Peter Schäfer's remarkable volume on Jesus' enigmatic place in Talmudic literature is a work of
erudition and depth. It will bring deeper knowledge to students and teachers of Judaism and
Christianity.--Elie Wiesel When the premiere 'Christian-Hebraist' of our era turns his
attention to Jesus in the Talmud everyone interested in ancient history and modern
interreligious dialogue must take notice. Peter Schäfer carefully sifts through all of the
literary evidence from that great monument of late-fifth-century Babylonian Jewish culture with
fresh eyes and striking insights. His final chapter focused on why the Babylonian Talmud could
sustain such anti-Christian rhetoric is a scholarly tour de force.--Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky
Jewish Theological Seminary From the opening pages of Jesus in the Talmud the reader senses
that something new and important is about to be unfolded. It is and the unfolding of it is
pure Schäfer: straightforward and plain-speaking argued densely yet with great clarity
provocative but finally persuasive. And yes exciting too.--F. E. Peters author of The
Children of Abraham This is an exceptionally engaging book. Professor Schäfer has subjected to
close scrutiny all the passages relating to Jesus in the Talmudic and other rabbinic literature
produced in Palestine and in Babylonia in late antiquity. His aim is to use them to discover
the rabbis' attitude to Christianity. While the force of the argument suggests this book should
be mainly of interest to students of rabbinic Judaism I believe that the subject matter will
ensure that it has a much wider readership. It sheds light in places on the way the gospel
traditions evolved particularly in Palestinian and Syriac-speaking Christianity.--Nicholas de
Lange University of Cambridge
