The Jew and the Christian Missionary: A Jewish Response to Missionary Christianity [Hardcover]

Gerald Sigal (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 311 pages
• Publisher: Ktav Pub Inc (June 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870688863
• ISBN-13: 978-0870688867
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,985,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most complete work on the subject to date., December 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Jew and the Christian Missionary: A Jewish Response to Missionary Christianity (Hardcover)

Sigal's book is the most comprehensive examination to date of Christian claims that the Hebrew Bible is full of prophecies about Jesus. Every major 'prooftext' is analyzed in light of context, translation and interpretation and contrasted with the traditional Jewish interpretation. Of particular value is that Sigal is not merely an apologist, attempting to refute Christian claims vis-a-vis the Jewish scriptures. In the second part of the book Sigal moves from a defensive postition to examine problems in the New Testament accounts, an approach not often found among Jewish writers on the subject.

Though he brings with him with a healthy dose of righteous indignation at the way Christian missionaries have expropriated and distorted Jewish symbols and concepts, Sigal writes with great warmth and considerable wit.

All in all, this is the best book in English on the subject

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Encyclopedic in scope, THE book to have, December 8, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jew and the Christian Missionary: A Jewish Response to Missionary Christianity (Hardcover)

This book is the handiest quick reference for dispelling pro-Jesus arguments. Gets down to the point, but has lots of in depth analysis too. A must have for Jews in general and particularly useful for those who enjoy being "counter-missionaries". Get it

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A VERSE-BY-VERSE REFUTATION OF BIBLE VERSES USED BY SOME CHRISTIANS, April 14, 2011

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Jew and the Christian Missionary: A Jewish Response to Missionary Christianity (Hardcover)

Gerald Sigal is a Jewish researcher has written probably the most in-depth book-length critiques (Isaiah 53: Who is the Servant?, Trinity Doctrine Error: A Jewish Analysis, THE BLOOD ATONEMENT DECEPTION: HOW CHRISTIANITY DISTORTED BIBLICAL ATONEMENT, Anti-Judaism in the New Testament) of certain arguments that SOME Christian "missionary" types use against traditional Jews.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1981 book, "Few Jews are equipped with sufficient knowledge of their own Bible, let alone with that of Christian theology, to be able to discriminate between correct and incorrect interpretations of a biblical verse... To meet these needs, this book is designed to analyze, from a Jewish standpoint, the way the Hebrew Bible is used, and misused, by today's missionary movement... to demonstrate that the scriptural evidence does not substantiate the missionary claim that Christianity is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"The phrase 'her seed' (in Gen 3:15) has nothing to do with the determination of the Messiah's lineage... Since God was not addressing a man... (it would not) have been grammatically correct for Him to have said, 'I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and HIS seed.'" (Pg. 3)
"It is a Christian missionary claim that the Temple was destroyed and the sacrificial system abolished only after Jesus offered himself as the supreme sacrifice. If that is so, what of the generations living in Babylonia during the first exile? Did God write them off... with no means of atonement and forgiveness?" (Pg. 13)
"There is nothing in this verse (Isa 7:14) which indicates that 'the young woman,' if she is assumed to be a virgin, is going to give birth while in that physical state." (Pg. 22-23)
"Christian missionaries who believe that the Septuagint's translation of the word 'almah' as 'parthenos' ('virgin') conclusively proves that an untouched virgin is spoken of, will have great difficulty explaining ... Genesis 34:3 ... (Dinah) was definitely not a virgin, yet the Greek word for 'virgin' ('parthenos') is used." (Pg. 24)
"The question is not whether God could bring about a virgin birth, but rather ... Would God have sexual relations with a betrothed woman, thereby causing her to violate one of His commandments...?" (Pg. 27)
"The two most crucial New Testament witnesses of the final disposition of the body, Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus (the latter only mentioned by John) are never mentioned again once the initial burial was complete." (Pg. 246)