Have you ever wished you could to take part in an archeological dig in Israel? Here’s a chance of a lifetime! This summer, there will be two excavation sessions at El Araj, the most likely location of Bethsaida, a New Testament village on the Sea of Galilee. Taking place on June 26-July 10 and then […]
Recently, I was interviewed by Dr. Yeshaya Gruber as a part of the Israel Bible Center’s Roundtable Talk series. Dr. Gruber and I had a lively discussion on topics that may interest many. There are many world-class scholars in this series. I’m humbled to be included among them. The Israel Bible Center site also has […]
Meet my new mesharet, Madalyn Buursma. Moses had Joshua as his “mesharet.” Elijah had Elisha as his “mesharet.” The word is translated as “assistant,” but the relationship was an ancient model for how disciples studied with rabbinic teachers. Madalyn recently graduated from Calvin College with an English major and she’s aiming for a career in […]
Even though Jesus preached absolutely nonstop about the kingdom, that word is quite a puzzle to readers. I used to think of “kingdom” as a very esoteric, abstract idea, not considering the fact that the word kingdom describes a community. It’s describing God’s relationship with a whole group of people whom he is redeeming. When […]
Good news! In 2020 I will be authoring a bimonthly column for the magazine Premier Christianity, a popular Evangelical periodical in the United Kingdom. My first column will appear in the January 2020 issue. The overall theme of my series will be understanding Jesus as a rabbi, focusing on different aspects of his cultural background […]
Shalom, all – I have some great news – we’ve finished moving hundreds of articles from my first ministry website, the En-Gedi Resource Center, to their new home at EnGediResourceCenter.com. They have also been updated and reorganized by topic to make them easier to find. This has been months of work, so I hope readers […]
Last winter I gave a couple lecture series on my most recent book, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus for the Theological Education Initiative in Columbia, MO and also at Trinity Church in Lansing, MI. For both audiences, I spoke about the three main sections of the book. Repacking our Mental Bags How the Bible […]
Did Jesus actually claim to be the Messiah and Son of God, or was the idea dreamed up by his fawning followers? Yes he did, and in a very Jewish way. So Jewish, in fact, that Gentiles have mostly overlooked his powerful claims. A few weeks ago shared a talk about this in Indianapolis. The […]
(An excerpt from my book, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus ) Jesus’s parables fit perfectly into a non-Western, Jewish culture that expressed itself through tangible metaphors. He was engaging in sophisticated theological teaching, but we miss it if we are looking for the deductive abstract arguments of the Greeks. Jesus often based his reasoning […]
If you’d like to hear more about my life story and perspective, I did an interview in London with Sam Hailes on “The Profile” on Premier Christian Radio that aired Saturday, July 21, 2018. I thought it was a very good conversation. Listen to it at this link. This is their description of […]
Pastors, here’s a creative idea. Choose a Christian book to incorporate into a sermon series (4-5 weeks), and make copies available to church members. At the end of the series, invite the author to come and speak. After the service with the author, host a potluck with a Q & A discussion time about the […]
What a delightful time I had traveling to the UK and Netherlands June 7-21. I spoke to a total of nine audiences, around 80 – 100 typically, always a few more than the organizers expected. A few folks came from quite a distance. I hadn’t traveled in either country before, so I enjoyed encountering these […]