NOTES for FINAL Lecture
How the Kingdom message expressed Yeshua’s spirituality - Abba and God-centeredness - Trust mentality - No mediators.
Yeshua’s ethics - About the ‘narrow way’ with 2 attributes: 1) God as gracious, and 2) away from ‘conventional wisdom’ - It was radicalizing the first commandment (Borg) - The ‘cross’ as an ‘image of transformation’ - Yeshua an ‘explainer’ not of the Law, but of God - Lesson from the ‘temptations’ - Cupitt’s insights.
Still Jewish - Jewish scholars speak - Yeshua was ‘inclusive’ - More worried about the Jewish ‘soul’ than about the Jewish ‘body’ (nation).
6. The Cross - its meaning - Yesua died a ‘martyr’, like some before him (Socrates) and many afterwards - ‘Cross’ often used as a metaphor for ‘persecution’ - Nolan and Shapiro about Yeshua’s death.
Some theological explanations of cross/death - For Paul the ‘cross’ was the key of God’s plan for the salvation of the world - Mark’s ‘ransom’.
Atoning sacrifice not acceptable - For many - Spong on this matter - ‘Restoration’-theory led the Church to ‘eliciting guilt’ as a prerequisite to ‘conversion’ - Baptism became a ‘rescue operation’ - Sinfulness and need for redemption are tied close together in the history of the Western world - Borg’s reflection - It limits God by saying God can forgive ‘only’ if adequate payment is made - Yeshua was executed, died on a cross, (not for, but) because of the sins of the world - He was unwilling to compromise his vision for the sake of survival/expediency/success.
10 Yeshua Savior - Yeshua was a ‘disclosure’ and ‘revelation’ of God - As an image of God he mirrors the ‘care of God’ - To make people become aware of God, Yeshua discloses that at the center of everything is a ‘Reality’ that cares for us, and wants our well-being, both as individuals and as individuals within society - For Yeshua God is the Compassionate One who invites people into relationship.
How Yeshua was savior - what is the salvation/liberation he offered - Yeshua’s ‘good news’ was the same good news of the spiritual thinkers of old, namely that a radical transformation of human consciousness was possible - The ‘enlightenment’ and the ‘end of suffering’ of the ancients is what Yeshua offers in his teachings - It is different of what Christianity made of it: ‘believe in it now’ and enjoy it later (in heaven) - Yeshua showed that salvation can happen in this life, you can be one with God right now - Eternal life, as being with God, is available right now - Becoming conscious of the 'ultimate Reality’, the ‘source Being’, will give us that trusting confidence that we are 'in good hands' - For that to happen we have learn to ‘trust’ the life-giving and healing energy that is within us, because of our god-centeredness.
Conclusion
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NOTES for LectureTWELVE
Nov 11 CANCELED
Nov 18 - NO CLASS (because of Thanksgiving following day)
Dec 1 - Kingdom concept - Kingdom talk How Yeshua’s kingdom Jewish and different - What Christianity did to Yeshua and his teaching - [Added is a Handout]
Dec 8 - Yeshua’s kingdom message finding new life - CROSS - YESHUA SAVIOR
FYI - THERE IS A 'HANDOUT' !!!
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Yeshua’s Kingdom talk/notion -
Kingdom concept in Hebrew Bible: development from the divine sovereignty of Yahweh to the kingdom tradition of Isreael, to biblical ‘Messianism’.
In Rabinnic literature: Observing God’s commandments in a life lived in consciousness of the sovereignty of God - Double focus: theoretical & practical.
Yeshua’s kingdom talk - Contained ‘newness’ - A reminder of the Exodus myth - ‘Exodus’ became the theme - Kingdom mentality had to do with a ‘journey’, not with an ‘arrival’ - It’s his vision of salvation - What orthodox Christianity did to it - Made the ‘hero’ do for us what we cannot do for ourselves - Yeshua’s ideal of God’s rule is in antithetical relation to both political and social systems, and to individual self-interest - How ‘trust’ plays a role - Radical trust in and responsiveness to ‘the divine’, is what makes society function as God’s domain - God answers prayers by motivating people - A final Reflection.
How Yeshua’s kingdom message was Jewish - What Jewish scholars say - While accepting traditional Torah living, Yeshua offered something that transcended that way - Not just a way of ‘living’, but a way of ‘being’.
How Yeshua’s Kingdom message was different - He indicates a ‘broad’ and a ‘narrow’ way - The deeper meaning of the meeting of Yeshua and Martha at the death of her brother Lazarus - Yeshua and family relations - The young man who had lived the conventional ‘good life’.
How does one ‘enter’ the Kingdom” ? - ‘Arrival’ in the Kingdom is not possible, since ‘arrival’ will be only by ‘departure’.
What Christianity did to Yeshua and his teaching - Pauls’s impact - The ‘living’ and ‘teaching of Yeshua became ignored - Death became the center - Reactions to this ‘mis-interpretation’.
How the Kingdom message expressed Yeshua’s spirituality - Abba and God-centeredness - Trust mentality - No mediators.
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NOTES for Lecture ELEVEN (canceled)
I need to adjust rest of material to time available:
Nov 11 - CANCELED
Dec 1 - How Yeshua’s kingdom Jewish and different - What Christianity did to Yeshua and his teaching
Dec 8 - Yeshua’s kingdom message finding new life - Reversal of values - Reformer - Rebel - Blasphemer
[NOT covered CROSS - YESHUA SAVIOR - I will make text of these sections available to those interested. Please let me know by ‘note’ or email]
OR; I might in the last presentation mention: “Yeshua’s kingdom message finding new life”, and add highlights from CROSS and YESHUA SAVIOR.
I’ll be listening to your preference!!!
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Thanksgiving and traditional prayers - The shema, the kaddish.
The Psalms - The mysticism in the psalms - Communion with God without intermediaries.
Trust ethic - Trust flowed for Yeshua from his god-connectedness - Trust is the ‘horizon of God’s domain’ (Funk).
[SKIP: Demons - Yes, No - Will make text available on request]
Yeshua’s Kingdom talk/notion - Micha: “To act justly, to live tenderly and to walk humbly with your God”. - It’s in his Kingdom talking and living, that Yeshua shows himself as what it means to be ‘mensch’. Keep that in mind.
Concept in Judaism - Vermes: ‘Kingdom' is essentially a political notion, and it is therefore not surprising that its ‘metaphorical association with God’ retains an element of the original significance, i.e. kingdom as a nation and territory ruled over by a (divine) king. Later it turned into a more abstract notion of the ‘universal sovereignty and limitless power’ of the Deity’ - In the Hebrew Scriptures - Highest concentration in Ps 2:7 - At one time Israel asked for a king - Samuel warned them for the consequences - Concept changed after the Exile - Birth of ‘Biblical Messianism’ - Held a element of mystery: the salvation of Israel is presented like being a magnet that ‘attracted the rest of mankind’ to God - The term ‘kingdom’ malkhut a latecomer - Prophets about the kings.
Intertestamental concept - Opening to fresh insights: Daniel + Dead Sea Scrolls - Two elements: 1. eschatological/apocalyptic - 2. savior king.
In Rabbinic literature - Act of commitment - ‘God will reign’ in Jewish liturgy - Two distinctions: 1. theoretical concern temporal/eternal - 2. practical: how to relate to the kingdom.
What was Yeshua’s kingdom talk about? - The newness in Yeshua’s message: from restrictive aspects of ancestral patterns toward a new kingship with its own codes of behavior - Reminder of the Exodus myth - Yeshua sees it as a ‘journey’, not an ‘arrival’ - It’s his vision of salvation - What orthodox Christianity did to it - Made the ‘hero’ do for us what we cannot do for ourselves - Yeshua’s ideal of God’s rule is in antithetical relation to both political and social systems, and to individual self-interest - How ‘trust’ plays a role - Radical trust in and responsiveness to ‘the divine’, is what makes society function as God’s domain - God answers prayers by motivating people - A final Reflection.
How Yeshua’s kingdom message was Jewish -
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NOTES for Lecture TEN
Intimacy with the Holy One - The use of ‘Abba’ - The meaning of ‘son of God’ for Yeshua - What might have been Yeshua’s mystical experiences.
Calling - The impact of the baptism on Yeshua - Insights received about God and God’s relationship with his people - The father of the ‘prodigal son’ as symbol for God as Abba.
God-connectedness gave Yeshua authority - Yeshua’s message was about the domain of the one he called Abba - How the people reacted - He spoke with authority, from ‘the mouth of Gevurah’, from the power of the Spirit - He was seen as Elijah and other prophets - Questioned by the Jerusalem leadership - Even the gospels indicate the Yeshua was standing in the charismatic tradition of Judaism.
Yeshua and prayer - Verbal prayer, and prayer of deeper awareness - Mystical prayer, the merkabah - Yeshua was a ‘spirit person’ - ‘Spirit persons’ have been found in all cultures - They experienced the ‘sacred’ frequently and vividly - cf. Brahman, Atman, Tao, etc. – Spirit persons are also ‘mediators’, t.i. mediators of the ‘sacred’.
Lord’s Prayer - Started with the request: ‘Teach us how to pray’ - The deeper meaning and purpose of this praer.
Further hints of how to pray - ‘Rememberings’ of the followers of Yeshua - Pray without showing of - in private - in simpleness - Yeshua’s final prayer; ‘Let this cup pass ...’
Thanksgiving and traditional prayers - The shema, the kaddish.
The Psalms - The mysticism in the pslams - Communion with God without intermediaries.
Trust ethic -
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NOTES for Lecture NINE
Preliminary observation: Yeshua saw God, in Jewish tradition, as a Person - Yeshua and the ancients philosophies - ‘... it is my contention that Jesus articulated a Jewish version of the perennial philosophy (Rabbi Shapiro) - Yeshua saw God not in his ‘self’ only, but in all ‘selves’.
Yeshua and god-connectedness - Much is being said about God, what we know and don’t know - Yeshua said very little about the subject - For him it was not a matter of ‘knowledge’ but of ‘experience’ - His experience is found in the ‘Abba’ - ‘Son of God’ is possible ‘in all’ as ‘god-connectedness’ - Where did Yeshua get his closeness to God? - Both from his ‘Jewishness’ and his personal baptism-experience.
Called ‘son’ at the baptism - Purpose of John’s baptism ritual - ‘Return’ teshuva was the drive-force behind it - Living in the presence shekhina of God should be the goal for Israel - John’s call included metanoia changing one’s ways - Yeshua’s baptism had a deep and lasting meaning.
The baptism story - its details - How each of the details have ‘scripture’ connection - Who made the connections, Yeshua, oral tradition or interpreters? - Some further observations about John’s baptism.
What the baptism meant to Yeshua - Spending time with John Baptist stimulated and deepened Yeshua’s own spiritual vision - How Yeshua might have talked about his baptism experience - The connection with the Hebrew scriptures.
Intimacy with the Holy One - The use of ‘Abba’ - The meaning of ‘son of God’ for Yeshua - What might have been Yeshua’s mystical experiences.
Calling - The impact of the baptism on Yeshua - Insights received about God and God’s relationship with his people - The father of the ‘prodigal son’ as symbol for God as Abba.
God-connectedness gave Yeshua authority - Yeshua’s message was about the domain of the one he called Abba - How the people reacted - He spoke with authority, from ‘the mouth of Gevurah’, from the power of the Spirit - He was seen as Elijah and other prophets - Questioned by the Jerusalem leadership - Even the gospels indicate the Yeshua was standing in the charismatic tradition of Judaism.
Yeshua and prayer -
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NOTES for Lecture EIGHT
Yeshua and the ‘well-to-do’ - Parables and stories that show Yeshua’s interest in, and contact with those ‘well-off’ - Not necessary ‘negative’ - Lk and Zaccheus the wealthy tax-collector - Yeshua’s reaction.
Humility - No sayings of Yeshua about himself - 2 Exceptions - Humility leads to ‘forgetting one-self’ - it’s the enemy of pretension - Yeshua’s critic on the behavior of some scribes - The pharisee and tax-collector in the Temple - Yeshua’s warning: “Whoever tries to hang on to life will lose it, but whoever let’s go of life, will preserve it’ - Meaning of the pradox - And the gospel writers’ interpretations - The ‘dinner party’ story, its meaning, and interpretations.
Yeshua in the ‘sayings (Q & G of Th) - Sense of humor in stories about the ‘lost coin’, the ‘lost sheep’ and even in the ‘prodigal son’ story - Many aspects had a humoristic side, but was never noticed because of the emphasis on the morals involved - Funk’s observation about a saying of Yeshua that is overlooked - Funk: Humor in most of its form is inimical to moralism - Moralism is the enemy of humor - Yeshua was not a moralist - He did not give ‘rules of behavior’, only guidelines - His calling Herod the “fox” had a humoristic tint.
6. How the god-relationship shaped Yeshua
Preliminary observation: Yeshua saw God, in Jewish tradition, as a Person - Yeshua and the ancients philosophies - ‘... it is my contention that Jesus articulated a Jewish version of the perennial philosophy (Rabbi Shapiro) - Yeshua saw God not in his ‘self’ only, but in all ‘selves’.
Yeshua and god-connectedness - Much is being said about God, what we know and don’t know - Yeshua said very little about the subject - For him it was not a matter of ‘knowledge’ but of ‘experience’ - His experience is found in the ‘Abba’ - ‘Son of God’ is possible ‘in all’ as ‘god-connectedness’ - Where did Yeshua get his closeness to God? - Both from his ‘Jewishness’ and his personal baptism-experience.
Called ‘son’ at the baptism - Purpose of John’s baptism ritual - ‘Return’ teshuva was the drive-force behind it - Living in the presence shekhina of God should be the goal for Israel - John’s call included metanoia changing one’s ways - Yeshua’s baptism had a deep and lasting meaning.
The baptism story - its details - How each of the details have ‘scripture’ connection - Who made the connections, Yeshua, oral tradition or interpreters? - Some further observations about John’s baptism.
What the baptism meant to Yeshua -
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NOTES for Lecture SEVEN
4. How Yeshua saw things around him. - On the ‘how’ - As a ‘wisdom teacher’, where did he get his ‘wisdom’? - The answer from a text (in 6 different places) - The wisdom he tries to communicate he sees hidden in what he observes - Applied to the Kingdom message - Explanations come from ‘ordinary life’ - Examples - “Jesus had a deep sense of wonder” (Nolan) - He was shaped also by the reality of life - How he found an explanation of the kingdom in ‘nature’ : seed and soil - the flowers and grass in the fields - the birds - in the kitchen - the vineyard and Yeshua’s sense of ‘bussiness’ - animals - the lost sheep - pearl - narrow gate - trees - snakes/doves - wine - a patch.
5. More about the human side of Yeshua - Four stories that involve women - either a challenge or having indications of deep concern and compassion.
1) Syro-Phoenician woman, a gentile - who was a challenge
2) Samaritan woman - Story has some deep gnostic insights
3) Penitent woman - Yeshua reaching out
4) Mary Magdalen - Intimacy
Further look at the humanism of Yeshua - What is ‘humanism’ - is it found in the stories mentioned? - Cupitt sees Yeshua’s teaching as a ‘hinge’ - connecting/expressing both ‘tradition’, and ‘his own thinking’ - One can only accept and understand ‘Yeshua’s thinking‘ if one ‘dares’ to think for one self, dares to take distance from tradition - Did Yeshua think for himself? - Texts that give us insight - His teaching was meant as a ‘guiding ideal’, while he was battling to raise the moral awareness of his people.
Finding Yeshua on crossroads - with opposite feelings - Did Yeshua have questions sometimes? - Being a prophet - Performing exorcisms - Different consequences - Bringing peace and causing disturbance - Still Yeshua was so much like the prophets, aware of their mission, but seeing the irony of their message - Cupitt’s observation: Yeshua a fore-runner of the modern humanism in ethics - It had consequences - He sees two Grand Narratives 1) the traditional and 2) our humanness with our trying to think for ourselves – ‘Productive’ vs ‘ingested’.
Yeshua and the ‘well-to-do’ -
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NOTES for Lecture SIX
A few data bout Yeshua - Birthplace: Bethlehem or Nazareth? - Genealogy: in doubt to say the least - Town of Nazareth, parents, carpenter, family, ‘first born?
Baptism and the Kingdom message - John the Baptist and Jeshua - Why the baptism - What it meant to Yeshua - Not a ‘conversion experience’ - Kingdom message’s first insight (more in “Kingdom talk”).
Yeshua ‘son of man’ - How Yeshua used the expression ‘son of man’ - Later it became a title for the ‘resurrected Christ’ - Yeshua’s sense of reality - The pharisee and tax-collector in the temple - “Lose your life to find your life” - Life is valuable because of its ‘god-connectedness’.
4. How Yeshua saw things around him. - On the ‘how’ - As a ‘wisdom teacher’, where did he get his ‘wisdom’? - The answer from a text (in 6 different places) - The wisdom he tries to communicate he sees hidden in what he observes - Applied to the Kingdom message - Explanations come from ‘ordinary life’ - Examples - “Jesus had a deep sense of wonder” (Nolan) - He was shaped also by the reality of life - How he found an explanation of the kingdom in ‘nature’ : seed and soil - the flowers and grass in the fields - the birds - in the kitchen - the vineyard and Yeshua’s sense of ‘bussiness’ - animals - the lost sheep - pearl - narrow gate - trees - snakes/doves - wine - a patch.
5. More about the human side of Yeshua -
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NOTES for Lecture FIVE
3. The Human side of Yeshua, t.i. the ‘mensch’ - Rabbi Cook’s observations about Yeshua: 1) he was a Jew 2) behaved as a Jew - disputing details of the Law 3) was a teacher of Jewish ethics 4) was influenced by his time 5) his uniqueness was his personality 6) if he thought he was the Messiah, he was mistaken 7) charges and arrest were politically oriented -
More Jewish opinions - Yeshua could have developed only on the soil of Judaism - He was more ‘part of’ than ‘apart from’ Jewish-life-and-thought - One cannot fully understand the life and teachings of Yeshua apart from the Jewish context from which they derive - Many saw in Yeshua former prophets, even John the Baptist - He was compared to the gentle caring Hillel -
Some snips from Rabbi Shapiro’s interesting observations; He sees Yeshua as ‘inspired by the Spirit fo God’ - He reject the idea of Yeshua being the Son of God coming to redeem mankind from original sin - He too sees some connection in Yeshua’s teaching with the perennial philosophy - He admits: there is ‘one divine Reality’ and it is ‘our true nature’ - He sees Yeshua as expressing the ‘God-consciousness he had experienced’ -
Rabbi Shapiro about Yeshua and the woman at the well.
A few data bout Yeshua - Birthplace: Bethlehem or Nazareth? - Genealogy: in doubt to say the least - Town of Nazareth, parents, carpenter, family, ‘first born?
Baptism and the Kingdom message - John the Baptist and Jeshua - Why the baptism - What it meant to Yeshua - Not a ‘conversion experience’ - Kingdom message’s first insight (more in “Kingdom talk”).
Yeshua ‘son of man’ - How Yeshua used the expression ‘son of man’ - Later it became a title for the ‘resurrected Christ’ - Yeshua’s sense of reality - The pharisee and tax-collector in the temple - “Lose your life to find your life” - Life is valuable because of its ‘god-connectedness’.
4. How Yeshua saw things around him.
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NOTES for Lecture FOUR
Teshuva - shekina - Teshuva: ‘repentance and return’ is repeatedly found in Yeshua’s sayings - It contains a ‘letting-go’ mentality, that will lead to the freedom and liberation of the Kingdom - [It was mis-translated by Christianity - Christ dying for our sins] - Yeshua’s stress on teshuva became the basis for his ‘trust mentality’ - Shekina:
‘presence’ is also found in the Kingdom concept - Reign of God is present in the midst of those who had ‘returned’ to Yahweh.
3. The Human side of Yeshua, t.i. the ‘mensch’ - Rabbi Cook’s observations about Yeshua: 1) he was a Jew 2) behaved as a Jew - disputing details of the Law 3) was a teacher of Jewish ethics 4) was influenced by his time 5) his uniqueness was his personality 6) if he thought he was the Messiah, he was mistaken 7) charges and arrest were politically oriented -
More Jewish opinions - Yeshua could have developed only on the soil of Judaism - He was more ‘part of’ than ‘apart from’ Jewish-life-and-thought - One cannot fully understand the life and teachings of Yeshua apart from the Jewish context from which they derive - Many saw in Yeshua former prophets, even John the Baptist - He was compared to the gentle caring Hillel -
Some snips from Rabbi Shapiro’s interesting observations; He sees Yeshua as ‘inspired by the Spirit fo God’ - He reject the idea of Yeshua being the Son of God coming to redeem mankind from original sin - He too sees some connection in Yeshua’s teaching with the perennial philosophy - He admits: there is ‘one divine Reality’ and it is ‘our true nature’ - He sees Yeshua as expressing the ‘God-consciousness he had experienced’ -
Rabbi Shapiro about Yeshua and the woman at the well.
A few data bout Yeshua -
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NOTES for Lecture THREE
More impact of the Jewish social world - Religion not a ‘belief system’, but a ‘living of the Torah’ - The Shema - Festivals - Torah, Prophets and Yeshua
Temple and God-connectedness - Temple: symbol of the closeness of Yahweh with his people - Charlesworth’s observation about Yeshua’s God relationship.
Chronological context - Nazareth - Some data about Yeshua’s life - Essenes - Philo
Galilee - Details - Galileans were independent people, jealous of their Jewishness - Josephus’ respect for them - Different reputation in Judea and Jerusalem - Prof.Dan Matt on Galilee
Yeshua the hasid - Makes Yeshua Jewish in a special way - How Matt pictures Yeshua as a hasid - He had personal magnetism - How Mark describes it - Yeshua was hasid in the Jewish tradition of Elijah and Elisha - Reference in Lk 4:23-6 - Yeshua was a ‘religious man’, never wanted to be an ‘object of religion’.
A spirit person - Borg: a mediator of the sacred - Yeshua, Qumran community, India - Connection is seen as possibility - How I see Yeshua’s connection with the ancient thinking of the East - ‘Spirit-persons’ were known ‘cross-culturally’ - Took different forms, but had in common: there is more to reality than what is tangible - Also an awareness of having experienced something ‘real’, something they didn’t know before - Called by different names: Tao, Brahman, Atman, Yahweh, Allah, Great Spirit, God - Such ‘spirit-persons’ became mediators of the sacred by their teaching, actions, and ‘wondrous’ deeds - They were channels of power and wisdom of the Sacred - Yeshua was such - But not the only one in his lifetime - He was different since his sayings have guided people through the centuries - Yeshua was aware of having received the Spirit of God at his baptism by John - His kingdom message would become its expression.
Teshuva - shekina - Teshuva: ‘repentance and return’ is repeatedly found in Yeshua’s sayings - It contains a ‘letting-go’ mentality, that will lead to the freedom and liberation of the Kingdom - [It was mis-translated by Christianity - Christ dying for our sins] - Yeshua’s stress on teshuva became the basis for his ‘trust mentality’ - Shekina:
‘presence’ is also found in the Kingdom concept - Reign of God is present in the midst of those who had ‘returned’ to Yahweh.
3. The Human side of Yeshua, t.i. the ‘mensch’
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NOTES for Lecture TWO
2. The Shaping of Yeshua
Some observations - About the language and manner of speaking of Yeshua - His kingdom vision - His disregard for himself.
Who did Yeshua think he was? An observation
What Yeshua learned as a boy - The Hebrew Scripture also as history - The geo-political situation of Galilee - Studying Torah - Sharing in the work of his father - Greek influences.
How Jewish society shaped Yeshua - Impact of family and community life - Jerusalem and its leadership - Social consequences - Roman occupation not a major factor.
More impact of the Jewish social world - Religion not a ‘belief system’, but a ‘living of the Torah’ - The Shema - Festivals - Torah, Prophets and Yeshua
Temple and God-connectedness - Temple: symbol of the closeness of Yahweh with his people - Charlesworth’s observation about Yeshua’s God relationship.
Chronological context -
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NOTES for Lecture ONE
Introduction and Background - Need for Name Tags!!
How I got to “Jesus the ‘mensch” - My sharing is an opportunity for questions and observations - Influence of Jewish friends - The meaning of the term ‘mensch’: ‘living up to the requirement to treat others in a dignified and respectful manner, because Man is created in the image of God’ [one of several definitions] - Yeshua the Jewish name for Jesus will be used - Influence of Jewish authors was helpful in understanding this ‘Jewish Jesus’.
A Reminder - Letting go of traditional ‘portraits’, ‘picturing’ of Jesus is needed - We need to start learning to know this Jesus with a ‘clear slate’ : “meeting Jesus again for the first time” (Borg).
2. The Shaping of Yeshua
Some observations - About the language and manner of speaking of Yeshua - His kingdom vision - His disregard for himself.
Who did Yeshua think he was? An observation
What Yeshua learned as a boy - The Hebrew Scripture also as history - The geo-political situation of Galilee - Studying Torah - Sharing in the work of his father - Greek influences.
How Jewish society shaped Yeshua - Impact of family and community life - Jerusalem and its leadership - Social consequences - Roman occupation not a major factor.
More impact of the Jewish social world -
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