Jewishness And Jesus

A rare chance to know Jesus as his first disciples knew him. What would it be like to journey back to the first century and sit at the feet of Rabbi Jesus as one of his Jewish disciples? How would your understanding of the gospel have been shaped by the customs, beliefs, and traditions of the Jewish culture in which you lived? Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus will change the way you read Scripture and deepen your understanding of the life of Jesus. It will also help you to adapt the rich prayers and customs you learn about to your own life, in ways that both respect and enrich your Christian faith. Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus takes you on a fascinating tour of the Jewish world of Jesus, offering inspirational insights that can transform your faith. Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg paint powerful scenes from Jesus' ministry, immersing you in the prayers, feasts, history, culture, and customs that shaped Jesus and those who followed him. In these pages, you will: Hear the parables as they must have sounded to first-century Jews, powerful and surprising. Join conversations among the rabbis of Jesus' day. Watch with new understanding as the events of Jesus' life unfold. Experience new excitement about the roots of your Christian faith. This expanded edition includes a discussion guide for both individuals and groups, and instructions for a simple home Passover Seder celebration.

If you were to ask ten people, Who started Christianity? you might hear ten voices giving the same quick response: Jesus. But those ten people would be wrong. Jesus wasn’t a Christian. Jesus lived and died as a Jew. Understanding the Jewishness of Jesus is the secret to knowing him better and understanding his message in the twenty-first century. Walking through Jesus’ life from birth to death, Rabbi Evan Moffic serves as a tour guide to give Christians a new way to look at familiar teachings and practices that are rooted in the Jewish faith and can illuminate our lives today. Moffic gives fresh insight on how Jesus’ contemporaries understood him, explores how Jesus’ Jewishness shaped him, offers a new perspective on the Lord’s Prayer, and provides renewed appreciation for Jesus’ miracles. In encountering his Jewish heritage, you will see Jesus differently, gain a better understanding of his message, and enrich your own faith.

This work takes up two related questions with regard to Jesus: his intention and his relationship to his contemporaries in Judaism. These questions immediately lead to two others: the reason for his death (did his intention involve an opposition to Judaism which led to death?) and the motivating force behind the rise of Christianity (did the split between the Christian movement and Judaism originate in opposition during Jesus' lifetime?).

This book is an important and provocative study of the thought of the Pharisees in the time of Jesus and marks the first attempt by a rabbinic writer to demonstrate that Jesus of Nazareth consistently upheld the views of the rabbis of the School of Hillel, and that all his criticism was directed at the School of Shammai and their followers. After the School of Shammai disappeared from the Jewish scene following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in the first century, Judaism developed according to the teachings of Bet Hillel. This alone increases the common grounds for dialogue between Jews and Christians. Some important findings of this book include the following: The Pharisees of Bet Shammai controlled Jewish life and thought during the first century; the School of Shammai denied salvation to the Gentiles; the Shammaite Pharisees and priests considered Jesus a danger to the Jewish people; the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed because of Bet Shammai's hatred of the Gentile world; the prophet Elijah condemned Jesus' crucifixion. These new insights will help achieve a new understanding of the seemingly anti-Jewish passages contained in the Christian scriptures, and make possible improved relations between Christians and Jews. It is acclaimed by scholars of both faiths.

This insightful volume represents the “hands-on” experience in the world of academia of two Jewish scholars, one of Orthodox background and the other a convert to the Jewish faith. As a series of separate but interrelated essays, it approaches multiple issues touching both the historical Jesus (himself a pious Jew) and the modern phenomenon of Messianic Judaism. It bridges the gap between the typically isolated disciplines of Jewish and Christian scholarship and forges a fresh level of understanding across religious boundaries. It delves into such issues as the nature and essence of Jesus’ message (pietistic, militant or something of a hybrid), and whether Messianic Jews should be welcome in the larger Jewish community. Its ultimate challenge is to view sound scholarship as a means of bringing together disparate faith traditions around a common academic table. Serious research of the “great Nazarene” becomes interfaith discourse.

In this evangelistic booklet Daniel C. Juster challenges both Jews and Christians to follow Jesus.

A theology of how Christianity and Judaism can be separate but linked by their roots in Scripture; presents a thorough study of Jesus as teacher seen from a Jewish perspective.

Jesus the Jewish Theologian establishes Jesus firmly within the context of first-century Judaism and shows how understanding Jesus' Jewishness is crucial for interpreting the New Testament and for understanding the nature of Christian faith. Insights from Jewish literature, archeology, and tradition help modern readers place Jesus within his original context. Particular attention is given to the Jewish roots of Jesus' teaching concerning the kingdom of God.