Review

"After the Gospel writers and the apostle Paul, the author most quoted in Pope Benedict XVI's new book is Rabbi Jacob Neusner, a U.S. professor of religion and theology. In his book, Jesus of Nazareth, released April 16 in Italian, German and Polish, Pope Benedict joined the literary dialogue that Rabbi Neusner invented for himself in his 1993 book, A Rabbi Talks With Jesus." Catnolic News Service "A tour de force and very, very moving." Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain Praise for the previous edition: "By far the most important book for the Jewish-Christian dialogue in the last decade. The absolute honesty, the precision of analysis, the union of respect for the other party with carefully grounded loyalty to one's own position characterize the book and make it a challenge especially to Christians, who will have to ponder the analysis of the contrast between Moses and Jesus." Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) "Neusner here makes a contribution to Jewish-Christian understanding that is as lively as it is unusual ... To listen in as he talks with Matthew's Jesus is to get a surer sense of the real issues on this important front of interreligious dialogue." Schubert M. Ogden, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

Product Description

Imagine yourself transported two thousand years back in time to Galilee at the moment of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. After hearing it, would you abandon your religious beliefs and ideology to follow him, or would you hold on to your own beliefs and walk away? In "A Rabbi Talks with Jesus", Jacob Neusner considers just such a spiritual journey. Placing himself within the context of the Gospel of Matthew, Neusner imagines himself in a dialogue with Jesus of Nazareth and pays him the supreme Judaic gesture of respect: making a connection with him through an honest debate about the nature of God's One Truth. Neusner explains why the Sermon on the Mount would not have convinced him to follow Jesus and why, by the criterion of the Torah of Moses, he would have continued to follow the teachings of Moses. He explores the reasons Christians believe in Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven, while Jews continue to believe in the Torah of Moses and a kingdom of priests and holy people on earth. This revised and expanded edition, with a foreword by Donald Akenson, creates a thoughtful and accessible context for discussion of the most fundamental question of why Christians and Jews believe what they believe.