viii
PREFACE
or two translated. Few readers have at hand the
means of verifying these references ; and thus even
the careful and accurate scholarship of writers like
Keim and Scharer does not prove very helpful, since
their readers cannot go to the sources which are
pointed out. And even Keim and Scharer indicate
but a small proportion of the material which is avail-
able in the Rabbinical literature. Edersheim does
know that literature as none but a Jew can know it,
and makes abundant reference to it ; but the value
of his work as a historical study is much diminished
by a strong theological bias, apart from the fact
already mentioned, that it is usually impossible for
the reader to verify the quotations. No blame of
course attaches to these and many other scholars,
who have made incidental reference to the Rabbinical
literature, for the incompleteness and scantiness of
such reference. It can hardly be said to come within
the scope of any of the works referred to above to
give in full the Rabbinical material to which reference
is made.
It is the object of this book to try and present
that material with some approach to completeness,
in order to put within the reach of scholars who have
not access to the Rabbinical literature the full text
of the passages bearing on the subject, together with
translation and commentary. It is hoped that this
may be the means of supplying a want that as yet
remains unsatisfied, viz., of a work that shall let the
Christian scholar know
what the Rabbinical literature
really does contain bearing on the origin and early
history of Christianity.
It would be rash to say that
the collection of passages contained in this book is
 |  |  |