Explains why Jesus is of interest to Jews and drives home an important lesson of our time—that Christians and Jews can be worlds apart theologically, but also very close in mutual understanding and cooperation toward desirable human goals.
Rabbi Samuel Sandmel
New Preface by Rabbi David Sandmel
Paperback
6 x 9, 192 pp | 978-1-59473-208-9
An important contribution to the welcome growth of religious understanding and cooperation between Jews and Christians.
Filled with warm sympathy for Christianity but also with sturdy intellectual honesty and loyalty to Judaism, this classic work continues to clearly and forcefully guide both Christians and Jews in timely, relevant discussion of the relationships between their faiths. Examining the Jewish views on Jesus throughout history and today, Rabbi Samuel Sandmel introduces the perspective of a rabbi of the liberal wing of Judaism, and presents the scholarship of the last century and a half as pursued by both Christians and Jews.
Without prejudice but admittedly partisan, this book explains why Jesus is of cultural and historical interest to Jews, though not of direct religious interest. It drives home one of the most important lessons of our time—that Christians and Jews can be worlds apart theologically, but also very close in mutual understanding and in cooperation toward desirable human goals.
“Erudite and eloquent, fair and dispassionate, a timeless classic on a subject never more timely than today.”
—Rabbi Michael J. Cook, PhD, Bronstein Professor of Judeo-Christian Studies, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion
“Speaks eloquently to the heart of the questions that continue to exercise us in our current Jewish-Christian conversations.”
—Ron Miller, coauthor of Healing the Jewish-Christian Rift: Growing Beyond Our Wounded History
“A thoughtful examination of the Jewish Jesus that links Jews and Christians in the fascinating question of who Jesus really was. One of the great classics in the study of religion.”
—Prof. Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College; author of Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus
