Jewish-Christian Dialogues on Scripture in Late Antiquity: Heretic Narratives of the Babylonian Talmud

'Michal Bar-Asher Siegal unpacks several narrative dialogues in the Babylonian Talmud that have been previously misunderstood or deemed unexplainable. By reading them on the background of Christian polemics, this study succeeds in resurrecting the lively debates tucked away in these brief stories. This book combines an engaging prose style, methodological rigor, and creative insight, to recreates a previously unknown world of Christian-Jewish polemics in Babylonia. These dialogues come alive for the first time in centuries thanks to Bar-Asher Siegal's careful analysis. I feel like she has uncovered the ruins of a city long buried and that we can now hear for the first time the voices of these ancient polemicists - both their overt attacks as well as their subtle jabs and sarcastic wit.' Richard Hidary, Yeshiva University, New York
'A heretic approaches a rabbi and asks a question about Scripture. 'Fool' answers the rabbi, and then he wins the ensuing argument by a knockout. Who were the 'fools' and who had the Full Torah? How much did the Babylonian Talmud know about the burning issues of Christian biblical interpretation and theology? Of Christian readings of verses and motifs? Did the rabbis imagine themselves as participating in discussions on such matters? With Christians? Minim? Heretics? Perhaps with themselves? These are just a few of the questions which Michal Bar-Asher Siegal examines in this new and riveting work on literary contacts between rabbinic and Christian tradition in the Babylonian Talmud as seen through minim narratives and the lens of Christian writings.' Joshua Schwartz, Bar-Ilan University, Israel