Meet the Rabbis: Rabbinic Thought and the Teachings of Jesus

We live in a time where it is okay to address certain issues about Cristianity and the Jewishness of Jesus. A couple of decades ago (the other day for that matter) It was not okay. The book that Dr. Young has written is outstanding, most all of the issues that he tackles can not be better said. I've known this for a long time and I know many people did too, but if you don't have the proper credentials (degrees) most of your claims are blown into the wind. But I knew it was just a matter of time, and that time is now. If you are a Christian, be it Catholic or Protestant or any other denomination. THIS BOOK IS A MUST. By the way, one other very important thing I must add is that this book is NOT a religious tug of war between Judaism and Christianity. He simply and in very understandable language shows you the Jewishness of Jesus. Thank you, Dr. Young.

The truth of it is, you will never really understand Jesus or the New Testament until you at least become acquainted with Rabbinic thought. You will be amazed to find a lot of what Jesus said had already been said by one of the earlier Rabbis before him. For example the Golden Rule was first quoted by Rabbi Hillel only in the negative form "don't do to others what you would not want them to do to you". Christians have been debating over the method of Baptism and how it was to be performed for over a century. If only Christians where familiar with the Mishnah they would have known all along how it was it be performed, why it was performed and when it was to be performed. I highly recomend this book.

First, it is important to understand a bit of scholarship that has been published. There has been a lot of scholarship inventing Jesus as being a gentile philosopher. Notably within that movement, the Jesus that is most authentic is the Jesus of the Gnostic (so called) "gospels". However, Brady Young's scholarship has been firmly rooted in a Jewish scholarship which subverts those lies and reinforces Jesus the Jew addressing His contemporary Jewish community. This book is meant to be an introduction to Jewish religious traditions which are Jesus settings. It is not a comprehensive approach to all the various rabbis, but brief introduction to their views and practices. The book is broken up into three main parts with a fourth that serves as an appendix: Part I: Introduction to Rabbinic Thought 1. Introduction to Rabbinic Thought 2. Master Teachers and Their Disciples 3. Torah is More Than Law 4. The Great Sanhedrin 5. Parallel Rabbinic and New Testament Texts Part II: Introduction to Rabbinic Literature 6. Introduction to Early Jewish Writings 7. Ethics of the Fathers 8. The Amidah Prayer 9. Maimonides' Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith 10. Hillel's Seven Principles of Bible Interpretation Part III: Introduction to the Rabbis 11. Meet the Rabbis 12. Both Torah's Were Revealed on Mount Sinai 13. Utopia or Plan of Action? Part IV: Study Helps Of Books, Commandments, Laws, Holy Days, and Lineage Glossary of Terms Bibliographic Helps Index of Modern Authors Index of Subjects Index of Ancient Sources In Part I, Brad Young discusses key Hebrew ideals and Jesus within His contemporary settings. One of the most valuable aspects to Part I is found in Chapter 5 where Jesus teachings are shown nearly identical to other rabbis who came before and after His ministry. Nearly all of Part I is discussing topics discussed in the Sermon of the Mount. In Part II, he introduces the reader to the Mishnah and Talmud; the Oral Tradition. Likewise, the author gives an introduction to the approximate dates for the rabbinic texts. Chapters 8 and 9 are valuable for understanding foundational rabbinical theology and prayer. Next Chapter 10 though only being 7 pages long is a great resource to understanding how the rabbis interpreted the Bible. But the greatest resource in Part II is Chapter 7, Ethics of the Fathers. This chapter is Brad Young's translation (interpretation) of one of the divisions within the Mishnah. "The Ethics of the Fathers is a moral code of conduct, filled with vivid, larger-than-lie personalities. For Christians, it is a valuable source of Jewish teachings that links the spiritual world of the Old Testament with the New Testament era." In Part III, Chapter 11 is self explanatory. The author is giving a quick introduction to a great many rabbis and a known characteristic for each of them, many of which he has already mentioned. In Chapter 12, there is a bit more of an explanation of the Oral Tradition. And the most valuable Pa

Early in my exploration of Christianity (at age 40) it became apparent that most clergy are clueless about the relationship Jesus had with the Pharisees. Despite what Josephus wrote, Pharisees were always portrayed as one - dimensional Neanderthals. Gamliel's thoughtful words in Acts of the Apostles were seldom even mentioned. This was true for all of the hundreds of sermons I have heard live, on the radio, and over the Internet. Prof. Young has been one of the voices calling out in the wilderness. I discovered his books in my mid-40s and then began to read other scholarly writers that he cited. I was trying to understand why G-d chose that particular time in history to send the Messiah. To understand the era, I revisited the worship of the First Century Church and Synagogues. I learned that the Amidah was recited during the time of Jesus in the Synagogues and Temple. These prayers are virtually unchanged from when they were written. If Jesus attended group worship once a week from age 13 to 33, He recited the Amida over 1,000 times. Obviously that is a huge underestimate. More important, he did this shoulder - to - shoulder with the Pharisees! My point is, how can people who profess faith in Christ be so ignorant of what Jesus (and Paul) prayed... and with whom? Now you do not have to! Brad Young has encapsulated my twelve years of part-time research...and a great deal more, into this wonderful book. Being a Hebrew scholar, he translates many great Jewish writings (including the Amida) into English that is precise and very readable. He explains the difference between the Oral Torah (you have heard that...) and the Written Torah (it is written that...) and explains why writings 400 years after the death of Christ still echo with the teachings of the Intertestament Period. Dr. Young also accurately portrays the Rabbis from 100 BCE to 400 AD as some of the religious and intellectual heavyweights of their time. I would give this book six stars if I could. If you do not know the differences between the beliefs of Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Essenes, I would recommend reading his Jewish Theologian books first. Then be prepared to have all of your preconceived notions about the Pharisees ground into dust.

As a teacher of Hebraic-Christian studies, I want to applaud Dr. Brad Young on all of his books. However, his new work "Meet The Rabbis: Rabbinic Thought and the Teachings of Jesus" is filled with truth that many Christian will never read because in the Church there is no one teaching Rabbinic thought. This book will become required reading for all those who come to Mayim Hayim Ministries House of Study to learn of Jesus' and his Judaica Rabbinic Biblical Roots. Oh how I wish the Church had never thought-out the baby with the bath water. Please keep writing books like this one, we need more books because the Body of Messiah is suffering from severe anorexia in this area. Todah rabbah Dr. Young for your brilliant work!