Have you ever heard of Joshua, the small town laborer who was an observer of the Mosaic

Law and who often attended synagogue?

If you haven't, you might know him better through the Greek transliteration of his Hebrew

name, Yeshua, or, as it's written in pronounced in English, Jesus.

2000 years after the mortal life of Jesus and the expansive global spread of Christianity,

it can become easy to overlook the fundamental nature of Judaism in Christianity, and that

Jesus himself was Jewish.

As Rabbi Leo Bayek said, Jesus could have developed as he came to be only on the soil

of Judaism.

Here is BYU Ancient Scripture professor Overeum Shannon, who has degrees in Jewish studies

and Near Eastern languages, speaking to this similar point.

In the New Testament perspective, Jesus was Jewish, he grew up Jewish, he lives Jewish,

he lives law, he talks about law, he just does things in a Jewish way, and to understand

who he is, we've got to understand that first.

In this episode, Professor Shannon helps us understand how Jewish rabbinical literature,

which are the texts written by Jewish sages, can help better enlighten us about certain

aspects of the New Testament, Jesus' mortal ministry, and Christianity.

I'm your host, Professor Anthony Sweat, and this is Why Religion.

Each year, religion professors at Brigham Young University produce hundreds of publications

on subjects related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

This podcast brings this research into one place to enlighten the everyday seeker of truth,

see learning, even by study, and also by faith.

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