The 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…
Read MoreThe Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism, by Jon D. Levenson
Reviewed by Russ Resnik Jon Levenson is a world-class biblical scholar, Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard, and a writer gifted in engaging his readers on issues that might at first seem antiquated or esoteric. His latest offering, The Love of God, opens with “one of the most familiar passages in the Bible,” Deuteronomy…
Read MoreSpirit Hermeneutics: Reading Scripture in Light of Pentecost, by Craig Keener
Spirit Hermeneutics: Reading Scripture in Light of Pentecost,by Craig Keener Reviewed by Daniel Juster, ThD If I had the capacity to write a book on hermeneutics, I would have written Spirit Hermeneutics. I know of no book that so fully represents my own thinking on this topic. The book is broadly rooted in Pentecostalism, but…
Read More“Remain in Your Calling”: Paul and the Continuation of Social Identities in 1 Corinthians, by J. Brian Tucker
The primary aim of this in-depth study is to show how Paul negotiates and transforms existing social identities of Messiah-followers in order to extend his mission in Corinth.1 It attempts to accomplish this through a study of 1 Corinthians that builds on the author’s previous doctoral findings in 1 Corinthians 1–4 published in monograph…
Read MorePaul: The Pagans’ Apostle, by Paula Fredriksen
Paul persists as a polarizing and puzzling figure today. Judging by the New Testament, this was no less true in the first century! But are we stumbled by the same things as his contemporaries? Paula Fredriksen, author of Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle, insists that we misread Paul if we neglect the thorough Jewishness and…
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