The Jewish Studies Blog

By Dr. Mark Goodacre in his NT Blog. Geza Vermes was a legend.  It is rare for a scholar to make so massive an impact in the guild in different areas, the study of early Judaism and the study of Christian origins.  His Penguin  paperback, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, was for many of […]

This is a talk by Rabbi Chaim Richman, an Orthodox Jew who is the director of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. Disclaimer:  I think that for a Christian this video may help to connect with the topics that are interesting and important.  In my next post I will briefly discuss Christian Anti-Judaism and misconceptions associated […]

Andrea Tornielli Vatican City A cordial meeting between Israeli president Shimon Peres and Pope Francis was held this morning, in the Vatican. During the audience, which lasted 30 minutes, the president invited Francis to Jerusalem. “It’s not just me who would like to see you there, the whole of Israel would.” When the two shook […]

Giorgio Bernardelli Rome Next summer, Christians and Jews will be going on a pilgrimage to Israel to commemorate Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini. Pilgrims will plant the first trees and a commemorative stela will be unveiled on 17 June 2013. The idea for the forest – which will be planted near Tiberias to commemorate the cardinal […]

One of the names of God in the Bible isיהוה יִרְאֶה (Adonai Yireh). It appears in Gen 22: 14 and most Bibles translate it as “the LORD will provide”. The four letter name of God comes first but theיִרְאֶה (yireh) part comes from Hebrew verbלִרְאוֹת (lirot) which means “to see, to perceive, to look”. This […]

In early 2007, Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino released their book, The Jesus Family Tomb, in conjunction with “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” a film produced by Jacobovici and James Cameron. The topic of both book and film was a first-century tomb found in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem in 1980, and ten ossuaries (burial chests) associated with this tomb. Their […]

It has long been thought that John was either inaccurate or unconcerned about issues of chronology, geography and details in general; but was rather concerned with the larger theological view of Christ-related events. Since we have already walked together through first five chapters of the Gospel, we see that it is not the case. John is accurate.

There is another interesting possibility that has been largely overlooked. In Jesus’ time, the concept of the Wicked Priest was known among Essene-influenced Jews. Writings regarding the Wicked Priest are well represented in the Qumran Collection (Dead Sea Scrolls Collection). Presumably the Qumranite Jewish monks, who left Jerusalem in protest and established the headquarters of the Israelite Essene movement in Judean Desert (a century before Jesus), were persecuted by this Wicked Priest (of Jerusalem Temple). The Essenes had a figure they called the Teacher of Righteousness who was the oppositional counterpart to the figure of the Wicked Priest.

It is possible that we have long misinterpreted this verse (I do not receive glory from people). You may say what is there to misinterpret!? Jesus says that he does not seek praise from people, but only from God Himself. It’s pure and simple. But it is not that simple. During the Second Temple period, in addition to Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Samaritans there were other Israelite groups. Not much later some rabbis derogatorily referred to a group that is of particular interest to us here as the “people of the land.”

Dear participants in Jewish Studies for Christians study group, shalom! First, I wanted to thank you all for taking part in so many discussions throughout the blog! It’s been nothing short of exhilarating to interact with you, something that I very much love to do. Just by the way of update I am now preparing […]