Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg

Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg ISBN-13: 9780801017155 Hardback: 288 pages Publisher: Baker Books Released: Jan. 2, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from NetGalley:
Lois Tverberg knows the treasures that await readers willing to learn how to read the Bible through Jewish eyes. By helping them understand the Bible as Jesus and his first-century listeners would have, she bridges the gaps of time and culture in order to open the Bible to readers today.

Combining careful research with engaging prose, Tverberg leads us on a journey back in time to shed light on how this Middle Eastern people approached life, God, and each other. She explains age-old imagery that we often misinterpret, allowing us to approach God and the stories and teachings of Scripture with new eyes. By helping readers grasp the perspective of its original audience, she equips them to read the Bible in ways that will enrich their lives and deepen their understanding.


My Review:
Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus looks at the differences between modern American and first century Jewish cultural perspectives in order to provide insights into the Bible. The author talked about why Jews expected the Messiah to be a king and how this assumption is woven into several New Testament events and conversations. She also explained why a just king would have been a desirable thing. She talked about differences between Greek (logical, theoretical) and Eastern thinking patterns. She explored how the Hebrew language reflects this different way of thinking (which sometimes makes translation difficult).

She talked about the cultural perspective that family and community are more important than the individual, thus making the begats sections and a person's family name (reputation) important to them. She talked about how they didn't question the existence of God, but that a god that cared about humans was unique. She talked about how people learned Scripture at the time of Jesus, and how they linked similar memorized verses to study and better understand the point being made. She showed how Jesus made Messianic claims, just in a very Jewish way that isn't obvious to Westerners. Finally, she applied some of her previous points to Isaiah 53 to illuminate things that Westerners might miss.

She sometimes discussed information that she talked about in her other books or that can be found in other Eastern versus Western perspective books, but she also explored aspects that I hadn't previously heard or discussed them in a slightly different way so it wasn't just repetition. I found her explanations easy to follow, which I haven't always found true with these Eastern/Western perspective books. Overall, I'd highly recommend this book (and her previous Rabbi Jesus books).


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 Google Preview.