Early Jewish History

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A bold, urgent appeal from the acclaimed columnist and political commentator, addressing one of the most important issues of our time “In Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, Peter Beinart offers a model for writing a new...

Was there a woman before Eve? The question does not arise from a single text or a single moment in time. It moves across centuries, reappears in different forms, and is often attributed to writings that never posed it in this way. Between what is written and what later came to be told, a space opens—and it is within that space that legend takes hold. This book traces the emergence and development of this idea through the very texts and traditions that shaped it. It begins in the ancient world, where names associated with night, wilderness, and desolation belonged to the religious and ...

Many years ago, in a lecture on the creation of the Mishnah, the Orthodox Jewish historian, Rabbi Berel Wein discussed the rise of early Christianity as a historical and theological backdrop. He mentioned that this era is of particular importance to Jews because of the complicated and tragic relationship between Jews and Christians over the centuries. He referred to Joseph Klausner, the famed Jewish professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who in the earlier part of the 20th century, had authored several works on early Christianity from a Jewish standpoint.

Most books on early Christianity tell a familiar story. Jesus preached. The Church emerged. Doctrine settled. But beneath that tidy narrative lies a forgotten movement that never believed it had left Judaism at all—and its story changes how everything looks. The Ebionites for Beginners reveals the world of the Jewish Christians who followed Jesus as Messiah while continuing to keep the Law of Moses. Long before creeds and councils defined belief, these communities lived at the crossroads of Torah, monotheism, and faith in Jesus. Their existence raises uncomfortable questions about what ...

As a young man growing up in early twentieth- century Germany, Arthur Waldmann is introduced to the mysteries of the Jewish Kabbalah by his eccentric grandmother, and dreams of traveling to a Heavenly Academy of ancient sages in a distant galaxy. When he discovers that he cannot achieve this goal by spiritual means, he decides he will reach for the stars through the emerging technology of rocket propulsion. Waldmann comes to believe that he is the chosen one to lead mankind's conquest of space, but soon discovers he must confront brilliant rivals with equal claim to the title, one of whom ...

MAKIN' THE SCENE - A Living History ‘He’s been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king. He’s been up and down and over and out, but he knows one thing: Each time he finds himself … flat on his face, He picks himself up and gets back in the race. …’ (from That’s Life © 1963 by Dean Kay & Kelly Gordon, sung by Frank Sinatra, 1966) International best-selling novelist Hugo N. Gerstl (Scribe, The Motherland Saga Quartet, Against All Odds) has been a non-fiction writer, Air Force officer, teacher, radio personality, substitute (unordained) Rabbi while stationed in ...

This book explores the Nazi occupation of Poland 1939-1945--and how ordinary people survived, resisted and endured during those horrible years. Here, with information smuggled out of Poland by the underground resistance, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs documented the Nazi regime’s systematic plan to erase an entire nation: to destroy its culture, enslave its people, and extinguish resistance through terror. Inside this rare report are: Translations of Nazi laws designed to annihilate Polish identity Eyewitness accounts of deportations, executions, and village massacres Chilling ...

The Jewish sect which ascribed Jesus the title of Messiah was eventually transformed into a non-Jewish movement wholly separated from its Jewish context. The transformation was not instantaneous, and there were deviating or at the least parallel streams of Jesus supporters early on. A critical mistake which has been made, in my opinion, is the assumption that the Jesus movement was uniform even among its early Jewish followers. Analyzing the original movement(s) in the first centuries of the Common Era can reveal how the schism between Judaism and Christianity evolved.

The “marvelous” (Reza Aslan, bestselling author of Zealot), New York Times bestselling story of how Christianity became the dominant religion in the West. How did a religion whose first believers were twenty or so illiterate day laborers in a remote part of the empire became the official...

Two rival sects. One battle for the soul of Judaism. A legacy that shaped the world. For centuries, the Essenes and the Pharisees stood on opposite ends of a religious and political divide—one withdrawing into the wilderness, the other entrenching itself in power. Their conflict would ripple far beyond the borders of ancient Judea, influencing the rise of Christianity, reshaping Jewish thought, and leaving behind a legacy still debated today. The Essenes—mystics, ascetics, and the mysterious keepers of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They abandoned society, awaiting the end of days and the coming...

Longlisted for the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction A New York Times Most Anticipated Book "Henry Goodman is an excellent narrator, in particular due to his ability to give unique voices to figures ranging from Theodore Herzl to Basshe." — AudioFile This dazzling, innovative family...

Three events transpired in 1492 in the Iberian Peninsula, which had tremendous ramifications for years to come. The first was the conquest of Granada, i.e., the last Muslim stronghold, by Castilian and Aragonese forces. The victory ended eight hundred years of Islam-ic rule. The conquest of Granada eventually also led to the conversions of many Muslims to Christianity, the phenomenon of Crypto-Islam, and the eventual expulsion of the descendants of these converts in 1609.

The Jim Crow South has been notorious for miscarriages of justice for decades, and cases like the Scottsboro Boys continue to be commemorated for the manner in which institutionalized racism ensured the wrongful convictions of minorities. The attention given to these cases raised nearly every potential issue implicating criminal procedure among the states. While the Bill of Rights had ensured a number of rights for criminal defendants, the states had previously been allowed to interpret those rights, leading to instances where defendants weren't provided adequate legal representation.

The history of early Christianity is shrouded in mystery. Jesus and his early followers were Jewish, but most Jews and Christians know little of the origins of either. Since the third and fourth centuries CE, Judaism and Christianity have crystallized to the point of apparent distinction so much to obscure shared history and even theology. Consequently, people legitimately ask what connections could Judaism and Christianity have. A variety of textual discoveries including the Dead Sea Scrolls, however, has brought about a renewed interest in the subject of early Christianity in its Jewish ...

Jesus the Rabbi offers a compelling and scholarly exploration of Jesus of Nazareth as a Jewish Rabbi deeply rooted in the vibrant world of first-century Second Temple Judaism. Reclaiming Jesus from later Christian theological lenses, this book situates him within the cultural, religious, and political landscape of Judea, where he taught in synagogues, engaged in Torah debates, and navigated Roman occupation. Drawing on historical-critical methods, primary sources like the Gospels, Mishnah, and Dead Sea Scrolls, and contemporary scholarship, Elior J. Cohen presents Jesus as a teacher whose ...

An insightful, myth-busting biography of early 20th-century Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, seen through the lenses of the artist’s tuberculosis and other ailments. Becoming Modigliani is a comprehensive biography that delves into the troubled life of the Jewish-Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. Written by Dr. Henri Colt, an internationally recognized lung specialist, the book examines the artist's legend and Modigliani's creative journey from a medical perspective, from his birth in Livorno, Italy, to his tragic death in a paupers' hospital in Paris at the age of thirty-...

“A great leap forward in understanding and contextualizing Mary’s life, after two millennia of her being dismissed and rewritten by patriarchal power structures.” James Cameron A world-renowned historian of early Christianity and ancient Judaism lifts the veil on the life of Mary –...

This audiobook is the first audiobook in the new academic book series, Hermit Kingdom Studies in Christianity and Judaism, which seeks to encourage advancement of knowledge in the area of Hebrew language studies, Jewish historical studies, and Early Christianity/New Testament studies. The academic series particularly encourages the use of interdisciplinary approaches and creative thinking.