Jesus in the Talmud

229 Pages·2009·1.21 MB·English

by  Schafer, Peter.

Jesus in the Talmud
Babylonian Talmud, Ms. Munich Cod. hebr. 95, fol. 342r (tractate Sanhedrin, fol. 43a–b),
with erasures by the censor. By courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich.
Jesus in the Talmud
Peter Schäfer
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2007 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock, Oxfordshire
OX20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
Schäfer, Peter, 1943–
Jesus in the Talmud / Peter Schäfer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-691-12926-6 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-691-12926-6 (alk. paper)
1. Jesus Christ—Jewish interpretations. 2. Talmud—Criticism, interpretation, etc.
3. Rabbinical literature—History and criticism. 4. Bible. N.T.—Controversial literature—
History and criticism. I. Title.
BM620.S27 2007
296.1'206—dc22 2006050392
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Electra
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Martin Hengel
mentor, colleague, friend
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1. Jesus’ Family 15
2. The Son/Disciple Who Turned out Badly 25
3. The Frivolous Disciple 34
4. The Torah Teacher 41
5. Healing in the Name of Jesus 52
6. Jesus’ Execution 63
7. Jesus’ Disciples 75
8. Jesus’ Punishment in Hell 82
9. Jesus in the Talmud 95
Appendix: Bavli Manuscripts and Censorship 131
Notes 145
Bibliography 191
Index 203
This page intentionally left blank
Acknowledgments
This study has two roots. The first goes back to the late 1970s, when I
read Johann Maier’s book Jesus von Nazareth in der talmudischen
Überlieferung, which appeared in 1978. I was stunned by the erudition
and meticulous scholarship of my colleague at that time at Cologne Uni-
versity, which nevertheless left me deeply dissatisfied. Having worked my
way through the book’s sophisticated arguments and painstakingly pre-
pared charts, I was left wondering: what an expenditure of time and en-
ergy, just to prove that there is no Jesus in the Talmud and that the Tal-
mud is an unreliable historical source for Jesus and early Christianity. I
had the feeling that somehow the wrong questions were asked, or rather
that the chimera of a rationalistic and positivistic historicity was evoked,
almost as if to evade the real questions. True, and to be fair, our notion of
Judaism and Christianity—and of their mutual relationship—has changed
considerably over the last thirty years, but still the sources cry out for a
more nuanced approach that takes into consideration the difference be-
tween pure factuality and a longer and complex process of Wirkungs-
geschichte(reception history).
I always wanted to get back to the subject, but it took until the spring
term of 2004 at Princeton University that I finally had a chance to realize
this desire. When my friend Israel Yuval of the Hebrew University, who
spent that term at Princeton as a visiting professor in the Department of
Religion, suggested that we address in a joint seminar the topic of “How
Much Christianity in Talmud and Midrash?”—the larger and much dis-
cussed question of rabbinic responses to Christianity—I enthusiastically
agreed and proposed to include the Jesus passages in the Talmud. This
memorable seminar belongs among the most exciting and rewarding
teaching experiences in my life, not only because of a uniquely congen-
ial group of students (undergraduate and graduate) as well as of col-
leagues (our Princeton colleagues Martha Himmelfarb and John Gager