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Title: Scripture and Tradition in Judaism: Haggadic Studies (Studia Post Biblica - Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism , No 4) by Geza Vermes ISBN: 9-0040709-6-6 Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers Pub. Date: August, 1997 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $71.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Absolutely brilliant...
Comment: I'm not sure if everyone would agree with some of Geza Vermes' interpretations but this book is eye opening. I first got turned on to this book while studying Islam where I learned that the son who was to be sacrificed by Abraham was a willing and active participant. This was not the way I understood it. So I did some digging and, in time, ended up at this book.

While the book tackles more than just the Akedah it does discuss in detail the fact that many of the oral traditions of Judaism made their way in written form into the New Testament and that this oral tradition had a tremendous impact on Christianity. This 'tradition' falls outside of the Hebrew Bible as we know it yet it had a significant impact on both Christianity and Rabbinical Judaism, one obviously, the other less obvious.

For example, we find that Jesus, of whom Isaac was considered by Christians as a 'type' of sacrificial lamb for his people and by Jews as a 'type' of martyr willing to die for the Nation, was a willing participant in his own sacrifice. Vermes draws out the possibility (perhaps probability) that the understanding of Isaac's role in the Akedah by Jesus' day had, through tradition, become that of a willing and active participant.

As in Islam the Quran reflects what might be seen as a developed tradition of what is only touched upon in the Hebrew Bible, so too does Christianity, several hundred years earlier, reflect a developed tradition. It is 'tradition', outside of the Bible, outside of the mainstream, lying at what is considered by some to be the fringe, where things get interesting because it is here where we are truly able to begin putting ourselves 'back' there.

There is much in the New Testament that would be quite baffling if it were not for books/literature from the Second Temple Period that unfold what would otherwise remain enigmatic. Vermes unfolds the implications of some of these traditions in this book. It is quite scholarly but it is well worth the read.