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{en} From Jesus to Paul (1942) is the English edition of Mi-Yeshu `ad Paulus (1939-1940 Klausner), book. Translated from the Hebrew by William F. Stinespring.

Abstract

In this ambitious project, Klausner provided one of the first critical Jewish assessments of Paul, dedicating himself to answering two questions: 1) How was Christianity separated from Judaism, and why did Judaism not accept the teaching of Paul as it likewise did not accept the teaching of Jesus? For Klausner, the rise of Christianity and spread among pagans was possible because of three causes: 1) the dispersion of Jews outside of Palestine 2) the spiritual conditions among Gentiles in the first century and 3) the nature of Hellenistic Jewish culture of non-Palestinian Jews in those days. Klausner labels (with certain reservations) Paul as the founder of Christianity: "without Jesus no Paul and no Nazarenes; but without Paul no world Christianity" (590). One of the reasons why Judaism mainly rejected Paul's teaching was because of its threat to the survival of Jewish nationalism, a value which Klausner exalts throughout his work (undoubtedly reflecting his own Zionist concerns) as an essential factor for the survival of Judaism.--Isaac W. Oliver

Reviews (from rear cover): "The whole of this reconstruction of the past is as much a contribution to Christian as to Jewish thinking....The position stated by Dr. Klausner will never be accepted by the worldwide brotherhood of faith and worship which honors Jesus as the Saviour of the world. On the other hand, Dr. Klausner, in his turn, inflexibly dismisses this challenging claim as a later, a gradual surging within the human mind." - The New York Times * "The historical picture, painted by Dr. Klausner, of religious and social conditions in the Roman Empire at the time of Paul is of the highest value and can hardly be surpassed....Moreover, the volume is one of the most important contemporary indications of how Christianity appears to many liberal Jews." - Religious Book Club Bulletin * "The great value of Dr. Klausner's work lies in his intimate knowledge of Judaism and his penetrating analysis of the environmental factors of early Christianity. It is also valuable to have a picture of Paul by one who shares his Jewishness but is out of sympathy with the central core of his message. This book will not replace our Christian interpretation of Paul, but it will help greatly in clarifying our conception of the apostle." - Christian Century * "[Klausner] writes, with a scholar's depth and a prophet's passion, of issues which are never for him bloodless abstractions, and the result is a piece of religious history as well as a study of religious history." - Harvard Divinity School Bulletin

Editions

Published in London: Allen & Unwin, 1942; and New York, NY: Macmillan, 1943; with a Foreword by Sidney B. Hoenig.

Contents

Judaism outside of Palestine at the rise of Christianity -- The pagan world at the time of the rise of Christianity -- Hellenistic Jewish thought -- The sources -- Jewish Christianity and Gentile Christianity -- The life and work of Saul (Paul) of Tarsus (C. 10-64 C.E.) -- The teaching of Paul.

External links