The Bible With and Without Jesus

How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently

By: Amy-Jill Levine, Marc Zvi Brettler

Narrated by: Marni Penning

The editors of The Jewish Annotated New Testament show how and why Jews and Christians read many of the same Biblical texts – including passages from the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Psalms – differently. Exploring and explaining these diverse perspectives, they reveal more clearly Scripture’s beauty and power.
Esteemed Bible scholars and teachers Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Z. Brettler take readers on a guided tour of the most popular Hebrew Bible passages quoted in the New Testament to show what the texts meant in their original contexts and then how Jews and Christians, over time, understood those same texts. Passages include the creation of the world, the role of Adam and Eve, the Suffering Servant of Isiah, the book of Jonah, and Psalm 22, whose words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” Jesus quotes as he dies on the cross.

Comparing various interpretations – historical, literary, and theological - of each ancient text, Levine and Brettler offer deeper understandings of the original narratives and their many afterlives. They show how the text speaks to different generations under changed circumstances, and so illuminate the Bible’s ongoing significance. By understanding the depth and variety by which these passages have been, and can be, understood, The Bible With and Without Jesus does more than enhance our religious understandings, it helps us to see the Bible as a source of inspiration for any and all readers.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Decent read

This definitely came from a liberal Jewish perspective. While seeking to be fair and offer a different perspective in light of historical/modern interpretation and tradition, they seem to rather adamantly oppose fundamental Christian doctrine to the degree that it emphasizes or advocates for replacement theology. That’s where the balanced approach ended, and became a book about why Jews and Christians should reject Christian dogma.
Overall good read though, and provided good insights.

Fantastic book.

The narrator is very easy to listen to. The authors do a fantastic job of presenting both sides of the issue in the best possible light while remaining true to the text and the context. Great read.

Good but a bit one sided at times.

Excelent book, although Levine's personality is the one that comes across the most.
Nevertheless, the listener will be enrich by this book.

Stick Around

Interesting take from a Jewish author on Jewish scriptures. It is certainly a book written to Christians to help them see the other side, and unfortunately, the author cannot avoid some polemic. This is where there was a definite lull in the middle, but stick around for her take on Jonah as it applies to Jewish understanding and Christian understanding of Peter. There are other gems in there as well. She did avoid a translation of Melchezedek that means "My King is Zedek," and the potential YHWHism in "Salem" before Moses, but I'll give her a pass.

Scholarly

The narrator was good and pronounced foreign words relatively well.

I enjoyed this, it was dense and scholarly. The authors explained how Jews and Christians have interpreted various texts throughout history. It was academic, not overly polemical. At times it strayed into "everyone should respect everyone else's beliefs" which is nice, but then they would list a few unacceptable beliefs and didact the reader into only accepting interpretations that are good and ethical etc. Good discussion for higher criticism, but I don't think inerrantists would appreciate the idea that NT writers sometimes got things 'wrong', or made things up, or misinterpreted texts. The authors were more concerned with what the biblical authors were trying to say or how communities interpreted what they said, rather than what the original historical objective Truth might be, thus this isn't an attempt at history, but how people interacted with texts.

Of special enjoyment were the sections on the Suffering Servant, the virgin conceiving, Psalm 22, the son of man, and Jonah. Basically the second half of the book.