fascinating

For any person interested in the origins and development of religion, this is essential reading.

it would be nice to have a further work around the place that the Jewish people had in the Greco-Roman world generally as this is very concentrated on Judea, but that's the inevitable wish for more having read something so important.

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Quite Outstanding

These series of lectures will appeal to anyone interested in the historical background of both the Old and New Testaments. They compliment the lectures of Prof. Ehrman and also open up a whole new field of biblical studies. I just hope Prof. Magness is invited to do another series.

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just a voice crying from the internetness

Although she is a secular professor it would seem, the series came across very unbiased and very relevant to the facts which I haven't completely be convinced the other professor have been doing amongst the other series. this is a very good listen. as a matter of fact it's the second time I've listen to this in a month. I really do recommend to all in all walks of life!

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Very good, but found Title a little misleading

I enjoyed listening to this and learn't a lot, but expected it to be more about the second temple/first century background to Jesus.
Seemed at points to me to have dogmatic atheistic presumptions applied where more nuance would have been more welcome to me. For example I found the frequent repetition of the preface "According to the biblical writer" in a tone implying "This is what was written but of course we can't rely on it" off-putting - especially when this preface didn't seem to be consistently applied to other ancient material.
The Course title gave me the impression that the material on Jesus & his Jewish Influences would be a bigger focus, whereas I found it a minor part of the course. I found some of the conclusions re Jesus weak, but others very helpful - I especially liked her take on the purpose of the miracles of Jesus & some of the Qumran insights.
Her bible knowledge seemed very strong but not as if she was immersed in it, it felt at times as if she was coming at it from a distance. I found some assertions unnecessarily dogmatic - eg Dating of book of Daniel, Esther was fiction , Dating of book of Matthew, reasons for the Jesus birth narratives in Matthew & Luke, & the presumed Evolution of the Jewish religion from Polytheism to Monotheism.
Overall though despite my quibbles it gives a great general background to Jesus (oh yes & the Jewish revolt against the Romans was very interesting) & recommend the book for anyone interested in general Jewish history

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Fascinating insights into ancient Jewish world

What did you like most about Jesus and His Jewish Influences?

The structure is rather satisfying in that individual chapters cover seperate topics that are interesting enough to standalone, but when stacked one after another - like lego - fit together to build a more and more '3D' model of the Jewish world and culture that shaped Jesus. It's quite an objective portrait that is neither Christian or Jewish in slant, but rather historical - insofar as that is possible for such a far-removed time.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It's too obvious to say Jesus, so I'll give a special mention to Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, because he is such an important source for first century Jewish history, which was particulary violent and traumatic for the Jews and culminated in their sacred temple being destroyed. Interestingly, Jews themselves were not much interested in Josephus, being somewhat of a traitor, and as his writings were historical in nature rather than religiously inclined. Thus, it was Christians who preserved his writings.

Which character – as performed by Professor Jodi Magness – was your favourite?

The audiobook is historical in nature, so the characters are not 'performed' as such, but there are many important historical figures featured relevant to the Jewish story. And what a tumultuous story it is! Uprisings, conquests, schisms, exiles. Biblical Patriarchs, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Assenes, Pharisees, Maccabees, Samaritans, Galileeans. Whilst it's historical and academic, it still manages to be dramatic and fascinating with many colourful characters and villains.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Emotional is probably not the right word, but I was certainly intrigued. Everyone will draw something different from this course based on their perspective, but I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in Jewish history from early Biblical times leading up to the destruction of the Second Temple and/or anyone interested in finally getting to the bottom of what the enigma wrapped inside a riddle that is Jesus Christ was like. Or even just ancient history or religion in general. Some key questions you might have about him will be answered outright. Some other ones will probably spring to mind, but that's part of the fun of it.

Any additional comments?

I found the narration irritatingly slow at first - almost patronisingly so. However, I came to appreciate the delivery and structure after a few chapters. There's a lot of info. packed into each chapter, and you need to concentrate to a certain extent to join up the dots. Long periods pass where Christ is not mentioned at all. Cultural and historical context is key. If you chopped Christ and Christian sources such as the New Testament out of this book, most of the audiobook would still be intact as a fascinating insight into Jewish history and culture - Torah, ritual purity, prophets, apocalyptic and messianic fervour, foreign rulers and persecution, exile, different sects such as the austere Essenes, ordinary peoples' lives etc. It's terrific.

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Should be titled ‘Jesus in His Historical Context’

I was hoping to learn about them relationship of Jesus to Rabbinic Judaism, but this isn’t that course. Instead of talking about the relationship of the theology of the gospels to the rich context of contemporary Jewish theology, this is another historical Jesus course. It’s fine in its way, but I wish that it were more like what it’s title suggests.

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