Abstract

The article provides an overview of Jewish Life-of-Jesus research from Abraham Geiger to Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich. Julius Wellhausen's assessment that Jesus was not Christian but Jewish encountered a Jewish community that was striving for civic equality in the course of the Enlightenment and that saw itself impaired by the idea of the,,Christian state". The ensuing Jewish concern with the central figure of the New Testament was not of fundamental nature, but rather followed from an apologetic impulse: the wish to participate in general society without having to give up Jewish identity. Since then, many Jewish thinkers of the modern era have studied Jesus. The essay outlines the history of,,bringing Jesus home" to Judaism, which has been observed since the nineteenth century. Jesus returns as exemplary Jew, as hortatory prophet, as revolutionary and freedom fighter, as big brother and messianic Zionist. The foremost intention though was that Jews wanted to remain Jews and nevertheless be part of Christian society. How fortunate, therefore, that Jesus was Jewish.