The Distortion: 2000 Years of Misrepresenting the Relationship Between Jesus the Messiah and the Jewish People

This book should be required reading - if there could be such a thing - for everyone who considers himself/herself to be Christian. There is much, much more that could be added, but in itself, the book would stifle the uneducated comments that so many people make, and might stifle some of the vandalism and abuse from tag-along people who get a kick out of kicking someone. I don't know that it would have much impact on such as Mel Gibson.Too many so called Christians from various walks have just a surface level understanding of what happend in the era the messiah was in his ministry. This book helps.

This work is excepionally well researched and documented and written in a style that is easy to read. I highly recommend it as a foundational resource for anyone with a true interest in the development of Christianity and its continuing relationship to Judaism and the Jewish people. With its informative and logical approach it would be an ideal text for group study format for Jew and Gentile alike.

For anyone trying to re-discover the roots of Christianity and the meaning of being "grafted in" to the Tree of Life.

Great insight.

I was impressed with "The Distortion" as a scholarly work because of the way the first chapter rooted the events of the gospels in real history and created a backdrop against which to view Jesus. The first chapter was a work of apologetics, demonstrating the historical accuracy of the gospels... And the remaining chapters dealt with the distortion that centuries of hatred, mixed in with a religion called Christianity, has done to these people God so loved.After reading "The Distortion," I almost wanted to go out and find a Jew to apologize to on behalf of my Messiah for the horrible things done to them in His name. (Either that, or find a so-called "Christian" - I am a gentile with faith in Yeshua - and strangle them).I even found ways that things I've written about my own faith have been impacted by the distortion. Since reading that book, it makes better sense.When I met my Jewish friend, I was excited because I had recently realized just how much the Christian faith was missing by cutting off its roots in Judaism. I had no idea how literally that cutting off of the roots WAS, though.I was horrified to see how many ways Israel has been abused since Christ left this earth, and watched two "heroes" of the faith, Martin Luther and John Calvin, take on fallen humanity in their abuses of the Jewish people, and their recommendations of such abuse.What also impressed me were two final chapters: "Does it matter?" and "What you can do to end the distortion." No book is well written if the subject matter is irrelevant, and is equally useless if it has no answers to "what can I do?" "The Distortion" has both.All told, "The Distortion" IS an important book, even for Christians who love Jesus and love the Jewish people. As the writers illustrate vividly through a story at the beginning of chapter three, "If you do not know what really hurts me, how can you truly love me?"I ask the same to every Christian who "was given a burden and a love for people's souls:" If you do not know what really hurts me, how can you truly love me?I had no idea the cuts of "Christianity" into the people God so loved ran so deep - or why Jews hate Christians so much: in the counter to "we loved Him because He first loved us," they dislike Christians because Christians first hated them.It is appalling and evil. Jesus would be turning over in His grave, were He still dead. Since He is not, I suspect that He weeps. In the end of this review, all I can say is to quote the words of a movie:"I hate what people like me [have done] to people like you."

While this book primarily focuses on critiquing Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" movie, it has incredible insight into the roots of anti-semitism and the churches historical role in it. At times the blunt way in which this addresses the failings of the church to protect the Jewish people is sobering. This book also presents some interesting insights to the beginning of the church, it's Jewish roots and it's turn from those roots. All that said, the Messianic Jewish sect should in no way be confused with the misguided Hebrew Roots movement. This book is about the real place of the Jewish people under the Messiah and how it has been distorted and fogotten partially due to dogma from historically problematic passion plays from the middle ages to Gibson's movie. All Christians should read this, as in some ways it will open minds to how some Christian traditions which aren't based on scripture have fed the overall rejection of the Jewish people and in turn causing those same Jewish people to reject Yeshua (Jesus).

The book appears to have been (hurriedly?) produced in 2004 to counter the offence to Jews caused by the release of Mel Gibson's film "the Passion" earlier the same year. This fact helps explain the book's positive and negative features.It is a good, albeit superficial (very short book), overview of anti-Semitism over the millennia and I can imagine that it would have been effective when handed out shortly after the film. As time has passed since the film, the book would need to be revamped and refocused. The message is still important; it's just that the film should now be less of a primary target. People now do not really need a detailed description of Gibson's choice of headgear for the Temple guards or of the lighting and size of the rooms in Herod's Temple.In rewriting the book, the authors could expand on the material in the other chapters. These were presumably rather rushed in producing the book to counter the film and tend to lack any real depth. Most chapters are short, interesting overviews of the material without much critical analysis by the authors who have doctorates and appear to lecture in seminaries. I am sure that they could do better given more time. The material presented is interesting, its just that they simply document several key points, for example in the history of Christian anti-Semitism, without trying to explain the how and why. The authors however claimed in the introduction that they would explain how it happened - unfortunately they didn't in this edition.Racists have often argued that as the "Jews killed Jesus, we are entitled to kill the Jews". The authors' response to this is to conclude that "vicious, cruel Pilate .. was responsible for his (Jesus') death, not the Jewish people". Although very PC and a worthy effort at countering racism, such a superficial treatment of the matter would, I suggest, be easily dismissed by a racist. A fuller, better reasoned argument is given, for example, by Tony Pearce in an article called "Who Killed Jesus" on his Bridgelane website (as a result, I have just bought one of his books). As I have already stated, what the authors are trying to do is very laudable, they should now take time to more fully develop the various chapters and points they make.I very much enjoyed chapter 7, "God's Master Palm for Humanity", which outlines God's plans throughout the old Testament to eventually bring in salvation in the person of the (Jewish) Messiah. Unfortunately the chapter peters out at the crucial part (for me, at least) dealing with the relationship between the old and new covenant and between the Jewish nation and the Church. I largely bought the book in the expectation that these key issues would be explained. My working hypothesis (I have not really studied this area) is that the Church suddenly found itself, unfortunately, as the state religion, attracting very unspiritual people who were motivated by power and politics rather than being "born again" spiritually. In a position of power, the Church (or Christendom, emphasis on the "dumb") got to imagining that the promised Kingdom of God had arrived on earth and that they had therefore replaced God's people the Jews. Like any monarch who has usurped his brother's throne, he tends not to appreciate having his brother hanging around. Just a suggestion, based on my ignorance of Church history - hence my purchase of this book and my disappointment with its lack of depth in key areas (for me). It is interesting to note that Satan's persecution of the Jews did not end with the (first) coming of the Messiah; in fact, he continued to seek their annihilation (even using the Church), indicating that his task was not over and that God's plan still revolves around the Jewish nation. The Church did not replace them. The NT (and OT) predict that He, Messiah, will indeed return for/to his people the Jews.Although the authors do not really deal with these subjects, alarm bells did ring in my head when they stated that the new covenant COULD be called the "renewed" covenant and then proceeded to call it that. One assumes that they mean that it is the old covenant with a few additional "bells and whistles". However, Jeremiah 31. 31-32 clearly states that it is NOT the old covenant. I do not know, but I suspect that the authors may have a quirky (undisclosed) view of the new covenant.A major shortcoming of the book, even if it was by necessity rushed to counter the effects of Gibson's film, is the academic sloppiness in the referencing of material. In several places they quote someone in the past as saying something anti-Semitic, only to reference a recent book rather than the original author. For example, Hitler is quoted as saying something in Mein Kampf and the reference is given as Dawidowicz 1976. In other words the authors did not check the original source to see if it was correct, they just repeated what someone else said. There are several instances of this sloppiness which, for academics, is equivalent to the "unpardonable sin". How can we expect the average person to research for themselves, stand up and question anti-Semitism rather than blindly follow what they are told, if the authors, teachers in Seminaries, don't bother to check their facts but blindly regurgitate what other recent authors have said? The authors' goal is very commendable, however, they must lead by example. Unfortunately, possibly as a consequence of such lack of academic rigour, many seminaries, the doctorates they bestow and the research they undertake are often looked down upon by the wider academic community. It is time that the authors address the original edition's short comings and produce a more in-depth study of this vital subject area.