Our Rabbi Jesus

The Reality of Disciples and Rabbis

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I recently was asked about how disciples studied with rabbis. What age were disciples, and did they pay the rabbi a fee to study? How did they support themselves at the same time? Did the rabbis work at some craft to support themselves? (They were not like rabbis of today, which like pastors are to […]

The Gospels in First Century Judea – Conference Aug 29, 2013

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Update: A few months ago I told you about the program on Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins at Nyack College in New York City.  I mentioned that they will be hosting an Inaugural Conference on August 29, 2013. The conference, entitled “The Gospels in First Century Judea” looks very good. Some outstanding Christian and Jewish […]

I’m Behind on Giving Away Books

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I admit it – I’m a little behind on giving away books to folks who sign up on my email list. I have some paperback copies of Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus that I’d be happy to send to some lucky winners. If you haven’t signed up yet, use the “Subscribe” form to […]

In the Blogosphere: Reviews of Walking in the Dust

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Here are some review highlights for Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus from various blogs. I’ve just shared an excerpt – use the link to read the rest. Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts “…makes me hunger to dig deeper in the meaning of the Word.” From “Best Books Review” at aholyexperience.com (I’m honored […]

The Meaning of Life, According to Jesus

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Here’s a little experiment for you. Right now, make yourself smile. Look in the mirror. Are you really, genuinely smiling? Or is it a little forced? Okay, now make yourself laugh. Did you fill the room with hearty guffawing? Or did you find it quite difficult? Okay, now make yourself happy. Are you truly brimming […]

New Program on Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins

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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 […]

A Modern Day Passover Sacrifice

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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 […]

Teaching about Blessing the Lord

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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 […]

Learning to Think in Hebrew

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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. […]

Uff-da, Sputten & Vasakope: Words without Equal

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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 […]

List of all OurRabbiJesus articles, 2009-2012

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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 […]