- Bible Versus Scriptures: Part 7—A Neighborly Approach to the Scriptures
The final part in JP’s series on the nature of the Scriptures.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Bible Versus Scriptures: Part 6—Are You Talking to Me?
The sixth part in JP’s series on the nature of the Scriptures.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Bible Versus Scriptures: Part 5—Holiness of the Text
The fifth part in JP’s series on the nature of the Scriptures.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Bible Versus Scriptures: Part 4—Wherein Lies the Authority?
The fourth part in JP’s series on the nature of the Scriptures.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Love Your Neighbor: The Greatness Behind Mister Rogers’ Songwriting
Mister Rogers might not make a future New York Times list, but he will always be at the top of the list of my life’s greatest songwriters. - Bible Versus Scriptures: Part 3—Models of Inspiration
The third part in JP’s series on the nature of the Scriptures.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Bible Versus Scriptures: Part 2—What Goes into the Canon?
The second part in JP’s series on the nature of the Scriptures.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Bible Versus Scriptures: Part 1—More Different Than You’d Think
The first part in JP’s series on the nature of the Scriptures.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Besorat Ha-Malchut: Jesus’ Gospel of the Kingdom for the Humble of Spirit
The questioning of Jesus by two priests—John the Baptist and Joseph Caiaphas—reveals hidden aspects of Jesus’ high self-awareness.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - “Jerusalem”—A Song I’ve Not Sung in Five YearsI haven’t been able to sing one of my best songs for the past five years. This is the story of why.
- The Holy Study Circle: The Ḥavurah (‘Group’) in Rabbinic Literature and Jesus’ Study Circle
The pattern of activity within Jesus’ group is very similar to the modes of operation known from the ḥavurah of the tannaitic-amoraic period.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Character Profile: Ennion, First-Century Glassmaker
Did Jesus ever drink from a glass made by Ennion when he dined in the home of a wealthy sympathizer?
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Character Profile: False Prophets in the Gospels
Who were the false prophets mentioned in the Gospels?
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Character Profile: Who Was ‘Bar-Abba’?
Why did the Jewish crowd in Jerusalem prefer to release an armed robber charged with murder over Jesus?
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - High Priests of the Roman Period in Rabbinic Sources
How and why are High Priests from the end of the Second Temple Period remembered in rabbinic sources?
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - The So-called ‘Privilegium Paschale’ in Light of Jewish Sources
Did the custom of releasing a prisoner at Passover attested in the Gospels originate in Roman or Jewish legal tradition?
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Review and Reflections Upon: The Aryan Jesus by Susannah Heschel
Heschel’s detailed examination of German Christian nationalism during the Nazi era can help us to think critically about Christian nationalisms of every flavor in the world today.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Love That Costs: Jesus, the Good Samaritan, and the Enemy Next Door
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a deeply unsettling mirror, revealing that love of one’s neighbor is tested not with strangers at the far edges of the world, but close to home—at our own doorstep, among those with whom we share past conflict, mistrust, disappointment, and hurt.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - The Good Tidings of John the Baptist: An Eschatological Priestly Messiah Coming on the Clouds of the Spirit
I wish to highlight how John the Baptist’s priestly orientation also led to tension between Jesus and John the Baptist.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Candy Bars and Jesus: Taking a Risk on Jon GuerraSome songs are wonderful for Sunday morning, but where are the songs that will get you through Monday?
- A Satisfied Mind: Jesus’ Attitude Toward Wealth
And what a challenging, troubling, and unsettling attitude it is!
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Locating Jesus’ Place on the Political-Ideological Spectrum of Second Temple Jewish Society
Was Jesus on the right, left, or near the center of the political spectrum of first-century Jewish society?
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - The Basis of Early Christian Antimilitarism
The basis of Christian antimilitarism was the influence of Jesus’ teaching and character as emphasized and interpreted by the early Church.
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Hebrew was alive and well in a basically trilingual society in the land of Israel during the first century C.E.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Is Desiring Justice for Palestinians Anti-Semitic?
God’s love for Israel came with a blessing for all peoples. Followers of Jesus aren’t getting it right if their love for Israel isn’t doing the same.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Musings on the Magi: What Theological Lessons Can Be Drawn from Matthew’s Infancy Narrative?
The theological lessons of the magi story are complex and nuanced. They require balance and wisdom, and they stretch us beyond what we may feel is practical or reasonable to achieve. But what good is theology if it does not aspire to a vision of a better world?
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Mary, the mother of Jesus, must be seen in the context of Jewish suffering.
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A new collection of articles on Matthew’s narrative of the magi. Available 7 December 2025!
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Can astronomy help us to identify the “star” the magi followed to Bethlehem?
To access this post, you need A Jerusalem Perspective on the Magi access, Friend of JP, JP Premium Membership or Basic JP Membership. - The Narrative of the Magi: Some Notes from a Jewish Perspective
What purpose does Matthew’s choice of the title “magi” serve when he used this term to describe the bearers of the messianic tidings?
To access this post, you need A Jerusalem Perspective on the Magi access, Friend of JP, JP Premium Membership or Basic JP Membership. - Wise Men or Stooges: Who Were Matthew’s Magi?
Matthew’s magi reprise the role of the wizards of Egypt in the Joseph and Moses narratives, but with a surprising twist.
To access this post, you need A Jerusalem Perspective on the Magi access, Friend of JP, JP Premium Membership or Basic JP Membership. - Rethinking the Magi in Matthew and Exodus Rabbah
A look at the broader backdrop of Jewish tendencies offered by a comparison between traditions in Matthew and Exodus Rabbah.
To access this post, you need A Jerusalem Perspective on the Magi access, Friend of JP, JP Premium Membership or Basic JP Membership. - What Year Was Jesus Born?
No answer to the question “When was Jesus born?” will be perfect, since there is conflicting evidence that must be weighed and sifted.
To access this post, you need A Jerusalem Perspective on the Magi access, Friend of JP, JP Premium Membership or Basic JP Membership. - The Bethlehem Stomp: A Songwriter’s Response to Matthew’s Nativity Story
Even in the ever-increasing shadows, there are cracks where light comes shining through.
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Some of the most vivid details in Christmas carols that describe Jesus’ birth cannot be found in the canonical texts.
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The multivalent image of the sparrow in ancient Jewish thought made it a useful vehicle for conveying messages about human and divine relationships.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Better Than the Day of Birth: Reflecting on David Flusser’s Interpretation of the Love Commandment on the 25th Anniversary of His Passing
I regard the twenty-fifth anniversary of David Flusser’s passing not solely as a day of loss, but also as the day that gave him to the world.
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Professor Serge Ruzer shares his recollections of Israeli scholar David Flusser on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death.
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Audio of a workshop lecture series by David Bivin recorded in 1981.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - The Discomposure of Jesus’ Biography (Reboot): A Modification to Lindsey’s Conjectured Stages of Synoptic Transmission
How did the Hebrew biography of Jesus disintegrate into the isolated pericopae that make up the Synoptic Gospels?
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Was the Hemorrhaging Woman Jesus Healed Named Rebekah?
Is it possible to retrieve the name of the woman who touched Jesus’ tzitzit?
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Should readers give more weight to the bystanders’ impressions or to the words Jesus said?
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Was first-century Jerusalem really crawling with prostitutes, as Jesus’ saying about tax collectors and harlots entering the Kingdom of God seems to suggest?
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Does concern for ritual purity explain why the hemorrhaging woman touched Jesus’ tzitzit?
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Taking another look at how John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul related to issues of ritual and moral purity.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Two Kinds of Love in the Story of the Paralyzed Man
Two kinds of love operate in the story of the paralyzed man. One kind of love is inclusive and redemptive, the other is exclusive and destructive. Which kind of love will prove victorious?
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - Character Profile: Beelzebul
Get acquainted with this mysterious and sinister figure.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - What’s Wrong with Contagious Purity? Debunking the Myth that Jesus Never Became Ritually Impure
The view that Jesus could not be affected by impurity and that Jesus was able to spread his purity to others is based on faulty assumptions and invalid inferences.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - The Seven Types of Pharisees and the Fear of God in the Synoptic Gospels
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.
To access this post, you need Basic JP Membership. - The Sin Against the Spirit: Matt. 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-29; Luke 12:10
Jesus’ saying about the sin against the Holy Spirit belongs to developing Jewish ideas regarding the gradation of sin and punishment. It also reflects his high self-awareness.
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