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The Jewish Gospels Hardcover – April 1, 2012

by Daniel Boyarin (Author), Jack Miles (Introduction)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 517 ratings
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In July 2008 a front-page story in the New York Times reported on the discovery of an ancient Hebrew tablet, dating from before the birth of Jesus, which predicted a Messiah who would rise from the dead after three days. Commenting on this startling discovery at the time, noted Talmud scholar Daniel Boyarin argued that “some Christians will find it shocking—a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology.”

Guiding us through a rich tapestry of new discoveries and ancient scriptures, The Jewish Gospels makes the powerful case that our conventional understandings of Jesus and of the origins of Christianity are wrong. In Boyarin’s scrupulously illustrated account, the coming of the Messiah was fully imagined in the ancient Jewish texts. Jesus, moreover, was embraced by many Jews as this person, and his core teachings were not at all a break from Jewish beliefs and teachings. Jesus and his followers, Boyarin shows, were simply Jewish. What came to be known as Christianity came much later, as religious and political leaders sought to impose a new religious orthodoxy that was not present at the time of Jesus’s life.

In the vein of Elaine Pagels’s The Gnostic Gospels, here is a brilliant new work that will break open some of our culture’s most cherished assumptions.
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  1. Print length
    224 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    The New Press
  4. Publication date
    April 1, 2012
  5. Dimensions
    5.6 x 0.9 x 7.6 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1595584684
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1595584687
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"If Boyarin is right, the consequences go beyond making a few adjustments to our understanding of the past. As the Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jack Miles writes in his foreword to The Jewish Gospels, Jews and Christians will have to radically rethink their identities and relationship to each other."
—Moment

"Boyarin proposes that by constructing the categories of religious orthodoxy and heresy,second-century Gentile Christians created the concept of religion which pervades the Western world to this day . . . intensely provocative and innovative."
—Shofar

"A brilliant and momentous book."
—Karen L. King, Harvard Divinity School

"Raises profound questions . . . this provocative book will change the way we think of the Gospels in their Jewish context."
—John J. Collins, Yale Divinity School

"It’s certainly noteworthy when one of the world’s leading Jewish scholars publishes a book about Jesus . . . extremely stimulating."
—Daniel C. Peterson, The Deseret News

"[A] fascinating recasting of the story of Jesus."
—Elliot Wolfson, New York University

About the Author

Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture and rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships. His books include A Radical Jew, Border Lines, and Socrates and the Fat Rabbis. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The New Press; First Edition (April 1, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1595584684
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1595584687
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.6 x 0.9 x 7.6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 517 ratings

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Daniel Boyarin

Daniel Boyarin

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Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture and rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships. His books include A Radical Jew, Border Lines, and Socrates and the Fat Rabbis. He lives in Berkeley, California.

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4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
517 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Alfred Richardson
5.0 out of 5 stars Reclaiming the Jewishness of the Gospels and Jesus
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2020
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Many years ago I read “The Passover Plot” by Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield. It was this book, despite its controversial thesis, that inspired my interest in reading scriptures from a Jewish perspective. Daniel Boyarin’s, The Jewish Gospels, deepens this interest as well as satisfies my yearnings to learn as much as I can about the roots of my Christian Faith and the documents which serve as its foundation. The perspective of Jewish scholars is germane to this venture.

The Jewish Gospels is a short work, very much to the point, but well researched with compelling arguments to support the author’s thesis. Boyarin wastes no time in establishing his thesis:Jesus did not depart from His Jewish faith, nor did the Gospels present anything that was different from teachings that were current or before His time. In fact his thesis is clear from four words in the title and sub title of his book:Jewish Gospels and Jewish Christ.

Boyarin’s book is not a polemic against Christianity; he reads more like an apologia, elucidating clearly and convincingly the Jewish roots of the Gospels, using Mark as his main reference. He demonstrates with appropriate references to Hebrew Scriptures(primarily Daniel 7)that claims to divinity by the Gospels and Jesus Himself, were consistent with Jewish theology. When Jesus referred to Himself as the “Son of Man”, a divine title, “many Jews believed him”. However, there were others who did not. Additionally, the core beliefs of Christians such as the Trinity and the Incarnation came from ancient Hebrew traditions. It is with these observations Boyarin asserts that Jesus and His followers did not reject Jewish traditions. He presents Jesus as one who was faithful to the Torah and the practices of Judaism. Boyarin analyses Mark 7 at great lengths to demonstrate emphatically that Jesus did keep Kosher. Likewise, His followers in the first century “sought to uphold and not destroy..” Jewish traditions.

I find that Jewish biblical scholars such as Boyarin provide unique and invaluable insights into Holy Scripture. They keep us on track in our interpretations of God’s Word. Their works do serve as a necessary corrective to misunderstandings that have been transmitted down through the centuries. Boyarin does an excellent job in reminding us that the Gospels are and have always been a part of Jewish literature. And so it is important to read and study them in that context.

Boyarin’s book is easy to read. With great patience he develops and explains in simple terms his thesis. He handles the Gospel narrative with integrity. He connects his dots with a minimum of speculation. There is no bashing nor is there speculation about a plot and its script that is completely internalized and followed with tragic consequences. I read this book and came away with a deeper understanding of the documents on which my faith is built. This is a book all Christians must read.
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Hillarie Goldstein
4.0 out of 5 stars It's good but flawed.
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2013
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His descriptions of how the Jews interpreted scriptures to point to the coming messiah and the fact that the messiah they were waiting for very closely fits the Christians' understanding is very interesting. If you listen to Christians they will tell you the Jews were waiting for a kind of statesman leader type who would free them from the Romans and restore their earthly kingdom and prestige. But it wasn't like that. The Jews were waiting for a divine messiah who would suffer and die to save them. They were waiting for spiritual restoration. All this stuff that is said to be new with Christianity isn't. And as a new Christian who is Jewish by birth, that was very reassuring for me. The only complaint I have with this book is that the author does not believe the messiah is real. He thinks the early Christians saw and experienced what they did because they were expecting it and their expectations colored their experience. Because the Jews were expecting the Christ that is represented in the New Testament, he thinks the early Christians saw him based on that expectation. It is so condescending to all those people in the first century to basically say they were all hallucinating. That's what turned me off about this book, but if you can get past that, it's a most edifying book. Because basically Christianity is not a new religion, it's just the fulfillment and continuation of Judaism. And it's true the Christians already believe that. But the point of this book is that you can be a Jew and also understand that.
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Mike Davis Th.D
5.0 out of 5 stars A book all serious students of the New Testament and the Jewish Roots of Christianity cannot do without.
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2012
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Daniel Boyarin has done a great service for the Body of Christ and especially for those who are involved in the study of the Jewish Roots of Christianity.

Over the past few decades it has become increasing clear that to understand more fully the New Testament writings we need to have a greater, more in-depth understanding of the conceptual and cultural world in which these texts were written...and this is primarily the world of Judaism.

Understanding the Jewish conceptual and cultural world in which Jesus, the disciples and writers of the New Testament lived and moved in has open up the richness of Scripture and given it greater clarity in innumerable ways.
One area that has now been greatly enriched by understanding the Jewish Background involves the Deity of Jesus.

Boyarin's work deftly demonstrates through the use of various streams of Jewish thought and literary works that the idea of a Divine Messiah was not foreign to Jewish thought and belief....and was even expected. He lays out the various beliefs about the Messiah down through the centuries before and during the time of Jesus using texts such as Daniel 7:13-14, the Similitudes of Enoch, First Ezra as well as insights from the Talmud and other rabbinic literature that may reflect earlier Jewish thought on this subject.

Boyarin view is that the seeds of the concept of a divine Messiah were present in Judaism before and during the time of Jesus. This is important for three reasons :
1. It explains how the first century disciples and followers of Jesus could believe that Jesus is God/deity. Boyarin's work demonstrates pretty well that such a belief and concept was NOT outside the scope of Jewish belief within the First century

2. It helps present day believer in Jesus, who also study the Jewish roots of the faith to see that there is no contradiction between Jewish Monotheism and belief in the deity of Jesus. This has become an increasing problem and a source of cognitive dissonance for some within the "Jewish Roots" movement and Messianic Judaism. "Would first century, observant Jews who hold that there is but one God also hold to a belief that the Man Jesus is also God? How does this fit with Jewish/rabbinic belief in monotheism?"

This has led some to deny the deity of Jesus while holding to his Messiah-ship as they are seeking to be faithful to their understanding of Judaism of the First Century and of the Bible. Hopefully Boyarin's book will help many to see that if they take into account that there are different and various views concerning the Messiah within early Jewish thought itself (and not just within the Talmud) then they will see that Jesus as a "divine messiah" is not a contradiction at all but rather is in harmony with different streams of Jewish thought in the First century Jewish World.

3. It locates Jesus divinity in his Identification of Himself as The Son of Man from Daniel 7:13-14; This helps us to see that Jesus view of Himself was NOT shaped by later Christians borrowing these ideas from the Roman concept of Cesar as the divine son of god (or borrowing the concept from other pagan sources concerning a god-man)

This work is also important because it helps to clarify Paul's presentation of Jesus in his epistle's as a cosmic, transcendent Being. Boyarin's work does not directly or specifically focus on Paul or his portrayal of Jesus but it does help to give an understanding as to how Paul may have come to his view of Jesus. Paul's view of Jesus is the Jewish View of the Divine Messiah/Son of Man.

What I would like to have seen in the book is more development of some of Boyarin's ideas in detail. But what is written is enough to motivate myself and others to do further research on this fascinating subject by seeking out at my local theological library the numerous scholarly articles and books listed in his footnotes.

Another great aspect of the book is chapter three "Jesus kept kosher" . Here Boyarin demonstrates that Jesus, far from doing away with the laws of Kashrut was actually Kosher himself and was giving his halakha on a question concerning the rules of clean and unclean. I had read David Biven's synopsis of Yair Furstenberg's article (Defilement Penetrating the Body: A New Understanding of Contamination in Mark 7:15 in New Testament Studies #54, 2008) in a Jerusalem Perspective online article a few years ago and then later read the full article by Furstenberg himself. Boyarin does a great job of simplifying and clarifying what was really going on in Mark 7:1-15. I especially liked the distinction he makes between the categories of clean and unclean and permitted and prohibited -with Mark 7 being about clean and unclean and Kashrut being about what foods are permitted and not permitted (or prohibited for food) -an important distinction that has been missed by many Christian commentaries on Mark 7:1-15 , leading to a misinterpretation of the meaning of the entire passage.

Boyarin s not a Christian nor a Messianic believer in Jesus. The book is thus not an attempt to try and win Jews over to a belief in Jesus and his divinity. Boyarin stated goals early in the book (pages 6-7) are to change the vilifying dialogue between Jews and Christians that has gone on for centuires and to foster a better understanding of each other; and also to offer a challenge (and I would say critique) of liberal Christian scholars who see the idea of a divine, suffering Messiah as having been invented by the later Christians leaders who foisted these ideas upon the church. Boyarin again shows throughout the book that these ideas pre-date the time of Jesus and are found within Judaism itself.

The book is an easy read and one that I feel further advances the understanding of the Jewish Roots of Christianity. I thought the book important enough that I bought a copy for a friend of mine and plan to re-read it myself. This is a book I highly recommend.
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Top reviews from other countries

DeeJay SchmeeJay
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible
Reviewed in Australia on May 1, 2018
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This is an astounding work by a brilliant, intellectually honest scholar. Daniel Boyarin’s insights have deepened the understanding of my faith as a Christian and (perhaps more importantly) deepened my respect and love for those who continue to carry the original flame of faith - the children of Abraham.
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James McDevitt
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book but the title is misleading
Reviewed in Canada on May 31, 2013
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Great book but the book has very little to do with the gospels themselves. Instead the author looks more at the prophecies in Daniel and Isaiah to show that the divinity of the Messiah is an ancient concept. He then looks at Matthew and Mark and tackles the concept of whether Jesus kept kosher or not. But this is in no way a commentary on all the books of the Bible. I give this book 5 stars for the author's academic and important stance on these sensitive issues. He handles both the divinity of the Messiah and the proof that Jesus kept kosher better than anyone I've read so far. As for the title, often this is selected by the publisher and I cannot penalize the author for a decision he might not have made.
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Cjbevan
5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant commentary
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2013
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Boyarin can always be counted upon for brilliant and idiosyncratic analysis. I do not always agree with him, but he is never dull, and have found his unique perspectives stimulating and exciting to read. It is hardly the last word on the small amount of text covered, but I have never read anything quite like it elsewhere, and it is a great complement to other material on Mark and the Gospels.
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Keren Avirame
2.0 out of 5 stars should have been a 10 pages paper
Reviewed in Germany on July 31, 2013
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Maybe only specialized scholars could have understood why 200 pages are needed to demonstrate the same idea. Endless repetitions around a couple of definitions taken out of the scripts discussing fine boarders between son of man, messiah, king, redeemer and divine presence ... no story whatsoever.
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G. Yates
3.0 out of 5 stars Very Lightweight Logic
Reviewed in Spain on June 21, 2013
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Firstly I felt quite soon that this book had been advertised under False Pretenses. Nowhere did I find described in the book the discovery of any "ancient Hebrew tablet". Sure he uses the Similitudes of Enoch and Fourth Esdra. Hardly the startling new discovery that is used to advertise the book! Beware!

In the arguments given in the book it is rather crucial that one text is 'independent' of another. NOWHERE does he prove this. Indeed I do not think that the author would know how to prove 'Independence'? Dependence is rather easier to prove than 'Independence' which really requires quite a stringent proof!!

There is a totally wishy washy approach to dating of the various documents. Sure he quotes some academic opinions, but nowhere a line of any argument that the opinion is valid. The dates are crucial to the thesis! He gives the impression that he really doesn't care?

There is plenty of argument based on the authority of another person's opinion. (Ad Hominem). This is not rare even in academic circles. Such argument is still not Logic!

There is an awful lot of argument "If I say this often enough then you will believe it". Such arguments make me want to examine seriously the opposite of what is said, because on the face of it perhaps it is better placed to be proven?

There ARE some examples of good valid argument. So he knows how and can do it. Just a shame that it isn't consistently like this!

Despite these negatives and thinking half-way through "Why did I buy this junk?" There is some useful material here. I discovered quite a bit about Jewish History, Jewish Thought and typical Jewish methods of argumentation.

I didn't discover very much at all about Christianity from this because far too much was taken "as written". I'm not a Christian and found a lot of these assumptions about Christianity and the Christian 'New' Testament to be Naive. As an 'Ex-Christian' I'm still trying to work out exactly what was what. I may not have it all worked out yet, but I'm taking nobodies 'say so' as fact!!! To be fair here I think the author is giving Christianity the 'Benefit of the Doubt' while he is arguing with them. Fine, but a little more of a critical attitude towards sources is required at some point!

The author would do well to read something written from a Non-Christian Point of View that isn't Jewish! How about "Caesar's Messiah" by Joseph Atwill, just for starters.
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