Just Published

Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes

John Shelby Spong (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996) 361 pp., $24

In his latest challenge to traditional Christian doctrine, Spong, the Episcopal bishop of Newark, argues that in separating the Gospels from their Jewish roots, Christians have formed a skewed understanding of his message. Unlike much of Christianity, which assumes that the Gospels are an accurate description of literal events, the Gospel authors were Jews writing within the midrashic tradition and intended their stories to be read as interpretive narratives, not historical accounts, Spong writes. Among his provocative conclusions: Judas was a fictional character invented to transfer the blame for Jesus’ death from the Romans onto the Jews.

The JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy