Late Antique Historiography

Toledot Yeshu

Title(s):
  • Toledot Yeshu
  • מעשי ישו
    (ma‘asay yešū, The acts of Jesus)
  • ספר תולדות ישו
    (sēfer tōledōt yešū, The book of generations of Jesus)
Author:
Period covered:
Ca. 90 B.C.-death of Christ
Language:
Hebrew
State of Preservation:
Full
Genre:
  • Biography (general)
Remarks:
The date of the Genizah fragments is still debated but Di Segni (1984: 85) suggests that they can be dated before the twelfth century. Horbury (Ben-Eliyahu - Cohn - Millar 2012: 145) suggests that the core of Toledot Yeshu could date back to the second century, because they contain the traditional topic of the anti-Christian polemic quoted by Origen in the Against Celsus. It exists in Aramaic and Hebrew versions, as well as in other languages. It is not certain if the Hebrew precedes the Aramaic.
Edition - Translation:
  • S. Krauss (1902) Das Leben Jesu nach jüdischen Quellen. Berlin.
  • G. Schlichting (1982) Ein jüdisches Leben Jesu: Die verschollene Toledot Jeschu-Fassung Tam ū-mū‘ād. Einleitung, Text, Übersetzung, Kommentar, Motivsynopse, Bibliographie. Tübingen.
  • H.J. Schonfield (1937) According to the Hebrews: A new translation of the Jewish life of Jesus (the Toledoth Jeshu), with an inquiry into the nature of its sources, and special relation to the Lost Gospel According to the Hebrews. London.
  • P. Schäfer, M. Meerson (2014) (eds.) Toledot Yeshu: The life story of Jesus. Two Volumes (Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum, 159). Tübingen.
Fragments:
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • E. Ben-Eliyahu, Y. Cohn, F. Millar (2012) Handbook of Jewish literature from Late Antiquity, 135-700 CE. Oxford: 144-147.
  • E. Ben-Eliyahu, Y. Cohn, F. Millar (2012) Handbook of Jewish literature from Late Antiquity, 135-700 CE. Oxford: 144-147.
  • R. Di Segni (1985) Il vangelo del ghetto: Le 'storie di Gesù', leggende e documenti della tradizione medievale ebraica. Rome.
  • R. Di Segni (1984) 'La tradizione testuale delle Toledòth Jeshu: Manoscritti, edizioni a stampa, classificazione'. La Rassegna Mensile di Israel 50: 83-100.
  • D. Joseph (2007) 'Toledot Yeshu'. In: Encyclopaedia Judaica. Volume Twenty, ed. M. Berenbaum - Fred Skolnik. Second edition. Detroit: 28-29.
  • E. Ben-Eliyahu, Y. Cohn, F. Millar (2012) Handbook of Jewish literature from Late Antiquity, 135-700 CE. Oxford: 144-147.
  • P. Schäfer, M. Meerson, J. Deutsch (2011) (eds.) Toledot Yeshu ('The life story of Jesus') revisited: A Princeton conference (Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum, 143). Tübingen.