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293 The Historical Jesus as Jewish Prophet: Its Meaning for the Modern Jewish-Christian Dialogue1 Sara Mandell Although considering the historical Jesus a Jew is a common, but not universal academic tenet, it is not so perceived by those albeit rather limited segments of the lay public whose anti-Judaism causes them to separate Jesus the Messiah from his Second Temple Jewish background.2 For the most part, the great majority of lay Christians, who have no anti-Jewish feelings, do not pay attention or simply give lip service to the historical Jesus’ Jewishness because it is only slightly if at all relevant to their faith and/or theological precepts. On the other hand, there is a growing movement by lay Christians to pay attention to Jesus’ Judaism. This occurs because fundamentalist Christians believe that Jesus will return when the Jews return to Israel, thereby presupposing a core connection between the return of the Messiah, namely Jesus, and that of the prophetic spirit,3 with Jewish History past, present, and future;4 and, some Christian sects are influenced by the Jewish-Christian dialogue, whose focus is on commonalities —whether or not their shared origin from Second Temple Judaism is acknowledged— rather than differences. Since this dialogue is evolving into a strong religious force,5 it is bringing the lay into the academic arena. Although at least as a theological dictum lay Christians and Jews today do not think of Jesus as if he were a prophet,6 it is likely, provided the earliest manuscripts of the Gospels were in accord with whatever manuscripts may have been handed down,7 that some or even many of Jesus contemporaries did consider him one (see, for example, Matt. 21:46).8 For example, in some villages, the 294 Sara ManDEll people identified Jesus as John the Baptist, Elijah, or a prophet (Mark 8:27; Luke 9:18). The delineation of Jesus as prophet is indicated by Jesus’ use of Old Testament themes regarding the torture and death of prophets as we see in Matthew (23:34-39).9 We also see this in the “woe” oracles (Matt. 23:13-33), which deeply reflect prophetic pronouncements. Jesus clearly shows himself to be a prophet,10 as evidenced by his comments regarding a prophet’s acceptance or honor in his own country (Gos Thom. 31:1;11 Matt. 13:57; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24; John 4:44).12 Moreover, the “crowds” in Matthew (21:11) and Luke (7:16, 24:19) explicitly call Jesus a prophet. He is deemed a great prophet (Luke 11:16). Most importantly, he self-identifies as a prophet (Luke 13:33). The understanding that Jesus was a prophet remains part of the Muslim conventions (Q 2:136), but, it has not continued to be given consideration in nonacademic, lay Judaeo-Christian traditions. There are various reasons that the historical Jesus’ prophetic nature, which is part of the academic understanding, is not part of the modern lay JudaeoChristian dialogue. The latter is only beginning to deal with the historical realia pertinent to core beliefs, rites, and practices, and to very specific parallels found between Old Testament/Hebrew Scripture and New Testament texts.13 Rather, the differences between the two perspectives are related to the albeit conceptually or theological evolved focus of those beliefs, rites, and practices. The lay understanding views the New Testament text only as it pertains to modern Christianity or Judaism: in other words, it revolves around what is pertinent to the respective believer without regard to the historical validity. On the other hand, the academic understanding concerns itself with historical validity, and it looks at what we believe was pertinent to the respective believer in Jesus’ own time as well as that in which the canonical text was composed.14 Christians have, as the core of their faith, Jesus, who had been born as king of the Jews (Matt. 1:1; Mark 1:1) and who is also the anointed one, the Messiah or Christ (Matt. 16:16; Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20; John 1:41, 4:25).15 Surprisingly, therefore, it is only in John 4:26 that Jesus self-identifies as such.16 However, since John is patently influenced by middle Platonism, this attribution may simply be a differing delineation of what was clearly understood by Jesus’ followers, including the authors of the Synoptic Gospels. From the Easter faith perspective, the messianic persona of Jesus is founded and based on the resurrection (Acts...

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