Understanding Jesus: Cultural Insights into the Words and Deeds of Christ Paperback – April 7, 2011

An outstanding book in every way, deep in cultural insight and biblical scholarship, yet written with a power and clarity that any reader will enjoy. Only so often does such a work come along. What we have here is a true subject matter expert who can write.

Amazing resource for anyone who wants to know what Jesus was saying through the culture He was raised in. Powerful! When is the last time you read a book about the words of Jesus and said,…WOW…. Thank you Joe.

This book has really resurrected a new aspect of Christ & Christianity that I believe is missing in our faith walk with Jesus, it adds a different layer and richness to our relationship with God. I really enjoyed it!

I purchased "Understanding Jesus" as the result of an interview that I heard on our local, Christian radio station with author Joe Amaral. Evidently, Joe is a scholar of Jewish traditions and antiquities, particularly those influences on current understanding of ancient Bible texts. If correct and legitimate, many of these ancient customs and traditions that he has written about do indeed change the way one looks at some Bible writings. Taken to their extreme, in cases where other non-Bible writings are offered on the same level as those of the Bible itself, alternative conclusions and definitions challenge divine writings given to us as God's own Word. This then makes some of the author's writings suspect to those believing on the infallability of the Word. The author himself asks that in some cases, that the reader not shoot the messenger but consider the text on its own merit.To a strict, complete and total believer in the written Word, the Bible as inspired by God, he/she needs to consider everything that lies within the covers of "Understanding Jesus" as wonderful stories if they are indeed true and otherwise dismiss them. The final determinant in this decision must be in fact, the Bible itself. One example is where the author states how common raising the dead was during pre-Jesus times: a feat performed by Temple Priests 'on a regular basis'. His suggestion is that they could only perform that 'miracle' on those dead only one to two days old. This is reminisent of many of the medieval times who drank alcholic grog from pewter vessels and fell "dead" but whose true 'illness' was no more than a feign of death that wore off after 24 - 48 hours when normal heart beat, breathing rate and pulse were regained. It may have been no more than a mis-diagnosis originally, anyway.Bottom line: interesting reading but don't lose your hold on what is true and sacred about the Holy Word.

Loved the history and new cultural experience that was explained in this book, it was exactly what I was looking for and have already passed it along to a friend. Learned a lot and gained a new cultural insight that I was looking for. Would 100% recommend to anyone. Helped explain a lot of the feasts in the Bible that seem repetitive.

Interesting. Parts of the Bible do not make sense without understanding the culture of the time. For example, there is a commandment in the Old Testament for a man to leave his father and mother and "cling" to his wife. But there is no commandment for a woman to break ties similarly with her family. So some marriage counselors will tell a new wife to have nothing to do with her mother-in-law and family because of this Bible verse. However, in the culture of the time, a woman who married left her entire family and moved in with the husband's family usually quite a distance away and might only rarely see her family. (Abraham's servant traveled a long distance to another tribe to bring back Rebekah to marry Isaac.) The wife would then move in with the husband's family where family relationships were already deeply entrenched. For a new wife whose husband still had deep ties with his mother and the rest of the family, unless he mentally "left" his family and made his ties with his wife more important, the wife could never become the partner that God intended her to be. The Bible needs to be read with intelligence as well as with cultural understanding or a lot of damage can be done to applying Scriptures literally.

Loved every hidden gem that was so beautifully revealed. How Great, how Awesome is the LORD! Must read. I want more!

I like this book because it gives me a clearer understanding of the relationship between Jesus (while He lived on earth) and the people whom he lived among.Especially those who were well learned in knowledge of the Scriptures; they knew who He was but chose to deny Him and His Deity. The book answered questions for me that I didn’t even know that I had.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in the culture in Jesus’ time. It is the beginning of a journey to know more and more and opens up the Bible stories making them more alive and understandable. I read it when it was first published several years ago, have given away many copies and have enjoyed the adventure of discovery myself and also of seeing and hearing of the joy of others after reading it!

This book's content is splendidly conceived and collaborated for edifying non-jewish christians to the truth hidden in the WORD of God during Christ's ministry in the 1st century era. Blessed be the author of this book, and blessed be those who read this book to know HIM personally. Amen!!!

This book is amazing to read. The facts are presented with clarity and are profound. Couldn't put the book down till I read it all!

Super livre pour comprendre la vie de Jésus en son temps en tant que juif et non en tant qu' européen et chrétien.

A concise book with well researched historical Jewish roots. The evidence gathered on the culture highlights the importance of the context to throw more light to the meaning of scripture. One can miss so much richness when looking at scripture through western eyes and it's inherent tradition. Every moment of the Saviours life is a lesson to His called out ones, not one second of time was wasted. Every move and every action and every word carry meaning. This book will assist the reader to understand a little more about Jesus, Yeshua, the Lamb of God our Saviour.