WiseReader

A version of this review first appeared in ChristianWeek.

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“Is Woody Allen a Jew?” Coming on the heels of a lengthy conversation where my rabbi-friend had argued that Jews believing in Jesus were no longer Jews, my question was framed in light of his equating Jewishness with adherence to Judaism.

“Of course he is”, my friend replied. “Why would you ask?”

“How could he be a Jew?” I exclaimed. “You are an orthodox rabbi and he is, as far as I can tell, a secular Jew. He is everything you are not! How can you say a secular Jew, who apparently believes little about traditional Judaism is still deemed Jewish, but a Jew believing in Jesus and seeking to live a godly life is not Jewish?”

Undaunted, my friend countered, “Woody Allen is an uninformed Jew.”

“Following that logic,” I said, “every Jewish person believing in Jesus is simply an ‘uniformed Jew,’ but he or she is nevertheless still Jewish.”

“No,” my rabbi-friend countered. “A Jew who believes in Jesus makes a conscious decision to become an idolater, because Jesus claims to be God and there is only one God.”

I have had many conversations with my friend since that day, and invariably our conversations revolve around a familiar set of Jewish objections to Jesus and the Christian faith. Because my main vocation is leading an evangelistic, discipling ministry in Toronto’s Jewish community, I am always in the hunt for good resources to assist me in answering those objections.

One of the best resources I have found is the multi-volume work Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus (BakerBooks, Vols. 1 & 2 - 2000; Vol. 3 - 2003; Vol. 4 - 2006) by Michael L. Brown. Described by Barry Leventhal (Academic Dean & Professor at Southern Evangelical Seminary) as the “foremost messianic apologist in the world,” Brown is an able defender of the Messianic Jewish/Christian faith.

With a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University, Brown, a Jewish believer in Jesus, has been a visiting professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Fuller Theological Seminary. He has authored more than 15 books and contributed to the Oxford Dictionary of Jewish Religion. Currently Dr. Brown serves as president of the FIRE School of Ministry. Having appeared in numerous public debates with Jewish leaders, Brown is well-qualified to answer the objections his fellow Jews raise against Christianity.

In volume one Brown addresses 35 objections of a general and historical nature. He responds to such statements as “I was born a Jew and I will die a Jew”; “I won’t betray my ancestors”; and “If Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, why isn’t there peace on earth?” At the heart of these sorts of objections is the sentiment that “Jesus is not for Jews,” that Jesus cannot be the Messiah since we are not living in the Messianic Age.

His second volume deals with 28 theological objections to Jesus. Among the doctrines discussed are such matters as the Trinity, the Deity of Jesus, the concept of a suffering Messiah and the continuity/discontinuity of the law. Brown believes these objections are among the most serious, cutting to the very heart of what divides Messianic Jewish/Christian faith from traditional Judaism. Underlying objections of this kind is the opinion that the New Testament portrays a foreign religion, a religion unfaithful to the Hebrew Scriptures.

Brown tackles 39 Jewish objections to Jesus as the fulfiller of OT messianic prophecies in volume three. Accusing Christians of mistranslation, misquotation or taking verses out of context, Jewish objections in this area relate to the belief that Jesus did not live up to the Biblical description of Messiah.

In volume four, Brown answers 34 objections raised against the veracity of the New Testament. Those objections revolve around claims that the New Testament is historically inaccurate, that the Gospels portray a mythical Jesus who was a false prophet.

Throughout each volume, Brown follows a consistent format: concisely stating an objection, presenting a clear answer, supporting his response with appropriate citations, both Biblical and extra-biblical, and giving attention to possible objections leveled at his answers.

Brown writes for three groups: Christians interested in sharing their faith sensitively with Jewish people; Jewish believers who are being confused by the growing stridency of Jewish anti-missionary organizations; and for Jews of every background who do not believe that Jesus is Israel’s promised Messiah.

A careful reading of these volumes will reveal that many Jewish objections to Jesus are rooted in misconceptions about Christianity - misconceptions born and cultivated in the soil of a “gentilized” Christian faith disconnected from its Jewish roots. As Brown convincingly demonstrates, Christianity is a lot more Jewish than you think.

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You can purchase these books from Christianbook.com by clicking on the title below.

Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, 4 Volumes
By Michael L. Brown / Baker

When Christians share their faith with Hebrew friends and family, difficult questions often arise. Combining scholarship, spiritual seriousness, and an engaging style, Jewish believer Brown offers fair and comprehensive answers to more than 100 general, historical, and theological queries regarding New Testament teachings, the Messiah, Old Testament prophecies, and more. Thoroughly documented and footnoted. 250–350 pages each, four softcovers from Baker.

What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus?
Michael L. Brown
Chosen Books, 2007
ISBN: 0800794265
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Michael Brown, a Jewish believer in Jesus, is a leading apologist for the Christian faith, especially as it relates to the Jewish community. He has authored over 18 books on holiness, spiritual renewal and revival, discipleship and Jewish apologetics, along with academically-oriented works in Old Testament and Hebrew studies. His multivolume Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus (Baker Book House) is one of the best treatments I have seen on that particular subject. It is a substantial resource for anyone involved with ministry among Jewish people. Watch this space for a short review of this series.

At a much more popular level, and therefore of greater interest to Christians generally, is Brown’s What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus? In this highly accessible book, Brown tackles more than fifty questions Christians often have about the Jewish people. This is an useful handbook, and because of the way it has been assembled, one does not need to read through the book, but can peruse the Table of Contents to find the answers to many of the most often asked questions about Jews, Judaism, Israel and the Jewish view of Jesus and Christians.

The book is organized under four major headings:

Part 1 - Judaism and Jewish Practice
Part 2 - The Jewish People and Jewish History
Part 3 - Rabbi Yeshua and the Jewish Background to the New Testament
Part 4 - Contemporary Christians, the Law of Moses and the State of Israel

Within each section, Brown poses commonly asked questions. Here is a sampling of questions addressed in the book.

What is Hasidic Judaism?
What is Oral Law?
What are the main differences between Judaism and Christianity?
What do Jewish people think about Jesus?
Do Jews refer to God by the name of Jehovah?
Why do traditional Jews have separate dishes in their kitchen for meat products and dairy products?
What is the origin of the term Jew and can Jews today really trace their lineage back to the Jewish people of the Bible?
Why have Jewish people been so hated and persecuted through the centuries?
Do contemporary Jews want to rebuild the Temple?
Should all Jews move back to Israel?
What does it mean to “restore the Jewish roots” of the Christian faith?
Did Jesus abolish the Law?
Should Christians keep the Law?
Should Christians observe the Sabbath on Saturday?
What is the difference between Passover and Easter?
Should Christians unconditionally support the nation of Israel?
Did God make a special way for Jews to be saved without believing in Jesus?

While it would be naive to think readers will agree with every answer Brown provides, they will nevertheless find his sometimes surprising, but always instructive, responses reasonably extensive. Whatever your personal view on some areas of theology, you will find Michael Brown to be a solid advocate for the essential, bedrock doctrines of the Christian faith.

With substantial upheaval within the Messianic community - some Messianic leaders are questioning doctrines like the Trinity, the deity of Jesus, and even the necessity for Jewish people to consciously believe in Jesus - Christians should be grateful for the solid work of Jewish believers like Michael Brown. I highly recommend this book.
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This book can be purchased through ChristianBook.com by clicking on the image or title below.

What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus?
By Michael L. Brown / Chosen

The Distortion: 2000 Years of Misrepresenting the Relationship Between Jesus the Messiah and the Jewish People
Dr. John Fischer & Dr. Patrice Fischer
Messianic Jewish Publishers, 2004
ISBN: 1880226251
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Two thousand years of distortion - Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ being a recent example - has produced a litany of tragedies and travesties between Synagogue and Church. The Fischers (husband & wife) wrote this book to encourage a healthier understanding of the Gospel accounts regarding Jesus and the Jewish people. It is an ambitious goal for a 113 page work, but the authors have succeeded in writing a provocative, challenging book - one deserving careful reading by both Christian and the Jewish communities.

Tackling the charge that the Newer Testament (the authors’ preferred designation) is the product of second century writers tailoring a text to fit their own agendas, the Fischers convincingly demonstrate that the gospel accounts are “primary historical sources containing eyewitness testimony.”

Having established its authenticity, the Fischers dismantle the charage that the New Testament is anti-Semitic. Here readers will find insightful discussions on how the biblical text has been manipulated by anti-Semites (including many Christians) throughout history and continuing into the present day. They also address the manner in which non-believing Jews have misread the text in order to bolster their claim of an anti-Jewish spirit in the Newer Testament. Some evangelicals will bristle at the charge that anti-Semitism has emanated from the Christian church, and yet, an objective assessment of the evidence presented inevitably compels one to admit that the history of Christian attitudes toward Jews is less than stellar.

The heart of the book explores Gibson’s movie, contending that this latest cinematic version of the traditional passion plays has the potential to encourage new waves of anti-Semitic attitudes and actions. The Fischers provide a useful survey of how one’s worldview - and the respective worldviews of Jews and Christians are markedly different - governs his or her understanding of the message presented in The Passion. Jews and Christians, sitting side-by-side in the theatre, see two different movies.

This book is bound to raise more than a few eyebrows within the evangelical community. In their desire to properly correct misconceptions about the role of the Jewish people in the death of Jesus, the Fischers seem, and least in my opinion, to go too far. For example, I believe their reading of John 1:11, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (NIV), minimizes the national rejection of Jesus that brought about the still-continuing spiritual hardening Paul speaks of in Romans 11:25.

That said, we must never forget, as the Fischers rightly remind us, that the earliest believers in Yeshua (Jesus) were almost exclusively Jewish. It was only when the gospel began to spread from Jerusalem that gentiles eventually outnumbered Jews within the church.

Despite millennia of harassment and abuse, there is a vibrant worldwide Jewish community - not to menton the modern miracle of Israel. That God’s ancient covenant people still walk the earth is testimony to the veracity of God’s faithfulness to his own Word.

If the worldwide Jewish community is not well understood, the Jewish believing community faces greater misunderstanding. In their desire to follow Jesus as faithful Jews, Messianic Jews (those believing in Jesus while maintaining a Jewish lifestyle) often feel alone - held at arm’s length by evangelicals who fear a mixing of law and grace, and rejected outright as traitors by the Jewish community at large.

The Distortion deserves a wide readership, and can only help narrow the gap of misunderstanding that has existed for too long between many Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus.