The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation

Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies

by Zev Garber

There is a general understanding within religious and academic circles that the incarnate Christ of Christian belief lived and died a faithful Jew. This volume addresses Jesus in the context of Judaism. By emphasizing his Jewishness, the authors challenge today’s Jews to reclaim the Nazarene as a proto-rebel rabbi and invite Christians to discover or rediscover the Church’s Jewish heritage. The essays in this volume cover historical, literary, liturgical, philosophical, religious, theological, and contemporary issues related to the Jewish Jesus. Several of them were originally presented at a three-day symposium on “Jesus in the Context of Judaism and the Challenge to the Church,” hosted by the Samuel Rosenthal Center for Judaic Studies at Case Western Reserve University in 2009. In the context of pluralism, in the temper of growing interreligious dialogue, and in the spirit of reconciliation, encountering Jesus as living history for Christians and Jews is both necessary and proper. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of the New Testament and Early Church who are seeking new ways of understanding Jesus in his religious and cultural milieu, as well Jewish and Christian theologians and thinkers who are concerned with contemporary Jewish and Christian relationships.

418 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 15, 2011

About the author

Zev Garber is Emeritus Professor and Chair of Jewish Studies and Philosophy at Los Angeles Valley College, and he has also served as Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California at Riverside, Visiting Rosenthal Professor of Judaic Studies at Case Western Reserve University, and as President of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew. As Emeritus Editor of Shofar and founding Editor of Shofat Supplements in Jewish Studies and Studies in the Shoah series, he has presented and/or written hundreds of articles and reviews (academic and popular) in the areas of Judaica, Shoah, Jewish Jesus, and interfaith dialogue. He has authored and edited 15 academic books, including, Mel Gibson's Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and Its Implications; The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation; Teaching the Historical Jesus; and Judaism and Jesus (co-author, Ken Hanson). Colleagues and scholars acknowledge his academic scholarship and leadership in The Maven in Blue Jeans: A Festschrift in Honor of Zev Garber (Purdue University Press, 2009).