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An Essential Guide to the Jewish Context of the New Testament (Essential Guide (Abingdon Press))
An Essential Guide to the Jewish Context of the New Testament - Essential Guide Abingdon Press Author:Amy-Jill Levine Jesus was Jewish, and he spoke to a Jewish audience in the Gospels. The writers of the New Testament were Jewish, and they lived and thought in a Jewish milieu that involved their long history, social structure, culture, and religious practice. The Bible of Jesus, the New Testament writers, and the first Christians was the Hebrew Bible—the Chr... more »istian Old Testament. We hear Jewish prayers and read about Jesus and Paul preaching in the synagogue, quoting the Hebrew Scripture. The major figures that we read about in the New Testament and other contemporary writings belong to this tradition—the priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, and Herodians. And the origins of Christianity are intimately tied to the fate of the Jews in Palestine during the first century, through, especially, the destruction of the second temple in 70 C.E. Hence, the New Testament and the origins of Christianity cannot be fully understood without understanding this Jewish Background. There is, quite simply, no better guide to the Jewish background of the New Testament than Amy-Jill Levine. She will leads the reader to better understanding the New Testament by illustrating the text’s Jewish environment and language, as well as the roots of the New Testament faith in the Jewish Scriptures and its interpretive traditions. The reader will gain an appreciation for this context that will help mitigate the perceived anti-Judaism in the New Testament, which has, in turn, tragically led to anti-Semitism in the Church. The purpose of the Abingdon Essential Guides is to fulfill the need for brief, substantive, yet highly accessible introductions to the core disciples in biblical, theological, and religious studies. Drawing on the best in current scholarship, written with the need of students foremost in mind, addressed to learners in a number of contexts, Essential Guides will be the first choice of those who wish to acquaint themselves or their students with the broad scope of issues, perspectives, and subject matters within biblical and religious studies.« less