The Messiah in the New Testament in the light of Rabbinical writings

by Risto Santala

This volume follows our presentation of the Messiah in the Old Testament. It shows the roots of Christian faith in the light of the oldest and least-censored normative Jewish sources.

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

"The Author Risto Santala was born on 18th of May 1929. He studied at the University of Helsinki and was ordained as a minister in the Finnish Lutheran Church in 1953. At the University of Jerusalem he attended 1959-60 a Greek Seminar and also one on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Afterwards he passed a course in classical and spoken Arabic. Rev. Santala has written over twenty books. The best known are his studies on "The Messiah in the Old and in the New Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings". He wrote them in modern Hebrew. These two books and the study "Paul The Man and the Teacher in the Light of Jewish Sources", have been published e.g. in English, Finnish, Estonian, Chinese and Russian. The Author has lectured on this subject 1975-76 at Concordia Theological Seminar in Springrield, Illinois as well as 1980 and 1993 at The Free Theological Academy in Basel, Switzerland. In Jerusalem he worked between 1957-68 as a teacher and pastor in the Hebrew boarding school of the Finnish Mission. 1968 -75 he was principal of the Bible School of Helsinki returning after it to his literary challenges in Israel until the year 1987. After that he was a vicar of Joutjärvi parish in Lahti from where he retired on an active pension in 1992."

Reviews

[Marty Solomon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great resource for your library. It’s becoming somewhat dated and I don’t share all the assumptions or conclusions, but it’s a resource that comes from the same pool of influence (Flusser, Edersheim, Safrai, etc.) that was shared by my own teachers. It’s not a repeat of material that I have seen before, but is unique in its own right.

The real gift of this book (to me) is the way it shows how the discussion of the Gospels links up directly with ancient Jewish conversation happening in its day. There is massive cross-referencing between the New Testament (mostly the Gospel accounts) and the midrash, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and even more medieval Jewish commentary.

I do think far more discussion could be given to the NT letters outside of the Gospels in this same regard, as most of the discussion revolves around the content of the Gospels. But it’s a great resource to see the truly Jewish nature of the Gospels and the teachings from the Apostles.

[Dmcconkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book written by Finnish author, who spent many years studying in Israel. Sheds light on the New Testament from Rabbinical sources. A great resource book for study of the Gospels and Epistles.

[Joc-e-lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for whoever wants to learn on the subject of Jewish thoughts regarding events in the NT, specifically on Jesus-Christ as the Messiah.