The Galilean Jewishness Of Jesus

A theology of how Christianity and Judaism can be separate but linked by their roots in Scripture; presents a thorough study of Jesus as teacher seen from a Jewish perspective.

In his latest book, Sean Freyne draws on his detailed knowledge of Galilean society in the Roman period, based on both literary and archaeological sources, to give a fresh and provocative reading of the Jesus-story within its Galilean setting. Jesus, a Jewish Galilean focuses on the religious as well as the social and political environment and examines the ways in which the Jewish religious experience had expressed itself in Galilee. It examines the ways in which the Jewish tradition in both the Pentateuch and the Prophets had constructed notions of an ideal Galilee. These provided the raw material for Jesus' own response to the issues of the day, from which he fashioned his own distinctive views of Israel's restoration and his own role in that project. Although Freyne is in touch with all recent scholarship about the historical Jesus, he brings his own distinctive take on the issues both with regard to Galilean society and Jesus' grounding in his own religious tradition. His Jesus is both Jewish and yet distinctive in his concerns and the ways in which he responds to the ecological, social and religious issues of his own time and place. Freyne seeks to retrieve the theological importance of Jesus' own message, something that has been lost sight of in the trend to present him primarily as a social reformer, while acknowledging the dangers of modernising Jesus.

In his history of the Jewish nation, Josephus wrote only of the death of Jesus, not mentioning one detail of his life. In contrast, the life of Judas the Galilean was chronicled from his temple cleansing to his grandson's suicide at Masada. Yet, Josephus did not tell us how Judas died. Is it possible that Judas and Jesus are the same person? Just a few of the similarities are listed below. Both Judas and Jesus cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem. Like Jesus, Judas was anointed King or Messiah by his followers in Galilee. The organizations of the teachers were identical. The second-in-command to Jesus was nicknamed Cephas. Josephus called Judas' second, Sadduc. Barabbas was released in the trial of Jesus during the reign of Pilate. Judas was arrested by Herod the Great and later released to the Jewish crowd. Jesus was interrogated by Annas and later crucified because of his stand against Roman taxation. Judas led the tax revolt against Roman taxation in 6 AD. Annas became High Priest in 7 AD.

This volume of essays is an example of something new and exciting that is going on in North America, especially between Jews and Christians. For the first time in almost two thousand years, Jews and Christians can sit down as equals around a table and reflect on their profound sameness and deep differences. In a real way, this book represents another step Christians and Jews have taken together on the new road to deeper understanding.The issues surrounding the Jewish Christian dialogue are legion?the State of Israel, the Holocaust (Shoah), and the Jewishness of Jesus, to mention only a few. Dialogue does not mean proselytizing or conversion; instead, each faith tradition recognizes and respects its own identity. Any notion that Christianity has replaced or superseded the Jewish people in God's plan of salvation is both inadmissible and repulsive to the dialogue.One, if not the central, issue facing serious dialogue between Christians and Jews is Jesus of Nazareth. How can both of these faith communities speak about the itinerant Galilean whose origins and early followers were Jewish and whose subsequent followers broke away from Judaism? This volume attempts to address this question.

In this evangelistic booklet Daniel C. Juster challenges both Jews and Christians to follow Jesus.

A collection of essays that examines the Galilean peasant named Jesus—the historical understanding of him and what difference that makes—from the perspective of Catholic and Jewish scholars.

Here, in narrative form, is an account of the activity of Jesus of Nazareth, scrupulously constructed so that it does not undercut the insights of New Testament scholarship. What makes it different from other such attempts is that Jesus never actually appears. What we find everywhere is his shadow, his effect. Such an approach avoids the usual pitfalls of the genre and lends this story attributed to a fictitious narrator an attraction, freshness, and power all its own. Tension and interest are maintained to the end, even for those sated with books about Jesus. Careful documentation in the footnotes shows how much of the narrative is based on ancient sources.-- Publisher.