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Encyclopedia entry: Jesus
- Article from:
- A Concise Companion to the Jewish Religion
- Author:
Copyright© A Concise Companion to the Jewish Religion 1999, originally published by Oxford University Press 1999. (Hide copyright information)
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Jesus
There is comparatively little in the Talmudic literature on Jesus of Nazareth. Uncensored editions of the Babylonian Talmud do contain a few allusions to Jesus and his disciples but these are of a clearly legendary nature; the Babylonian Jews had only a very hazy picture of Jesus or, for that matter, of Christianity as whole. Their religious challenge was presented chiefly by Persian dualism, which they attacked whenever they had the opportunity to do so. Palestinian sources are less vague but still not really informative. From the few Talmudic references we have, it would seem as if the figure of Jesus was of very little interest to the Rabbis and could largely be ignored. The ...