Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospel: A Message for Christians by David H. Stern (19-Aug-2009) Paperback

by David H. Stern

Paperback

About the author

David H. Stern born in Los Angeles in 1935, is the great-grandson of two of the city's first twenty Jews. He earned a Ph.D. in economics at Princeton University and was a professor at UCLA. He then received a Master of Divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary, did graduate work at the University of Judaism, and was active in the Messianic Jewish movement. Dr. Stern authored the highly acclaimed English translations, the Jewish New Testament, the Jewish New Testament Commentary, and the Complete Jewish Bible.

Reviews

[Judson David Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

definitely some interesting topic for conversation within these pages. while I think there are some clarifications here that are helpful for the every day believer who knows very little about the Jewish culture or the origins of Christianity within it, I struggle to recommend this one as it feels like an effort at arguing a point rather than educating effectively. the affected way with which Stern writes about this topic as if he alone is correct or the most knowledgeable is hard to get past, and I found myself asking more questions about his incomplete arguments and how he got to them than I did about my own position on the matter.

the crux I think is this: while Stern is correct in assuming most Christians do not think about how "Jewish" Christianity actually is in foundation, he assumes the worst of the majority of believers in writing them off as as not caring about it or about the Jewish community in general. whether he is correct or not I believe is a question for Barna or Pew Research, but I would bet that most believers don't take the stance that they just "don't care" or are actively "neglecting" the Jewish community terms of evangelism/care/solidarity. what seems most clear to me from this is that Stern has a lot of knowledge about covenant theology and the Messianic Jewish faith and has a very robust practice of it himself that anyone interested could learn from, but that in the same breath he believes that the church is generally positioned in negativity to the Jewishness of their faith, which is an assumption I don't think any of us can make.

All that said, I did learn a bit about Replacement Theology, covenants, and probably most importantly how not to call people to action if I want them to hear what I have to say and take up my cause. maybe I'm just bad at hearing rebuke, but this felt a little more scathing and a lot more "holier-than-thou" than maybe he ever intended. still, I give it 3 stars bc there is knowledge to be had, and it's important to read what you disagree with.

[Elise Pettijohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

He made some points that are worth considering, but his arguments about observing the Torah as Christians were questionable (though that wasn’t the main point of the book), and I’m in general wary of people who make their own Bible translations because they don’t think anybody else has gotten it quite right.

[Leandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a recent Christian observer of the Torah, this book helped me understand how Christianity veered off anything remotely Jewish. The book gave history, cultural and biblical references in a simple way to understand. I think sometimes as Christians, we can get overwhelmed with so much history and information but he lays it out concisely. Also he did a great chapter on Paul...on understanding what his mission was for both the Jews and the Gentiles. It gave me such great understanding and compassion for both Christians and our Jewish brethren and has helped me speak with love and confidence when I speak about Jesus to my Jewish friends. I never spoke before because I didn't want to offend anyone much less my Jewish friends...but now having context, I can share my faith openly without it being a "you are wrong" and "we are right".

[Kyleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was super eye opening. For some reason I struggled a bit with the beginning chapters, but it took off about halfway through and I couldn’t put it down! So many great concepts unpacked here.

Loved the ending quote “Christians need to redefine who they are in relation to the Jewish people - and then act on the consequences of that redefinition with a renewed commitment to bringing the gospel to Jews. This is the biggest challenge facing the Church.”

Also, I was so surprised to see that the first edition of this book came out in 1988! It’s 36 years old and these topics are still barely being covered today.