The authors address the issue of God in this world which, in the classical documents of formative Judaism, encompasses the diverse ways in which we meet God in the here and now. The counterpart in Christianity is meeting God in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. As heirs to the common scripture of ancient Israel, both Judaism and Christianity identify humanity as the worldly image of God. The two traditions concur that, since we are made in God's image, we see God in the face of one another. The conception of incarnation is therefore as Judaic as it is Christian. The point of difference between the two becomes clear when we ask how incarnation is realized. This book is the final volume in a trilogy. Previously published volumes include 'Revelation: The Torah and the Bible' and 'The Body of Faith: Israel and the Church'.
Beginning with the Gospels, interpretations of the life of Jesus have flourished for nearly two millennia, yet a clear and coherent picture of Jesus as a man has remained elusive. In Rabbi Jesus, the noted biblical scholar Bruce Chilton places Jesus within the context of his times to present a fresh, historically accurate, and revolutionary examination of the man who founded Christianity. Drawing on recent archaeological findings and new translations and interpretations of ancient texts, Chilton discusses in enlightening detail the philosophical and psychological foundations of Jesus’ ideas and beliefs. His in-depth investigation also provides evidence that contradicts long-held beliefs about Jesus and the movement he led. Chilton shows, for example, that the High Priest Caiaphas, as well as Pontius Pilate, played a central role in Jesus’ execution. It is, however, Chilton’s description of Jesus’ role as a rabbi, or "master," of Jewish oral traditions, as a teacher of the Cabala, and as a practitioner of a Galilean form of Judaism that emphasized direct communication with God that casts an entirely new light on the origins of Christianity. Seamlessly merging history and biography, this penetrating, highly readable book uncovers truths lost to the passage of time and reveals a new Jesus for the new millennium.
Here is a superb resource for all who wish to deepen their understanding of Judaism and Christianity and the relationship between these two great traditions. The authors compare and contrast the paramount theological categories of Judaism and Christianity, specifically Torah, God, and Israel for Judaism, and Bible, God, and church for Christianity. 'Revelation' is the first of three volumes in support of this effort. It consists of a conversation between the Torah and its authoritative representation in the Talmud of Babylonia (a complete and exhaustive statement of God's will for Judaism) and the Christian Bible (Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament), including the interpretation of scripture within the primitive church as the foundation of Christian authority. Within this conversation the authors do not sidestep profound disagreement in favor of proposing obscure theological difference. Each believes in his tradition and its affirmations, and each seeks to grasp the rationality of the views of the other.
Bruce Chilton and Jacob Neusner study the points of comparisons and contrast between formative Christianity and Judaism. By identifying three categories of authority in each of the two religious worlds, they show how they have both worked in compelling or failing to get someone to do a given action. The arguments are introduced by a general discussion of the founding figures of the two religions, Moses and Jesus, and how their inherent authority distilled itself through the structure of their religious institutions and intellectual thoughts.
Among the world's religions, Christianity and Judaism are the most symmetrical. But in our day of religious tolerance, a tendency to overlook the vital differences between the two religions in the name of good will can undermine constructive Jewish-Christian dialogue. In this book, Bruce D. Chilton describes early Christian thought and Jacob Neusner describes early Judaic thought on fundamental issues such as creation and human nature, Christ and Torah, sin and atonement, and eschatology. At the end of each chapter, each assesses the other's perspective, and a final chapter explains why the authors believe theological confrontation--not just comparison--defines the task of interfaith dialogue today.
The Proclamation of Jesus seeks to place Jesus in the context of first-century Palestinian Judaism. The authors hope to discern the essence of his preaching, his concept of the kingdom of God, and the place of purity in his teaching and activities. Better methods for assessing not simply the authenticity of reported sayings and deeds, but for tracing the development of tradition are considered. The authors are convinced that most of the Synoptic tradition is authentic, but that much of it has been reinterpreted and recontextualized. Herein lies the real challenge for those investigating the historical Jesus. The Proclamation of Jesus opens up new avenues of study and makes new proposals for understanding Jesus in the context of his place and time.
Christianity: The Basics is a compelling introduction to both the central pillars of the Christian faith and the rich and varied history of this most global of global religions. This book traces the development of Christianity through an exploration of some of the key beliefs, practices and emotions which have been recurrent symbols through the centuries: Christ, the kingdom of heaven and sin Baptism, Eucharist and prayer Joy, divine union and self denial Encompassing the major epochs of Christian history and examining the unity and divisions created by these symbols, Christianity: The Basics is both a concise and comprehensive introduction to the Christian tradition.
Judaism in the New Testament explains how the writings of the early church emerged from communities which defined themselves in Judaic terms even as they professed faith in Christ. These two extremely distinguished scholars introduce readers to the plurality of Judaisms of the period. They show, by examining a variety of texts, how the major figures of the New Testament reflect distinctly Judaic practices and beliefs. This important study shows how the early movement centred on Jesus is best seen as `Christian Judaism'. Only with the Epistle to the Hebrews did the profile of a new and distinct Christian religion emerge.
Jewish and Christian Doctrines presents a concise and lucid introduction to the foundations of Judaism and Christianity. The authors explore key documents ofJudaism and Christianity to elucidate and illuminate the doctrinal issues which the documents raise and to examine the similarities and differences between the two faiths.
The Intellectual Foundations of Christian and Jewish Discourse argues that the Judaic and Christian heirs of Scripture adopted, and adapted to their own purposes and tasks, Greek philosophical modes of thought and argument. The authors explore how the earliest intellectuals of Christianity and Judaism shaped a tradition of articulated conflict and reasoned argument in the search for religious truth that was to be shared through continuing that argument with others. Neusner and Chilton examine, using the formative sources of Judaism and Christianity, the literary media of adaptation and reform: precisely where and how we identify in the foundation writings of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism the new opposing modes of articulated conflict and reasoned argument that through Christianity and Judaism, Greek philosophy and science bequeathed to the West.
This is the first attempt systematically to explain the growth, background and ideology of the Targum to Isaiah. Its principal stages of development between the first and fourth centuries CE are described in order to understand as precisely as possible its hope for God's messianic vindication of his people. Chilton's work demonstrates the paradigmatic significance of the Isaiah Targum within the Prophets Targum as a whole, and convincingly places the Targum in its chronological and theological context.
This remarkable survey introduces critical knowledge and insights that have emerged over the past forty years, including targum manuscripts discovered this century and targums known in Aramaic but only recently translated into English. Prolific scholars Flesher and Chilton guide readers in understanding the development of the targums; their relationship to the Hebrew Bible; their dates, language, and place in the history of Christianity and Judaism; and their theologies and methods of interpretation.
A brilliant new biography of Saint Paul, whose interpretations of the life and teachings of Jesus transformed a loosely organized, grassroots peasant movement into the structured religion we know today Without Paul, there would be no Christianity. His letters to various churches scattered throughout the Roman Empire articulated, for the first time, the beliefs that make up the heart of Christian practice and faith. In this extraordinary biography, Bruce Chilton explains the changing images of Paul, from the early Church period when he was regarded as the premiere apostle who separated Christianity from Judaism to more recent liberal evaluations, which paint him as an antifeminist, homophobic figure more dedicated to doctrine than to spiritual freedom. By illuminating Paul’s thoughts and contributions within the context of his time, Chilton restores him to his place as the founding architect of the Church and one of the most important figures in Western history. Rabbi Paul is at once a compelling, highly readable biography and a window on how Jesus’ message was transformed into a religion embraced by millions around the world. Drawing on Paul’s own writings as well as historical and scholarly documents about his life and times, Chilton portrays an all-too-human saint who helped to create both the most beautiful and the most troublesome aspects of the Church. He shows that Paul sought to specify the correct approach to such central concerns as sexuality, obedience, faith, conscience, and spirit, to define religion as an institution, and to clarify the nature of the religious personality—issues that Christians still struggle with today.
Bruce Chilton focuses on Jesus' teaching of the kingdom in this volume, part of the Studying the Historical Jesus series, a series devoted to exploring key questions concerning the historical Jesus within recent scholarly discussion.
After two thousand years of flawed history, here at last is a magnificent new biography of Mary Magdalene that draws her out of the shadows of history and restores her to her rightful place of importance in Christianity.Throughout history, Mary Magdalene has been both revered and reviled, a woman who has taken on many forms—witch, whore, the incarnation of the eternal feminine, the devoted companion (and perhaps even the wife) of Jesus. In this brilliant new biography, Bruce Chilton, a renowned biblical scholar, offers the first complete and authoritative portrait of this fascinating woman. Through groundbreaking interpretations of ancient texts, Chilton shows that Mary played a central role in Jesus’ ministry and was a seminal figure in the creation of Christianity. Chilton’s descriptions of who Mary Magdalene was and what she did challenge the male-dominated history of Christianity familiar to most readers. Placing Mary within the traditions of Jewish female savants, Chilton presents a visionary figure who was fully immersed in the mystical practices that shaped Jesus’ own teachings and a woman who was a religious master in her own right.
In systematic descriptions, three of today's leading scholars detail the classical theologies of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and the authoritative texts of those theologies. They compare and contrast the three faiths, each of which has a set of doctrines, practices, and beliefs that addresses common issues.
About the Contributor(s): Bruce Chilton is the Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College. He also serves as Chaplain and Executive Director of Bard's Institute of Advanced Theology. He is the author of several books on early Christianity, including The Temple of Jesus.
The way of Jesus means that despite our tears and scars, we can become vessels of divine light. A young man loses his wife while their baby escapes without injury. In abject grief he reaches out to a friend for solace. What words of comfort are even possible? How can Jesus repair and renew these lives in this world? Author Bruce Chilton begins in the everyday. He shows how following Jesus not only repairs shattered lives, but renews them. While no broken life is ever simply reassembled and although there is no magic going back to the pristine, repair and renewal will empower us to truly live and love again. But our path requires something from us--mindful practice of Jesus' teachings about the soul, spirit, kingdom, insight, forgiveness, mercy, and glory.
When they arrived at the place which God had indicated to him, Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son and put him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son..." --The Book of Genesis The story of Abraham's acceptance of God's command to sacrifice his son Isaac is one of the most disturbing of all biblical stories. Isaac is spared only at the last moment, when an angel stops Abraham's hand. Theologians and scholars have wrestled with the question of why God asked Abraham to kill his beloved son, why Abraham acquiesced, and why in some interpretations he actually killed his son. In Abraham's Curse, Bruce Chilton traces the impact of the story of Abraham and Isaac on the beliefs and teachings of Judaism (where Abraham is regarded as the forefather of Israel), Islam (where he provides the role model for Muhammad), and Christianity (where he is the ancestor of King David, whose lineage culminates in Jesus). As Chilton examines the story's significance, he makes the case that, far from only reflecting the violence of an ancient, unenlightened time, the sacrifice of children in the name of religion is still a fundamental part of our lives and culture -- from Islamist suicide bombings to militant Zionism and graphic glorifications of the Crucifixion of Christ.
This book offers an introduction to the literature of the New Testament, demonstrating how these writings can be approached and critically studied in an academic setting. Bruce Chilton and Deidre J. Good, two respected New Testament scholars, provide a narrative of the historical context and social world of the books of the New Testament, a chronological survey of the Gospels and letters, and the remaining writings (Apocrypha, Apocalyptic) with their special focus on the emerging church. Together with textboxes, exercises, questions, further readings, maps, timeline, and glossary, this brief introduction surveys and employs leading methods of study and equips students with the general literacy needed for successful and serious study of New Testament writings.
The monograph analyses eucharistic texts on the basis of the social practices which generated them. Six stages of ideology are identified. Jesus himself practised fellowship at meals as celebrations of Israel's purity (stage 1), and later insisted that a pure meal was a better sacrifice than an offering in the Temple (stage 2). The circle of Peter made such meals into covenantal celebrations; Jesus became a new Moses (stage 3). In order to militate against the full participation of non-Jews, the circle of James invented the full identifications with Passover (stage 4). Paul resisted any such limitations (stage 5). The Synoptic tradition accepted the Jacobean chronology, but joined Paul in developing the Hellenistic theme of Jesus as heroic martyr, and in explaining eucharist as a means of effecting solidarity with Jesus (stage 5). The Johannine ideologies transformed the idiom of eucharist by making Jesus into the paschal lamb which is consumed (stage 6). A conclusion relates the practices identified to the sources behind the Gospels; and shows how practice is key to the meanings of eucharistic texts.
How can Jesus be said to be "missing"? What is "missing" is not by any means reference to Jesus: what is missing is rather an entire dimension of his identity. The "missing" Jesus is Jesus within Judaism. This publication has also been published in paper please click here for details.
Radio City (the book) isthe improbable but true story of an ardent fan who gets close enough to Alex Chilton, the prime architect of the best power pop album ever made outside of Abbey Road Studios, to see what's on the other side of genius, fame, and expectations.This bookexamines the key ingredients of Radio City's lasting appeal, including the unique confluence of circumstances that channeled Alex Chilton's creative energies toward the possibility of commercial success for perhaps the last time.
If Moses, Jesus, and the Prophet Muhammad were to meet, what would they tell one another about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? Three of today’s leading scholars explore the topics such a conversation might entail in this comparative study of the three monotheistic faiths. In systematic, side-by-side descriptions, they detail the classical theologies of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and the authoritative writings that convey those theologies—Torah, Bible, and Qur’ān. They then compare and contrast the three faiths, which, though distinct and autonomous, address a common set of issues. While asserting that this book is by no means a background source for issues and conflicts among contemporary followers of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the authors nevertheless aspire to reveal among the three a common potential for mutual understanding. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
Until his death in 4 BCE, Herod the Great's monarchy included territories that once made up the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Although he ruled over a rich, strategically crucial land, his royal title did not derive from heredity. His family came from the people of Idumea, ancient antagonists of the Israelites. Yet Herod did not rule as an outsider, but from a family committed to Judaism going back to his grandfather and father. They had served the priestly dynasty of the Maccabees that had subjected Idumea to their rule, including the Maccabean version of what loyalty to the Torah required. Herod's father, Antipater, rose not only to manage affairs on behalf of his priestly masters, but to become a pivotal military leader. He inaugurated a new alignment of power: an alliance with Rome negotiated with Pompey and Julius Caesar. In the crucible of civil war among Romans as the Triumvirate broke up, and of war between Rome and Parthia, Antipater managed to leave his sons with the prospect of a dynasty. Herod inherited the twin pillars of loyalty to Judaism and loyalty to Rome that became the basis of Herodian rule. He elevated Antipater's opportunism to a political art. During Herod's time, Roman power took its imperial form, and Octavian was responsible for making Herod king of Judea. As Octavian ruled, he took the title Augustus, in keeping with his devotion to his adoptive father's cult of "the divine Julius." Imperial power was a theocratic assertion as well as a dominant military, economic, and political force. Herod framed a version of theocratic ambition all his own, deliberately crafting a dynastic claim grounded in Roman might and Israelite theocracy. That unlikely hybrid was the key to the Herodians' surprising longevity in power during the most chaotic century in the political history of Judaism.
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