More than other interpretations known to me, this respectful and frank dispute between a believing Jew and Jesus, the son of Abraham, has opened my eyes to the greatness of Jesus’ words and to the choice that the gospel places before us"reflects on his disputation with the Pope.
What we have done is to revive the disputation as a medium of dialogue on theological truth. In this era of relativism and creeping secularism, it is an enterprise that, I believe, has the potential to strengthen Judaism and Christianity alike.Imagine, the Pope learned more about Jesus from a Jew than from any contemporary Christian scholar. What does that tell us? On another note, with due respect, I can't help thinking this is a more useful and insightful debate on religion than the Hitch book tour.
Substantively, in Jesus of Nazareth B16 devotes much time in the opening to Moses as a prefigurement of Christ, a theme I can't recall seeing at length (and neither can Zadok), though I'm far from expert. In Neusner's book, he argues that Jesus diverges from Moses & the Torah. Then-Card. Ratzinger wrote at the time Neusner's book was released:
The absolute honesty, the precision of analysis, the union of respect for the other party with carefully grounded loyalty to one's own position characterize the book and make it a challenge especially to Christians, who will have to ponder the analysis of the contrast between Moses and Jesus.
