Resources - Books

The best thing to read before the trip is Scripture.  My advice is to consider reading some of these books after the trip, rather than before.  They will be much more meaningful to you at that time.  Having said that, here are some books that I’ve found helpful.  Bear in mind that a wide range of opinions exist on some of these topics, and given my “conservative view” of the Scriptures, I don’t always agree totally with the authors’ opinions.
For Bible study resources, in addition to the wealth of information on the various links, and making use of  Bible study, I highly recommend the following:

 

  1. “The Jewish New Testament” & “The Jewish New Testament Commentary” by David Stern
    (available electronically at www.logos.com)
  2. "Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus" by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg
  3. “The Baker Atlas of Christian History” by Tim Dowley
  4. “Holman Bible Atlas” by Timothy Brisco
  5. “Zondervan Handbook to the Bible”

For stimulating books that are a fairly-easy read, I’d suggest picking up these:

  1. “Constantine’s Sword” by James Carroll
  2. “Echoes of His Presence” by Ray Vander Laan
  3. “The Jews in the Time of Jesus” by Stephen Wylen
  4. “Listening to the Language of the Bible” by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema
  5. “Living in the Time of Jesus of Nazareth” by Peter Connolly
  6. “My Father Abraham” by Marvin Wilson.
  7. “New Light on The Difficult Words of Jesus” by David Biven
  8. “They Loved the Torah” by David Friedman
  9. “Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus” by David Biven and Roy Blizzard
  10. “Walking the Bible” by Bruce Feiler
  11. “Yeshua, A Guide to the Real Jesus and the Original Church” by Ron Moseley.

For additional study, you might consider some of the following:

  • “Archaeology of the Old Testament” by Alfred Hoerth
  • “Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts” by Crossan and Reed
  • “The Fall Feasts of Israel” by Mitch and Zhava Glaser
  • “The Feasts of the Lord” by Howard and Rosenthal
  • “God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism” by Abraham Heschel
  • “God’s Appointed Times” by Barney Kasdan
  • “Jewish Sources in Early Christianity” by David Flusser
  • “Jewish Spirituality, A Brief Introduction for Christians” by Lawrence Kushner
  • “The Jews in the Time of Jesus” by Stephen Wylen
  • “Judaism and the Origins of Christianity” by David Flusser
  • “The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah” by Alfred Edersheim
    (available electronically at www.logos.com)
  • “The New Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” by John Foxe, rewritten by Chadwick
  • “A Pinch of Incense” – Vol 2 of The Christian History Project
  • “Regions on the Run” with set of maps from Biblical Backgrounds (www.bibback.com)
  • “Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospel” by David Stern
  • “The Sacred Bridge” by Rainey and Notley
  • “Sketches of Jewish Social Life” by Alfred Edersheim
    (available electronically at www.logos.com)
  • “The Veil is Torn” – Vol 1 of The Christian History Project
  • “With Jesus in Jerusalem” by Bargin Pixner
  • “With Jesus Through Galilee” by Bargil Pixner
  • “JPS Torah Commentary Series” 
    (soon to be available electronically at www.logos.com)