Jews Christians Speak Of Jesus

This volume of essays is an example of something new and exciting that is going on in North America, especially between Jews and Christians. For the first time in almost two thousand years, Jews and Christians can sit down as equals around a table and reflect on their profound sameness and deep differences. In a real way, this book represents another step Christians and Jews have taken together on the new road to deeper understanding.The issues surrounding the Jewish Christian dialogue are legion?the State of Israel, the Holocaust (Shoah), and the Jewishness of Jesus, to mention only a few. Dialogue does not mean proselytizing or conversion; instead, each faith tradition recognizes and respects its own identity. Any notion that Christianity has replaced or superseded the Jewish people in God's plan of salvation is both inadmissible and repulsive to the dialogue.One, if not the central, issue facing serious dialogue between Christians and Jews is Jesus of Nazareth. How can both of these faith communities speak about the itinerant Galilean whose origins and early followers were Jewish and whose subsequent followers broke away from Judaism? This volume attempts to address this question.

This book is a collection of letters from a religious Jew in Israel to a Christian friend in Barcelona on life as an Orthodox Jew. Equal parts lighthearted and insightful, it's a thorough and entertaining introduction to the basic concepts of Judaism.

"Magisterial. . . . A learned, brilliant and enjoyable study."—Géza Vermès, Times Literary Supplement In this exciting book, Paula Fredriksen explains the variety of New Testament images of Jesus by exploring the ways that the new Christian communities interpreted his mission and message in light of the delay of the Kingdom he had preached. This edition includes an introduction reviews the most recent scholarship on Jesus and its implications for both history and theology. "Brilliant and lucidly written, full of original and fascinating insights."—Reginald H. Fuller, Journal of the American Academy of Religion "This is a first-rate work of a first-rate historian."—James D. Tabor, Journal of Religion "Fredriksen confronts her documents—principally the writings of the New Testament—as an archaeologist would an especially rich complex site. With great care she distinguishes the literary images from historical fact. As she does so, she explains the images of Jesus in terms of the strategies and purposes of the writers Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John."—Thomas D’Evelyn, Christian Science Monitor

The ramifications of the crucifixion of Jesus by Jews are still felt deeply today. Discussion of Judaism and Christianity, Israelis and Palestinians, and the Jewish heritage of Jesus evoke high-level emotional responses from Christians and non-Christians. Discussion becomes heated argument as factions divide and take sides.Centuries-old feelings of fear, anger, hostility, resentment, repression, and blame fan the flames of unrest and disagreement. Jesus the Jew speaks to these issues. Markus Barth addresses Jews and Christians, in fact, everyone who is looking for a new or deepened understanding of Israel and of the church, especially in respect to servicing truth, justice, freedom, and peace. Barth considers two major areas of conflict--What Does It Mean That Jesus Is a Jew? and Israel and the Palestinians. He explores biblical testimony, the uniqueness of Jesus, and Christian responsibility. He deals with the protests and arguments of Arab scholars, biblical scholars, and modern journalists. Jesus and the Jew offers an insightful look at tradition, history, and the Scriptures to provide a perspective through which Christians, Jews, Arabs, and Moslems may learn to accept each other.

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.

Growing up in an ethnic suburb in Cleveland, Aaron Milavec was an impressionable adolescent whose religious and cultural influences made it natural for him to pity, blame, and despise Jews. All of that began to change in 1955 when Mr. Martin, a Jewish merchant, hired Milavec as a stock boy. Milavec's initial anxieties over working for a Jew surprisingly gave way to profound personal admiration. This, in turn, plunged Milavec into a troubling theological dilemma: How could God consign Mr. Martin to eternal hellfire due to his ancestral role in the death of Jesus when it was clear that Mr. Martin would not harm me, a Christian, even in small ways? This book is not for the faint-hearted. Most Christians imagine that the poison of anti-Judaism has been largely eliminated. In contrast, Milavec reveals how this poison has gone underground--disfiguring not only the role of Israel in God's plan of salvation but also horribly twisting the faith, the forgiveness, and the salvation that Christians find through Jesus Christ. This painful realization serves as the necessary first step for our healing. At each step of the way, Milavec's sure hand builds bridges of mutual understanding that enable both Christians and Jews to cross the chasm of distrust and distortion that has infected both church and synagogue over the centuries. In the end, Milavec securely brings his readers to that place where Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity can again be admired as sister religions intimately united to one other in God's drama of salvation.

If Jesus is a Jew, why is there a wedge between Christianity and Judaism? If Jews and Christians both believe in the same God, why is there such division? Why is history littered with deathly accounts of this division, from the early Jewish persecution of Christians to the Crusades' slaughtering of Jews? The Lion of Judah unpacks the roots of this division, showing how jealousy, theology, the law, and the integration of Gentile believers into what was once a predominantly Jewish early church contributed to the schism. It then goes on to reveal how Jesus magnificently fulfilled every word in the Bible. Readers will discover why the Lion of Judah is the rightful Lord and King of all people--Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, atheists, and the rest of creation. This book will help Christians understand the history of Christianity and Judaism, get into greater alignment with God's plan of redemption, be better equipped to share the gospel with Jewish people, and become more sensitive to and appreciative of their Hebraic heritage.