The Jewish Annotated New Testament ed. by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler (review)

In the past century, a number of Jewish scholars have made significant contributions to the study of the NT and early Christianity (some are mentioned on pp. 736–744). Usually, they have focused on Jesus and Paul. Other parts of the NT were neglected. Often, excellent research remained inaccessible or was not popularised. This volume makes provision for both needs: it covers the entire NT and presents the insights and comments of leading Jewish scholars in a readily usable form.

The volume is the second edition of the NT in the New Revised Standard Version, with annotations by an impressive array of Jewish scholars. It offers introductory essays by the editors on the "Gospels and Acts" (1–8) as well as "Epistles and Revelation" (281–284). It also features introductions and annotations from a Jewish perspective or against a Jewish backdrop on each NT book, together with 88 "In-text essays" on a wide variety of subjects.

The editors' preface to the first edition (2011, xiii–xv) indicates that "Jewish" in the title of this annotated edition of the NT should be understood in three ways:

First, this volume highlights in its annotations and essays aspects of first- and second-century Judaism that enrich the understanding of the New Testament: customs, literature, and interpretations of biblical texts. We believe that it is important for both Jews and non-Jews to understand how close, in many aspects, significant parts of the New Testament are to the Jewish practices and beliefs reflected in the works of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo and Josephus, the Pseudepigrapha and Deuterocanonical literature, the Targumim … and slightly later rabbinic literature, and that the New Testament has, in many passages, Jewish origins. Jesus was a Jew, as was Paul; likely the authors known as Matthew and John were Jews, as were the authors of the Epistle of James and the book of Revelation. When they were writing, the "parting of the ways" had not yet occurred. Other authors, such as the individual who composed the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, while probably not Jewish themselves, were profoundly influenced by first- and second-century Jewish thought and by the Jewish translation of Tanakh into Greek, the Septuagint. …

Second, we highlight connections between the New Testament material and later Jewish (especially rabbinic) literature, so readers can track similar as well as distinct ideas across time.

Third, the volume addresses problems that Jewish readers in particular may find in reading the New Testament, especially passages that have been used to perpetuate anti-Judaism and the stereotypes that non-Jewish readers sometimes bring to the texts. Therefore, in addition to emphasizing the Jewish background—or better, the Jewish contexts—of the New Testament, we pay special attention to passages that negatively stereotype Jews or groups of Jews, such as the Pharisees or the "Jews" in John's Gospel … The authors in this volume do not engage in apologetics by claiming that these statements are harmless. In some cases, they contextualize them by showing how they are part of the exaggerated language of debate of the first century, while elsewhere they note that the statements may not have always been understood accurately by later Christian tradition.

(p. xiii)

In addition, the editors describe the significance of the NT for Jewish readers and their own approach to the NT:

As professional scholars, the authors of the annotations and essays approach the text with the respect that all religious texts deserve. Α precise understanding of the Greek in which the New Testament is written, and deep knowledge of the Greek and Roman literary conventions that it employs, are crucial for understanding the New Testament—just as understanding of ancient Near Eastern culture and languages is crucial for understanding the scriptures Jews and Christians share. The annotations not only display a sensitivity to what may be perceived...