Reddit mentions of The Jewish Annotated New Testament

You should realize that much of Christianity is formed based on Grecco-Roman cultural ethics -- its original purpose was a synthesis of Hellenic and Jewish thought, which then evolved its own understandings based on their religious texts, traditions and interpretations. Its theological principles will only make sense if you accept their starting premises and realize certain facets of Jewish sectarian conflict 2000 years ago which gave fodder to later understandings, some of which formed only when those origins were eventually forgotten.

I recommend you pick up a copy of the Jewish Annotated New Testament which does a fantastic job of putting the New Testament writings in its proper historical context.

It won't always help with understanding more recent theological innovations (e.g. Protestant Theology like Sole Fide/Scriptura/etc), but the value is in understanding the original context which most Christians (and Jews) frankly have no idea about, which I often go into in my discussions in /r/AcademicBiblical.

>how is Jesus supposed to have redeemed the world if nothing changed afterwards?

He'll come back again for a final redemption, but the world prior is often understood to have had no redemption at all -- Jesus goes to hell to save the souls of those that had no opportunity to believe in him.

>Do they simply believe He lied to us, or changed his mind?

At best, the law had a limited purpose, and Jesus was the completion of that purpose as foretold in prophecy. At worst, it takes on other overtones relating to human corruption and a second theophany was required to save us from our misunderstanding of the law.

>How do I remain respectful while seemingly attempting to crush their worldview?

Probably start with stop trying to change their minds and stop trying to debate them. Christianity is based on emotions much more than it is logic.

>Also, how do Christians completely disregard the contradictions borne from Judaism?

That's the point of replacement theology -- the new understanding overrides the original perception due to a new revelation.

>I'm also open to other suggestions if I have possibly missed other options that fit my needs.

The following two books are often recommended:

The Jewish Study Bible

Jewish Annotated New Testament


Both of these are academic in nature. You will find stuff about source criticism and they have scholarly articles about various things in there too. The Jewish Study Bible is also used in the Yale Online Course on the Hebrew Bible by Christine Hayes(you can find the lecture series on YouTube).

I would recommend reading the Jewish Annotated New Testament. The commentary directly discusses relevant Jewish literature (that way you don’t really have to hunt down all of the relevant passages yourself). If you also want to start reading early Rabbinic literature, you can read the Mishnah here. Sefaria has a lot of other texts as well.

That depends on what you are academically studying.

If you are studying the text, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) holds close to the original Greek New Testament.

The standard English translation used for academic study is the NRSV, in particular, the Oxford Annotated Bible and Harper Collins is widely used in major universities. It has the great advantage of being ecumenical, translated by people with a wide variety of theological viewpoints, rather than sectarian translations like the New World or NIV Bibles; and of being modern and thus based on a pretty up-to-date set of manuscript traditions, where the KJV (for example) suffers simply because the translators had less to go on.

Also, check out:

The Jewish Study Bible

Jewish Annotated New Testament

I would recommend, however, that if you want to academically study the Bible, you need a Greek New Testament and a Hebrew Old Testament, a Greek Lexicon and Grammar, a Hebrew Lexicon and Grammar, and several years of study.

subreddit posts on Bible versions/ translations:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/comments/b0d0ac/probably_ask_before_but_what_is_the_best_version/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/comments/3vtige/which_translation_should_i_read_for_cultural_and/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/comments/8ovjr7/which_translations_of_the_bible_are_considered_to/

List of essential commentaries for each book of the Hebrew Bible:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/comments/9p7ois/what_are_some_of_the_more_academic_bible/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/comments/8myk8y/the_most_essential_commentary_for_each_book_of/

approachable resources for lay people on biblical scholarship and reading Recommendations for newbies:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/comments/d21gz4/is_there_an_academic_bible_equivalent_of_the_book/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/comments/c1c4ll/reading_recommendations_for_newbies_to_gospel/

> the Chumash for me...Basically, I want an unbiased but very educational scripture that provides scholarly sources.

ArtScroll is great but, the language is, well, ArtScroll another modern Chumash is the Steinsaltz one from Koren but ArtScroll is sort of the standard in most O schuls that I know of.

As I go forward I find myself much less concerned about who's the translator I care more and more about the commentary.

The ArtScroll edition summarizes commentary and picks and chooses, so with that in mind you might also ponder getting a Chumash from one person, like one from Rav Soloveitchik or Rav Hirsch or get a collection of commentaries in the form of a Mikraot Gedolot I recently got Torat Chaim it has with commentaries by Rabbi Saadia Gaon, Rabbeinu Chananel, Rashi, Rashbam, Ramban, Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra,Chizkuni and Seforno, and published by Mossad HaRav Kook.

>and Robert Alter’s new translation for my Christian parents (to take them away from biases Christian translations that try so hard to add a prophecy of the birth of a white man god name Jesus.)

Actually, a far more effective book might be The Jewish Annotated New Testamant although I would caution against wasting time on something that may never change.

Yeah, the Jewish Study Bible is my “go-to” for the Hebrew Bible. I love the New Jewish Publication Society’s translation and the notes are excellent.

You can read more about the Jewish Annotated New Testament here. Enjoy!

EDIT: formatting

I always enjoy the Jewish Annotated New Testament or the New Oxford Annotated Study Bible. Both use the NRSV with top-notch commentary and essays. The NOASB is often used in academic biblical courses in universities, for example.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha is the standard.

I also highly recommend the Jewish Annotated New Testament.

Edit: My bad I thought you were asking for study bible recommendations.

What is it you’re wanting? Are you wanting to study biblical criticism and history? Or is this for spiritual practice and fulfillment?