David Flusser

This book contains an introduction by James H. Charlesworth. A modern scholarly classic now updated, "The Sage of Galilee" offers a thorough look at the historical sources regarding life in the first century through the Dead Sea Scrolls, recent archaeological discoveries, and other means of inquiry. Both Jewish and Christian readers will find challenge and new understanding in this work.

First published in German as Die rabbinschen Gleichnisse und der Gleichniserz hler Jesus in 1981--and now translated into English for the first time--this seminal work by Professor David Flusser remains an important and unparalleled contribution on Jesus as a storyteller in the Jewish rabbinic tradition. Using a literary approach to study extant rabbinic parables, he argues that Jesus' parables belong to a genre that exists only in rabbinic literature and the New Testament. In order to analyze the theology behind Jesus' parables, we need to understand them as a first-century literary art form.In a summary of the book, Flusser writes: "I am firmly convinced with fellow researchers that it is possible to get reasonably close to the original wording of Jesus' teaching. But this is only the case when the otherwise usual method of literary criticism is applied to the text of the Synoptic Gospels, and when, moreover, one is willing and able to be guided by knowledge of Judaism. I certainly admit that the words of Jesus, including his parables, were edited by Greek redactors and subsequently by the evangelists. Nevertheless, I believe it is often possible to separate the 'shell' from the 'nut' by applying a better synoptic theory. . . . As I have argued several times, the parables of Jesus belong to the genre of the rabbinic parables. Therefore, valid statements about Jesus' parables, whether these regard their essence or their literary quality, can only be made when one has first dealt with the essence and literary form of the rabbinic parables."

David Flusser was an incredibly prolific scholar of ancient Judaism, and his contributions to Dead Sea Scrolls research and apocalyptic literature are inestimable. This English edition makes more of Flusser's insightful work available to a wider audience than ever before. This second volume in Judaism of the Second Temple Period considers why the Book of Daniel was the only apocalyptic work incorporated in the biblical canon. It further addresses the fact that while it is the only apocalyptic book composed before the destruction of the Second Temple, it nonetheless describes events subsequent to the revelation at Sinai.

Translated by Azzan Yadin Foreword by David Bivin David Flusser was a very prolific scholar of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and his contributions to Scrolls research, apocalypticism, and apocalyptic literature are inestimable. With this English translation of many of his essays, Flusser's insights are now available to a wider audience than ever before. Here Flusser examines the influence of apocalypticism on various Jewish sects. He states that the teachings of Jesus, while reflecting first and foremost the views of the sages, were also influenced by Jewish apocalypticism. Examining the Essenes, their effect on Hebrew language, the split of sects, and much more, Flusser's collected essays offer an important source of study for any Dead Sea Scrolls scholar.

David Flusser hat seine Jesus-Monographie grundlegend überarbeitet. Seine Rekonstruktion des historischen Jesus wird nun durch neue Funde und Erkenntnisse bereichert. Nicht nur die Schriftrollen von Qumran, auch die Entdeckung des Ossuariums der Dynastie Davids und des Sarges, in dem der Hohepriester Kaiphas beigesetzt wurde, liefern wichtige Hinweise auf den Mann Jesus und seine Wirkung unter seinen Zeitgenossen.