“Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.”
Proverbs 9:9“Who is wise? One who learns from all people.”
Talmud
Jewish History, Antisemitism, and The Church
- Abandoned, Stan Telchin
- Anguish of the Jews, Edward Flannery
Antisemitism: Here and Now, Deborah E. Lipstadt
- Constantine’s Sword, James Carroll
- Did Jew Know?: A Handy Primer on the Customs, Culture & Practice of the Chosen People, Emily Stone
First the Jews: Combating the World’s Longest-Running Hate Campaign, Rabbi Evan Moffic
- GenerationJ, Lisa Schiffman
- The Gift of the Jews, Thomas Cahill
How to Fight Anti-Semitism, Bari Weiss
Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn, Daniel Gordis
Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, Michael Brown
- Walking The Bible, Bruce Feiler
Why?: Explaining The Holocaust by Peter Hayes
Why the Jews?: The Reason for Antisemitism, Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin
- Why The Jews Rejected Jesus, David Klinghoffer
Christian Spirituality Through Jewish Eyes
- A Baptist Among The Jews, Mary Blye Howe
- The Bible Jesus Read, Philip Yancey
- Celebrate the Feasts, Martha Zimmerman
- Christianity Is Jewish, Edith Schaffer
- The Feasts of the Lord, Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal
The Forgotten Jesus: How Western Christians Should Follow an Eastern Rabbi, Robby Gallaty
- Girl Meets God, Lauren Winner
- God’s Appointed Times & God’s Appointed Customs, Barney Kasdan
The Gospel According To Moses, Athol Dickson
- How Jewish Is Christianity, Edited by Louis Goldberg
- In The Shadow of the Temple, Oskar Skarsaune
- The Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight
- The Jesus I Never Knew (“Background: Jewish Roots and Soil”), Philip Yancey
- Jesus The Jewish Theologian, Brad Young
Jew In The Pew, Jenny Berg Chandler
- Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament, J. Julius Scott, Jr.
- Jewish New Testament Commentary, David Stern
- Kosher Jesus, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
- The Jews in the Time of Jesus, Stephen M. Wylen
- The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Alfred Edersheim
- Listening to the Language of the Bible, Lois Tverberg with Bruce Okkema
- Meet The Rabbis: Rabbinic Thought and the Teachings of Jesus, Brad Young
Moments & Days: How Our Holy Celebrations Shape Our Faith, Michelle Van Loon
- Mudhouse Sabbath, Lauren Winner
- Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith, Marvin Wilson
- Paul The Jewish Theologian, Brad Young
- The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation, Brad Young
- Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus: How
a Jewish Perspective Can Transform Your Understanding, Lois Tverberg
- The Real Kosher Jesus, Michael Brown
- Sabbath, Dan Allender
- Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg
- That The World May Know (video series), Ray Vander Laan
- Understanding The Difficult Words of Jesus, David Bivin
- Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, Lois Tverberg
- Walking In the Footsteps of Jesus, Wayne Stiles
What Every Christian Needs To Know About The Jewishness of Jesus, Rabbi Evan Moffic
- What Every Christian Needs To Know About Passover, Rabbi Evan Moffic
- Yeshua Matters, Jacob Fronczak
Must See Films
- Covenant and Controversy: The Great Rage, Produced by Frontier Alliance International (2015)
- Covenant and Controversy: City of the Great King, Produced by Frontier Alliance International (2016)
- Fiddler On The Roof (1971)
Promised Land: Israel Through The Eyes of Surfers, Produced by Walking On Water Films (2012)
- Schindler’s List (1993)
If you are a follower who Jesus it is inevitable that in the course of building authentic relationships with your Jewish friends and neighbors–assuming both you and your Jewish friends are genuinely interested in breaking down walls of ignorance and fear and talking about the “elephants in the room”–questions may arise or challenges may come regarding your conviction that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. While I do not advocate beating your Jewish friends over the head with Christian doctrine, nor do I believe that you should feel ashamed about subscribing to those doctrines. The resources listed below will help you navigate those discussions and provide reasonable answers if and when they arise.
If you are Jewish and don’t subscribe to the messiahship of Jesus, let me encourage you to consider what my friend and author, Rabbi Niles Goldstein, once said–“Don’t freak out when your Christian friends want to tell you about Jesus. They’re only doing it because they love you.”
Christian Doctrine & Apologetics
- Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Michael L. Brown
- Betrayed!, Stan Telchin
- The Case For Christ, Lee Strobel
- Engaging with Jewish People, Randy Newman
- Jesus Was A Jew, Arnold Fructenbaum
- Messiah In The Old Testament, Walter Kaiser
- Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts The Way Jesus Did, Randy Newman
- The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, Tim Keller
- Tactics: A Game Plan For Discussing Your Christian Convictions, Gregory Koukl
- What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus?, Michael Brown
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in the Messiah may be ashamed of their slander.
1 Peter 3:15-16
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:5-6
Great Books About Jesus
- Beautiful Outlaw: Experiencing the Playful, Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus, John Eldredge
- The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey
- Who is This Man?: The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus, John Ortberg
Resources on the Net
- www.caspari.com
- www.bibleplaces.com
- www.chosenpeople.com
- www.covenantandcontroversy.com
- www.engediresourcecenter.com
- www.experienceisrael.com
- www.ffoz.org
- www.hebrew4christians.com
- www.israelstudycenter.com
- www.jcstudies.com
- www.jewsforjesus.org
- www.myjewishlearning.com
- www.oneforisrael.org
- www.ourrabbijesus.com
- www.realmessiah.com
- www.thattheworldmayknow.com
The listing of these resources is not an endorsement of everything written by the authors, the content contained within their works, or the methodologies they advocate.
If you’re wondering which books to start with, check out the ones that have been bolded.