Darrell L. Bock

In October 2013, seventeen pastors and scholars, most if not all Jewish Christians, came together for a conference talking about the plan of God for Israel. This book is made up of their lectures, each in a chapter, and consider Old Testament prophecy, New Testament interpretation, the relationship between Jews and the Church throughout history, and theology.

The main thrust of the book could be summed up in once sentence: God still has a plan for Israel, literally involving the Promised Land, and when Israel as a nation and as a people acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, their true restoration and end times will arrive. To support this, each chapter takes a slightly different but overlapping approach to showing why this, rather than a replacement theology, is true. The first half takes specific portions of Scripture, while the second half focuses more on general theological, historical or political attitudes. The final chapter, a survey of seminaries, probably has the least interest or application for lay readers, but may be of interest to pastors. I agree with much of what they present and found the arguments convincing, though marred somewhat by typos and in one memorable instance a chapter with 72 notes that were all off by one starting somewhere around note 25. The book was meant to be a study guide, and I did answer the questions at the end of each chapter to help myself remember the material. The QR codes, however, didn't seem to work and I skipped using them after the first couple of chapters. That being said, I probably would read the book or certain chapters over again when I was studying the applicable verses of the Bible. I'll probably add some of the books mentioned in the notes to a list of further reading as well.… (mehr)

I have this book in my Logos Bible Software. It is a compendium of readings which illuminate the text of the four gospels. Organized and correlated to relevant passages in the Bible, Bock has given us cultural, political and social background through first century (and near first century, give or take) documents. Ancient Historians and politicians provide the meat of this book.

This is a shortcut to good exegesis and saves a lot of time. I use this alongside my Bible Background commentaries (IVP and Zondervan) to help fill out the background on the text.… (mehr)