By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2026-03-24T07:52:33-04:00February 18th, 2026|Tags: Christianity, Early Christian Communities, Gospel of John, Judaism|
When, how, and why did the Jesus movement—a small Jewish group born and nourished within a first-century Jewish matrix—come to be "Christianity," a religious movement that defined itself as separate from, and even in opposition to, Judaism? An interview with Dr. Adèle Reinhartz
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2025-12-31T11:57:54-05:00January 7th, 2026|Tags: Biblical Violence, Gospel of Matthew, Jewishness of Jesus, Judaism, New Testament|
How have anti-Jewish ideas shaped readings of the New Testament? Meredith Warren explores “Judeophobia,” historical context, and responsible interpretation in this Bible and Beyond podcast conversation. An interview with Dr. Meredith J. C. Warren.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2025-11-20T18:31:48-05:00December 3rd, 2025|Tags: Greco-Roman, Judaism, Violence|
Dr. Ward Sanford discusses the early years leading to Rome’s destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. Drawing from his historical novel’s first book, he mixes careful research with fictional characters to illuminate the forces that erupted between 63 and 66 CE. An interview with Dr. Ward Sanford.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2026-03-09T02:23:35-04:00November 12th, 2025|Tags: Chaos, Christian History by the Century, Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism, Violence|
Jesus was remembered as a towering moral and spiritual presence amid a century of turmoil. The memory of Jesus as victor—not as a defeated Jew—became the defining theme.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2025-09-07T07:45:23-04:00September 10th, 2025|Tags: Christian History by the Century, Christianity, Greco-Roman, Judaism, Violence|
The second century BCE was a crucible for Christian evolution. Jewish heritage provided the containment for the melting and fusing of new materials from Greek culture—the flowering of seeds planted in this tumultuous century.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2024-10-02T05:42:42-04:00October 2nd, 2024|Tags: Healing, Jesus, Judaism|
"It's not like there's a pork barbecue stand in lower Galilee where Jesus is likely to go eat pig, right? So Jesus adhered to the various Jewish laws. Did he adhere the same way other people would do? Probably not." An interview with Dr. Amy-Jill Levine
By Dr. B. Brandon Scott|2024-06-12T02:49:12-04:00June 12th, 2024|Tags: Atonement, Concepts of God, Crucifixion, Judaism, Resurrection|
Dying for the people’s sins and resurrection are tied together from this period forward. The Jesus group who originated the piece of tradition in 1 Corinthians 15:4-5 was not innovating.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2024-02-28T09:46:20-05:00January 24th, 2024|Tags: Healing, Hebrew Bible, Judaism, Psalms, The Jewishness of Jesus|
Paul’s goal was to inspire nations to convert to the true God—the God of Israel. This was a conversion, not to a new religion, but to the promises of Israel's God.
By Dr. B. Brandon Scott|2024-01-08T06:48:03-05:00January 10th, 2024|Tags: Christ, Gospel of Mark, Judaism, Paul, The Jewishness of Jesus|
Was Jesus the expected Jewish Messiah? The primary problem is that Jesus was crucified, executed by the Romans. Nothing in Jewish expectation about the Messiah expected the Messiah to lose, much less be executed by Israel’s enemies.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2023-12-19T23:48:12-05:00December 13th, 2023|Tags: Healing, Hebrew Bible, Judaism, Psalms, The Jewishness of Jesus|
Jesus made quite clear that the story about God he wanted to advance was the reality of God’s presence among us, a message with its roots deeply embedded in his Jewish heritage.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2023-12-29T01:53:06-05:00December 8th, 2023|Tags: Healing, Hebrew Bible, Judaism, Psalms, The Jewishness of Jesus|
I want to hear Jesus the way his contemporaries—Jews in first-century Israel and Galilee—would have heard him. I want to understand him the way his Jewish contemporaries understood him. An interview with Rabbi Evan Moffic.
By Dr. B. Brandon Scott|2024-01-06T18:39:00-05:00November 29th, 2023|Tags: Christianity, Gospel of Matthew, Judaism, Paul, The Jewishness of Jesus|
Christians have had a difficult time acknowledging that Jesus was a Jew, despite the obvious fact his mother was a Jewish woman. Therefore, he was a Jew. So, what’s the problem?
