Jesus and Judaism

Overviews of Jesus the Jew

  • Page 42 | Albert Bell, “Jesus and Judaism,” in: Exploring the New Testament World (1998)
  • Page 227 | Drane, “Jesus and Judaism,” in: Introducing the New Testament (2000)
  • Page 328 | Murphy, “Jesus the Jew,” in: Early Judaism: The Exile to the Time of Jesus (2002)
  • Page 461 | Blomberg, “Jesus and Judaism,” in: Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey (2nd ed. 2009)

The Gospels on Jesus’ Jewishness

  • Jesus attends synagogue on the Sabbath (Mk 1:21; 3:1-2)
  • Jesus wears fringes (tzitzit) on his garments as commanded by Numbers 15:37-41 (Mk 6:56)
  • Jesus directs a healed leper to go to a priest to be pronounced clean (Mk 1:44; Lk 17:11-14; see Lev 14:1-32)
  • Jesus as the teacher of the Torah (Matt 5:17-19; 23:23)

The Gospels on questions about Jesus’ practice of Judaism

  • Mark 7:19 Jesus abrogates the tradition of the elders on hand washing

     (see F. Avemarie, “Jesus and Purity,” in: The New Testament and Rabbinic Literature [Brill, 2010], 255-79, esp. 271-75)

  • Matt 8:22 “Follow Me; and allow the dead to bury their own dead.” (also Lk 9:60)

     (see M. Hengel, The Charismatic Leader and His Followers [Crossroad, 1981], 3-15)
     (But see also: M. Bockmuehl, Jewish Law in Gentile Churches [Baker, 2003], ch. 3)

History of Research about the Quest for the Jewish Jesus

  • Page 741 | Jewish (Vermes, Fredriksen, Flusser) and non-Jewish (Sanders, Chilton, M. Casey) Scholars (DJG, 2nd. ed., 2013)

E.P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (1985)

  • Page 306 | E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (1985; sum by W. Baird, 2013)
  • Jesus and the Repentance of E. P. Sanders | Chilton, Critical Review of E. P. Sanders “Jesus and Judaism” (TynB 1988)
  • Page 80 | Neusner, Critical review of E. P. Sanders “Jesus and Judaism” (BBR 1991)
  • Page 451 | B. F. Meyer, Critical Review of Sanders’ caricature of Joachim Jeremias (JBL 1991)
  • Page 463 | E. P. Sanders, Response to Meyer (JBL 1991)
  • Page 61 | D. C. Allison, Response to E. P. Sanders (1994)


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