The Medieval Church · first attested c. 830; earlier material, date disputed
The Life of Jesus
Toledot Yeshu
Anonymous
What it is
A counter-gospel circulated among medieval Jews: Jesus is conceived in adultery, steals the ineffable Name from the Temple and works his miracles by it, is bested by a rabbi who learns the same trick, and is executed and buried in a gardener's cabbage patch.
Why it lasted
Catalogued because it is the other side of a conversation this library already holds one half of. Agobard and Amulo of Lyon both describe it in the 820s and 840s, and it was quoted in Christian polemic and used to justify persecution for the next eight hundred years.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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