As usual, I will start this book review on a personal note. I have recently had some exposure to anti-missionary material and modern Jewish apologetic only to become painfully aware that there is precious little of what can be called "second level apologetics" in the area of Jewish evangelism. Most of the material produced which is aimed toward a seeking Jewish person seems to be focus on just getting them into the fold, but there is very little directed toward the unique questions that the Jewish person may have which need to be answered to keep him securely in the fold. This also holds true for many a Gentile who comes to discover the reality and beauty of the Jewish roots of their faith.

Michael Brown was born and raised Jewish and became a follower of Yeshua the Messiah in his late teens. After being confronted by orthodox Jewish teachers that he would not believe in Yeshua if he only knew the Hebrew, he proceeded to learn Hebrew in college. His passion for the Jewish people really shows.

And here is a big plus...one that will warm the cockles of J.P. Holding's heart... Dr. Brown states, "if you really want to understand the New Testament, you must read it against its first century Jewish background." Shhhhh, don't let the Secular Web hear about that!!! He also aptly stated that "many Jewish objections to Jesus are objections to Christendom" and "in some cases, we don't believe in 'Christianity' either [meaning the non-Biblical ideas and traditions which have sprung up]."

This book is volume one out of a planned three volumes which I will purchase the minute that they are available. As is usually my luck, the subjects that I am most interested in will be covered in the future volumes. As stated, this volume deals with General and Historical Objections. Some examples of the type of objections that are dealt with include the following (which are framed as if proceeding from the mouth of the Jewish seeker):

The fundamental problem with Christianity is that it is not Judaism. Therefore, all your so-called proofs from the Hebrew Scriptures are meaningless. They are simply your interpretations.

What happens to Jews who do not believe in Jesus - especially those who never heard about him? What happened to my wonderful Jewish grandmother who never hurt anyone in her entire life? Is she in hell?

Christianity is just another great world religion, like Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism. It is certainly not the true Messianic faith and the only way to find God. In fact, I find it to be the height of arrogance that Jesus claimed to be the only way to the Father. This is a small-minded conceit at its worst.

The main reason that Christians are so zealous to converts Jews to their beliefs is to legitimize their faith. The fact the Jesus' own people rejected him is a real problem for Christianity.

And many, many more. The other two volumes will deal with theological objections, objections based on Messianic prophecies, objections to the New Testament, and objections based on Traditional Judaism.

I can't wait!!

In closing, as I like to do... an extended quote from the book:

"For years I was told there was no validity to the Christian claim that Jesus fulfilled the Messianic prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures. Sincere rabbis explained that after Jesus lived and died, the authors of the New Testament went back and found so-called Messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Bible and made them fit the life of Jesus perfectly, and where necessary, they adjusted the facts about Jesus' life and death to make him fit the prophecies."

"'So you see,' the rabbis explained, 'there's no truth to your claims at all. It's like a man who shot arrows at a target and then afterward painted bull's eyes around the arrows. Someone just made it seem as if Jesus hit the bull's eye of prophetic fulfillment.' Wrong! Jesus hit the bull's eye perfectly, but someone moved the target."