Free Books

     I have been fascinated by our Jewish roots and the Eastern way of seeing the Bible ever since I watched the first Ray Vanderlaan (FollowtheRabbi.com) video "That The World May Know."  Because of that video we ended up going to Israel on a tour with Ray which ignited a life-long quest to see the world as Jesus walked it.  I recently came across these two free ebooks from Lois Tverberg's Our Rabbi Jesus website.  I downloaded them and have begun reading The Syrian Christ.  Even though I have only read a few pages I have already gained a new perspective on some things.  I thought you might like this info, too, so I'm posting the links.

Here are the links with an explanation of the books from Lois Tverberg's article"

The Syrian Christ

Abraham Rihbany 

If you liked Ken Bailey’s books about Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes, here’s a free ebook that you’ll enjoy. Rihbany shares oodles of insights on the gospels from a Middle Eastern perspective from living a lifetime in Lebanon. (Bailey quotes from this book.)

Rihbany wrote this book in 1916, so it’s a bit outdated – read it with a grain of salt. But it has lots of little “ah-hahs” for your next Bible study discussion.

Read/Download The Syrian Christ at this link.

~~~~~

.

The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church

Edwin Hatch

Here’s how this provocative book begins:

It is impossible for anyone, whether he be a student of history or not, to fail to notice a difference of both form and content between the Sermon on the Mount and the Nicene Creed… The one belongs to a world of Syrian peasants, the other to a world of Greek philosophers.

Hatch then goes on to explains how Christianity interacted with the Greek world as the church grew and often absorbed its ideas, sometimes to its detriment. Hatch was an eminent scholar who died shortly before this book was published in 1888. If you’ve studied the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament), you’ve likely used his massive concordance.

I thought this book was balanced, scholarly, but quite readable. And free!

Read/Download The Influence of Greek Ideas at this link.