WHY THE JEWS REJECTED JESUS: The Turning Point in Western History is the title of a new book by David Klinghoffer. It was reviewed yesterday for the A.P.:

Author looks at 'Why Jews Rejected Jesus'
FAITH

By RICHARD N. OSTLING
Associated Press Writer

During the Lenten season of 2004 there was considerable fury over Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" and its depiction of Jewish leaders conspiring to hand Jesus over to the Romans for crucifixion.

A year later, just in time for Good Friday of 2005, a book by Jewish writer David Klinghoffer says of course that's what the Jewish authorities did: "Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History" (Doubleday).

He bases that not only on the New Testament -- whose history he distrusts to a fair extent -- but on the Talmud, Judaism's authoritative compilation of Bible commentary and rabbinic law, and later Jewish sages such as Maimonides.

[...]

Klinghoffer already published some of his ideas on Jesus in the Talmud in January and I have commented on them here. It seems he also delves a bit into counterfactual history, for which Jesus and the rise of Christianity have been popular subjects.