The Book of Nestor the Priest


The Book of Nestor the Priest, originally titled Account of the Disputation of the Priest or its Hebrew textual avatar Sefer Nestor Ha-Komer is thought to be the earliest surviving anti-Christian Jewish polemic. The original version of the book was written in Juedo-Arabic and also a translation to Hebrew which confused an opening quote from Nestorius with the name of the author of the book, who is actually unknown. It cites extensively and critically from New Testament and Church sources. The title komer describes a Christian priest, rather than a kohen or Jewish priest. The text is written as the story of a Christian priest who converted to Judaism and wrote a critical account of the fundamental Christian doctrine regarding the nature of Jesus and the Trinity.
The text uses the spelling Yeshu for Jesus.
A modern edition פולמוס נסתור הכומר The Polemic of Nestor the Priest by Daniel J. Lasker and Sarah Stroumsa was published by the Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East, 1996.