book has four major chapters...more
In a recent publication, Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture and rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, has added to the richness of our understanding of the Gospels. His book has four major chapters...more
Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, along comes Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic Culture and Rhetoric at the University of California.
You think Christianity’s unique contribution to Judaism was the introduction of a god-man? Wrong. Could it be the idea of a suffering savior? Wrong again. Maybe that Jesus rejected Jewish dietary laws and Sabbath restrictions, freeing us from the Law? Hardly; Boyarin paints a very Jewish Jesus in his reading of the Gospels, certainly a Jesus...more
You think Christianity’s unique contribution to Judaism was the introduction of a god-man? Wrong. Could it be the idea of a suffering savior? Wrong again. Maybe that Jesus rejected Jewish dietary laws and Sabbath restrictions, freeing us from the Law? Hardly; Boyarin paints a very Jewish Jesus in his reading of the Gospels, certainly a Jesus...more
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The arguments in this book by Boyarin, a rabbinic scholar at UC Berkeley, will be shocking to many Christians and Jews, but they may be more easily accepted by readers of Bart Ehrman's and James Tabor's books of the history of Christianity in its first couple of centuries. Boyarin reads the Gospels, especially Mark, as textual evidence for regarding Christianity as originally a minor offshoot of Judaism. The Jesus and his immediate followers were wholeheartedly Jewish. Jesus' teachings were soli...more
Apr 28, 2012
Elliot Ratzman
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Interested in religion, Christian-Jewish relations, history
Christians and Jews have been misreading the Gospels as signaling a definite break between the two religions for centuries. Jews claim that the Gospels advocate heretical ideas about a divine messiah—a bi-theism— alien to Israelite religion; Christians have been reading Jesus as a radical innovator leaving his Jewish context and hostile to Jewish Law. Both readings, Boyarin argues, are wrong. Boyarin helped spread the framework that Christianity was a version of Judaism for its first few centuri...more
It's difficult for me to review this book because I'm sure I didn't entirely understand it, but here it is.
Boyarin looks at several Jewish texts to find the roots of certain Christian beliefs and explain them as not innovations but rather continuations of certain traditions of Jewish thought. For instance, he argues very convincingly on the grounds of Daniel 7 that the roots of Trinity and Incarnation are contained within the Jewish community of thought from well before the time of Jesus. He als...more
Boyarin looks at several Jewish texts to find the roots of certain Christian beliefs and explain them as not innovations but rather continuations of certain traditions of Jewish thought. For instance, he argues very convincingly on the grounds of Daniel 7 that the roots of Trinity and Incarnation are contained within the Jewish community of thought from well before the time of Jesus. He als...more
I have always thought that Jesus lived his life as a devout Jew. If the only argument is in Mark, that Jesus allowed "any" (unKosher) food to be eaten (which I agree with the Rabbi, the argument seems to be more about purity laws, than about kashrut) then, in my opinion, it still wouldn't make sense for Jesus to break with traditional Judaism over "just" kashrut. You could argue that he had to start somewhere, yet, he doesn't start breaking from Jewish tradition in the gospels and just keep expl...more
This is a brief book (200 small pages including index) that examines the literature of second temple Judaism, especially the Books of Daniel, First Enoch and Fourth Ezra, to reconceptualize the meaning of the Son of Man persona and Messiah expectation. All this leads Boyarin to conclude that, "If Daniel is the prophecy the Gospels are the fulfillment" (p.52).
Boyarin exploits his extensive knowledge of Talmud to tease out disguised references to the historical Jesus. I was very interested in his...more
Boyarin exploits his extensive knowledge of Talmud to tease out disguised references to the historical Jesus. I was very interested in his...more
This book contains some of the main themes Boyarin discusses in his book Border Lines, but done in a less academic form to appeal to a broader audience. His basic argument is that many of the aspects of the Gospels' presentation of Jesus that have been/are seen by modern scholars as innovations inspired by Greek philosophy and culture grafted onto the Jewish faith and culture of Jesus in truth have deep roots in the Jewish beliefs of that time. Through a process of close readings of the earliest...more
Boyarin presents an argument that the main differentiating factor between Judaism and Christianity (a suffering divine/mortal messiah who dies and is resurrected) appears as part of the Jewish biblical and non-biblical texts. Therefore, the gospels as given are more 'Jewish' than previously supposed and not a 'break from Jewish tradition'.
In fact, whereas many commentators say that Jesus was breaking Jewish tradition, Boyarin suggests that Jesus was attempting to maintain local accepted Jewish...more
In fact, whereas many commentators say that Jesus was breaking Jewish tradition, Boyarin suggests that Jesus was attempting to maintain local accepted Jewish...more
Definitely worth reading, compelling stuff, turns some traditional beliefs on their ears (Jesus Kept Kosher is a particularly fascinating chapter). It could have been trimmed by a third and lost none of its meaning or import; I found the middle chapters repetitive. And it's writing style tends, at times, toward a more formal, scholarly style. Strongly recommended for anyone interested in Jewish-Christian history, relations, theology.
Insightful, scholarly, readable. Without apologetic or bitternes, sets Jesus, the Gospels, and the beginnings of Christianity within the historical Jewish context. Especially good on popular religious Judaism in the time of Jesus as a source for developing Christian understaindings and doctrines. Both Jews and Christians will find Rabbi Boyarin's insights provocative and challenging.
Whew. I'm a little bit in love with Daniel Boyarin's mind. I'm not fully recovered from this book yet, and I'd like to hear Boyarin talk about the gospel of Mark. I plan to pick up his book on Paul soon so that I can continue to hear Boyarin's voice. The Jewish Gospels asserts that Jesus of Nazareth was making a clear claim to divinity when he referred to himself as "the son of man." Boyarin explicates Mark passages verse by verse, linking them to Daniel 7 and other apocalyptic texts. He cites t...more
This is quite simply a brilliant and original book. It is hard to imagine that there is anything new and significant to say about The New Testament that hasn't already been said. But Boyarin has done it. Boyarin, one of the great scholars of Judaism, proves convincingly is that the idea of the Trinity comes directly from Jewish thought of the period.
The author traces high Christology (human messiah plus divine redeemer) back in Jewish thought to at least the middle of 2nd century BC and argues that Jews around the time Jesus was said to live were in fact expecting just such a figure to appear. I found it a very worthwhile book to read.
It's turns out that the Trinity and Christology are Jewish ideas. This is landmark work by an incredible scholar that should change Christian theology and the relationship between the Church and Israel forever.
Not an easy read, but a provocative one for anyone interested in what the early years of the Christian era were really like.
Interesting look at specific passages in Mark and Matthew from a Jewish scholarly (i.e. footnotes)historical viewpoint. Provides a different reading then most commonly found in study Bibles/scholarship without rantings.
One of the more challenging books that I've read in a while. It's definitely one of those books that you can't read lightly. There were several places where I needed to think deeply about the author's argument and whether or not I agreed with it or even understood it. Chapters 3 and 4 were most beneficial to understanding how Jesus kept all of the Jewish law and fulfilled the prophets' expectations of a Messiah. I'm glad to have gained a further understanding of Palestine in the first century an...more
So far, I am enjoying Boyarin's presentation.
An Amazing read!!
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