Jesus in the Talmud

Notes to Introduction 14713. Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, pp. 344ff. (see in particularp. 347: although the historical Jesus is definitely referred to in talmudic literature,“it is remarkable how very little the Talmud does say about Jesus”), as emphasizedalso by Maier, Jesus von Nazareth, p. 28.14. First published under the title Einleitung in Talmud und Midrasch in1887, and subsequently in many editions; first English edition 1931.15. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, 1910. Almost twenty yearsearlier, Heinrich Laible published Jesus Christus im Thalmud, Berlin: H.Reuther’s Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1891, to which Strack added a brief preface;deeply imbued with the certainty of Christianity’s superiority to Judaism (but notanti-Semitic), Laible provides a thematically structured narrative, full of creativeand by no means just absurd or far-fetched suggestions. It is obvious that Strack’ssober and reserved approach finds much more favor in Maier’s eyes than Laible(Maier, Jesus von Nazareth, pp. 27f.), but Laible should not be underestimated.16. An even more reductionist approach can be found in Kurt Hruby, DieStellung der jüdischen Gesetzeslehrer zur werdenden Kirche, Zürich: TheologischerVerlag, 1971.17. Joseph Klausner, Yeshu ha-Notzri (“Jesus the Nazarene”), Jerusalem:Shtibl, 1922; English translation, Jesus of Nazareth: His Life, Times, and Teaching,trans. Herbert Danby, New York: Macmillan, 1925. The entry “Jesus vonNazareth” in EJ 9, 1932, cols. 52–77, is written by Joseph Klausner, but does notrefer to the rabbinic sources; they are dealt with in a brief and quite balanced appendix,written by Jehoschua Gutmann (cols. 77–79). The popular book aboutJesus by the Israeli New Testament scholar David Flusser (Jesus in Selbstzeugnissenund Bilddokumenten, Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1968) does not mention the Jewishreferences to Jesus. Interestingly enough, the entry “Jesus” in EJ 10, 1971,cols. 10–14, is written by Flusser, but the appendix “In Talmud and Midrash”(cols. 14–17) is translated from Joseph Klausner’s article in the EncyclopediaHebraica (vol. 9, 1959/60, cols. 746–750).18. Morris Goldstein, Jesus in the Jewish Tradition, New York: Macmillan, 1950.19. Jacob Z. Lauterbach, “Jesus in the Talmud,” in Rabbinic Essays, Cincinnati:Hebrew Union College Press, 1951 (reprint, New York: Ktav, 1951), pp. 473–570.20. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1978. It was followed bya companion: Johann Maier, Jüdische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Christentumin der Antike, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1982. For a cautiousyet firm critique, see William Horbury, Jews and Christians in Controversy,Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1998, pp. 19f., 104ff.