Jerusalem Perspective

16/07/2025

Now Published: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/30887/. Read or listen to a discussion about what happened when Jesus encountered Jairus' daughter.

09/07/2025

Coming Soon to JP: "Did Jesus Raise Jairus' Daughter from the Dead?" This forthcoming article asks what Jesus meant when he told the synagogue ruler, "Your daughter did not die, rather she sleeps." Stay tuned.

05/07/2025

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11/04/2025

This week a JP reader asked us a question about Jesus, the Lord's Supper, and the Passover Seder. We thought this question and our answer would be of interest to many readers, so we published our reply at this link: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/30338/. Check it out!

06/02/2025

Check out "Two Kinds of Love in the Story of the Paralyzed Man." This new article on JP examines the religious underpinnings behind Jesus' response to the paralyzed man and his impetuous friends as well as those of his critics who accused Jesus of speaking blasphemy. Read the article or listen to the Audio JP recording at this link: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/30025/.

08/11/2024

New Audio JP: “What’s Wrong with Contagious Purity? Debunking the Myth that Jesus Never Became Ritually Impure”: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29371/

Jerusalem Perspective recently published a new article that re-examines Jesus’ attitude toward ritual purity. This new JP article challenges easy assumptions that Jesus had a negative view of, or was impervious to, ritual purity. Instead of allowing modern prejudices to distort our picture of Jesus and his relationship to Second Temple Judaism this article offers a new perspective on Jesus’ attitude toward ritual purity that places him firmly within his first-century Jewish context. It also discovers a spiritual depth to Jesus’ behavior that more simplistic views do not.

Newly released in Audio JP mp3 format you can listen now to “What’s Wrong with Contagious Purity? Debunking the Myth that Jesus Never Became Ritually Impure” (https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29371/).

25/10/2024

Who or what is Beelzebul? To learn more check out this new article on JP: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29561/

26/09/2024

LOY Update: Check out these two recently-published LOY segments on JP: Be Ready for the Son of Man (https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29093/) and Unexpected Thief (https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29422/). Enjoy!

06/09/2024

There's a popular perception that Jesus was immune to ritual impurity. Instead of contracting ritual purity from others he transferred his purity to them. A new JP article questions this view and offers a deeper understanding of Jesus' relationship to ritual purity. Check it out: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29371/ .

04/08/2024

For his contribution to the collection of articles celebrating David Bivin’s 85th birthday professor Ze’ev Safrai tackled the enormous subject of halakhah (Jewish religious practice) in the Gospels. Safrai identifies two ways halakhah surfaces in the Gospels: 1) in incidental details in Gospel narratives, and 2) in debates between Jesus and the Pharisees and other dialogue partners. Safrai finds that the halakhic details in Gospel narratives are generally accurate and that the positions Jesus stakes out in halakhic debates usually have analogs in other ancient Jewish sources. Delve into Safrai’s extensive discussion at this link: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28876/.

02/08/2024

To the parable of the Wicked Tenants Matthew’s Gospel adds these ominous words: “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to an ethnos producing the fruits of it” (Matt. 21:43). In his contribution to the collection of articles written in honor of David Bivin’s 85th birthday, Professor Serge Ruzer considers what the author of Matthew meant by ethnos (a new nation? a new people group? a new collective?) and asks against whom this warning was directed. In his investigation Professor Ruzer suggests that a verse in Exodus (“you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” [Exod. 19:6]) may provide an answer to these questions. Read more at this link: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/28340/ .

31/07/2024

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, which are examined in this new article by Brad Young, written in honor of David Bivin's 85th birthday: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/29210/ .