Religion, nationalism, and historiography: Yehezkel Kaufmann’s account of Jesus and Early Christianity

Abstract

To open a volume by Yehezkel Kaufmann is to embark upon an intellectual adventure. A stimulating, polemical style draws us into the presence of a creative and probing mind that scrutinized the problems of the Jewish experience from the religious struggles of the biblical period to the Zionist controversies of the twentieth century. One does not read Kaufmann: one confronts him. ¶ Though Kaufmann is best known for his monumental Toledot HaEmunah HaYisre' elit (History of the Religion of Israel), 1 which presents a strikingly original, sweeping reevaluation of the biblical evidence for the faith of ancient Israel, his earlier Golah VeNekhar (Exile and Alien Lands)2 examines the even larger canvas of Jewish history as a whole with the broad vision and penetrating brilliance that are the hallmark of his work. The ambitious subtitle, "A Historical-Sociological Study of the Question of Jewish Destiny from Antiquity to the Present," is almost understated: Golah VeNekhar is probably the only serious effort to construct a detailed philosophy of Jewish history in this century. (from Introduction)