PREFACE
TnE great host of books which have been written
upon the early history of Christianity have, amidst
all their differences, one characteristic in common.
They are almost entirely based upon the study of
Christian documents. This of course is natural, and
no investigation which should neglect those docu-
ments would
lead to results of any value. But the
f i
eld of inquiry is not exhausted when the Christian
literature has been thoroughly explored. There is a
Jewish literature which also needs to be examined.
Considering that, historically, Christianity is an out-
growth from Judaism, and that the Judaism with
which the origin of Christianity was contemporary
was the Judaism not of the prophets but of the
Rabbis, it is obvious that the Rabbinical literature
must also be consulted if a thorough investigation
into the origin of Christianity is to be made. The
necessity of examining the Rabbinical literature is
of course denied by no scholar who has written on
early Christian history, but such examination cannot
be said to have been as yet thoroughly carried out.
For the most part a few references are given to
passages in the Mishnah and the Gemaras, or a
line
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