The Judaisms of Jesus’ Followers

An Introduction to Early Christianity in its Jewish Context

By: Juan Marcos Bejarano Gutierrez

Narrated by: Ronald Fox

The Jewish sect which ascribed Jesus the title of Messiah was eventually transformed into a non-Jewish movement wholly separated from its Jewish context. The transformation was not instantaneous, and there were deviating or at the least parallel streams of Jesus supporters early on. A critical mistake which has been made, in my opinion, is the assumption that the Jesus movement was uniform even among its early Jewish followers. Analyzing the original movement(s) in the first centuries of the Common Era can reveal how the schism between Judaism and Christianity evolved. This audiobook explores the fascinating world of Jewish life in the Second Temple Era and the Jewish groups that endorsed Jesus' messianic claims.

©2018 Juan Marcos Gutierrez (P)2021 Juan Marcos Gutierrez

Good book, bad narration

This book covers a topic that is fascinating to me and I have doggedly listened to it perhaps three times so far, trying to absorb the information. What I have been able to grasp has been really good. But the narrator has got to be the worst I have ever heard. His reading is so stilted, jerky, mechanical, sing-song, full of unwarranted stops where none are needed and plunges ahead where pauses are required that it has been almost impossible to understand some of the material. And the rest is so distracting that it is hard to stay focused on the content. The man reads in unaccented American English that is easy to understand, yet he sounds like a machine, or like someone who has no understanding of the words he is reading. This is also a religious book, for which some special knowledge is needed. "Prophet" is not pronounced "PRO-fit," (with the first syllable the same as in the word "professional," and the second "fit," like someone is getting a "pro" fitting for an article of clothing). "Sadducees" are members of an extinct sect of Judaism, not a new and ghastly kind of cannibalistic fruit, as this reader's repeated pronunciation always makes me think. ("Saw-JUICIES"!) "Sovereignty," although admittedly a long word, has three syllables, not the five that the narrator requires to deal with this many letters. This is a tiny sample of the mispronunciations in this recording. The reading is so bad, the sentences so broken up with mistimed phrasing and wrong emphases, I sometimes cannot even follow what the author was trying to express. If it were up to me, I would have this book re-narrated, because I think it is a very interesting and well-written book. I would love to be able to listen to it with the clarity it deserves. I like what I've understood; I like it so well I am going to buy a print copy. The problems are not with the book itself, and the author does not deserve to be penalized for this recording.

Great Book From An Authority On The Subject

This book gives a clear insight into the history and tradition of Jesus' followers and is written by an authority on the subject. I have read a few other books from the author, and they never fail to educate and provide eye-opening information. This is a very good book, and I highly recommend it.