The Gospel According to the Jews

Description

At the end of the Foreword to his Jesus as Others Saw Him, Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916) made the essential point that, "It is only by knowing exactly where we [Jews and Christians] differ that we can hope ultimately to agree." In order to fully appreciate the differences between Christianity and Judaism it is imperative that, just like Christians present their view on Judaism, Jews present their view on Christianity as well. Due to nearly two millennia of persecution, Jews had never been given the opportunity to share with the world their own version of the Christian Gospel. Modern times offer the Jew an exceptional window of opportunity to present the Jewish view on the life and death of Jesus as registered by Jews who knew him and his followers in the land of Israel. The purpose of this work is to explore and further articulate this view. In The Gospel According to The Jews, José Faur develops the history of Jesus on the basis of Talmudic and Rabbinic sources and by reading the Christian Scripture critically. Surprisingly, both the Jewish and Christian sources coincide, providing that one dares read the texts analytically-that is, like a Talmudist. PREFACE PROLOGUE HEBREW TRANSLITERATION TABLE ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION SECTION I: A Clash of Civilizations – Myth vs. Book 1. Myth and Book 2. The Medium of Myth 3. Invariant Structures of Mythological Thought 4. Myth and Media 5. Israel’s Medium: Speaker-‘I,’ Addressee-‘you’ 6. The Publication of a Vowel-less Text and the Formation of the Hebrew-Self 7. Masks and the Absentee Society 8. Escape from Myth 9. Christianity, Religion of Myth SECTION II: Jesus, His Life and Ministry – A Jewish Reading of The Christian Version 10. Christianity and the National Memory of Israel 11. Jesus’ Life-Style 12. Jesus, Amicus Publicanis 13. Jesus, Adversus Pharisees 14. Who was the ‘Good Samaritan’? 15. The Sin of Minut 16. Taking Pleasure in the Mystery of the Kingdom 17. Why were the Judeo-Christians expelled from Christendom? 18. Paul, Saint and Mimic Actor 19. Jesus as Jews and Pagans saw him 20. The Perception Issue SECTION III: Jesus’ Trial – A Passion Play 21. Jesus’ Earthly Life and Death 22. Kyrios Jesus, Tax Collector 23. The Christian Account of Jesus’ Trial 24. Consuming Jesus Flesh and Drinking his Blood 25. The Remaining Twelve 26. ‘Gospel-Truth’—Truly? 27. Alexandria, Cradle of the First Pogrom 28. The Alexandrian Precursor of Jesus 29. Theater and the New Faith 30. Jesus of Alexandria SECTION IV: The Alliance Cross-Sword – Megalomania and The Culture of Obedience-Submission 31. Defrocking Israel and Dethroning the God of Sinai 32. Israel’s Primordial Struggle 33. The Theology of Power 34. A Heavenly Cosmocrator 35. The Divine Right of Tyrants 36. The Alliance Church-Monarch 37. The Banality of Evil 38. Nova creatura and Humanitas 39. The Tora — an Evolutionary Gift to Humankind 40. Thinking Shalom EPILOGUE APPENDICES Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4 BIBLIOGRAPHY