Skip to content

Research atlas for early Christianity. Claims are tagged attested, traditional, or disputed. Copyrighted full texts, including CCEL editions, are not included.

DeChurched Atlas

Person

Toledot Yeshu

medieval (Aramaic Genizah fragments; Agobard of Lyon c. 826 knew its themes)

Jewish counter-gospel

Hostile source. HOSTILE polemical parody.

Disputed. Text attested; origin date DISPUTED.

Toledot Yeshu

Stand-in

HONEST STAND-IN for the text, but not a medieval or Genizah copy. Library of Congress Hebraic MS 198 (Micro Orien. Hebr. 880/120), a 19th-century Hebrew manuscript of Toledot Yeshu. The text begins 'ויהי בימי הילנא המלכה בזמן בית שני' and is close to the recension printed by Samuel Krauss, Das Leben Jesu nach juedischen Quellen (Berlin, 1902), pp. 131-139. Gift of B. Burnstine, 1916. This is centuries later than the earliest Genizah fragments; Cambridge Genizah Toledot leaves exist but are licensed for research only (EAP025) and were not used. Rights: LC states the Hebraic Manuscripts collection is in the public domain or has no known copyright restrictions.Toledot Yeshu, 19th-century Hebrew manuscript, Library of Congress Hebraic MS 198 (LCCN 2018757816), folio with the opening of the text. Credit: Library of Congress, African and Middle East Division, Hebraic Section Manuscript Collection. Public domain / no known copyright restrictions. Public domain / no known copyright restrictions (Library of Congress Hebraic Manuscripts)Source page

A medieval Jewish parody of the Gospels telling Jesus' life as the son of Pandera who stole the Divine Name. It circulated in many versions.

Bases

Loading the map…

Date of origin

  • Core traditions go back to late antiquity (Babylonia, 4th-6th c.)

    • Peter Schäfer and Michael Meerson

  • A largely medieval composition

    • others in Schäfer, Meerson and Deutsch (2011)

Places

    Councils

    No council in this list names them as a participant.

    Sources

    Catalog editions

    No edition in the preview catalog is linked.

    Show a related place on the map

    DeChurched Atlas — Early Christianity as history, from every source