Why did the Jewish crowd in Jerusalem prefer to release an armed robber charged with murder over Jesus?
High Priests of the Roman Period in Rabbinic Sources
How and why are High Priests from the end of the Second Temple Period remembered in rabbinic sources?
Book Review: Brad Young’s Jesus and His Jewish Parables
Young argues that the best way to understand what Jesus was teaching in his parables is to try to hear him as he spoke to his people.
Rethinking the Magi in Matthew and Exodus Rabbah
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Purity Halakha in the Story of the Hemorrhaging Woman
Does concern for ritual purity explain why the hemorrhaging woman touched Jesus’ tzitzit?
Halakha in the Gospels
The Gospels describe Jesus and his followers as keeping halakha to a relatively high extent; they were a group to whom the law was important.
Aesop’s Fables and the Parables of the Sages
The meshalim (proverbs and parables) of the sages shed light on the development of Aesop’s fables and on variant versions of the fables within the complex Aesopic tradition.
Tangled up in Techēlet: Tzitzit (Ritual Tassels) in the Time of Jesus
Although the wearing of tzitzit is enjoined in Scripture, we do not find records of its actual observance until the Second Temple period.
The Historical Jesus, a Tanna? Charity and Deeds of Loving-Kindness in the Gospels and Early Rabbinic Thought
When nearly precise rabbinic parallels to stories and sayings in the Gospels exist, it may indicate that the Gospels are preserving traditions of the early Jesus movement and, perhaps, the historical Jesus.
Notes on the New Testament as a Witness for Broader Jewish Patterns in Jesus’ Times
This essay probes a number of Matthean and Lukan contributions to the shared Synoptic narrative, in search of possible reflections of contemporaneous Jewish customs and beliefs with broader circulation.