David Flusser (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: דוד פלוסר; born 1917; died 2000) was an Israeli professor of

Early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

and Judaism of the

Second Temple Period The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Je ...

at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

Biography

David Flusser was born in Vienna on September 15, 1917. He grew up in Příbram ''(Przibram, Pibrans, Freiberg i.B.)'', middle

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and attended the University of Prague. There he met a pastor,

Josef Perl Josef Perl (27 April 1930 – Sept. 2018) was a Holocaust survivor who dedicated twenty years of his life to educating people about the Holocaust. He was born in Czechoslovakia and later lived in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England. He received more t ...

, who piqued his interest in Jesus and Christianity. As a young schoolboy his parents had sent him to a Christian school, but in Palestine during the late 1930s he became an observant Jew. Flusser emigrated to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

, where he completed his doctorate at the Hebrew University of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

in 1957. He later taught in the Comparative Religions department for many years, mentoring many future scholars. David Flusser was the cousin of Vilém Flusser. Flusser died in

on September 15,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, on his 83rd birthday. He was survived by his wife, Chana, 2 sons, Yochanan and Uri, and 7 grandchildren.

Academic career

Flusser was a devout

Orthodox Jew Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...

who applied his study of the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

and

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

to the study of ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

and Arabic texts, as well as the Hebrew of the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

. Flusser scrutinized the ancient Jewish and Christian texts for evidence of the Jewish roots of Christianity. While critically distinguishing the

historical Jesus The term "historical Jesus" refers to the reconstruction of the life and teachings of Jesus by critical historical methods, in contrast to religious interpretations. It also considers the historical and cultural contexts in which Jesus lived. ...

from the portrayal in the Gospels and other Christian writings, Flusser saw Jesus as an authentic Jew, misunderstood by his followers. David Satran, a professor of comparative religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said, "Dr. Flusser was rather remarkable in his strong insistence that not only was Jesus a Jew from birth to death, but that Jesus did nothing that could be interpreted as a revolt or questioning of the basic principles of the Judaism at the time." Personally, Flusser viewed Jesus as a

tsadik Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...

with keen spiritual insight and a "high self-awareness" that near-contemporaries similarly expressed, such as

Hillel the Elder Hillel ( he, הִלֵּל ''Hīllēl''; variously called ''Hillel HaGadol'', ''Hillel HaZaken'', ''Hillel HaBavli'' or ''HaBavli'', was born according to tradition in Babylon c. 110 BCE, died 10 CE in Jerusalem) was a Jewish religious leader, s ...

in the Talmud and the "Teacher of Righteousness" in certain Dead Sea Scrolls. Flusser pursued his research at a time when many Jews blamed Christianity for Nazism. During his trial in Israel, the Gestapo officer

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
'' The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the pap ...

'': "I do not know who is the God in whose name Eichmann swore, but I am certain that it is neither the God of Israel nor the God of the Christian church. It should now become clear to the strongest Jewish opponents of Christianity that Christianity ''per se'' imposes limitations, and that the greatest crime against our people was not committed in the name of the Christian faith". Flusser published over 1,000 articles in Hebrew, German, English, and other languages. The results of his many academic writings can be found in his book, ''Jesus'' (1965), whose augmented second edition ''The Sage from Galilee'' (1998) was updated to incorporate his later research and views on Jesus. One of Flusser's views which was particularly influential in Germany, being taken up and advocated also by

Joachim Jeremias Joachim Jeremias (20 September 1900 – 6 September 1979) was a German Lutheran theologian, scholar of Near Eastern Studies and university professor for New Testament studies. He was abbot of Bursfelde, 1968–1971. He was born in Dresden and sp ...

, was the suggestion that the name ''Yeshu'' used of Jesus in the Talmud was "in no way abusive" but was in fact a Galilean dialect version, since according to Flusser, Galileans found the final

ayin ''Ayin'' (also ''ayn'' or ''ain''; transliterated ) is the sixteenth letter of the Semitic scripts, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac ܥ, and Arabic (where it is sixteenth in abjadi order only). The letter represen ...

of the name

Yeshua Yeshua or Y'shua (; with vowel pointing he, יֵשׁוּעַ, Yēšūaʿ, labels=no) was a common alternative form of the name Yehoshua ( he, יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, Yəhōšūaʿ, Joshua, labels=no) in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among J ...

difficult to pronounce. Flusser also took the view (1992) that the '' Birkat haMinim'' was originally in reference to

Sadducees The Sadducees (; he, צְדוּקִים, Ṣədūqīm) were a socio- religious sect of Jewish people who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. T ...

, not Judaeo-Christians. Flusser was trained as a philologist and thus the study of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic manuscripts was central to his research interests. He was primarily interested in the medieval Book of Yosippon which claimed much of his time from 1940-1982 when he finished his edition of this medieval history of the Second Temple period. His studies of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament manuscripts illuminated both the contemporary period and the echoes in the Book of Yosippon. Flusser once quipped that he would like to chat with Jesus and the anonymous author of the Book of Yosippon once he reached the "academy on high". His final biography would emphasize his medieval training and interests.

Awards and recognition

Flusser was a member of the

Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was established in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between Israeli scholars in the sciences and humanities and create a think tank for advising the government on re ...

and received the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

in 1980, for his contributions to the study of Jewish history. Lawrence Schiffman, chairman of the Skirball department of

and Judaic studies at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, credited him with pioneering "the modern study of Christianity in the

state of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in a scholarly context".

Selected works

* * * * * * * * *Unfortunately, the translations made by Azzan Yadin are riddled with mistakes ranging from typographical errors to mistranslations to the omission of entire sentences and paragraphs. These gross errors are deeply detrimental to the clarity and accuracy of Flusser's essays and reflect poorly on his scholarship. For a list of translation errors and other mistakes that have been noted in this translated collection of articles, se
Corrections and Emendations to Flusser's ''Judaism of the Second Temple Period''
on ''Jerusalem Perspective'' (jerusalemperspective.com). * - e-book only

References

External links

"One of the world's foremost Jewish authorities on the New Testament and early Christianity"

Jewish-Christian Relations

Bibliography of the Writings of David Flusser by Malcolm Lowe

David Flusser interview with Roy Blizzard

The Scrolls from the Dead Sea
*David Flusser
"Jesus' Temptation and its Jewish Background"
*David Flusser
"''Sanctus'' and ''Gloria''"
*David Flusser
"The Torah in the Sermon on the Mount"
*David Flusser
"Luke 9:51-56—A Hebrew Fragment"
*Peter Tomson
"Review: David Flusser’s, ''Die rabbinischen Gleichnisse und der Gleichniserzähler Jesus'' (1981)"
(Flusser's book on parables) *David Flusser
"‘Everything Written…in the Psalms About Me’ (Luke 24:44)"
*David Flusser
“Midrash in the New Testament”
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flusser, David Israel Prize in history recipients Israel Prize in history of the Jewish people recipients Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Austrian Jews People from Příbram Israeli people of Czech-Jewish descent Israeli people of Austrian-Jewish descent Israeli Orthodox Jews 1917 births 2000 deaths Czech people of Austrian descent Critics of Christianity Charles University alumni Czechoslovak emigrants to Israel Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty Historians of Christianity Historians of Jews and Judaism Jewish historians 20th-century Israeli historians