Judaism and Christianity Collection (7 vols.)

by Yehezkel Kaufmann; C. W. Efroymson; David Flusser; R. Steven Notley

and

4 more

Publishers:

Magnes Press; Eerdmans

, 1977–2007

Overview

Judaism and Christianity—for all of their theological differences and their varied pasts—have much in common. They uphold the canonicity of the Hebrew Bible. They share a similar philosophical and theological worldview. They both have a stake—theological, political, and social—in the state of Israel. Their histories are checkered with periods of intense persecution. Yet for all their similarities, Judaism and Christianity differ on several key points.

The 7-volume Judaism and Christianity Collection examines the historical and contemporary relationship between Judaism and Christianity, and includes penetrating studies of the classical world, theological topics, recent archaeological finds, and the socio-political climate of the Middle East and the nation of Israel. In this collection, award-winning scholars examine both the Jewish background of Christianity, as well as the influence of Christianity in Judaism. Also included is a fascinating biography of Jesus written from a Jewish perspective.

Key Features

• Seven volumes in all, including two edited volumes with dozens of contributors
• Subject and topical indices
• Scripture references link to Hebrew texts and English translations (if you own them)

Product Details

• Title: Judaism and Christianity Collection
• Publisher: Magnes Press
• Volumes: 7
• Pages: 2,474

Christianity and Judaism: Two Covenants

• Author: Yehezkel Kaufmann
• Translator: C. W. Efroymson
• Publisher: Magnes Press
• Publication Date: 1995
• Pages: 230

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The writings of Yehezkel Kaufman, late Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, fall into three main categories:

• Bible studies, of which the four-volume History of the Religion of Israel is the magnum opus
• Socio-historical analysis of Jewry’s fate and existence as a diaspora-nation community, with the two-volume Golah ve-Nekhar (Exile and Estrangement) being his most outstanding scholarly undertaking
• Topical articles dealing with immediate socio-political problems of Zionism and the emerging State of Israel

This book comprises three successive chapters from Yehezkel Kaufman’s Golah ve-Nekhar which, though intrinsically related to the central topic of that work, constitute a distinct unit of its own. The basic difference between Judaism and Christianity is here defined as two forms of covenant being in conflict with each other.

Yehezkel Kaufmann was modern Israel’s foremost biblical scholar and has written extensively on Bible studies, socio-political problems of Zionism and the emerging State of Israel. He was the recipient of the Israel Prize in Jewish Studies.

Jesus

• Author: David Flusser
• Publisher: Magnes Press
• Publication Date: 2001
• Pages: 324

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Professor David Flusser’s biography of the life of Jesus is the fruit of almost fifty years of personal research concerning what may be considered the most well-known figure of the Second Temple Period. His philological-historical approach calls for a reconsideration of how we read the literary sources. He brings to bear the wealth of new information regarding the first-century setting in light of the Dead Sea Scrolls, historical inquiry, and recent archaeological discoveries. What results is a compelling portrait of Jesus which gains additional depth because it is viewed within the context of Jewish thought and life in the first century. Both Jewish and Christian readers will be challenged by the results of Flusser’s study.

The present work is based upon Flusser’s 1968 edition of Jesus. Yet, with the passage of forty years, the new volume has been essentially rewritten to incorporate the wealth of new data. Whereas the previous book, now out of print, represented the beginnings of Flusser’s investigation into the historical Jesus, the present volume is its culmination.

Flusser is not only brilliant, and thoroughly familiar with all classical sources, Jewish sources, and later Christian sources that bear on our understanding of Jesus; he is also passionately concerned that the historical Jesus be taken seriously. . . . For years I have been recommending it as the best book on Jesus available. No better way to discover the Jewishness of Jesus and possible links to Qumran than to read this book.

—William Klassen, Religious Studies Review

David Flusser is Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University where he taught Judaism in the Second Temple Period and Early Christianity. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. In 1980 he was awarded the Israel Prize in literature.

Jews, Judaism and the Classical World: Studies in Jewish History in the Times of the Second Temple and Talmud

• Author: Gedalyahu Alon
• Translator: Israel Abrahams
• Publisher: Magnes Press
• Publication Date: 1997
• Pages: 512

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The studies here presented cover a span of time beginning with the Hasmoneans and the earliest intervention of Roman power in the land of Israel—that is, from the second and first pre-Christian centuries—and extended as far as the third and fourth centuries of the present era. Most of the questions dealt with or originate in the inner world of Judaism and Jewish law (halacha). However, the issues are examined in relation to other factors as well, such as the Hellenistic literature of the Jews, early Christian traditions, and classical culture as a whole.

Very interesting and thought provoking. [Alon] has a clear view of the role Jews played in the Land of Israel from the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. through the Islamic conquest.

—Online Reviewer

Gedalyahu Alon (1901–1950) was one of the first graduates of The Hebrew University and taught Talmud and Jewish History there. Alon clarified many problems in the development of halakhah and the evolution of the social history of the Jews. Alon's works combined an exhaustive acquaintance with source materials, and placed the history of Palestinian Jewry in the first centuries of the Common Era upon a new basis.

Jews, Pagans and Christians in Conflict

• Author: David Rokeah
• Publisher: Magnes Press
• Publication Date: 1982
• Pages: 232

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

What were the political, social and intellectual relations of various religious groups on the Hellenistic and Roman world? David Rokeah suggests that they were marked by ongoing propaganda wars, and that the pagan-Jewish polemic served as the foundation of the subsequent pagan-Christian polemic. He proves that the Jews were not a party to the pagan-Christian polemic, but that the Jews’ very existence and their independent attitude towards Christianity and paganism alike, their holy writings and those of Hellenistic Jewry, all helped to shape the pagan-Christian conflict. Against a historical background, the author examines specific philosophical-theological motifs of the polemic, such as religious myth, divine providence, and the election of Israel. A wealth of material from Greek, Latin and Hebrew sources presented in a fresh English translation, so as to help the reader sense the spirit of this important age in world history.

David Rokeah is professor emeritus of History of the Jewish People at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests include anti-Semitism, the Church Fathers and the Jews, relationships among pagans, Jews and Christians, and the Second Temple—Mishnaic and Talmudic—period. He is the author of some twenty-five books on the subject.

Judaism and the Origins of Christianity

• Author: David Flusser
• Publisher: Magnes Press
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 732

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

For more than three decades, Professor David Flusser of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem has pioneered new understandings of the Jewish background of early Christianity. Most of his scholarly articles in English, including some new contributions as well as many published in not easily accessible journals, have been collected in this one volume. A must for New Testament scholars and students of early Judaism, it will also be welcomed by the many lay persons for whom Professor Flusser has provided illumination on the origins of Christian faith.

David Flusser taught Judaism in the Second Temple Period and Early Christianity at the Department of Comparative Religion at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He published extensively on the New Testament and its Jewish background and the early Church, and is renowned worldwide for his pioneering research. He was the recipient of the Israel Prize in 1980.

Judaism of the Second Temple Period

• Author: David Flusser
• Publisher: Magnes Press
• Publication Date: 2002
• Pages: 284

In this first volume of collected essays on ancient Judaism Flusser examines the influence of apocalypticism on various Jewish sects. He states that the teachings of Jesus, while reflecting first and foremost the views of the sages, were also influenced by Jewish apocalypticism. Examining the Essenes, their effect on Hebrew language, the split of sects, and much more, Flusser's collected essays offer an important source of study for any Dead Sea Scrolls scholar.

David Flusser taught Judaism in the Second Temple Period and Early Christianity at the Department of Comparative Religion at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He published extensively on the New Testament and its Jewish background and the early Church, and is renowned worldwide for his pioneering research. He was the recipient of the Israel Prize in 1980.

Nazarene Jewish Christianity

• Author: Ray Pritz
• Publisher: Magnes Press
• Publication Date: 1992
• Pages: 160

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Nazarene Jewish Christianity is a comprehensive study of the heirs of the earliest Jerusalem church, their history and doctrines, their relations with both synagogue and the growing Gentile church. The author analyzes all sources, Jewish, Christian, and pagan, which can throw light on the sect and its ultimate mysterious disappearance. He also deals with the Birkat haMinim and historicity of the flight to Pella.

Here is a full-scale and trustworthy study which will be used by scholars in the field. The texts studied are reproduced and translated, and their analysis is careful and honest.

—Gedaliahu G. Stroumsa, The Jewish Quarterly Review

Ray Pritz moved to Israel in 1973 from the United States. He earned his M.A. under Prof. David Flusser and his Ph.D. under Prof. David Rokeah. He currently works for the United Bible Societies and for the Caspari Center in Jerusalem.