DCHindley

Mead's book isn't just about the evidence for a 100 BC Jesus (although I think the title was worded to catch the attention of potential readers).

In fact, the entire "SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS" is quite detailed, although there are often several sections per page. Just about every one of these subjects have been discussed here, mostly by folks who have never read Mead. If you were to ask me, I'd say Mead offers a rather informative introduction to Jewish knowledge and understanding of Jesus and Christianity, and what Christians knew of their understanding, and how they reacted to it.

I. FOREWORD PAGE
Christ and Criticism 1
Brahman and Jew ....... 2
The Christian and the Torah 3
The Jew and the Gospel 4
The New Humanism ...... 6
Theology the Divider 7
An Appeal to Humanists 8
The New Jewish Encyclopaedia..... 9
The Talmud 11
History and Dogma . . . . . . . 11
The Womb of Christianity 12
The Interest of our Enquiry ..... 13
The Main Object of Search 14
The Problem 15
The Need of its Definition 15
The Resultant Dilemma ...... 16
"Occult" Research 18
Its Possible Validity 20
Some Verified Results ...... 22
The Sane Attitude of the Layman .... 23
The Scope of our Enquiry 25

II. THE CANONICAL DATE OF JESUS
Ultra-Scepticism ....... 28
Criticism......... 29
The Position of the Layman 30
Encyclopaedias ignore our Problem .... 32
Recent Research on the Date of the Nativity . . 33
The Pilate Date 35
In the Acts 36
In the Pastoral Epistles 37
Van Manen on Pauline Literature .... 38
The Pilate Tradition in the Gospels . . . . 41
The "Oldest" Written Gospel 43
The Date of the "Common Document" ... 45
The Strength of the Tradition 46

III. EARLIEST EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE RECEIVED DATE
The Absence of Evidence in the First Century . . 48
Pliny the Younger 50
Suetonius. ........ 50
The "Christian!" . 52
Tacitus 53
Is it a Christian Formula! ..... 55
Is it an Interpolation?...... 56
Josephus ......... 58
The Spurious Passage 60
The Jacobus Passage 61
The Silence of Josephus ...... 61
The "Book of James" 62
The "Gospel of Peter" 64
The "Acts of Pilate" 65

IV. THE GENESIS OF THE TALMUD
The Real Conditioning of Jewry .... 68
The Psychological Moment ..... 69
The Study of the Law 70
The Need of it 71
The Fathers of Orthodoxy 72
The Great Heresy 73
The Evolution of Tradition 74
A Glimpse behind the Scenes ..... 75
The Evidence of the "Book of Jubilees" . . . 76
The Oral Law and its Heredity .... 77
Objections to the Traditional View .... 78
The Tradition of the "Esotericists" . . . . 79
Mysticism and Orthodoxy ..... 81
The Writing of the Oral Tradition .... 81
The Main Interest of the Talmud for Christians . 84

V. THE TALMUD IN HISTORY
Justinian s Novella ....... 86
The Crusades 87
The Inquisition 88
The Paris Trial 89
Persecution in Spain . . . . . . . 90
In England 90
One Sensible Pope 91
Spanish Apostates ....... 91
Even the Prayers of the Jews fall under the Ban . 92
"A History of Apostates" 93
Pfefferkorn 94
Reuchlin 94
The Germ of the Index 95
The Talmud-Fires Relighted 96
The Censor 97
His Absurdities 98
Imnanuel Deutsch 99
Cryptography
Anti-Semitism 102
Odium Theologicum ....... 103

VI. IN THE TALMUD S OUTER COURT
The Need of Preliminaries 104
The Manhood of the Soul 105
Of the Talmud in General . 106
Its Forms and Languages . . . . .106
The Talmuds of Palestine and Babylonia . . .107
Statistics 108
No Complete Translation 109
The General Ignorance on the Subject . . . 110
Translations in Progress . . . . . .111
An Unsatisfactory State of Affairs . . . .113
Internal Difficulties 114

VII. THE EARLIEST EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO THE TALMUD JESUS STORIES
The Earliest Persecution of the Christians by the Jews 116
The Testimony of Paul 117
Of the Acts 118
The Terminus a quo 119
The Probable Origin of the Mamzer Stories . . 120
Justin Martyr 121
Bar Kochba's Persecution . . . . . .122
General Charges 124
The Proclamation and the Curse .... 124
Estimate of the Evidence ...... 126
Celsus 127
The Virgin Birth Dogma 128
Ben Pandera 129
John the Baptist 130
Frequent Remodelling of the Gospel Story . . 131
Value of the Evidence 132
Tertullian 132

VIII. THE TALMUD 100 YEARS B.C. STORY OF JESUS
The Translation of the Censured Passages . . . 135
The Name "Jeschu" 136
The Ben Perachiah Story 137
King Jannai ........ 138
Queen Salome and the "Golden Age" . .140
Joshua ben Perachiah . . . . . .141
Jesus a Learned Man . . . . . .141
The Murder of the Innocents ..... 142
The "Little Ones" 143
Was Herod Guilty ? 145
The "Inn" and the "Horns" .... 146
The Excommunication of Jesus .... 146
The "Brickbat" 147
The Jehuda ben Tabbai Story 148
Is it the Original Form of the Jesus Story ? . . 149
The Problem Restated 150

IX. THE TALMUD MARY STORIES
The Mary Stories Unhistorical . . . . .152
The "Book of Genealogies" 153
Ben Stada and Ben Pandera ..... 154
The Lud Stories 155
A Famous Discussion on Bastardy . . . .156
Criticism thereon . . . . . . .157
How it became a Mary Story . . . . .158
The Story of Paphos ben Jehudah . . . .160
How it became a Mary Story . . . . .160
The Vision of Rab Bibi 161
A Commentary thereon ...... 162
The Story of Miriam in Hell . . 163
The "Hinge of Hell s Gate" 164
Miriam and the Soldier . . . . . .165

X. THE TALMUD BEN STADA JESUS STORIES
The Bringing of Magic out of Egypt . . . . 167
The Writing on the Skin 168
The Evolution of Legend 168
The Hiding of the Parchment 169
The Circumcision of the Heart ..... 170
The Rabbis puzzled by their own Creations . . 171
A Mediaeval Commentator ..... 172
Rabbi Tam 173
Miriam Megaddela . . . . . . .174
The Magdalene and the Sophia 174
The Mystic Element 175
Concerning the Enticer to Idolatry .... 176
The Stoning of Jesus 176
The Hanging of Jesus 177
"Lud" Traditions 178
The Forty Days Proclamation before Jesus was Hanged 178
No Knowledge of Crucifixion . . . . .179
Jesus "near those in Power" 180

XI THE TALMUD BALAAM JESUS STORIES
Bileam-Jeschu ........ 181
The Balaam Midrash 181
Comments thereon . . . . . . .182
Resh Lakish and Rashi 183
Abbahu 184
Chia bar Abba 185
Torah v. Gospel 185
Balaam-Jeschu a Prophet . . . . . .186
A Hypothesis 187
Balaam-Nicolaos 187
"Burning One's Food Publicly" .... 189
An Apology for the Nicolaitans .... 189
A Suggested Explanation 190
On the "Going out" from a "Company" . . 191
Doeg, Ahitophel, Gehazi 192
"Those who have no Part in the World to come" . 193
Siphre Minim 194
Exegesis ... 195
Gehazi-Paul . 196
"Elisha" 197
The Disciples of Balaam inherit Gehenna . . . 198
The Age of Balaam-Jeschu ..... 199
A Chronicle of Balaam ...... 200
Phineas-Listaa . . ..... 200
Balaam the Lame Man . . . . . .201
The Necromancy of Onkelos ..... 202
Onkelos-Aquila ....... 203
Exegesis ......... 204
Boiling Filth 205
The Lecture Room of Ben Pandera .... 207
Haman-Jeschu ........ 208

XII. THE DISCIPLES AND FOLLOWERS OF JESUS IN THE TALMUD
The Minim Passages 210
The Five Disciples of Jesus 210
The Crucifixion 211
The Number Five 212
The "Proof from Scripture" 213
The Puzzle of the Names 213
Todah 213
Bunni 215
Netzer 215
Are the Names Genuine? . . . . . . 215
Jacob 216
The Heresy of R. Eliezer 216
A Halacha of Jeschu ... . 217
A Variant of the Story 218
Eliezer's Connection with Christianity . . . 219
In Search of Dates 220
Ben Dama and the Serpent ..... 220
A Variant 221
The Story of James and the Viper .... 222
An Early Christian Mode of Healing . . .223
James the "Brother of the Lord" . . . 224
James the Ascetic 224
The "Shrines" 225
James the Disciple not James the Just . . . 226
The Testimony of Paul 226
Some Difficulties 227
The "Brother of the Lord" 228
A Probable Solution 229
Olbias 230
The Talmud Jacob 230
The Story of the Bribed "Philosopher" . . .231
Date Indications . . . . . . .231
A Saying from the Gospel 232
The Personified Gospel . .232
Some More Minim Passages ..... 234
The Curse on the Minim 234
Minoth 235
The Answer of the Rabbis to the Minim . . .236
The Books of the Minim ... . 236
They are to be Destroyed .... . 237
Friedlander on "Minim" ..... 237
Weinstein on "Minim" ...... 238
Boycott of Minim 239
Impurity of Minim 239
Minim compared with Tax-gatherers . . . 240
The Rolls of the Law written by Minim to be Destroyed 240
The Shema and the Minim 241
The Minim and the Eastward Direction . . . 241
The Importance of the Talmud for the Study of Christian Origins ....... 242

XIII. THE TOLDOTH JESCHU
Causes of Hatred 243
The Inquisition knows little of the Toldoth . . 244
Suggested Keasons for this Silence .... 245
The Paucity of Material 245
Recent Publication of New Material . . 246
Krauss "Leben" 247
His Estimate of the Toldoth 248
"Good Christian Sources" 248
Bischoff's View 249
Only One Source of Information in English . . 250
General Literature ....... 251
Extent of New Material 252
Bischoff's Classification 252
Printed Texts 253
Krauss New Texts 254
Language ..... . 255
Titles 255
The Name "Jeschu" ... . 256

XIV. A JEWISH LIFE OF JESUS
The Seduction 258
How the Bastardy of Jeschu was made Public . . 259
The Robbing of the Shem 261
Jeschu claims to be Messiah and works Miracles with the Shem .... .262
Jeschu and Queen Helene . . . 263
Jesclm s Miracles in Galilee 264
The Magic Contest with Judas .... 265
Jeschu is Condemned to Death .... 266
Jeschu is rescued by his Disciples . . . 267
The Betrayal of Jeschu .... .268
Proofs from Scripture
Jeschu is Hanged on a Cabbage-Stalk . . . 270
The Body is Stolen from the Grave . . 271
The Proclamation of the Queen ... 272
The Body is Recovered 273
The Disciples of Jeschu make Strife in Israel . . 273
How Elijahu removed them from Israel . . . 274
The Commandments of Jeschu .... 275
The Heresy of Nestorius 276
Shimeon Kepha 277
The Scriptures of Shimeon ..... 279

XV. TRACES OF EARLY TOLDOTH FORMS
Toldoth as distinguished from Talmud Stories . . 281
Tertullian 281
Does he refer to a Jesus Story ? 282
Jesus is Stoned ....... 283
The Clementines 283
Pagan Writers ....... 284
Porphyry 284
Hierocles 285
Julian the Emperor....... 285
The "Chest" John 286
The Acts of Pionius 286
Arnobius ........ 287
Ephrem Syrus 287
Jerome 288
Epiphanius 288
John Chrysostom 289
Gregontius 289
John of Damascus 289
Agobard 290
Hrabanus Maurus 292
Ussum ha-Mizri 293
Suidas 293
Peter Alphonsi 294
Raymund Martini ....... 295
The Cabbage-Stalk 296
Luther 296
Schemtob ibn Schaprut 297
History of Jeschu ha-Notzri 297
History of Jeschu ben Pandera . 298
Value of Schemtob's Evidence 299
Aramaic Toldoth Forms 300

XVI. THE 100 YEARS B.C. DATE IN THE TOLDOTH
Value of Toldoth for our Enquiry .... 302
Impossibility of Tracing accurately the Evolution of the Toldoth . 302
Genesis of the Toldoth 303
The Oldest Oral Sources 304
The Oldest Toldoth Elements 305
A New Date Indication in the Toldoth . . . 305
The Jungle of Dates . . . . . .306
Queen Helene 307
Krauss Unsatisfactory Theory .... 308
The Helene Element very old 309
Oleina 309
Helen of Adiabene 309
Is "Monobaz" a Gloss ? 310
Helene-Salome 311
Helene-Selene 312
The Simon Magus Legend . . . . .312
Pros and Cons of the Argument . . . .313
The Date according to the Jewish History-writers . 315
The Date according to the Earliest Toldoth-writers . 315
The Ben Perachiah Date is probably the Earliest . 316
The Exoneration of Miriam 317
Did Jesus claim to be the Messiah? . . .317
The Shem 319
Mystic Masonry 319
YHWH 320
The Evolution of Mystery 320
The Shem Story a Later Development . . . 321
The Fight in the Air 322
The Hanging on the Cabbage-Stalk . . .322
The "Canal" 323

XVII. ON THE TRACKS OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS
The Origin of the Name "Christian" . . .324
Its use in the "Acts" 324
In "I. Peter" 325
A Pagan Designation 325
Date of Origin 326
The Notzrim 326
The Meaning of Nazareth ..... 328
Bethlehem-Nazareth ...... 328
Nazareth = Galilee 329
The Galileans 330
The "Nazoraeans or Christians" .... 330
The Jessaeans 331
Value of Epiphanius 332
The Therapeuts 333
The Name "Essene" 334
The Mind of Epiphanius 335
The Issaei of Nilus 336
The "Therapeut = Christian" Controversy . . 336
The Therapeut Dilemma 337
The Name-Juggling of Epiphanius .... 338
The Osseni 339
The Nazoraei ........ 340
The Flight to Pella 341
Towards the Facts of the Case 342
Nazoraean Scriptures ...... 343
The Hebrew Gospel 343
Ancient Readings ....... 344
The Naziraei 345
The Nazirs 346
The Neo-Nazirs 347
The Rechabites 347
The Sampsaeans ....... 348
"Sun-worshippers" ... ... 349
Their Mystic Doctrine 349
The Ebionites 350
The "Poor" 351
The Riddle of the Name 351
The Twofold Ebionism Hypothesis .... 352
The Early Date of Gnosticism..... 353
Paul and the Gnosis 354
The "Abortion" .... . 355
The Puzzle of the Pauline Communities . . . 356
Ebionite Christology 356
The Doctrine of Election 357
The "Shepherd of Hernias" on Election . . . 358
The Heresy of all Heresies 358
Necessity for a New Definition of Ebionism . . 359
The Samaritans ,. .360
Samaritan Sects 360
Dositheans 361
The Importance of Dositheus ..... 361
Some Curious Legends 362
Dositheus and the 100 Years B.C. Date . . .363
The Conflation of Traditions .... 363

XVIII. CONCERNING THE "BOOK OF ELXAI"
The "Shepherd of Hermas" 365
Hermas a Composite Document .... 366
Date Indications 367
The Church Fathers and the "Book of Elxai" 368
The Date of the Book 369
The "Three Years of Trajan" 369
The Book older than the Prophecy .... 370
Who was Elxai? 371
Elxai-Sophia 372
lexai-Christos 373
Jexai-Jesus ........ 374
Sobiaï-Sophia 374
Marthus and Marthana ...... 375
Our Lady Martha 375
The Sophia and her Twin Daughters . . . 375
The "Impure" and the "Virgin" Wombs . . 376
Mary and Martha 377
The Merinthians 378
The Christology of the "Book of Elxai " . . . 379
Many Manifestations of the Christ .... 379
The Twice-born 380
A Further Date Indication ..... 381
Fire and Water 381
Ichthus 382
The Autun Inscription 383
From "The Descent into Hades" . . 384
Fish and the Eucharist 384
The Antiquity of the Elxai Tradition . . . 385
The Mogtasilah 385
The Schimun of Elxai 386
Elcesei-Cephar-naum ...... 386

XIX. THE 100 YEARS B.C. DATE IN EPIPHANIUS
The Over-confidence of Epiphanius . . . . 388
Epiphanius and the Jannai Date .... 388
The Character of Epiphanius ..... 389
The Value of Epiphanius as a Haeresiologist . . 390
The Riddle of Epiphanius . ... . .391
The Most Remarkable Passage in Patristic Literature 393
Patent Errors therein 394
The Silence of the Commentators .... 394
Epiphanius on the Canonical Date .... 395
Mystically necessitated Numbers .... 396
Epiphanius repeats his Riddle .... 396
"In Order that it might be Fulfilled as it is Written" 397
Drummond on Criticism 398
The "Harmonizing" Industry of Epiphanius . . 399
His Magnificent Inconsistency .... 400
The Bête Noire of Epiphanius .... 401
Epiphanius and the "Histories " 402
The Succession from the Tradition of the Jews" . 403
The Children of Joseph 404
James 404
The Names of the Sisters of Jesus .... 405
Salome and Maria ....... 405
Salome and Miriam 406
Epiphanius a Converted Jew ..... 406
The Living Oral Tradition of Jewry . . . 407
The Birthday of the Christ 408
The Crucifixion and Resurrection Mystery Rite . 409
"Plagiarism by Anticipation" .... 410
Farewell to Epiphanius 411
Was Jesus in Egypt prior to 30 B.C.? 412

XX. AFTERWORD
A Retrospect 413
A Legitimate Subject of Criticism .... 414
A Question for Jewish Scholarship . . . .414
Its Importance for Jewish Apologetics . . .415
The Bona Fides of the Talmud .... 416
A Line of Defence 417
The Method of Haggada 417
The Jannai Puzzle 418
Its Apparent Senselessness ..... 419
The Seeming Silence of the Rabbis . . . .419
The Strength of the Christian Tradition . . .421
A Suggested Genesis of the "Common Document" . 422
The Pilate Date from a New Point of View . . 422
"Pontius Pilate"a Name-change .... 423
Review of this Suggestion ..... 424
The Making of "History" 425
The "Secret Sermon on the Mountain" . . . 426
The Son of God " and " Virgin Birth " . . . 428
The "Suppliant," the " World " and the " Fullness " 429
The "Mind" 430
The "Mind" and the "Man" .... 431
The "Memory" of the "Race " of the Logos . . 431
The Mind and the Senses 432
Virtue and Vice 433
The Root of Humanity 433
The Christ 434
The Ground of Reconciliation between Jew and Christian 435
A Humble Petition 435

ADDITIONAL NOTES . 437

DCH

MrMacSon

I agree. I think there are other almost-forgotten writers who have done the same.

MrMacSon

Yes the hypocricy and meal-mouthedness is increasingly obvious.

Yes, the historiographical naivety of his "NT (& other biblical) scholar" peers suggests a chronic culture of avoidance & obfuscation.

* To fully align principles, and application of them, can we say -

"the relevance of [how] the minimalists [use/d proper *Historical Methodology*] to [do] NT studies" ?? ........... :hobbyhorse:

andrewcriddle

According to Schafer, the main issue with Herford is not that Herford exaggerated what the Talmud can tell us about the historical Jesus. Herford was sceptical about using the Talmud in this way. The main issue is that Herford tended to accept that various Talmudic traditions originally referred to Jesus (even if these traditions are entirely legendary). In some of these cases the tradition probably did not originally refer to Jesus at all.

Andrew Criddle

andrewcriddle

On the question of methodology, it is clear that NT scholarship differs substantially from the methods used in the history of the modern, (late-nedieval onwards), world.

Although true, it is not IMO a particularly interesting fact. It may be more useful to compare NT scholarship with historians of the ancient classical world. EG. the study of early Pythagoreanism, the historical Socrates, the campaigns of Alexander. I don't think that NT scholars are generally less sceptical than other students of the ancient classical world.

Andrew Criddle

hjalti

Are there any classicists that are comparable to guys like NT 'it's-so-absurd-it-might-be-true' Wright?

A priori, I would expect NT scholars to be less skeptical, since most of them are Christians who are studying the origin of their religion. In a similar way I expect "mormon studies" scholars to be less skeptical than classicists.

MrMacSon

All historians - modern & ancient - should apply the same methodology; ancient historians - christian, jewish, classicist, etc - should be prepared to say whether a source is primary or secondary, or whether 'information' does not even fit into either of those classic categories.

I disagree; NT & biblical scholars frequently have not applied objective historiography; and many have confirmation bias b/c they are followers the religion they are studying..

andrewcriddle

In the history of the modern world the wealth of documentation is high enough that one can (if one chooses) work only from high quality sources. (EG. in the history of the English Civil War work from reliable contemporary sources such as statements in Parliament and letters by eyewitnesses and treat with suspicion contemporary pamphlets which tend to be rumour and propaganda.)

In the ancient world there is usually not enough documentation available to write a historical account using only high quality sources.

Andrew Criddle

MrMacSon

Sure. But this should be acknowledged: the definitions of primary source (essentially contemporaneous) and secondary source (elaborations of primary sources) should be followed and stated for each character or event under discussion or examination, regardless of whether they are ancient or modern.

eg. there have been discussion about whether Socrates was a real person, or whether he was merely a character as a literary device of Plato's.

Rick Sumner

I think your appraisal is essentially correct. I once provided Carrier with a list of a half dozen historians who considered the clearly apocryphal last words of Augustus authentic. This claim would get them laughed out of a first year religious studies class, because of the different difficulties the student of religion would anticipate. Neither is any more or less skeptical, they just have different expectations about where difficulties will arise.

That said, I'm not sure this addresses Neil's earlier suggestion that the NT is playing catch up to the likes of Thompson, since Thompson's suggested method has implications for ancient history at large. I'll cheerily agree that biblical historians do many of the same things-- even use the same methods-- as other ancient historians. I just think they're equally naive in their optimism.

We've discussed our divergent views on historical truth claims in the past, so I more wanted to support your appraisal than voice my skepticism, however.

Rick Sumner