Why the Jews Rejected Jesus The Turning Point in Western History Book

Clearly, the author is zealous about his beliefs. i consider it a mitzvah that he taught me a lot about Jewish history, culture, etc al. it's a very scholarly piece. that said, i thought it a bit disingenuous to call the book "profoundly respectful of Christian sensibilities" (see the back cover) when the author regularly drops in mildly snotty comments that are anything but "profoundly respectful".

as a Christian, i did have a few strong reactions/objections. a few: (a) the author writes that Christians misinterpret much of the Torah because they can't, or won't, read it in its original language, Hebrew. false. it is standard practice for Christian seminary students to learn Hebrew specifically so that they can read the Torah in Hebrew; (b) the author's unwillingness to recognize the constant Jew/Rabbi/Pharisee tinkering of the "oral tradition" over many centuries is aggravating and (i think) highly damaging to his arguments; (c) he uses the terminology "Pauline Christianity" without defining what that is and how it supposedly differs from plain vanilla "Christianity"; (d) the author regularly makes the blanket statement that Christians reject the Torah/Sinai, and that is simply not accurate; (e) most contemporary Christians consider the detail, who (Jew, Roman, etc.) killed Jesus, a historical red herring of sorts... a foolish cause for conflict, anti-Semitism, etc. they understand Jesus necessarily died as part of God's redemptive plan for humanity. who did the actually killing... this is a detail exploited only by troublemakers; (f) the author's objection/answer section on Brown. he charged Brown for arguing like a "heads I win, tails you lose" Biblical exegesis scholar, yet he is guilty throughout the book of doing the exact same thing;(g) the author doesn't have a good grasp on a Christian's understanding of the symbiotic relationship that exist among grace, repentance, and works (it's tough to fault what hasn't been revealed to him!).

the author starts to bridge a Jewish/Christian gap in his last few pages, but he doesn't dedicate enough space to it and he ultimately undermines himself with a grossly self-gratifying, self-serving conclusion: the jews rejected jesus, allowing Christianity to proliferate, allowing the West to be civilized and advanced, allowing the world masses to be introduced to God and the Bible and ethics so that, when the time is right, Judaism will be able to sweep in and set everything right... therefore, thank the Jews. hmmm.