JP Welcomes New Author—Professor Serge Ruzer

Serge Ruzer, Mapping the New Testament (Leiden: Brill, 2007).

We at Jerusalem Perspective are always excited whenever we have the opportunity to introduce our readers to a prominent scholar whose study of the Second Temple period can help you contextualize Jesus’ life and message within the world of ancient Judaism. Our most recent author, Professor Serge Ruzer of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has just published a new article on JP that explores the Jewish context of Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism, and how this description ties in with first-century Jewish messianic expectations. Check it out by clicking on the article’s title, “The Programmatic Opening of Jesus’ Biography as a Reflection of Contemporaneous Jewish Messianic Ideas.” And if you enjoy what you read, leave a comment to show Professor Ruzer how much you appreciate his work. An enthusiastic response will encourage Professor Ruzer and other scholars to keep sharing the fruit of their labor with JP’s readers.

Professor Serge Ruzer

Professor Ruzer actively participates in the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research meetings and he has written numerous articles on Jesus and the Gospels. His book Mapping the New Testament: Early Christian Writings as a Witness for Jewish Biblical Exegesis (Leiden: Brill, 2007) plots the location of the early Jesus movement on the map of the late Second Temple period Jewish society. Other studies Professor Ruzer has authored include:

• “From ‘Love Your Neighbour’ to ‘Love Your Enemy’”: Trajectories in Early Jewish Exegesis,” Revue Biblique 109.3 (2002): 371-389.
• “‘Love Your Enemy’ Precept in the Sermon on the Mount in the Context of Early Jewish Exegesis: A New Perspective, Revue Biblique 111.2 (2004): 193-208.
• “Antitheses in Matthew 5: Midrashic Aspects of Exegetical Techniques,” in The Sermon on the Mount and its Jewish Setting (ed. Hans-Jürgen Becker and Serge Ruzer; Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 60; Paris: Gabalda, 2005), 89-116.
• “Son of God as Son of David: Luke’s Attempt to Biblicize a Problematic Notion,” Babel und Bibel 3 (2006): 321-352.
• “Jesus’ Crucifixion in Luke and Acts: The Search for a Meaning vis-à-vis the Biblical Pattern of Persecuted Prophet,” in Judastick und neutestamentliche Wissenschaft (Göttingen: Vandehoeck & Ruprecht, 2008), 173-191.