A Jewish Understanding of the New Testament

An in-depth look at the Christian scriptures - from a Jewish perspective. Many Jewish people know the New Testament only through snippets of verse heard at a Christian wedding or funeral, or through a chapter read in literature class. Many are completely unfamiliar with the meaning or messages of Christian scripture and therefore hold strange or startling judgments about it. Without compromising his Jewish identity or encouraging any traditional Jewish stereotypes of the New Testament, Sandmel offers an enlightened view of Christian beliefs and encourages readers to acknowledge their common humanity with people of all religions.

Table of Contents:
Preface to the Third Edition Preface New Forward Part One: Preliminaries I. A Description of the New Testament II. The Historian's Approach III. The Jewish Background IV. From Judaism into Christianity Part Two: Paul and the Pauline Epistles V. The Background of Paulinism VI. Paul VII. Paul’s Doctrine of Christ VIII. The Church and the Law of Moses IX. The Epistles of Paul X. Pauline Christianity and Greek Religion Part Three: The Synoptic Gospels and Jesus XI. The Gospel Process XII. The Gospel According to Mark XIII. Beyond the Gospel According to Mark XIV. The Gospel According to Matthew XV. The Gospel According to Luke XVI. The Historical Jesus Part Four: Other Writings XVII. Catholic, Johannine, and Pastoral Epistles XVIII. The Epistle of James XIX. The First Epistle of Peter XX. The Epistle of the Hebrews XXI. The Johannine Epistles XXII. Revelation XXIII. Acts of the Apostles XXIV. The Gospel According to John XXV. The Pastoral Epistles XXVI. Jude and Second Peter Part Five: The Significance of the New Testament XXVII. The Genius of the New Testament Faith XXVIII. Epilogue Bibliography Indices

About the Author :
Rabbi Samuel Sandmel was professor of Bible and Hellenistic Literature at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, and was author of many highly regarded books in the field of Jewish and Bible studies.

Review :
"Now when it is needed more than ever, at last the definitive classic is back. Samuel Sandmel—beloved teacher of Bible to generations of Reform rabbis—guides Jews through the beauty, subtlety, and difficulty of Christian scripture. Don't open the desk drawer in a motel room without Sandmel in your other hand." —Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, author of Filling Words with Light: Hasidic and Mystical Reflections on Jewish Prayer "This is a classic in every sense of the term. Sandmel guides us patiently through the early writings of the Christian Church—Paul and the Epistles, the Gospels and the other writings—with scholarly acumen, sound historical judgement and sympathy. Particularly striking is his treatment of both the genuine controversies within and between the individual books and the overarching unity of the whole." —Rabbi Neil Gillman, professor of Jewish philosophy at The Jewish Theological Seminary; author of The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought and The Jewish Approach to God: A Brief Introduction for Christians