For all the myriad views of Jesus, there is pretty close consensus that he lived and died a faithful Jew, and theologians and biblical scholars here explore the ramifications of that for Jews and Christians then and now. Among the perspectives are establishing the historicity of Jesus, seeking ways of understanding Jesus in the religious and cultural milieu of Second Temple Judaism, and in the spirit of reconciliation, encountering the Jewish Jesus in a dialogue between Jews and Christians. Yet a number of contributors reacted vehemently about the cover that depicts Jesus reading from the Torah. Why? Jewish triumphalism and/or Christian supersessionism?
About the speaker: Zev Garber is Emeritus Professor and Chair of Jewish Studies and Philosophy at Los Angeles Valley College and has served as Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at University of California at Riverside. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of two academic series, Studies in Shoah (UP of America) and Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies (Purdue UP), and serves as co-editor of Shofar. He is the author of many books including, Methodology in the Academic Teaching of Judaism (1986), Methodology in the Academic Teaching of the Holocaust (1988), Perspectives on Zionism (1994), Double Takes: Thinking and Rethinking Issues of Modern Judaism in Ancient Contexts (with Bruce Zuckerman, 2004), Mel Gibson’s Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and Its Implications (2006) and The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation (2011).
