Mind The Gap: How the Jewish Writings between the Old and New Testament Help Us Understand Jesus - Matthias Henze - 2017 - Fortress Press - 248 pages
Rating: ★★★★ out of ★★★★ ★ The stated purpose of this book is given in the introduction: "I did not recognize the Judaism of Jesus because all I knew was the Old Testament. But the religion of the Old Testament is not the Judaism of Jesus. While in the New Testament, Jesus studies and teaches in the synagogues, there are no synagogues in the Old Testament. While in the New Testament, Jesus’s disciples call him rabbi, there are no rabbis in the Old Testament. While in the New Testament, Jesus is often involved in conversations with the Pharisees, there are no Pharisees in the Old Testament. While in the New Testament, Jesus expels demons and unclean spirits, there are no demons in the Old Testament. The list goes on. These are not incidental matters in the life of Jesus. They all stem from the Jewish world to which Jesus belonged, a world about which I knew so little apart from what I had read in the New Testament." Henze sets out to make the reader aware of the "Jewis...