ACD Hebrew Roots Book Review

Jesus the Rabbi and His Rabbinic Method of Teaching

By Roy B. Blizzard

Bible Scholars Press, Austin, Texas, 2004, $8.95

Reviewed by Brian Knowles

In 1983, my wife Lorraine gave me a copy of the book Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus by David Bivin and Roy Blizzard, Ph.D. That book launched me on a study of the Jewish roots of Jesus and the Church that has continued to yield nuggets of understanding to this day. I wore out my first copy of the book and have since obtained a second copy.

            In 1985, Lorraine and I accompanied Dr. Blizzard on an extended archaeological tour of Israel during which Dr. Blizzard taught from early in the morning until dinner time. My second trip to Israel was a deeply enriching experience, mainly because of Dr. Blizzard’s insights.

            In the years since, Dr. Blizzard has produced a huge body of work in the form of teaching tapes, booklets, books and CD’s. All are profoundly enriching. I think I have most of them.

            In 2004, Dr. Blizzard produced another small book (71 pages) that is of great importance to Bible students who want to understand who Jesus really was. Jesus the Rabbi answers some of the objections of those Christians who believe that Jesus couldn’t possibly have been a Jew. It demonstrates beyond doubt that Jesus was indeed Jewish, that he was a rabbi, and that he taught according to the accepted rabbinical methods of the time. Dr. Blizzard documents the kind of education Jesus must’ve had.

            On page 8, Dr. Blizzard makes a statement that will come as a shock to many Christians: “Jesus was not the founder of the Christian Church. There were no churches as we know them until the 4^th c CE, after the conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine. Jesus never intended to found a church as such. Rather, he intended his followers themselves to be the Church. Not an organization. An organism rather: a being dynamic and alive against which the very gates of Hell itself could not stand.”

            Speaking of the Christian “ship” Dr. Blizzard states: “…our ship has for centuries been awash in a sea of pagan theology that has led to a Gentilizing of the Church” (page. 2).

            Throughout the book he supports these statements with documentation.

            To fully understand the teaching of Jesus and his disciples (talmidim), we must first understand their Jewishness. Many well-meaning Christians vigorously object to this premise. As Dr. Blizzard points out, “For 2000 years now, the Church has failed to recognize that the movement to which Jesus gave birth was Jewish. And that it was cradled within the framework of the historic Judaism of his day. Further, Jesus himself was a rabbi, spoke Hebrew, and employed well-known rabbinic methods of teaching” (p. 3).

            The spirit of anti-Semitism and of anti-Judaism runs deep and wide within the organized Church. It has blocked many from seeing beyond the standard gentile Christian understandings that pervade the Church. This little book will assist the open-minded reader in seeing Jesus through authentic Jewish eyes.

            The book may be obtained through www.biblescholars.org or by phoning Dr. Blizzard’s office at: (512) 249-9056. Dr. Blizzard is based in Austin, Texas.