January 21, 2005

MINNEAPOLIS - In Presumed Guilty, a premier New Testament scholar explores how Jesus' trial and execution are portrayed in the New Testament and how that portrayal has affected biblical studies, Christian theology, and Jewish-Christian relations through history. Peter J. Tomson has written an accessible, responsible analysis of the biblical accounts of Jesus' death, demonstrating how, through compounded misunderstandings, they contributed to anti-Jewish sentiment in the early church and later history. Tomson's question of how Jesus is to be understood in his first-century Judean context is a critical one not only for biblical scholars, but for anyone concerned about human rights and interreligious dialogue today.

"What does the Jesus movement have to do with the Jews? Two answers can be given, one positive and one negative. The positive response is that Jesus and his first followers were Jews and remained Jews. The beginnings of Christianity must therefore be understood from the perspective of Judaism. The negative response is that Christians dissociated themselves from non-Christian Jews and began to view them as hostile competitors. They even came to assume that this was Jesus' intention. After this separation, to be a Christian appears to be synonymous with being anti-Jewish. For these two reasons we cannot discuss Jesus without involving the Jews."

Publication of Presumed Guilty is sponsored by the Foundation for Scientific Research on Christian Literature on Jews and Judaism (Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek van Christelijke Literatuur over Joden en Jodendom), which is based in the Netherlands. The aim of the Foundation is to publish scholarly studies on the religious roots of anti-Semitism. To this end, the board of the Foundation has solicited the advice of Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish experts. It was unanimously agreed that Dutch Reformed theologian Dr. Peter J. Tomson carry out this study on the relationship to Judaism in the New Testament.

Peter J. Tomson is Professor of New Testament and Patristics at the University of Brussels Theological Faculty in Belgium. He is co-editor of The Image of the Judaeo-Christians in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature (2003) and author of Paul and the Jewish Law (Fortress Press, 1990).

ISBN: 0-8006-3707-0 5.5" x 8.5"; 160 pp; paperback; $15.00.

To order Presumed Guilty please call Fortress Press at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the web site at http://www.augsburgfortress.com/.

Fortress Press