Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus (Chicago Studies in the History of Judaism) (Paperback)

by Susannah Heschel (Author) "The repudiation in modern Europe of political power based on inherited family rank led, as Simon During has made clear, to a broader cultural problem..." (more)
Key Phrases: older halakha, homines pestilentiosi, unique religious consciousness, New Testament, Old Testament, Jewish Christianity (more...)

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Product Description

Was Jesus the founder of Christianity or a teacher of Judaism? When he argued the latter based on the New Testament, Abraham Geiger ignited an intense debate that began in nineteenth-century Germany but continues to this day.

Geiger, a pioneer of Reform Judaism and a founder of Jewish studies, developed a Jewish version of Christian origins. He contended that Jesus was a member of the Pharisees, a progressive and liberalizing group within first-century Judaism, and that he taught nothing new or original. This argument enraged German Protestant theologians, some of whom produced a tragic counterargument based on racial theory.

In this fascinating book, Susannah Heschel traces the genesis of Geiger's argument and examines the reaction to it within Christian theology. She concludes that Geiger initiated an intellectual revolt by the colonized against the colonizer, an attempt not to assimilate into Christianity by adopting Jesus as a Jew, but to overthrow Christian intellectual hegemony by claiming that Christianity—and all of Western civilization—was the product of Judaism.

About the Author

Susannah Heschel is the Eli Black Associate Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Religion at Dartmouth College. She is the coeditor of Insider/Outsider: Multiculturalism and American Jews and the editor of On Being a Jewish Feminist: A Reader and Moral Grandeur and Spirited Audacity: Essays on Abraham Joshua Heschel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (April 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226329593
• ISBN-13: 978-0226329598
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #623,806 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lucid and accessible research. Recommended., April 8, 1998

By A Customer

Geiger is without doubt one of the most lucid commentators on Liberal Judaism. Heschel has done an excellent appraisal of his work and this book is destined to become a standard text for the critique of Geiger. Geiger's work now has to be seen in the light of the wonderful and more revelatory "The Autobiography of Jesus of Nazareth..." by Richard G Patton which delivers the HUman Being of Christ in the same context as Geiger but without kowtowing to the early Christian politics. I hope Heschel has more works to offer because I found this work truly informative and easily accessible.