Customer Reviews

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Do you sometimes feel like you don't quite understand the parables on the Kingdom of Heaven? Or like you're missing the full meaning of the Sermon on the Mount? Have you ever wondered how the disciples would have understood Jesus' actions during the Last Supper?

I've read the Gospels numerous times and read many books about what life was like in Biblical times. Frankly, I didn't realize until now how much I was missing by not understanding the rabbinic teaching styles of the time (among other things). Despite all my study, most of this information was new.

This book opened up my understanding of the Gospels by allowing me to see the deeper, richer meaning that would have been understood all along by the Jewish audiences of Jesus' day.

The book consists of general cultural notes alternated with using that new knowledge to examine specific Gospel passages. However, this book isn't just an intellectual exercise--it'll have you digging into your Bible with new enthusiasm and will deepen your walk with God.

While Christians who have a solid foundational knowledge of the Gospels will probably get the most out of this book, I'd highly recommend it to any Christian who wants a deeper understanding of Christ and his teachings.

Obviously, I really enjoyed this book which is why I picked it as ChristFocus Book Club's May book. [...]

Since this is currently not available through Amazon, I will provide the table of contexts:

Introduction
1 Joining Mary at the Feet of Jesus
2 Why a Jewish Rabbi
3 Stringing Pearls
4 Following the Rabbi
5 Get Yourself Some Haverim
6 Rabbi, Teach Us to Pray
7 For everything a Blessing
8 A Passover Discovery
9 Discovering Jesus in the Jewish Feasts
10 At Table with the Rabbi
11 Touching the Rabbi's Fringe
12 Jesus and the Torah
13 The Mysterious Kingdom of God
14 Becoming True Disciples of Our Jewish Lord

Appendices
A Prayers Jesus Prayed
B The Feasts
C Recommended Resources
D Glossary
Notes
Scripture Index
General Index

In the opening pages, the book features the endorsements by Ray Vander Laan, Marvin R. Wilson, David Bivin, and Dwight A. Pryor. Also, the book is 201 pages from the Introduction to the last page of chapter 14.

The book is an introduction to the historical settings of the Jewish culture in which Jesus was apart of and paints a vivid picture of what it would have been like to have Jesus as your Rabbi. The purpose of this is to expand the knowledge of Jesus and develop ethical practices that reflect His teaching. This book does not set out to prove His Jewishness or Messiahship. The authors believe it and begin to relay a message of what it would have been like to be a disciple of Jesus.

Each chapter begins with a short story or personal experience that sets the tune for the chapter. Further, when the authors are making a point, they speak in illustrations that appeal to the readers' physically senses/experiences so that the reader can relate to it. The authors discuss many cultural settings in which Jesus was apart of and some things that show a parallel to though they might be a little later in development. Each chapter ends with a set of challenges for the reader to do to incorporate the chapter's main points.

My favorite chapters were "Stringing Pearls", "Following the Rabbi", and "Jesus and the Torah". Some main points that the authors bring up in those chapters are: 1) Jesus and other rabbis would quote a phrase or verse and expect the audience to fill in the remaining phrase or verse. 2) the way the rabbi live is the way the disciples are to live 3) discussion on how Jesus interpreted and how He felt about it. These are some of many essential items discussed in the book.

Pros: This book is a good starting point for beginning to understand the Jewishness of Jesus. The simple illustrations and personal experience make the book easy for people to read and connect to. The challenges are reasonable and can transform ethical practices and viewpoints.

Cons: It is a starting point. The authors stayed in the shallow end of the pool and never went too far out. For instance, the authors discuss that most rabbis use parables; however, the authors do not give a comprehensive study of what was taught by Jesus' parables. This sets Jesus in historical cultural settings, but does not go much beyond that. Therefore, my conclusion is that this book is a starting point.

Conclusion: A reader should gain many essential tools to understand Jesus' words and deeds. Likewise, while some things are indirect challenges that is challenges that reader would will have to work out, the direct challenges should help mold a person into being more like Jesus Christ. I loved this book.

Shalom,

I want to share with you a new exciting book I read this past week, I have been SMILING everyday since I started reading it. It's a very good book. The book is 272 pages, with lots of great footnote (rare meat for me) in truth ever page of this book is a real GEM. As I finished the last chapter of the book last evening, I had a vision in my mind of a light wooden church pew in front of me, and on the backside were a bible, a hymnal, and one of these books for people to read. If only every Christian would read it was my thought to the Lord. I believe it would help them SEE You in Your true Jewish setting.

I'm praying this book will impact many many people for the Lord, Jews and Gentile alike.

Now, to tell you the truth I knew almost everything in this book about Rabbi Jesus; I have been teaching this kind of stuff for over 19 years

It was a delight to me to see how well Spangler and Lois laid out everything in this book; really it moved me to tears. I think the Christian world at large has been waiting for this book, yes, I know it has...! So anyone who wants to KNOW their HEBREW Lord Yeshua (Jesus), should read this book.

Mayim Hayim Ministries will give this book a five stars***** rating, and will carry it and use it in our ministry as a great teaching tool. I promise you, you will gain a much deeper understanding of God by seeing Yeshua in His own world. You will not only look through the eyes of a first century Jew reading this book, but of a first century Jew "living during the Second Temple period to boot." Then you will see Jesus "as a Horse of a different color," if you know what I mean by that Movie idiom?

My friends, the Scriptures you hold so dear to your heart, I tell you the truth, you will know them much better after you read this book. I promise you this will happen for you. Like I said before, this book is a real GEM; I hope you'll order a copy or two today. It would make a wonderful Passover or Easter gift for someone this year.

Shalom - Baruch HaShem Yeshua,


Rev. Barbara Di Gilio Th.D. <><
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Founder and President
Mayim Hayim Ministries

For a deeper understanding of the teachings of Jesus it is important to understand the culture, political, and ethnic context of the area where he lived and taught. That is the primary purpose of this book, to bring to modern Christians an understanding of the world as Jesus experienced it and how that knowledge can deepen your understanding of Jesus' ministry.

The authors do an excellent job of teaching the reader how the people of the time would have understood Jesus' teachings. Whether they are discussing the daily life, training, feasts, clothing or any number of other factors they explain the significance of each, why it was important, how it affected the perception of the people and how it applies to us today when correctly understood in their context.

This is a very interesting book and required reading for those who want to increase their understanding of the culture of the people of Christ's time. "Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus" is highly recommended.

I highly recommend this book. Lois Tverberg and Ann Spangler have accomplished a great thing - bridging the completely disgraceful divide between Judaism and Christianity and endowing both traditions with great dignity and spirituality. Their writing is accessible and uplifting; their subject matter profound. All Christians - from the novice to the theologically well read - can get something from the authors' message.

I somewhat vaguely remember the time when I was able to merge the words `Jesus' and `Jewish' together. Jesus was always depicted as a white guy with straight blond hair, blue eyes, neatly trimmed beard and a flowing white robe. But thanks to Philip Yancey's "The Jesus I Never Knew", it suddenly made sense that Jesus was indeed a Jew and being a Jew, lived in a Jewish setting and a Jewish way of thinking. That was my introduction into Jesus and his Jewish context. Given the amount of understanding I had then, I had a hard time stranding the thoughts of the book together. Not that Yancey was an awful writer, but I did not have enough introductionary knowledge to jump into the conversation.

But fast forward now, authors like N. T. Wright and Scot McKnight have been authors that had helped me immensely in sojourning the field of the first-century context of Jesus. But only after reading some short introductionary articles on the web by these authors and countless others was I able to understand some of the terms and views that were presented.
To be able to dive into a certain field of study it is important for any student to start with a book detailing introductions on that certain subject. I'm happy to state now that this book, "Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus" by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg is a godsend because it is a helpful book in the veins of an introduction to the Jewish background of Jesus.

The book is divided into 14 chapters and with helpful Appendices pages, notes and indexes. At 272 pages, I would say the book is about the right size for an introductionary book, not too thin and it's not too thick either (although personally I prefer another 50 or more pages.)

The authors state that they have been "careful to place Jesus within his first-century context rather than of the later ages" and hope that the book would be of help to "pastors, students and laypeople who find their reading of the bible all the more fascinating and life transforming as they come to appreciate and understand the Jewish context that shape it". I think the authors do exceptionally well in doing what they described without getting the reader entangled with details of dates as well as myriads of views on cultural background. Their approach is concise as well as accessible. For example in chapter one on the word anointing, particularly in the passage where Mary anoints Jesus with expensive perfume, the authors state that there is another side to understanding this than just the description that Mary was only doing it, un-be-knowingly, to prepare for Jesus' burial (Matt 26:12). Anointing carries the meaning that Jesus was the anointed one, taking the context of how anointing in Jewish eyes and senses captured the moment. Passages in the OT also are brought into attention to build on the meaning. I don't think readers will find it difficult to strand together as well as explain. They are simply concise and informative.

That is just one of the countless examples though. Moving on, an initial observation again toward the book is its presentation of the values and customs of the Jewish people which do more than just appease the appetite of the mind. The Jews valued community more base on what I read. In a chapter on haverim, which simply means a student having a study partner for male student and haverah for female student, we get the picture that Jews look at the process of studying differently. They preferred to study in community, together with a group and debates were part of their study nature. Such a different study culture compare to my Malaysian context, especially with debate taking primal role in studying.

I find myself appreciating Jewish liturgy and their formal prayer which some are read from scripture or passed down from tradition which was refreshing. I have also gained some understanding about how Jews viewed the law as we often call it not as a set of rules but a book that God gave out of his grace to show them how to live. I think there are some things in the book that might just shake the sock off our thinking and I hope would ultimately revise of deconstruct previous held positions and reconstruct better grounded views of scriptural understanding and faith. Another thing that made the book accessible was that it had these short concise frames on the sides to explain Jewish words and terms if readers were unfamiliar with them. This sure beats the constant flipping to the back of the book which explains the terms. This book has both the side bar meanings which are concise as well as an appendix page for meaning of the words in a more detailed manner.

Overall, I was not disappointed by the book at all. I was at first skeptical when I first became aware of the book, of whether it would be able to attain to a standard that I had for a book on the subject of dating Jesus in his first-century Jewish context. I think that is the danger if we just stick to a selected group of writes in whom we trust regarding their scholarship. But I have to say that the information in this book has been very helpful, and that is to say the least. I would easily recommend the book easily to anyone having no background on the subject. But I would not just say this book is just for beginners, it's for anyone curious enough to dive into the study of Jesus' Jewish context. You will be richly bless by Ann and Lois' insights. The book might renew also your desire in "sitting at the feet of rabbi Jesus".

Re: The April 17 Review of this book and low rating from Thinkerthinker:

In all candor, I'm not quite sure what bearing "Buddhist Asoka", "the original Therapeutae", etc. have on the matter. It sounds like Thinkerthinker is a tidge too much in love with his or her ability to "think" and wants to shower us with his/her voluminous knowledge of all things esoteric..and ultimately irrelevant.

The book's about Jesus's Jewishness and how we've missed the point of many of His sayings by viewing them through a Western lens. This is an interesting premise and it--unlike Thinkerthinker's meandering and self-important review--is well-developed in the book. Highly recommended, more Christians need to understand the roots of their faith--they certainly aren't Hellenistic!

I am often asked what books I would suggest as "must reads" or what are some good books on history and Jewish context since I use a lot of it in my teaching. This book jumps in the top 5 on both of those lists.

Here's Why...

Readability: The book covers a lot of ground about Jesus and his world. The writer's pick up on a lot of the tradition, symbolism and missed wordplay that takes place in Jesus' interactions with his followers but you never feel like you are bogged down in a technical work. The book covered a great deal of familiar ground, if you read a lot on 1st century Palestine, but the presentation and explanation of some technical symbols is great. This leads me to my next favorite thing about the book - sourcing. I read a lot on the first century world but I often really struggle with books that make claims but have nothing backing up the ideas. This book doesn't do that. Spangler & Tverbeg patiently and thoughtfully source their propositions. This is huge if you are reading this and will be using it for teaching or discussing with others.

The book really hits stride for me in the middle of the book. It really is consistent; doesn't bog down but really grabs you in the chapters on Passover and the feasts. I think you see the book at its best in these chapters as it clearly shows how Jesus relates to the feasts and how much of what he does fulfills, explains and expands the traditions of the people as experienced through the calendar feasts. The book also comes with some great resources in the appendices about the feasts and includes a much appreciated glossary.

So...This book has become my new intro book for people who are interested in the Jewishness of Jesus. It is accessible, informative and insightful. The questions at the end of the chapters are great for discussion and the book as a whole would be a great group read. I'll be buying these to give away.

I remember getting a pair of eyeglasses in fifth grade. When I came out of the optometrist's office, I had a little trouble walking. I could see the sidewalk clearly now, and it was much closer than I remembered. I can still recall looking at a tree and being able to distinguish individual leaves instead of seeing a soft green mass. That experience is a fitting metaphor for what began happening to me a few years ago when I began reading books about the Jewish background of Jesus and the disciples and about the culture of first-century Palestine.

Many Christians habitually take significant shortcuts in biblical interpretation. One of the most dangerous habits is ignoring or minimizing major cultural differences caused by our geographical and chronological distance from Bible events. This tendency seems especially likely when reading the New Testament. Even if a reader knows that the NT was written in first-century Greek, that person might assume that the writers came out of the dominant Greek/Roman culture. This little book not only reminds us vividly that Jesus and all his followers were Jews, but it contains a wealth of examples of common misreadings of Scripture.

Seeing Jesus as a Jewish rabbi and reading his words in the context of the Torah tradition will fill in the background of the picture you may now have of Jesus and his times. The authors achieve this goal masterfully, I think, by creating an approachable, user-friendly guidebook to Jesus and the NT. If you've been raised reading the NT, you won't have a lot to unlearn after reading this book; rather, you'll become aware of how much more is there that you didn't know existed. And as you get more and more familiar with your new pair of glasses, you'll marvel at what you can now see.

If you've ever wondered about what the world might have looked like to Jesus as he roamed the streets in sandals, celebrated the Feasts and ate with the lowly, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg paints picture upon picture for you. The authors intentionally place readers back in Jesus' day of teaching and interacting. This book educated me about Jewish phrases, traditions and teachings and how they impact my life as a Christian.
I am not currently in a Bible study, so I delighted in how this book fed my curiosity and answered questions about the rich history of Jewish beliefs and practices. I enjoyed discovering things like how Jesus and his disciples didn't sit in chairs while dining, as portrayed in the famous Leonardo DaVinci painting, but instead reclined laying on their sides for meals. I grew to understand the importance of and our call as "talmidim" (disciples). I read how Jesus wore tzitziyot (tassels representative of a Jewish man trying to become obedient to the laws of God).
I don't know about you, but I want to acquire every single piece of knowledge possible about who Jesus was and what life might have been like for him on earth. Not only does Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus provide insight and a window into his world, it also offers the significance of this knowledge. When we allow ourselves to go to greater depths and to attain understanding of something, we place ourselves in an optimal position to apply that knowledge. There are excellent questions listed at the end of each chapter that probe and encourage continued spiritual growth. I was grateful for the opportunity to review this book for Zondervan and would certainly suggest it to others.