The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ by Daniel Boyarin (PDF)

Description

“[A] fascinating recasting of the story of Jesus.” —Elliot Wolfson, New York University 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 the uniqueness of their theology.” Guiding us through a rich tapestry of new discoveries and ancient scriptures, The Jewish Gospels makes the powerful case that our conventional understandings of Jesus and of the origins of Christianity are wrong. In Boyarin’s scrupulously illustrated account, the coming of the Messiah was fully imagined in the ancient Jewish texts. Jesus, moreover, was embraced by many Jews as this person, and his core teachings were not at all a break from Jewish beliefs and teachings. Jesus and his followers, Boyarin shows, were simply Jewish. What came to be known as Christianity came much later, as religious and political leaders sought to impose a new religious orthodoxy that was not present at the time of Jesus’s life. In the vein of Elaine Pagels’s The Gnostic Gospels, here is a brilliant new work that will break open some of our culture’s most cherished assumptions. “A brilliant and momentous book.” —Karen L. King, Harvard Divinity School “Raises profound questions . . . This provocative book will change the way we think of the Gospels in their Jewish context.” —John J. Collins, Yale Divinity School “It’s certainly noteworthy when one of the world’s leading Jewish scholars publishes a book about Jesus . . . Extremely stimulating.” —Daniel C. Peterson, The Deseret News

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Many years ago I read “The Passover Plot” by Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield. It was this book, despite its controversial thesis, that inspired my interest in reading scriptures from a Jewish perspective. Daniel Boyarin’s, The Jewish Gospels, deepens this interest as well as satisfies my yearnings to learn as much as I can about the roots of my Christian Faith and the documents which serve as its foundation. The perspective of Jewish scholars is germane to this venture.The Jewish Gospels is a short work, very much to the point, but well researched with compelling arguments to support the author’s thesis. Boyarin wastes no time in establishing his thesis:Jesus did not depart from His Jewish faith, nor did the Gospels present anything that was different from teachings that were current or before His time. In fact his thesis is clear from four words in the title and sub title of his book:Jewish Gospels and Jewish Christ.Boyarin’s book is not a polemic against Christianity; he reads more like an apologia, elucidating clearly and convincingly the Jewish roots of the Gospels, using Mark as his main reference. He demonstrates with appropriate references to Hebrew Scriptures(primarily Daniel 7)that claims to divinity by the Gospels and Jesus Himself, were consistent with Jewish theology. When Jesus referred to Himself as the “Son of Man”, a divine title, “many Jews believed him”. However, there were others who did not. Additionally, the core beliefs of Christians such as the Trinity and the Incarnation came from ancient Hebrew traditions. It is with these observations Boyarin asserts that Jesus and His followers did not reject Jewish traditions. He presents Jesus as one who was faithful to the Torah and the practices of Judaism. Boyarin analyses Mark 7 at great lengths to demonstrate emphatically that Jesus did keep Kosher. Likewise, His followers in the first century “sought to uphold and not destroy..” Jewish traditions.I find that Jewish biblical scholars such as Boyarin provide unique and invaluable insights into Holy Scripture. They keep us on track in our interpretations of God’s Word. Their works do serve as a necessary corrective to misunderstandings that have been transmitted down through the centuries. Boyarin does an excellent job in reminding us that the Gospels are and have always been a part of Jewish literature. And so it is important to read and study them in that context.Boyarin’s book is easy to read. With great patience he develops and explains in simple terms his thesis. He handles the Gospel narrative with integrity. He connects his dots with a minimum of speculation. There is no bashing nor is there speculation about a plot and its script that is completely internalized and followed with tragic consequences. I read this book and came away with a deeper understanding of the documents on which my faith is built. This is a book all Christians must read.

⭐I am 69 years old and for most of my life I have been a student of the origins of the “Christian church”, the so-called search for the historical Jesus, and the Judaisms of the time of Herod until the complete destruction by the Romans. One thing I have read repeatedly over the years in Jewish books on the subject is that there could not have even possibly been a Jewish concept of a “divine Messiah”, that the notion that Jesus Christ being God-Incarnate would have been unthinkable to a Jew of that time, that it is a concept born from pagan corruption. It was a great surprise to read a book by an acknowledged Talmud scholar that presents the idea that such a concept was not only possible but was also held by some Jews of the time. These Jews were not corrupted by Hellenization or pagan theologies. While true they did not constitute a majority opinion or interpretation of “the son of man” vision, nevertheless it is fascinating that the concept was seriously considered and believed in by some of the Jewish scholars of that time. I highly recommend this book to both Jewish and Christian readers, and certainly also to those of the “Messianic Jewish” persuasion.

⭐A tiny book.Four chapters.Revolutionary.Chapter One: Daniel 7 as a Jewish GospelThe first “Jewish Gospel” is Daniel 7, taken as the origin of the Messiah as Son of Man later found in the New Testament. With special emphasis on Mark, Boyarin shows that “Son of God” is just a kingly title, while “Son of Man” is a divine redeemer. It’s an inversion of the way we usually take those terms, and Boyarin not only proves his thesis, but uses it to open up the rest of an incredible journey. The first Jewish Gospel is Daniel 7.Chapter Two:1 Enoch and 4 Ezra as Jewish GospelsBoyarin shows that the New Testament is not alone in having a divine-human Messiah, and that 1 Enoch and 4 Ezra, two Jewish works, also use the Son of Man concept from Daniel 7 in the same way as the New Testament. We now see three Jewish sources with what is generally known as a high Christology.Chapter Three: Mark as a Jewish GospelBoyarin now goes into great detail on a little known and poorly translated passage in Mark concerning kosher foods. Only two other publications in general use translate the hand washing passage correctly:

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⭐, and Boyarin astutely shows that Jesus was not throwing out Jewish kosher laws, but rather arguing that the Pharisaic rules of cleanness and purity incorrectly compressed two separate concepts into one. It seems a fine point to those not raised Jewish, and the argument is subtle, but Boyarin takes just enough time to help the reader “get it”: Mark is also a Jewish Gospel!Chapter Four: Isaiah 53 as a Jewish GospelThe conclusion comes from a conundrum. How can a human Messiah come from the clouds? How can a divine being be the Messiah? The grand tour of Boyarin’s trek from Daniel 7 (and earlier Canaanite sources), through its children (1 Enoch, 4 Ezra, Mark), finds a pre-existent divine descent and an earthly ascent for a single divine-human redeemer, who is both from above and from below. These two cannot occur without a divine precedent to an earthly man AND ALSO a human precedent to a divine redeemer. This can only involve two comings — an exaltation and then a redemption. Here Boyarin takes the lid off of a well kept secret that most polemicists and laity don’t know: Isaiah 53’s suffering servant was almost universally taken as Messianic until a few hundred years ago. But this is only possible if the Messiah:1) Comes as a man2) Suffers3) Is exalted4) Returns in redemptionThese standard Christian ideas are all shown to be Jewish.The Book as a Whole: Boyarin as a Jewish Writer!That’s right — Boyarin is neither Christian nor Messianic. He’s Jewish and fully comfortable in his skin writing about Jewish concepts that are inherent in Judaism itself, with a suffering Messiah described not just in the Jewish Bible but in the Talmud as well. The separation of Judaism and Christianity did not happen because of Jesus, but rather because the church was later filled by so many Gentiles that the two religions deliberately parted ways, even unconsciously conspiring together to reject those who considered themselves as both Jewish and Christian (called by both Jerome and Jews as Minim and Nazarenes).To Boyarin, Judaism and Christianity are half parent to child, half sibling, and there is no reason to be at war with each other.The book, then, takes us from Canaanite pre-Judaism, through pre-Rabbinic Judaism, to Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity — deliberately separate, but originally taken from the same womb. This grand tour of the past, if taken seriously by scholars on both sides, could silence the shouting about unnecessary disagreements and lead them to understand each other’s actual differences: namely, they are both looking for a final redemption, and just disagree about who will bring that to pass. In other words, first century Jews didn’t reject the IDEA of a suffering divine-human redeemer, but merely didn’t see Jesus to be that person.

⭐Extraordinary writing, Daniel Boyarin has this very well known approach to the New Testament reading, which allows the reader to get a totally different perspective over the matter being discussed. Much has been and will be said, depending on the background of the person about who was or is Yeshua, if we want to be objective, we need to listen every pint of view and build our own approach.

⭐A fascinating read, this book is not so much to be read and stored away but to be read, pondered over then re-read ad infinitum for reference and debate (even and especially with oneself) for those who sincerely seek to understand christian/judeo relationships. If this is your area of interest, then this a book for you.

⭐Important work to understand more of the Jewish roots of the Christian faith.

⭐Leitura indispensável àquele que estuda as origens do cristianismo e o surgimento do movimento de Jesus como mais uma vertente da amplitude do Judaísmo antigo. Boyarin argumenta persuasivamente que certas ideias entendidas como tipicamente cristãs, têm, na verdade, suas mais profundas raízes nas antigas tradições religiosas israelitas, tais como as noções de Trindade e do Messias divino.

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⭐Great book but the book has very little to do with the gospels themselves. Instead the author looks more at the prophecies in Daniel and Isaiah to show that the divinity of the Messiah is an ancient concept. He then looks at Matthew and Mark and tackles the concept of whether Jesus kept kosher or not. But this is in no way a commentary on all the books of the Bible. I give this book 5 stars for the author’s academic and important stance on these sensitive issues. He handles both the divinity of the Messiah and the proof that Jesus kept kosher better than anyone I’ve read so far. As for the title, often this is selected by the publisher and I cannot penalize the author for a decision he might not have made.

⭐This is an astounding work by a brilliant, intellectually honest scholar. Daniel Boyarin’s insights have deepened the understanding of my faith as a Christian and (perhaps more importantly) deepened my respect and love for those who continue to carry the original flame of faith – the children of Abraham.

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