If you’re interested in academic study on the Jewish background of Christianity, I have some good news. A brand new program on Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins is beginning this fall at Nyack College in New York, New York. This is a two-year on-campus Masters (M.A.) program. The website says: The M.A. is a 36-credit [...]
We talk about Jesus as the true lamb of Passover, but moderners have a hard time imagining what that means. We have no mental imagery of what a Temple sacrifice ceremony was like. We know that the disciples joined crowds of other worshipers in the Temple to sacrifice a lamb, which they roasted and ate [...]
Just an update – I’ll be speaking about the rich Jewish prayer traditions that Jesus observed at Grace Church in Granger, Indiana this Saturday (March 16). For more info about the event, see this page. I’m speaking about the chapter in Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus called “For Everything a Blessing.” If you [...]
I recently told you about some of the interesting Norwegian words I grew up saying, like “uff-da” and “vasakope.” As my immigrant ancestors were learning English, they hung on to words in their mother tongue that did a better job of expressing what they meant to say. My relatives weren’t the only ones doing this. [...]
I’ve been thinking about Hebrew words and language lately, and analyzing the words that I use. I’ve noticed that my vocabulary is peppered with words from other languages. Many of my unusual words come from my Norwegian ancestors. For instance, I grew up saying uff-da. Many have seen “uff-da” on bumper-stickers and refrigerator magnets, but I [...]
Whenever I visit a website with years of writing on a topic that I’m interested in, I wish I had a simple list of links to all of the article titles. So below you’ll find a downloadable document with links to all my articles from 2009-2012. It is a MS Word (.doc) file. I also [...]
(UPDATED 1/21/13 – See end of post.) It’s hard to read very far in your Bible before bumping into shepherds. We find them in parables, psalms and Christmas stories. Many of our biblical heroes (both men and women) herded sheep, like Jacob, Rebecca, Moses and David. And Jesus even pictured the final judgment in shepherding [...]
Here are readers’ favorite articles from Our Rabbi Jesus: His Jewish Life and Teaching over this past year. Below that I’ve shared a few that were highlights for me personally. I’m glad if my writing has blessed you, and hope to continue as the Lord gives me ability. . …Drumroll… . 1. What Does the [...]
We’re only a few days into 2013, and the year is still squeaky clean. A lot of us are going strong on our New Year’s resolutions. We’re full of fresh determination to be more thrifty, organized, slim and buff. In about a month or so, the glow will fade. You’ll realize that change is harder [...]
Good news for book nerds like me! The Kindle version of my latest book, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus is available right now for $2.99 at Amazon. (The ebook is also on sale at Barnes & Noble, ChristianBook.com, and elsewhere.) The sale is only going on for a few days, so tell your [...]
Have you ever wondered what it was like during the plagues? It seems beyond imagining to endure multiple waves of destruction, as the Egyptians did. Hail wipes out your crops. Disease destroys all your cattle. And on and on, ten times. This came to mind several times as I watched a new PBS documentary by [...]
If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you’re a little bookish, like me, and that you appreciate a good church library. So you’ll resonate with my feelings about the conversation I had this past weekend. A few years ago my church had a budget to buy a bookcase full of resources for an in-depth [...]