I’m making a list of books I want to read, not in any particular amount of time, but just read…sometime, anytime. Most of these deal with the Jewish Middle Eastern roots of Christianity – since Christianity is a Middle Eastern Jewish faith. Teaching through Genesis right now has been very difficult since, growing up Baptist, I’ve been taught next to nothing about the Jewish faith or the Old Testament. I think I’m missing a lot because of that. So here’s what I’m planning on reading one day. What’s on your list? What would you recommend?
Walking The Bible : A Journey By Land Through
The Five Books Of Moses ( Bruce Feiler )
Jewish Spirituality, A Brief Introduction For
Christians ( Lawrence Kushner )
Excavating Jesus : Beneath The Stones, Behind
The Texts ( Crossan And Reed )
Understanding The Difficult Words Of Jesus : New
Insights From A Hebraic Perspective
( Bivin And Blizzard )
Jewish Sources In Early Christianity
( David Fleusser )
The Bible As It Was ( James L. Kugel )
The Source ( James Michner )
Slaves, Women And Homosexuals : Exploring
The Hermeneutics Of Culture Analysis
( William J. Webb )
Our Father Abraham : Jewish Roots Of The
Christian Faith ( Marvin Williams )
Following Jesus : Biblical Reflections On
Discipleship ( N.T. Wright )
For All God’s Worth : True Worship And The Calling
Of The Church ( N.T. Wright )
The Jews In The Time Of Jesus : An Introduction
( Stephen Wylen )
Jesus The Jewish Theologian ( Brad Young )
.
So I’m looking at your blog with one window and I’m looking at Rob Bell’s suggested reading list in another window and I see that there are none on your list that aren’t on his.
Nice.
I also want to read all of those books. Tonight.
Another great Cahill book is “The Desire of the Everlasting Hills.” It paints a fantastic historical narrative. In an unrelated subject, I absolutely loved “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller. After hearing a lot of hype I wasn’t expecting for it to live up my expectations, but it honestly rocked my world. I highly recommend it for anyone, Christian or not. It is a great book to give your intellectual non-Christian friends who can’t see past the seedy underbelly of televangelist Christianity. It was also a pretty inspirational book for my brother and I. It really got the creative juices flowing and helped us get writing again.
Randy beat me to the punch here on The Gifts of the Jews. That’s the only book I’ve read about Jewish history outside of the Bible. I found it really helpful and it brought me back to the Bible many times to sort out the context of both books. Anyway, looks like a formidable list. Have fun!
Glenn
p.s. I thoroughly enjoyed your Good and bad naked post. Keep up the great writing!
Shaun, I’ve read 2 of the books on your list: Father Abraham, and Jesus the Jewish Theologian. I plan on reading the rest of the books.
I look at this as a re-education process, or maybe this is the New Reformation. Those who are into Reformed Theology seem to be STUCK in the 1500s and they totally ignore their Hebrew roots. If we want to truly reform the Christian Faith, we need to go all the way back to our Hebraic roots. We’ve turned men like Calvin into little “gods”–and we spout their words like they are “gospel” but what about the words of the Prophets? What about the words of the Torah?
I also recommend that anyone wanting to explore their Hebraic roots, visit Israel. I just made my 2nd visit this past fall. Get a good tourguide–stay away from the official “church sites” and come with a teachable spirit, so that you are open to getting a “spiritual adjustment” in your understanding of scriptures. So much of what we know is from Greek mindset…in a sense I feel like I’ve been brainwashed for much of my Christian life. I’ve been a good evangelical, but clueless as to my “roots.”
There is a website, The Restoration Foundation, whose stated purpose is to restore the Hebraic foundations of the Christian faith. Their magazine archive is available and its full of incredible insight that you will find nowhere else. Check it out:
http://www.restoremagazine.org/issues.htm
Mjrjolt