The Jesus the Jews Never Knew: Sepher Toldoth Yeshu and the Quest of the Historical Jesus in Jewish Sources (Paperback)

by Frank R. Zindler (Author)
Key Phrases: shem hamphoras, four commoners, axial pole, Toldoth Yeshu, John the Baptist, Babylonian Talmud (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
An appendix contains the entire text of the 1982 American Atheist Press book (ISBN 0-910309-02-7) "The Jewish Life of Christ, Being the Sepher Toldoth Jeshu," by G.W. Foote and J.M. Wheeler (1896), with an introduction by Madalyn Murray O'Hair.

The ancient Jews never heard of Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, they never heard of Nazareth either. That is the startling conclusion of a comprehensive investigation of Jewish records surviving from antiquity. Every literary source ever advanced by serious scholars as being a reference to the historical Jesus is examined and found to be nothing of the sort -- except for the latest layers of the Babylonian Talmud. Clearly, those references were reactions to Christianity, not to Christ.

But what of the "Sepher Toldoth Yeshu" ("The Book of the Genealogy of Jesus")? Does that Jewish satirical antigospel reflect echoes of ancient arguments between Jesus of Nazareth and his Jewish brethren? Can the Jesus of that tale -- a man portrayed as the bastard son of a soldier named Panther, a magician, and the aerially sodomized victim of a flying Judas -- provide information about a historical Jesus? Of course not, but it does provide a fascinating insight into the world in which the gospels were invented.

The book sheds light on the important role of fraud and forgery in the advancement of Christianity even in its earliest periods. It shows, for example, that there was much more Christian interpolation into the works of Josephus than even most Atheist scholars have realized.

"The historical Jesus has always been made to stand on two legs: the New Testament and Jewish literature. The New Testament leg I consider to have been sawed off long ago. Amputation of the Jewish leg has been, I hope, the achievement of this book. With both his legs missing, the figure of Jesus must now either hover in the air -- like the god he started out as in the Christian mysteries or like the Yeshu he became in the Toldoth -- or he must fall to earth like a deflated baloon." --Frank R. Zindler

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: American Atheist Press (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578849160
• ISBN-13: 978-1578849161
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #739,927 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Zindler has done excellent work in TJTJNK, August 31, 2006

By	[e-mail] (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

I found Zindler's comprehensive survey of the Jewish record of alleged references to Jesus to be compelling and enjoyable reading. The interesting style and well-documented text made TJTJNK a fine addition to my library. I give it four stars and a definite thumb up. Some reviewers reveal they did not actually read Zindler's book by mischaracterizing its contents. I do not recall detecting a vitriolic or polemical tone within TJTJNK. (However such tones are justified as Christianity's long bloody history of forced conversions and supression of other sects and religion attests.) One reviewer simply begs the question (something Zindler does not do) by assuming the disciples in the gospel stories actually existed when the reality of the whole story (including the disciples) is in dispute. One cannot assume some part of the Jesus story is true and then use that part to cast a positive light on the remainder of the tale by a sophmoric turn of phrase. To do so is to beg the question and hence invalidate any argument made by the question begger. Zindler shows how and why there is zero support for the idea of a historical Jesus of the gospels in the corpus of Jewish literature. Not only does Zindler demolish the Christian apologetic arguments that Josephus recorded something to give credence to the idea the god man actually lived, but he proves beyond the shadow of a doubt the Rabbis simply reacted to Christianity rather than to have taken note of any alleged historical founder. Zindler's fine book belongs in the freethinkers library.

17 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An important but poorly presented work., February 22, 2004

By A Customer

This is a very important work demonstrating that there is no evidence in Jewish sources of an historical Jesus and is a must read for those interested in the true origins of Christianity.
However the book is spoiled by the authors puerile attitude towards early Christian writers. Instead of serious discussion of the mechanisms of evolution of early Christian writings we are presented with the childish dismissal of the writers as frauds and liars. Similarly the writers of ancient Jewish texts are presented as politically motivated conspirators. This attitude does not help the authors case.
The book also lacks a proper introduction to the mythicist view of Christian origins, a brief introduction only being given towards the end of the book. This is not surprising as the author is an extremist who considers the whole Bible including the Old Testament to be complete myth, a point of view that is not shared by even some of the most extreme critical scholars. Far too much of the book is spent in spiteful arguing against the historicity of Balaam story in the Old Testament and against the accuracy of the anecdotes of the Talmudists sometimes bordering on modern style "anti-zionist" anti-semitism.
The book does however contain many insights into the story of Jesus and the alleged references to Jesus in the Talmud that one does not normally come across in mythicist literature. Yet strangely the author overlooks one of the most important pieces of information in this regard, namely that the name "Yeshu" which Christians allege refers to Jesus is not in fact a real name let alone a Hebrew form of "Jesus" being merely an acronym for the Hebrew expression "may his name and memory be obliterated".

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for a lay person, October 9, 2007

By	M. E. Bowen-stamper - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a little hard to follow if you don't have a Phd in biblical studies or ancient history of the middle east. I will admit that it isn't an easy read.