 | King of the Jews: |
Source: Bought through Half.com.
Book Description from Back Cover:
While stripping back centuries of cultural misinterpretations, Lancaster reveals the historical Jewish Jesus in vivid new strokes and colors that fire the heart and deepen devotion to Him. King of the Jews digs into the history and literature of early Judaism to demonstrate the authenticity of the Gospels and to dispel today's errant re-interpretations of Jesus.
My Review:
King of the Jews is a Bible background book written by a messianic Jew. While I have no doubt that the author accepts Yeshua as the promised Messiah, some of his comments seem to indicate a belief that the Law is what saves and what Jesus came to do was to call people to repent and follow the Law. I have a problem with that. On the other hand, he does believe that the New Testament is an accurate record (which I agree with).
The author picked certain parables and events in the gospels that he felt he could make clearer or correct a common misinterpretation of by comparing it to related sayings by rabbis of around the same time period. Some of his explanations were, indeed, very interesting and enlightening. Sometimes he "corrected" an interpretation I'd never heard to one I already held--or held something very close to--just from reading the Bible. For some of the explanations, I couldn't follow how the points he explained related to (or cleared up) the verses in the Bible. And, finally, for some explanations, it seemed like a stretch to say they were what Jesus was actually referring to.
So I found maybe a third of the book to be excellent, but the rest was confusing or something I didn't agree with. This book is better than some of the Bible background books I've read, but I've also read many that are better (like Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus).
If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.
Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Amazon's Search Inside This Book feature.
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Update: I was contacted by a woman named Tracy who told me, "D. Thomas Lancaster is not Jewish, but he is a Messianic Gentile (as I am) and we do follow Torah but not for salvation because Yeshua did and told his disciples to." The book's "about the author" didn't say one way or the other about the author being a messianic Jew, but he used terms that Messianic Jews use, so I just assumed.
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