Israeli Professor: New Testament is a Jewish Text
Sunday, June 01, 2014 | Israel Today Staff
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A prominent Israeli professor writing in the free Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom continues the trend of Jews both here and abroad reclaiming Jesus and even the New Testament as their own.
Professor Eyal Regev, head of the Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology Department at Bar-Ilan University, writes that while most Jews might not believe the New Testament or Jesus’ claims of messiahship, it is now indisputable among most Jews that the movement that became Christianity was originally Jewish to the core.
“The books of the New Testament, the gospels that tell the story of Jesus’ life and teachings, the Epistles of Paul, and other writings, contain many quotes from the Pentateuch, as well as sermons peppered with the spirit of Second Temple Judaism,” notes Regev.
The professor continues: “The New Testament writings, as bizarre as they might appear to a Jew who does not believe in Jesus, are Jewish compositions.”
He even acknowledges that it was not the original intent of the followers of Jesus to break away from Judaism and form a separate religion.
Regev goes on to applaud more and more Christians for coming to these conclusions, pointing out that it is not an easy process for adherents and leaders of the world’s largest religion. “Such an acknowledgment could lead them to conclude that the Christian religion as we know it veered off the original path of Jesus and his students, or that it does not have a claim to its most fundamental spiritual assets,” he writes.
[hat tip: Rosh Pina Project]
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