A Better Understanding
On the whole, this book is a welcome effort for its main goal of demonstrating and reclaiming the Jewishness of Jesus, and the Jewish background and culture of the New Testament scriptures. Jesus is shown to be originating within, aligning himself with, and expressing himself within a religious culture that venerates the divinely revealed scriptures of the Hebrew prophets. He was a devoted member of the body and calling of the divinely elected people of Israel.
Levine helps us see the shameful anti-Semitism of the historical church and dispels the reprehensible conceptions of false oppressive social standards supposedly found within this noble tradition.
Of course, writing as a traditional Jew, Levine does not regard Jesus as Israel's messiah and so this reviewer must depart from some of her interpretations of certain passages in both the OT and the NT. Also, when she criticizes the church, she usually has in mind the Roman Catholic church and its interaction with the Jews throughout history. This does not fairly represent the evangelical Christian church.
