Mind the Gap: How the Jewish Writings between the Old and New Testament Help Us Understand Jesus

by Matthias Henze

Do you want to understand Jesus of Nazareth, his apostles, and the rise of early Christianity? Reading the Old Testament is not enough, writes Matthias Henze in this slender volume aimed at the student of the Bible. To understand the Jews of the Second Temple period, it's essential to read what they wrote--and what Jesus and his followers might have read--beyond the Hebrew scriptures. Henze introduces the four-century gap between the Old and New Testaments and some of the writings produced during this period (different Old Testaments, the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls); discusses how these texts have been read from the Reformation to the present, emphasizing the importance of the discovery of Qumran; guides the student's encounter with select texts from each collection; and then introduces key ideas found in specific New Testament texts that simply can't be understood without these early Jewish "intertestamental" writings--the Messiah, angels and demons, the law, and the resurrection of the dead. Finally, he discusses the role of these writings in the "parting of the ways" between Judaism and Christianity. Mind the Gap broadens curious students' perspectives on early Judaism and early Christianity and welcomes them to deeper study.

Genres: Religion, Theology, Nonfiction, Christian, Biblical Studies

243 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 15, 2017

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jewish intellectuals who were active during the last centuries before the Common Era introduced a wealth of new features, ideas, and literary expressions into Judaism: the institution of the synagogue; the social and religious divisions of Judaism into distinct sects, such as the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes; the rabbi as a religious authority; a concern for angels, spirits, and demons; the apocalypse as a distinct literary genre; and an array of theological concepts and concerns, among them the belief in the messiah as divine agent of the end time, the hope for the resurrection of the dead, and the angelic afterlife. The list goes on. None of these aspects of Judaism are found in the Old Testament. They took shape during the time of the Second Temple period and became fixed parts of Judaism during the centuries leading up to the time of Jesus. By the time the books of the New Testament were written, these ideas and concepts were taken for granted and no explanation was necessary.

Matthias Henze's Mind the Gap is a slim taste of the variety and richness of Second Temple Judaic writings which have influenced and elucidate much of the New Testament. Henze examines the complexity of this literary background on filling in the gaps between what Biblical readers encounter in the Old Testaments and what is encountered in the New Testaments. Why are we now exorcising demons? When did resurrection become a thing, when in the Old Testament numerous writers noted that Death was to abide in Sheol and no longer be able to worship God?

Henze examines four major gaps which exist between the Old and New Testament writings: (1) Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, (2) In a World of Demons and Unclean Spirits, (3) Did Jesus Abolish the Law of Moses?, and (4) The Resurrection of the Dead and Life in the Company of Angels. Each examination includes surveys of non-NT writings which echo or complement Biblical canon: The Dead Sea Scrolls, 1 Enoch, Jubilees, 2 Baruch/4 Ezra, Psalms of Solomon, Ben Sira, etc.

However, while he certainly shows how enlightening comparing and contrasting Second Temple writings with NT can be, Henze has a poor habit of over-summarizing and over-explaining passages:

First, Henze will quote scripture and then spend a page and a half painstakingly putting the scripture into his own words. He's not digging for deep insight or to clarify complexity; rather, he's telling you again literally what the scripture literally says.

Second, for a book which purports to to show the importance of Second Temple literature, Henze spends an inordinate amount of prose discussing NT passages without mentioning any of it. He undermines his main purpose by showing how a careful reading provides cultural or historical insights without the need to examine non-NT writing. This happens quite a bit for such a slim volume.

All in all, Henze provides a decent introduction of the importance of Second Temple writings and his slim volume whets the appetite to explore and examine a wider world of literary writings.

[Jim Lavis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so happy to have found this book. It helped me get a much better understanding of the relationships between the Old Testament and the New Testament and the role that Jesus played in the development of Christianity.

One of the take aways for me was that Jesus was a devoted Jew who wasn’t challenging Mosses’ authority, or trying to create a new religion, but instead embraced the Torah, as he understood it, and his understanding wasn’t unique or much different from the cultural understanding of that era.

One of the new discoveries was the Dead Sea Scrolls, a Jewish manuscript, along with other documents found in the Qumran, an ancient site located on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, which have expanded our understanding of the Christian Bible. Prior to these new findings, most Christians knew little about the Old Testament or how it related to the development of the New Testament, thus the need for this book.

Within this work, the author is diligent and places documents side by side to compare and illustrate the differences and similarities as well as the cultural contexts of the books in the Bible and those cultural contexts make all the difference when it comes to interpreting their meaning.

This book is a must read. It’s right up there with the works of Karen Armstrong and Marcus Borg’s work.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a good book. Very readable! Does what it claims, to an extent. Some will find this book very revealing (if it is there first time reading a book like this), while others will just get nuggets. On the downside, there is quite a bit of repetition. I appreciated his epistemic humility in what we can know and not know. However, in his chapter on the law this seems to disappear as he seems to be pretty dogmatic about his own view. With that being said, read it. But also read others, like Vanderkams’s The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible, or Eerdmans series on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible (each has a unique title and topic).

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has become one of the new textbooks for Year 2 (Christian Scriptures/ New Testament) of the EfM program. It provides an excellent introduction to the “inter-testamental period” of Second Temple Judaism. Henze does a great job unpacking the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran community in accessible ways. In particular I was struck by his chapter on evil spirits and demons. His explanation of the Nephilim and giants from Genesis (which I never understood) as an etymology of why evil spirits suddenly show up for Jesus to dismiss helped me connect the dots. His chapter on resurrection from the Second Temple period and then NT was also informative.

His quote in the book’s Epilogue sums it up for me: “ For some readers, this can be eye-opening, even liberating, as it invites them to become inquisitive readers of the biblical text, who are encouraged to bring their questions to the text without fear.” P. 188.

Highly recommended for anyone studying the Bible (OT and NT) for a complete understanding of context. Thank you EfM for choosing this title and bringing it to our attention.

[B Dohle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book and used it in a study on the inter-testament time period. We discovered it provided two excellent chapters. One on demons and evil spirits and the other on the resurrection.
Those chapters were great.
The rest of the book needed a good editor. Fortress Press did not do a good job editing this book and helping the author choose one direction and go with it. Henze needed help. He tried to do two things at the same time and did neither of them very well. He tried to outline the inter-testimental period and explain things in the New Testament that don't appear in the Old Testament. In that he did very well. He also tried to explain why the Jewishness of Jesus is important and here he was lacking. There are better books to understand this important connection between Jesus and early Judaism.
Ideally it would be great to see a 2nd edition where the thesis of the book is refined and expanded. A book on this intertestamental period is hard to find and while I hoped this would be a good book to follow, it was not.

[Vivian Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read for anyone interested in the early history of Christianity. I learned all sorts of things that I had not been aware of. Most importantly, there is a 400-year gap between the latest chapters of the Old Testament and the earliest chapters of the New Testament. This book writes about what happened in between and ties it nicely to the bible. It had never occurred to me before that the New Testament talks about demons that were never mentioned in the Old Testament, or that the Old Testament never mentioned synagogues. Clearly a lot happened to the Jews between the Old and New Testaments, and this book delves into the writings outside of the bible that occurred during this period, and what they tell us about the Jewish society that Jesus lived in. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is that it could have been better edited. Some things were said to often, and other issues were not explained enough. But this is still and easy, quick read.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. The author does a great job of sparking interest in the Jewish writings in between the testaments that most people don't have in their bibles or are unfamiliar with. He explores several taken for granted beliefs that seem to pop up out of nowhere in the New Testament that were never talked about or only hinted at in the Hebrew Bible. You have to become familiar with other literature from the time to see how these traditions developed. There is something in the water that Jesus and the NT writers are all drinking from, but we are mostly clueless about. Thanks to this book, I am slightly less clueless, but as it is not an exhaustive book, I still have my work cut out for me.

I award extra kudos to the author for the thoroughness of content after the actual book. There are sections for Further Reading, Glossary, Index of Authors and Subjects, Index of Ancient Names and Places, and Index of Ancient Text. So cool and useful.

[Keith Pinckney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely accessible introduction to selected topics within Second Temple Jewish lit, and how they shed light on the NT. It is my contention that the best way to understand the OT and NT, is to read the literature between them. Henze should be applauded for presenting the diversity of Jewish views on a single topic and how the NT/Jesus sits within that discourse. Most unfamiliar to me was the variegated notions second temple Jews had around the concept of resurrection. It is short accessible works like these that help us to start asking ancient questions, and keep us from too quickly bringing our modern frameworks to the texts we care so much about.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

The subtitle tells it all. Henze's text about the four-century gap between the Hebrew Bible, or as Christians refer to it, The Old Testament and the New Testament. Based on the Jewish literature during those intervening centuries explains the Judaism that Jesus grew up with, absorbed, practiced, and preached. Much of which cannot be found in the Old Testament where demons did not infect humans, and there is one scant reference to an afterlife or a coming Messiah and none of a final judgement at the end of time, all of which can be found in Jewish literature of the previous four centuries.

The book is clearly written and comes with a glossary, index, and an annotated bibliography.

[Andrea Engle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten stars! ... the most amazing book I’ve read all year ... Dr. Henze’s title says it all: “Mind the Gap: How the Jewish Writings between the Old and New Testament Help Us Understand Jesus ... eminently accessible to the lay-reader, this book explores the contemporaneous Jewish world of Jesus and offers new insights into the New Testament ... a must-read for committed Christians ... to be read slowly and savoured ...

[David M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some meat, some bones. The biggest bone is what seems to me a very low view of scripture. Also a quite low view of Jesus. In fact, the epilogue summed up a tone I was hearing throughout with a tl;dr of “So what was so special about Jesus? Why, nothing at all! He was just another second-temple Jew going on about second temple Jewish things.” Also, the summaries of content in inter-testamental literature wasn’t that deep either.

Now I think about it, probably gave this one too many stars.

[David Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful, engaging book

Henze does an excellent job in explaining the significance of Jewish writings between the Old & New Testaments. For those interested in learning about the Judaism of Jesus’ days, this is a great read. Topics such as resurrection of the dead, demon possession, and more are explored with depth and clarity. This would make for a good book study or group Bible study for those interested in learning more about Jewish thought around the time of Jesus.

[Jeffrey Irwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s okay.

I was looking for a discussion on this time period. I was hoping for a more exhaustive study. For instance the discussion on the resurrection could have been more fully developed. I wonder where early Judaism garnered the idea from. Surely they didn’t create the term and its use. This book is a good starting place for further work on my part.

[Nate Duriga · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable, popular-level presentation of the inter-testamental writings that create the context for Jesus' life and teachings. Certain paragraphs and assertions about the dating of biblical books will make conservatives wince, but it is worth the read for those wanting to understand the Jewish backgrounds of the New Testament.

[Aaron Mattox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent Introduction

In some places, I think Henze overstates his case (the OT does in fact have a strong influence on 1st century Judaism). At the same time, this is a helpful and readable introduction to the extra-biblical Jewish writings that contributed to the “worldview” of the first-century.

[Jude Morrissey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic introduction to the Second Temple writings that shaped the Jewish world Jesus lived in - and help us to better understand the New Testament writings. This should be required reading for every student of the Christian Bible.

[Caleb Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly insightful look into the time between the end of the Old Testament and beginning of the New Testament. I recommend this book for anyone searching for deeper understanding into Biblical history. It’s also very easily accessible and not overly scholarly

[Frank Engel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough and fascinating look at the Judaism of the first century. Henze gives a good overview of the thriving Judaism in the "gap" between the old and new testaments using a biblical scholarship lens.

[Alyssa Hinkston · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant guide to understanding the cultural context of Jesus and his teachings. I wish I had come upon this book years ago

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic introduction to scholarship on Second Temple Judaism for those wanting to learn about the period of time between the writings of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.

[Douglas Fyfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a lot of hope for this book. I heard Henze interviewed on the Bible for Normal People, I listened to a YouTube lecture, and then I bought the book.

First off, it is expensive. Which is fine - I don't mind paying good money for good books - but this is essentially four talks, with a bit of background and an epilogue. There is not a single footnote, so nothing he says is referenced, which I found disconcerting.

The introduction and epilogue were really interesting and were a convincing argument for why these texts matter. The actual discussion (he works through messianism, demons, nomianism and resurrection) was not too bad, as he showed the NT text, then the OT background, but then the gap between the two, leading to the discussion of the pertinent 2nd Temple texts.

So it was good, but not really good enough. He also really wanted to argue that Jews and Gentiles are saved but by two different means - Torah as wisdom for Jews, Torah as Jesus for Gentiles. Which I don't know how you can do if you take the NT seriously. I mean, you can argue that point, but you can't do it when you don't interact with scholars and more or less state it rather than argue.

I would recommend borrowing it from the library, especially for the demons and resurrection chapters, as well as the first half of the epilogue. But better would be to find a book like this, that is referenced properly, and without a theological axe to grind.

[Martijn Vsho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henze argues that the Judaism we see in the NT is markedly different from the Judaism we see in the OT. Things like Pharisees, Sadducees, demons, synagogues - we don't see these in the OT. While the OT is important for the NT, we also need to look at the history and literature between the OT and NT in order to better understand the NT. Henze begins by arguing for the importance of knowing Second Temple Jewish literature for understanding the NT. He then looks at four examples: ideas about the Messiah, demons, the Jewish Law, and resurrection. For each of these, Henze first looks at what the OT has to say about this, before turning to Second Temple Jewish literature and showing how this helps us understand certain NT passages better. The result is a helpful introduction to non-biblical Jewish literature for Christians who want to know the world Jesus grew up in.

I enjoyed this book by Henze. I may not agree with everything he says, but Henze argues things well and makes it easy to follow his arguments.

This is a great introduction to the intertestamental period for non-academics. It is easy to read and understand and contains a glossary with words commonly used in biblical studies that readers may not be familiar with. Henze also included an appendix for further reading. A highly recommended book!

[Austin Hood · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I’m reading through the Bible this year, I’m endeavoring to place it into historical context, which Henze’s commentary introduces well. The “gap” between the old and New Testament introduces several themes which otherwise would seem startling in the New, though those are generally accepted today. An illuminating work, but there is far more left to explore!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful book for students & teachers interested in the relationship between Second Temple Judaisms & Jesus Followers OR who want to think about early Jesus Followers as part of Second Temple Judaism.

The title tells it like it is: the book focuses on these Jewish writings as part of the context for Jesus, his early Followers, and the New Testament.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to the literary world of Judaism in the time of Jesus. Especially recommended for non-specialists. Sadly the ridiculous price tag Fortress Press has given this book makes it inaccessible to its target audience.