{"id":306,"date":"2007-07-11T14:52:42","date_gmt":"2007-07-11T14:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/07\/why-jews-needed-jesus.html"},"modified":"2007-07-11T14:52:42","modified_gmt":"2007-07-11T14:52:42","slug":"why-jews-needed-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/07\/why-jews-needed-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Jews Needed Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the past few years there have emerged some very new and trailblazing studies on Jesus and his relationship to Judaism. Pope Bendict in his newly published book, “Jesus of Nazareth”, spent 18 pages addressing Jewish scholar Jacob Nuesner\u2019s opposition to Jesus\u2019 teachings<\/a> and his interpretation of the Jewish tradition. The Pope\u2019s words, like Neusner\u2019s are written in the most respectful and thoughtful manner. Rabbi Waxman in his post<\/a> goes further than Neusner arguing why Jews don\u2019t need Jesus. The problem however, with Rabbi Waxman\u2019s post is that he forgets just how much Jews in the first century did<\/em> need Jesus. Yes, Neusner is correct that Jesus\u2019 answer was wrong, but the rabbinic critique of Temple-based Judaism and Jesus\u2019 critique of Judaism are both very similar and show how Judaism did, in some ways, need Jesus.<\/p>\n


\nBoth Christianity and rabbinic Judaism are outgrowths of a biblical world view that had ceased to make sense. Rabbinic Jews “heard” Jesus\u2019 critique when they made interpersonal relationships the central aspect of religious life. There is a striking similarity between the way the Talmud argues that “Sinat Chinam” (gratuitous hatred)<\/a> was the cause for the destruction of the Second Temple and the charges made by Jesus against Jewish leaders. Rabbinic Judaism moved away from the Bible\u2019s theocentricism to a more anthropocenrtic worldview in turn mirroring much of Jesus\u2019 challenge.
\nJudaism and Christianity are two very different systems of meaning. However, in order to understand one, the other is most certainly needed. Both emanate from the same roots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the past few years there have emerged some very new and trailblazing studies on Jesus and his relationship to Judaism. Pope Bendict in his newly published book, “Jesus of Nazareth”, spent 18 pages addressing Jewish scholar Jacob Nuesner\u2019s opposition to Jesus\u2019 teachings and his interpretation of the Jewish tradition. The Pope\u2019s words, like Neusner\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interfaith-relations"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Jews Needed Jesus - Virtual Talmud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2007\/07\/why-jews-needed-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Jews Needed Jesus - Virtual Talmud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the past few years there have emerged some very new and trailblazing studies on Jesus and his relationship to Judaism. Pope Bendict in his newly published book, “Jesus of Nazareth”, spent 18 pages addressing Jewish scholar Jacob Nuesner\u2019s opposition to Jesus\u2019 teachings and his interpretation of the Jewish tradition. 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