Jesus and Judaism

Catalog description

Taught by JST. In accord with Vatican II's call for the Church to "search" its spiritual and historical ties to "Abraham's stock" (Nostra Aetate 4), this bridge course investigates the Jewishness of Jesus in the context of Palestinian Judaism of the Greco-Roman era. The course will (1) relate elements of the Gospels' narratives of Jesus' life to historical and literary developments of Second Temple Judaism, (2) compare Jesus' interpretations of Mosaic ritual laws and ethical norms to other, roughly contemporaneous Jewish teachings, and (3) examine the conflict stories in the Gospels in the light of political and social tensions of Judean life under Roman rule. Required Text: The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ by Daniel Boyarin.