The Gospel of Luke: New Cambridge Bible Commentary, by Amy-Jill Levine and Ben Witherington III
Reviewed by Michael Schiffman Although I am not a fan of superlatives, I have to say this is the most enjoyable commentary I have ever read. I first became interested in it because of my familiarity with the authors. Ben Witherington, professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, was my supervisor when I was working on my…
Read MoreHow to Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss
Reviewed by Paul L. Saal It is not often that I am afforded the opportunity to write a book review with the potential of being longer than the actual book I am reviewing. Though I write this somewhat tongue-in-cheek, How to Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss can be characterized by its brevity. Bound in a…
Read MoreSabbatian Heresy: Writings on Mysticism, Messianism, and the Origins of Jewish Modernity, ed. Pawel Maciejko
Reviewed by Solomon Intrater In the 17th through 18th centuries and beyond, a significant, though often ignored, messianic movement occurred, in association with the supposed messiah Shabbtai Zvi. Proper historical academic research into Sabbatianism was not initiated until the middle of the 20th century, at the hand of the famous German-Israeli scholar of Jewish mysticism,…
Read MoreReading Romans After Supersessionism: The Continuation of Jewish Covenantal Identity by J. Brian Tucker
Reviewed by Henri Louis Goulet The clarion call of Markus Bockmuehl in 2006 to scholars of the New Covenant Scriptures was to once and for all overcome the de facto de-Judaizing of Yeshua’s person, aims, and teaching— and thus the universalizing abstractionism associated with most conventional and confessional interpretation of those Scriptures.1 The “New Testament…
Read MoreThe Bible, the Talmud, and the New Testament: Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik’s Commentary to the Gospels Edited, with an introduction and commentary, by Shaul Magid
Reviewed by Russ Resnik Jesus is Jewish—it’s a truism not just in Messianic Jewish circles, but also in the wider worlds of biblical and historical scholarship. Use of the name “Yeshua” rather than “Jesus” reflects this truth. The open question, though, is just how is Yeshua Jewish? What kind of Jew was he? The ongoing…
Read MoreMoses: A Human Life by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
Reviewed by Rabbi Ben Ehrenfeld Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg’s volume Moses: A Human Life,1 is both a continuation of her corpus of work as a biblical commentator and a part of the Jewish Lives biography series published by Yale University. In context of Zornberg’s wider collection of work, Moses: A Human Life is unique not so…
Read MoreJerusalem Crucified, Jerusalem Risen: The Resurrected Messiah, the Jewish People, and the Land of Promise by Mark S. Kinzer
Reviewed by Akiva Cohen Mark Kinzer has established himself as one of the most theologically articulate voices from within the community of Messianic Jewish scholars. His pioneering, provocative (in the best sense of the word), and sophisticated theological proposals have engaged a broad spectrum of issues, such as, Messianic Jewish identity, Oral Torah, eschatology,1 ecclesiology,…
Read MoreProphetic Peace: Judaism, Religion, and Politics, by Alick Isaacs
Reviewed by Paul L. Saal What do Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jacques Derrida, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Martin Buber, and Joseph Soloveitchik have in common? They are all Jewish or of Jewish ancestry. They were each academics and philosophers of sorts. Buber, Heschel, and Soloveitchik were all religious, the latter two were rabbis, the first two mystics. Wittgenstein…
Read MoreJewish Law as Rebellion by Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Having heard Rabbi Lopes Cardozo lecture a few times over the past twenty years, and being familiar with his local reputation as an innovative, engaging Torah teacher, I was not disappointed by his most recent book. Jewish Law as Rebellion: A Plea for Religious Authenticity and Halachic Courage1 is a collection of his short essays,…
Read MoreReading Ephesians and Colossians after Supersessionism, by Lionel J. Windsor
Reviewed by Lindsay John Kennedy Lionel Windsor’s Reading Ephesians and Colossians after Supersessionism, along with a volume by Christopher Zoccali on Philippians, is a flagship of a new series published by Cascade books and edited by J. Brian Tucker, David Rudolph, and Justin Hardin.1 This series, which strangely provides no description by the editors, examines…
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