The Gospel of Mark: A Beginner’s Guide to the Good News, by Amy-Jill Levine
Review by Russ Resnik Amy-Jill (“AJ”) Levine is a prominent scholar and academic, Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University, the first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute, and coeditor of the Jewish Annotated New Testament. In recent years, she has produced a number of popular and accessible studies in…
Read MoreJews and Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome’s Challenge to Israel, by Katell Berthelot
Reviewed by Henri Louis Goulet The primary aim of this meticulously researched and finely nuanced study is to show the many ways in which the Roman Empire presented a unique challenge to Israel as a people—even perceptibly trying to usurp Israel’s place and role in God’s plan for the world.1 Following and expanding upon the…
Read MoreJacques Maritain in the 21st Century: Personalism and the Political Organization of the World by Walter Schultz
Reviewed by Christopher S. Morrissey This handsome hardcover volume contains a collection of essential studies by the Jacques Maritain scholar Walter Schultz. It offers readers a splendid synoptic view of the trajectory of Schultz’s academic work, from his Ph.D. dissertation on Maritain’s social thought to his discovery of the project of Rabbi Mark S. Kinzer…
Read MoreJewish Church: A Catholic Approach to Messianic Judaism by Antoine Levy, OP
Reviewed by Richard Harvey Jewish Church1 is not for the faint-hearted. Not only does it weigh in at 416 pages, but it costs $125 in hardback and $50 on Kindle, a serious financial investment. The time to read it, and the careful study required to understand it, mean that anyone delving into it is making…
Read MoreJesus, King of the Jews! Messianic Judaism, Jewish Christians, and Theology Beyond Supersessionism – ed. James Earle Patrick
Reviewed by Russ Resnik A sea-change in Jewish-Christian relations since World War II is undeniable. The two world-wide communities that for many centuries saw themselves as adversaries and often behaved accordingly have in recent decades been seeking peace and understanding. But one of the ironies of Jewish-Christian dialogue is that Messianic Jews have generally been…
Read MoreFinding Messiah: A Journey into the Jewishness of the Gospel, by Jennifer M. Rosner
Reviewed by Jason F. Moraff Jen Rosner has gifted us a gem. In Finding Messiah: A Journey into the Jewishness of the Gospel,1 she invites Christians to (re)consider the history that led to the divergence between Judaism and Christianity into discrete traditions and its impacts on understanding the gospel. She introduces her predominantly Christian audience…
Read MoreThe Holy Spirit before Christianity, by John R. Levison
Reviewed by Henri Louis Goulet This is arguably the most important and insightful monograph ever written on the origins of what should rightfully be called “ruachology.”1 The result of over two decades of research, its historically, hermeneutically, and exegetically sound approach reveals “unprecedented conceptions of the spirit (i.e., ‘ruach’) that emerged in the crises of…
Read MoreThe Nations in the Divine Economy: Paul’s Covenantal Hermeneutics and Participation in Christ by William S. Campbell
Reviewed by Joseph Culbertson In a book about Paul’s vision for how the nations would relate to God’s covenant with Israel, William S. Campbell begins by sketching the history of the successors to Paul’s communities of gentile Christ-followers. Campbell asserts that it was Paul’s intention to cultivate a healthy identity for these congregations, in…
Read MoreAt the Foot of the Mountain: Two Views on Torah and the Spirit by Joshua Lessard and Jennifer Rosner
Reviewed by Adam Millson One of my favorite ways to spend my free time is in deep and friendly discussion of serious topics. Digging into the subject, examining our assumptions, pushing the boundaries of our understanding together—every part of the experience is delightful. Imagine my pleasure, then, when I picked up At the Foot of…
Read MoreMorality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times, by Jonathan Sacks
Reviewed by Russ Resnik Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, was one of the preeminent Jewish voices of the past few decades—and one of the preeminent moral voices as well. His final book, Morality, is a fitting culmination to a career cut short by Rabbi Sacks’ death in November, 2020, just weeks after its…
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