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Home , Historical Jesus, Jesus in the Talmud

IN NON-CHRISTIAN SOURCES

Craig A. Evans

Interest in Jesus traditions in non-Christian writings has had a curious history of waxing and waning. 1 At the height of the "Old Quest" for the there was much interest in these sources. Appealing to rabbinica, Slavonic , the Yosippon, and even to the Toledot , some scholars claimed to have penetrated behind the accounts of the and to have discovered the "Jewish Jesus." These theories did not, however, win a significant or lasting following. Not surprisingly in recent years scholarly interest in these sources has diminished (in marked contrast to the sensationalist claims that have been and are currently being made in the popular media). Nevertheless, a few sources do offer some potentially helpful data that merit serious attention. Non-Christian sources in which reference is made to Jesus fall into three basic categories: (1) dubious sources, (2) sources of minimal value, and (3) important sources. The first category contains second and third-hand traditions that reflect for the most part vague acquaint• ance with the story and controversies with Christians. These sources offer nothing independent. The second category represents sources that may represent partially independent traditions. Only two sources qualify for the third category.

DUBIOUS SOURCES

Rabbinic Traditions A major problem with the possible Jesuanic traditions in the rabbinic writings is that it is not always clear if Jesus (variously called or Yeshu, with or without the further designation ha-Nosri) is in fact the person to whom reference is being made, especially when certain epithets are employed (e.g. , Ben Pandira, Ben Stada,

C. A. Evans, Life of Jesus Research: An Annotated Bibliography (NTTS 13; Leiden: Brill, 1989) 174-87. 444 STUDYING THE HISTORICAL JESUS etc.). For the classic treatments of the problem, one should see, among others, the works by Heinrich Laible, Gustav Dalman, Travers Herford, Joseph Klausner, and more recently Johann Maier. 2 Another serious problem in making use of these traditions is that it is likely that none of it is independent of Christian sources. 3 For example, the apparent reference to Mary, the mother of Jesus, who "played the harlot with carpenters" (b. Sanh. l06a), represents polemic that pre-

2 G. H. Dalman, Was sagt der Thalmud iiber Jesum? (SUB 11; Berlin: Reuther, 1891; 2nd ed., 1900); H. Laible, Jesus Christus im Thalmud (SUB 10; Berlin: Reuther, 1891); S. Krauss, Das Leben Jesu nachjiidischen Quellen (Berlin: S. Calvary, 1902; repro Hildesheim and New York: G. Olms, 1977); idem, "Jesus-Jewish Legends of," Jewish Encyclopedia 7 (1907) 170-73; R. T. Herford, in and (London: Williams & Norgate, 1903; repro New York: Ktav, 1975); idem, " in Jewish Literature," Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels 2 (1908) 876-82; idem, "Jesus in Rabbinical Literature," Universal Jewish Encyclopedia 6 (1942) 87-88; A. Meyer, "Jesus im Talmud," in E. Hennecke (ed.), Handbuch zu den neutestamentlichen Apokryphen (Tiibingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1904) 47-71; W. Bacher, "Travers Herford's 'Christianity in Talmud and Midrash'," JQR 17 (1905) 171-83; H. L. Strack, Jesus, die Hiiretiker und die Christen nach den iiltesten jiidischen Angaben (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1910); S. Zeitlin, "The Halaka in the Gospels and Its Relation to the Jewish Law at the Time of Jesus," HUCA 1 (1924) 357-73; J. Klausner, Jesus of : His Life. Times, and Teaching (London and New York: George Allen & Unwin, 1925) 18- 54. The volumes by Dalman and Laible have been combined and translated as Jesus Christ in the Talmud, Midrash, Zohar, and the Liturgy of the Synagogue (trans. A. W. Streane, with contributions by B. H. Streeter; Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, 1893; 2nd ed., 1900; repro New York: Arno, 1973). For more recent treatments, see M. Goldstein, Jesus in the Jewish Tradition (New York: Macmillan, 1950); J. Z. Lauterbach, "," in Lauterbach, Rabbinic Essays (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1951) 473-570; E. Barnmel, "Christian Origins in Jewish Tradition," NTS 13 (1967) 317-35; repro in Bammel, Judaica (WUNT 37; Tiibin• gen: Mohr [siebeck], 1986) 220-38; D. R. Catchpole, The Trial of Jesus: A Study in the Gospels and Jewish Historiography from 1770 to the Present Day (SPB 18; Leiden: Brill, 1971) 1-71; J. Maier, Jesus von Nazareth in der talmudischen Uberlieferung (ErFor 82; Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1978); C. A. Evans, "Jesus in Non-Christian Sources," DJG (1992) 364-68. For a more popular distillation of these traditions, see F. F. Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974) 54-65. 3 As was rightly recognized long ago by M. Goguel, The Life of Jesus (trans. O. Wyon; London: George Allen & Unwin, 1933) 70-75, and more recently by Maier, Jesus von Nazareth, 263-75, and J. P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (ABRL; New York: Doubleday, 1991) 94-98.