BookList

A lot of people would read more books if they knew which ones were valuable. Some people who don’t read books about God, the Bible, Torah, theology, Messiah, faith, and similar topics don’t understand as yet what a regular diet of these books can do for your day to day life. The Musings Book List is my recommendation of the most useful books about Judaism, Christianity, Messianic Judaism, and matters of faith and spirituality.

It is a practical list. So in each category I give only a top few choices and then list some other notables. There are many good books. My criteria: these are books I have read (often more than once) and found to be the most useful. Some books will be put under notable instead of being top choices because I feel they may be more academic than the typical reader would care for or they may simply be great books, but not as good as the top choices. Will I include my own books? Yes, I will, because if I did not think I had made a contribution in some areas, I would not have written them. So take the inclusion of my own books on the list with a grain of salt.

The list will be updated periodically and I will make a blog page for it which you can easily access above on the header under “Book List.” Categories: Faith, Spirituality, Torah Study, Hebrew Bible, Rabbinic Lit, Yeshua, Afterlife, Jewish Fiction, Pauline Studies, Other New Testament, Messianic Judaism, Jewish-Christian Relations, 2nd Temple Period, Other Ancient Jewish Writings, Best Bible Commentaries. Some books will be listed in more than one category.

Faith
• God in Search of Man, Abraham Joshua Heschel. This is not a simple read. It is philosophy and faith. He deals with the toughest issues of belief and points to wonder and awe and splendor in the world as signs. This is, in my opinion, a top-ten, must-have book for every thinking person of faith (and some who do not have faith).
• Confessions, Augustine. There are sections you may decide to skim. This is a classic for a reason.
• Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis. This is not Lewis’s best book (for that I recommend The Great Divorce and The Four Loves), but it combines accessibility to the common reader with a good blend of topics about faith.
• NOTABLES: Miracles, C.S. Lewis. Short, some will find it tedious but the topic and the points he raises are wonderful.

Spirituality
• Everyday Holiness, Alan Morinis. A practical guide to transforming your thoughts and ways with mussar. This is a modern book which draws on classic works and focuses on the practical.
• Mesillat Yesharim (The Path of the Upright), Chaim Luzzatto (the Ramchal). Be sure to get the recent JPS edition edited by and commented on by Rabbi Ira Stone. This is one of the classic texts of Mussar, a Jewish way of godliness. I list this in the number one spot under “spirituality” for a reason.
• The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis. Love is the number one topic in spirituality, but we often assume others rank higher (prayer). Lewis knows the literature on love but he writes without any hint of academic style.
• The Siddur. I recommend the Koren Sacks Siddur. Learn what to pray and when. It is not necessary to pray every prayer in the Siddur and it is good to learn from a Jewish or Messianic Jewish community.
• NOTABLES: Love and the Messianic Age, Paul Philip Levertoff. Get the recent edition from FFOZ (I don’t think it is listed on amazon). Compares ideas in Hasidic spirituality to the teaching of Yeshua.

Torah Study
• The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, J.H. Hertz. You need a chumash (a Pentateuch with the parallel readings in the prophets and some annotations by the rabbis). This one is, in my opinion, the best overall. I would avoid the Stone Chumash if I were you.
• FFOZ Torah Club, Vol. 1, Unrolling the Scroll, Daniel Lancaster. Not a book, but a year-long study guide.
• The JPS Torah Commentaries. The best combination of scholarship readability, rabbinic references, historical context, and literary insight. Period.
• NOTABLES: See under “Hebrew Bible.” If you want some simple and accessible introduction to the sacrifices, Temple, purity laws, and so one, consider my book, A New Look at the Old Testament. The Commentators’ Bible, Michael Carasik. At this time, only Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers are done. The commentary of Rashi, Nachmanides, Ibn Ezra, Rashbam and a sprinkling of others is all laid out page per page. Awesome if you want to delve into the medieval commentators (not to be taken as the last word by any means, but deep and valuable for study).

Hebrew Bible
• A New Look at the Old Testament, Derek Leman. An easy read which will make seemingly difficult ideas simple (like the sacrifice and purity laws, the prophets, Messianic prophecy, and wisdom literature).
• The Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible, ed. David Noel Freedman. If you have only one reference book, get this one or the New Bible Dictionary, eds. Marshall, Millard, and Wiseman.
• The Zondervan Atlas of the Bible. Carta has some great stuff, especially The Sacred Bridge, ed. Anson Rainey, Steven R. Notley — but it is too detailed and expensive for most users. The Zondervan atlas will cover your needs quite well.
• The JPS Commentaries. The best combination of scholarship readability, rabbinic references, historical context, and literary insight. Period.
• This section is incomplete and I will add more soon… The Hebrew Bible is my area of specialty and I’m tempted to list a hundred books and many of them academic. I’ll be thinking about a few smart buys to have on hand as reference.

Rabbinic Lit
• Everyman’s Talmud, Abraham Cohen. It’s a topical arrangement of the theology and ideas of the Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash and some other classical rabbinic writings. It’s a perennial seller and a classic for a reason.
• Parables in Midrash, David Stern. This is David Stern the University of Pennsylvania professor (not the Messianic Jewish author). This book is delightful and will help you understand the parables of Yeshua. Not an easy read.
• The Essential Talmud, Adin Steinsaltz. Get a recent version as this one has been expanded in later editions. This is a classic explanation from an Orthodox point of view.
• NOTABLES: The Gate Behind the Wall, Samuel Heilman. A story of a Conservative Jew who enters the world of Orthodox Talmud study in Israel. Insight into the intense world of study in Judaism.

Yeshua
I have forty or fifty books on Yeshua, including many of the Quest for the Historical Jesus books.
• Yeshua in Context, Derek Leman. This is not to claim I have written the best book ever on Yeshua. Yet my book is short, assumes a Jewish context, references the best scholarship without being academic, and gives you a ton of information in short space. I also think I manage to convey inpsiration.
• Yeshua Our Atonement, Derek Leman. See more information under “Theology.”
• One.Life (Jesus Calls–We Follow), Scot McKnight. This is an easy read. McKnight takes good historical sense and theological understanding and puts it into a practical book revealing the meaning of Jesus’ life and message.
• The New Moses: A Matthean Typology, Dale C. Allison, Jr. This one gets a bit technical in parts. But most readers will enjoy the insights into Matthew’s literary themes and the resulting depiction of Yeshua so much they will forgive me for recommending an academic book.
• FFOZ Torah Club, Volume 4, Chronicles of Messiah. Daniel Lancaster. It’s not really a book, but a year-long course in the gospels. Lancaster brings to bear early Messianic Jewish scholarship, rabbinic literature, insights from the church fathers, and the Hebrew gospels of Franz Delitzsch for a unique reading of Yeshua’s life.
• NOTABLES: Most of the following books are too long for most readers. Some will think Raymond Brown too critical in his scholarship. N.T. Wright is so good at history, literature, and explaining things, but he is supersessionist. Nonetheless, these are all highly recommended for serious reading. The New Testament and the People of God, N.T. Wright. Jesus and the Victory of God, N.T. Wright. The Resurrection of the Son of God, N.T. Wright. The Birth of the Messiah, Raymond Brown. The Death of Messiah, Vols. 1 and 2, Raymond Brown. The Gospel According to John I-XII, Raymond Brown. The Gospel According to John, XIII-XXI, Raymond Brown.

Theology: What It All Means
• The King Jesus Gospel, Scot McKnight. No one excels like McKnight at making difficult theology simple. And he is always up to date on his scholarship. What did Yeshua come here to do? What does his life, death, and resurrection mean? Along with N.T. Wright’s book on justification (see below) this book will correct many of the puzzling missteps of gospel theories that have floated around in Protestantism.
• Yeshua Our Atonement, Derek Leman. When someone asks, “What benefit could there possibly be in a Messiah dying for people?” you might want to do better than look like a deer caught in headlights. What need is there for Jewish people who have Torah to also have atonement? How does Leviticus come together with the death of Messiah? What do the purity laws and priestly mysteries and Temple worship in Torah have to do with anything? Isn’t atonement so much more than Messiah’s death and forgiveness? (You bet!)
• Justification, N.T. Wright. One of the most important and certainly the dominant element in Pauline studies, justification is never explained more accurately (and not as in the Old Perspective) as in Wright’s book. I wish all theologically minded followers of Yeshua would read this book.
• A Community Called Atonement, Scot McKnight. Get beyond the “God punished Jesus instead of us” simplistic understanding of atonement.
• The World to Come, Derek Leman. Eschatology. Short. Practical. Inspiring. Informative. Main idea: the Bible gives images of the world to come, which is physical and not ethereal, but says also that desire is a clue to what things will be like.
• NEED: A good book on Christology (the identity, divinity, humanity, and role of Messiah) which takes into account Jewish ways of expressing such concepts. I agree with classic Christian beliefs about the identity and nature of Messiah, but feel that all could be better correlated to the Hebrew Bible.

Afterlife
• The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis. It would likely pain Lewis to be put ahead of Dante here, but this book will inspire you and open your imagination far more than Dante. This is easily my favorite book of all time.
• The World to Come, Derek Leman. Short. Practical. Inspiring. Informative. Main idea: the Bible gives images of the world to come, which is physical and not ethereal, but says also that desire is a clue to what things will be like.

Jewish Fiction
• As a Driven Leaf, Milton Steinberg. This is the story of Elisha ben Abuyah, a Mishnaic rabbi (one of the Tannaim) judged to be a heretic (c. 130 CE). It is historical fiction at its best. There could hardly be a more poignant story, especially Rabbi Meir’s affection for his teacher even after the ban is pronounced on him. This will give you a feel for the world of the ancient rabbis.
• The Chosen, Chaim Potok. Virtually all of Chaim Potok’s novels are sympathetic portrayals of the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox world from the perspective of modernist Jews. They blend the themes of knowledge and progress nostalgic for a world of simple, Orthodox belief. Very powerful drama.

Pauline Studies
• Paul Didn’t Eat Pork, Derek Leman. The simplest and most readable portrayal you will find about the New Perspective on Paul (and the Judaism-friendly Paul).
• Justification, N.T. Wright. One of the most important and certainly the dominant element in Pauline studies, justification is never explained more accurately (and not as in the Old Perspective) as in Wright’s book. I wish all theologically minded followers of Yeshua would read this book.
• The Holy Epistle to the Galatians, Daniel Lancaster. Very readable as these are sermons, but not the trite kind of sermons you might find elsewhere. These are full of literary and theological insight with a powerful application of grace to everyday living — a mature reading of Galatians.
• NOTABLES: The Irony of Galatians, Mark Nanos. The Mystery of Romans, Mark Nanos. The only reason I list Nanos’s books under “Notables” is because they are very difficult reading. But if you read academic studies and want to understand Paul, get these.

Other New Testament
• Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, Richard Bauckham. I teach seminars on this material because in an age of skepticism it is powerful to read well-researched evidence for the hand of eyewitnesses in the gospels.
• The Jewish Annotated New Testament, eds. Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler. An unequaled resource for concise reference material on Jewish parallels and connections in the New Testament.
• The Delitzsch Hebrew Gospels, Franz Delitzsch. A Hebrew re-translation of the gospels with a new English translation by Vine of David. These are the accounts of Yeshua retroverted to Jewish narrative. It is about time the gospels were put into Jewish style.
• The Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible, ed. David Noel Freedman. If you have only one reference book, get this one or the New Bible Dictionary, eds. Marshall, Millard, and Wiseman.
• The Zondervan Atlas of the Bible. Carta has some great stuff, especially The Sacred Bridge, ed. Anson Rainey, Steven R. Notley — but it is too detailed and expensive for most users. The Zondervan atlas will cover your needs quite well.

Messianic Judaism
• Introduction to Messianic Judaism, eds. David J. Rudolph and Joel Willitts. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013. The best introduction to Messianic Judaism, its practices, and issues of relationship to the Jewish community and the Church.
• Postmissionary Messianic Judaism, Mark Kinzer. This should be must reading for all serious Messianic Jews and Judaically aware Christians. The gospel message is explained as a Jewish message in conformity with Torah and tradition.

Jewish-Christian Relations
• Postmissionary Messianic Judaism, Mark Kinzer. See above under “Messianic Judaism.”
• The God of Israel and Christian Theology, R. Kendall Soulen. The definitive book on erasing anti-Judaism and supersessionism from Christian thought. I wish all pastors would read this book.
• Future Israel, Barry Horner. Soulen’s book is more theological. Horner’s book is more about scriptural exposition and quoting classic Protestant preachers who loved the people of Israel. This book is a great one to give to an evangelical pastor to challenge them to reject supersessionism (replacement theology).

2nd Temple Period
• Judaism: Practice and Belief: 63 BCE – 66 CE, E.P. Sanders. This is no easy read. You may want to work slowly through it, highlight it, write key references in the front. This will inform your understanding of Pharisees and Sadducees with none of the myths of pseudo-scholarship or the taint of historical Christian misunderstandings.
• From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, Shaye Cohen. Easier to read that Sanders. Doesn’t cover as much detail, but masterfully handles the history and sources. This will help you put away myths that Yeshua was a Talmudic-style rabbi.

Other Ancient Jewish Writings
• The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Vols. 1 and 2, ed. James Charlesworth. The definitive collection and introduction to works like Jubilees and 1 Enoch and Psalms of Solomon. Indispensable for serious study of the New Testament and Jewish context.
• The Apocrypha, NRSV Version. Just get any NRSV Bible that includes the Apocrypha and read away.

Best Bible Commentaries
… Incomplete, I do plan to fill this in …