Jerusalem Perspective

Jerusalem Perspective Jerusalem Perspective is an online magazine dedicated to better understanding the life and teachings of Jesus in their original contexts.

Check out "Two Kinds of Love in the Story of the Paralyzed Man." This new article on JP examines the religious underpinn...
06/02/2025

Check out "Two Kinds of Love in the Story of the Paralyzed Man." This new article on JP examines the religious underpinnings behind Jesus' response to the paralyzed man and his impetuous friends as well as those of his critics who accused Jesus of speaking blasphemy. Read the article or listen to the Audio JP recording at this link: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/30025/.

New Audio JP: “What’s Wrong with Contagious Purity? Debunking the Myth that Jesus Never Became Ritually Impure”: https:/...
08/11/2024

New Audio JP: “What’s Wrong with Contagious Purity? Debunking the Myth that Jesus Never Became Ritually Impure”: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29371/

Jerusalem Perspective recently published a new article that re-examines Jesus’ attitude toward ritual purity. This new JP article challenges easy assumptions that Jesus had a negative view of, or was impervious to, ritual purity. Instead of allowing modern prejudices to distort our picture of Jesus and his relationship to Second Temple Judaism this article offers a new perspective on Jesus’ attitude toward ritual purity that places him firmly within his first-century Jewish context. It also discovers a spiritual depth to Jesus’ behavior that more simplistic views do not.

Newly released in Audio JP mp3 format you can listen now to “What’s Wrong with Contagious Purity? Debunking the Myth that Jesus Never Became Ritually Impure” (https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29371/).

There's a popular perception that Jesus was immune to ritual impurity. Instead of contracting ritual purity from others ...
06/09/2024

There's a popular perception that Jesus was immune to ritual impurity. Instead of contracting ritual purity from others he transferred his purity to them. A new JP article questions this view and offers a deeper understanding of Jesus' relationship to ritual purity. Check it out: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29371/ .

For his contribution to the collection of articles celebrating David Bivin’s 85th birthday professor Ze’ev Safrai tackle...
04/08/2024

For his contribution to the collection of articles celebrating David Bivin’s 85th birthday professor Ze’ev Safrai tackled the enormous subject of halakhah (Jewish religious practice) in the Gospels. Safrai identifies two ways halakhah surfaces in the Gospels: 1) in incidental details in Gospel narratives, and 2) in debates between Jesus and the Pharisees and other dialogue partners. Safrai finds that the halakhic details in Gospel narratives are generally accurate and that the positions Jesus stakes out in halakhic debates usually have analogs in other ancient Jewish sources. Delve into Safrai’s extensive discussion at this link: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28876/.

To the parable of the Wicked Tenants Matthew’s Gospel adds these ominous words: “The kingdom of God will be taken away f...
02/08/2024

To the parable of the Wicked Tenants Matthew’s Gospel adds these ominous words: “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to an ethnos producing the fruits of it” (Matt. 21:43). In his contribution to the collection of articles written in honor of David Bivin’s 85th birthday, Professor Serge Ruzer considers what the author of Matthew meant by ethnos (a new nation? a new people group? a new collective?) and asks against whom this warning was directed. In his investigation Professor Ruzer suggests that a verse in Exodus (“you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” [Exod. 19:6]) may provide an answer to these questions. Read more at this link: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28340/ .

Ancient Jewish sources attest to a debate over which motivation for keeping the commandments—fear or love—was most highl...
31/07/2024

Ancient Jewish sources attest to a debate over which motivation for keeping the commandments—fear or love—was most highly to be esteemed. This debate surfaces, among other places, in the Talmudic discussions of the seven types of Pharisees. These seven types and the debate over love versus fear illuminate important aspects of Jesus' teaching, which are examined in this new article by Brad Young, written in honor of David Bivin's 85th birthday: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29210/ .

Many different ideas about the final redemption emerged during the Second Temple Period. One of these ideas was that the...
26/07/2024

Many different ideas about the final redemption emerged during the Second Temple Period. One of these ideas was that the final redemption would correlate with the cycle of Sabbatical and Jubilee years described in the Hebrew Scriptures. Not only would the final redemption coincide with the Sabbatical cycle, but striving for social justice through amnesty and liberty—humane principles that lay at the heart of the Sabbatical cycles—would help bring the redemption to fruition. In his article written in honor of David Bivin’s 85th birthday, “The Expectation of Sabbatical Redemption within Ancient Judaism and Luke-Acts” ( https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28733/ ), Marc Turnage explores the development of these ideas and their presence in the writings of Luke.

All Christian disciples are, in one sense, followers of Jesus. But only when they are physically present in the land of ...
24/07/2024

All Christian disciples are, in one sense, followers of Jesus. But only when they are physically present in the land of the Bible can they actually follow in Jesus’ footsteps in a literal sense. And even then, Jesus did not traverse every square inch of the Galilee and Judea. One way to know for certain that one is following the paths Jesus trod is to walk along the ancient pilgrimage routes from the Galilee to Jerusalem. In his article, “From the Galilee to Jerusalem: Luke as a Source for the Routes of Jewish Pilgrimage,” written in honor of David Bivin’s 85th birthday, Jeffrey P. García traces the ancient pilgrimage routes along which Jesus traveled. Join him on this spiritual and intellectual journey: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28996/ .

Today (July 20) is David Bivin’s 85th birthday, and JP is celebrating this important milestone in its founder’s life. Yo...
20/07/2024

Today (July 20) is David Bivin’s 85th birthday, and JP is celebrating this important milestone in its founder’s life. You can celebrate, too, by planting a tree in Israel in David’s honor through the Arbor Day Foundation: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28976/ .

Why plant a tree to honor David? Because of the important role they played in ancient Jewish society trees, their fruits, and the products made from them are mentioned frequently in the New Testament Gospels, which have been the focus of David's life-long study. To learn more about trees in the life and teachings of Jesus, check out the new JP article “‘Look at…all the trees’: Trees in the New Testament Gospels” ( https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28823/ ), written in honor of David’s birthday.

The popular TV series “The Chosen” portrays Matthew the Tax Collector as a social outcast, ostracized from Jewish societ...
19/07/2024

The popular TV series “The Chosen” portrays Matthew the Tax Collector as a social outcast, ostracized from Jewish society. In his article celebrating David Bivin’s 85th birthday Guido Baltes challenges this stereotype. Check it out: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28688/ .

As part of JP's celebration of its founder's 85th birthday, Lois Tverberg wrote and audio recorded an article on the str...
18/07/2024

As part of JP's celebration of its founder's 85th birthday, Lois Tverberg wrote and audio recorded an article on the strange case of Jesus’ encounter with a blind man near Jericho. In Mark the encounter takes place as Jesus heads away from the city, but in Luke the encounter happens just as Jesus enters Jericho. What might be the reason for this discrepancy? Listen or read to find out: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28817/ .

July 20th marked the 85th birthday of David Bivin, Jerusalem Perspective's founder and editor-in-chief, and JP is celebr...
17/07/2024

July 20th marked the 85th birthday of David Bivin, Jerusalem Perspective's founder and editor-in-chief, and JP is celebrating with new articles and a new e-book. Check it out: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29006/!

Thanks to the efforts of Katia Motzeva a handfull of JP articles have been translated into Bulgarian: https://www.jerusa...
08/03/2024

Thanks to the efforts of Katia Motzeva a handfull of JP articles have been translated into Bulgarian: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/%d0%b5%d1%80%d1%83%d1%81%d0%b0%d0%bb%d0%b8%d0%bc%d1%81%d0%ba%d0%b0-%d0%bf%d0%b5%d1%80%d1%81%d0%bf%d0%b5%d0%ba%d1%82%d0%b8%d0%b2%d0%b0/. More are on the way. We need your help to make this valuable resource reach more Bulgarian speakers. If you know anyone who speaks Bulgarian and who is interested in studying the life and teachings of Jesus, please let them know about this valuable new resource.

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