For centuries Christians have read the gospels without much knowledge of Judaism. Fortunately, this situation has changed since the last century. Now many Bible-scholars and church members alike have discovered that Jesus’ life and thought can’t be understood without recognizing him as a Jewish teacher in his days. Less known, however, is the idea that the evangelists were Jewish scribes as well. In line with all new insights that arose with regard to Jesus’ Jewishness, this book demands attention for the evangelists as Jewish narrators.

The subjects that come up for discussion are: the evangelist's Hebrew ways of thought, the oral and written traditions in their narratives, the Jewish life in their stories and the method of midrash they used writing their gospels. The last two chapters deal with the age-long alienation between Christianity and Judaism and the cautious attempts at conciliation that started after the Second World War.

The first Dutch paper 1986-edition of this book was quickly sold out. This English translation appeared as an e-book edition in 2012 and as a paperback edition in 2018. The transaltion is based on the Dutch revised edition of 2010. Through the years the book proved to be very useful for study-groups, theological education, preparation of homilies and personal reflection. Readers could frequently be inspired by new ideas picked up from this book.

You can purchase both editions of this book at www.amazon.com.