Chronology and eschatology: a Jewish-Christian debate, France 1100

The text that is discussed here, written in France in 1100, contains the first debate between a Jew and a Christian on the date of the birth of Jesus. The Christian believed that Jesus was born in 2-3 CE, while the Jew (a pupil of Rashi) disagreed but did not propose an alternative year. The Jew also claimed that the Messiah may appear on 1102 - an eschatological computation which is solely in accordance with Christian records of the moth anniversary of the birth of Jesus. This debate, which actually is based on a misunderstanding of both sides, had a considerable impact on the chronological computations of Ashkenazi rabbinical authorities in subsequent centuries. They adopted the Christian calculation of Jesus' lifetime and augmented it with a Jewish interpretation following the rules of the Jewish calendar, which led them to totally different conclusions than the original Christian view.