Dr. Brown's misuse of Ibn Crispin is a perfect example

[Sophiee]

Dr. Brown loves to sprinkle in partial quotes here and there from a multitude of Jewish sources in his multiple books "Answering Jewish Objections to Jsus." They all sound very impressive -- especially when going by quantity alone.

But when one looks "under the covers" one finds that the emperor has no clothes.

A perfect example is Brown's use of a certain Ibn Crispin whom Brown calls a

“Other significant commentators interpreting this key passage with reference to the sufferings of the Messiah son of David include Rabbi Moshe Ibn Crispin…”…

Jewish Ojbections book 2, page 227.

Significant commentator???? Based on what??

Guess what -- based on earlier Xian missionary books! If this is an example of Dr. Brown's scholarship it makes one wonder about his other quotes and references.

Rabbi Moshe Kohen ibn Crispin of Cordova and Toledo in Spain wrote about 1350 -- again a little late to be an "early Jewish source."

Ibn Crispin was a title not a name. His real name was Moshe Cohen. He was a Yeminite poet who lived in the 14th century. He was into mysticism in a big way so to take his writings literally is to distort them. His most famous book was "Sefer ha-Musar” which had major Averroistic themes. (The main concept was the marriage of religion and philosophy).

Averroכs was an Arab who interpreted Aristotle. So Ibn Crispin was NOT a great Jewish sage -- he was not a rabbi -- he was a poet and philosopher who followed Aristotlian thinking filtered by Averroכs.

Ibn Cripsin is a personal favorite. I love it when Xians quote him as a source. We Jews scratched our heads for years trying to figure out WHO the Xians were talking about -- because they never gave a source.

They hardly ever do give a source.

Ibn Crispin shows up in that book I mentioned a few posts ago -- the 19th century book that was written to prove that Jews thought the servant in Isaiah 53 was the messiah pre-Rashi.

FYI Rashi lived from 1040-1105 and Ibn Crispin was the 14th century -- so who is earlier than whom?

Makes you wonder if these Xian websites ever do the math?

Aside from appearing in the Pusey book Michael Brown quotes him as some important Jewish source. Ibn Crispin was NOT a great rabbinical source as one might think by reading Michael Brown. On the Messiahtruth forums Brown admitted this and stated he was going to make sure he changed his book to reflect this in the next edition.

Here is what he says that you WON'T find at Jews for J-sus:

“'I have here transcribed an exposition of this Parsha; perhaps an answer may be found in it against the heretics who interpret it of Jsus. It is my intention to keep myself continually at the doors of the learned; and so far as my ability can command, I shall follow the saying of our Rabbis, '"And know how to answer the Apikorus." though it does not seem to me to be right or permissible to apply the prophecy to the King Messiah... it must, in fact, be referred either to Israel as a whole, or to Jeremiah.'”

You have been bamboozled. But don't feel bad because Ibn Crispin appears all over the web thanks to the fundies. I wonder if Brown ever corrected his book as he promised?

[Sophiee]

R' Moshe Shulman has written a wonderfully extensive article on the missionaries (including Michael Brown) misuse of Ibn Krispin. http://www.judaismsanswer.com/crispin.htm Here is a snippet:

When missionaries discuss what the Rabbis say about Isaiah 53, invariably the Ibn Crispin name appears as one of the many Rabbis agreeing to their view. However, in all these citations there is nothing mentioned about who this person is, except for the century in which he lived. . .

According to the missionaries, he and his commentary rate with the ‘great’ Rabbis. One missionary website says[2]: “very much in line with what many great Rabbis (Rambam, Saadyah Ibn Danan, Moshe Kohen Ibn Crispin of Cordova Spain and many others) have said in the past.” Another source lists Ibn Crispin with two Rabbis, Ramban (Nachmanides) and Moshe AlSheich, who were the greatest Rabbis of their times![3] When this same author is discussing Isaiah 53, he says, “Some traditional Jewish commentators have not been far behind. Just look at what Rabbi Moshe Ibn Crispin (fourteenth century) wrote…”[4] By the number of times he is cited, he seems to be considered a ‘significant commentator’[5] by all missionaries. This is in stark contrast to his non-existence in Rabbinic literature, of his time or later generations. . .