The New Testament explained Jewishly

Lecture on June 14, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. in the JMC
Rev. Dr. Oliver Gußmann/Rothenburg ob der Tauber

One of the outstanding events of the 2021 anniversary year „1700 Years of Jewish Life in Germany“ was the book publication „The New Testament – Jewishly Explained,“ which explains the New Testament from a Jewish perspective. The book combines the biblical texts with commentaries, explanations and essays by 84 well-known Jewish scholars. More than 50 essays explain the connection between the New Testament and its Jewish context of origin. Four essays have been added to the German edition. They deal with Martin Luther, his view of the Jews and his translation of the Bible, as well as the Jewish-Christian dialogue in the German-speaking world and some of its pioneers.
The authors neither want to convince Jews of Christianity nor to persuade Christians to convert to Judaism, but to help them „understand the meaning of the New Testament writings within their own social, historical and religious context. What is special is that quite surprising aspects of faith emerge from this. For example, even a brief look at the stained glass windows, pictures and altars of St. James Church in Rothenburg o.d.T. reveals that Christianity originated in Judaism: The parents of Jesus have Jewish names, they have their child Jesus (Hebrew name „Gotthilf“) circumcised as pious Jews. Hebrew letters are to be discovered on some pictures. And on the windows one reads the message of the prophets. All this shows that the Jewish roots of the Christian faith have always been known, but these Jewish roots have often been dealt with in a detached and polemical way.