JESUS OF ISRAEL

When young people begin to challenge their religious teachings is the period when this exciting book will capture their interest. This age will vary:- it may come early in the teens- or late- or even not until so-called maturity. It is, therefore, important not to pigeonhole this book as a ""juvenile"". It demands participation on the part of the reader, a measure of assumption that the background of the Gospels-and to a lesser extent- Biblical reading and history, is familiar and accessible. (This reader found constant reference to Biblical texts essential to full comprehension.) It demands, too, a willingness to open the mind to a fresh approach to familiar passages, to discard some of the accepted tenets and interpretations. And, basically, it demands acceptance of the importance of the fact that Jesus and his followers were Jews, their training, their thinking, their concepts were Jewish, deeply rooted in the exhortations of the Prophets, in the laws laid down by Moses, in the writings of the ancient Jewish teachers. This is a comparative study of Jesus of Nazareth on the basis of evidence of his own day, - Roman writings, Josephus the historian, some of the Dead Sea scrolls, the Old Testament and the Apocrypha, and particularly the four Gospels. Nobody, who is not already an extensive Biblical scholar, will read this without being first somewhat shaken and ultimately strengthened in the conviction of the reality of the role of Jesus as an historical and spiritual entity. The beauty of style, the reverent approach and the unquestioned scholarship will be universally appreciated.