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Michael J. Cook
Dr. Cook is Professor of Intertestamental and Early Christian Literatures, and holds the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professorship in Judaeo-Christian Studies, HUC-JIR / Cincinnati. He studied at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was ordained at HUC-JIR in New York, and earned his doctorate at HUC-JIR Cincinnati. Dr. Cook's specialty is the New Testament. He is possibly the only rabbi in the U.S. with a professorial Chair in New Testament, and has extensive expertise in the field of Jewish-Christian relations.
Education
- Ordained, HUC-JIR (1970)
- Ph.D., HUC-JIR (1974)
Lecture Titles
- Including multimedia visuals and videos:
- "Gospel Dynamics": When the Jewish Jesus Isn't Enough
- Jews, Jesus, & the Gospels: Why the Future's No Longer What It Used to Be
- From Calvary to Oberammergau 2010: the Impact of Jesus' Death on Jewish Life
- Terror, Armageddon, and Israel in Evangelical End-time Scenarios
- Now that Jesus Hasn't Returned: What Does It Mean for the Jews?
- From Calvary to Oberammergau: the Impact of Jesus' Death on Jewish Life
- Praying For and Preying On the Jews: Why Do We Matter So to Missionaries?
- Modern Church Seders: a Mixed Message for Interfaith Relations?
- Anti-Jewish Shades and Shadows: the Abiding Impact of Medieval Church Art
- Painting Judas at the Last Supper: Renaissance Images of the Jews?
- Annunciations, Magi, and Nativities: Revealing the Symbols of Judaism!
- Are "Messianic Jews" Taking Our Holidays? An Irksome New Dilemma
- Antiochus the Antichrist: Why Christian Millennialism Is Rooted in Hanukkah!
- Other:
- Virgin Birth, Empty Tomb and Shroud of Turin: Jewish Views of Christian Claims
- Hebrew Biblical Stories: Their Transformation by Christian Theology
- Charting Our Ways through the Creationist Maze: Why Genesis Promotes Science!
- Excluding the Laity from Jewish-Christian Dialogue: Why It's Done & What It's Done
- Missionary Impossible: When Jews-for-Jesus Target Our Youth
- Close Encounters of the Religious Kind: Jewish Children and Their Christian Friends
- In the Cycles of Jewish History, Where Are We with Christianity and Islam Today?
- Academic/clergy institutes:
- Jesus, Paul, and the Gospels: Are Modern Jewish Approaches Viable?
- Are the Gospels "Antisemitic"? The Problem of Approaching the Problem
- Parables of Jesus through a Jewish Filter: What Is Jewish About Them?
- Paul's Treatment of Judaism in Romans 9-11: Why His Anxiety for the Jews?
- From Persecutor to Believer: Why Paul's Reversal on Jesus Was Not on the Road to Damascus
- "And as They Were at Table Eating" (Mk 14): Was the Last Supper a Seder?
- Talmudic Depictions of Jesus: a Problematic Legacy for Modern Times
- Jewish Jurisprudence and the Trial of Jesus: Avoiding a Classic Fallacy!
- Good Friday: Did Jesus' Trial & the Barabbas Episode Actually Occur?
- Timing the End of Days: Millennialist Misapplications of Daniel, Matthew, Revelation, & 1 Thessalonians
- Teaching Christianity at a Jewish Seminary: Beyond "Statuary" Blindness
Recent Publications
Books
- Modern Jews Engage the New Testament: Enhancing Jewish Well-Being in a Christian Environment (Woodstock, VT:
Jewish Lights, 3rd printing 2012, 414 pp. incl. endnotes, programmed bibliography, five indices)
- Companion Figures: A Visual Aid for Teaching Modern Jews Engage the New Testament (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, August 2008; 50 pp. including 84 pictorials, lesson plans for 7 stand-alone lectures and 4 adult-education courses of 4 to 8 weeks each).
Other
- "'Out-Standing' Lacunae in Post-Holocaust Exegesis?" The Second Annual John Paul II Lecture on Christian-Jewish Relations (Center for Christian-Jewish Relations, Boston College (forthcoming publication 2014)
- Review of Thomas G. Casey / Justin Taylor, eds., Paul's Jewish Matrix (Rome: Gregorian & Biblical Press, 2011). Pp. 392. Catholic Biblical Quarterly (forthcoming 2013)
- "The Distribution of Jewish Leaders in the Synoptic Gospels: Why Wariness Is Warranted," Soundings on the Religion of Jesus: Perspectives and Methods in Jewish and Christian Scholarship. Edited Bruce Chilton, Anthony Le Donne, and Jacob Neusner (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), vi, ix, xi, 61-79, 214-215
- "Jesus at Nazareth's Synagogue: an Anti-Jewish Anachronism," in Shofar: An Inter-Disciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 30 #3 (2012): 1-20.
- Review of Geza Vermes, Jesus in the Jewish World (London: SCM, 2010). Pp. xii + 268. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 74 (2012): 642-643
- "Paul's Epistle to the Philippians: Introduction and Annotation," The Jewish Annotated New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 354-361.
- "How Credible Is Jewish Scholarship on Jesus?" The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation, ed. Z. Garber (West Lafayette: Purdue Univ. Press, 2011), pp. 249-270
- "Jewish Perspectives on Jesus," Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Jesus. Edited Delbert Burkett (West Sussex, UK / Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), pp. 213-231
- "Where Jewish Scholars on Jesus Go Awry: Last Supper, Sanhedrin, Blasphemy, Barabbas," The Historical Jesus: Quest, Conquest, Non-Quest (Shofar: An Inter-Disciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 28.3, Spring 2010), pp. 70-77.
- "Jews and 'Gospel Dynamics': Why Advice by Ancient Sages Is No Longer Sage Advice," The Fourth R, 22 #2 (Santa Rosa , CA: Westar, 2009): 9-14, 24.
- [Excerpts of New Books by HUC-JIR Faculty:] "Modern Jews Engage the New Testament: Enhancing Jewish Well-Being in a Christian Environment," The Chronicle (2008 #71): 32-35.
- "Jewish Views of Jesus," The 2008 Joseph Cardinal Bernadine Jerusalem Lecture (Chicago: Archdiocese of Chicago: Winter 2008), 18 pp.
- "The Betrayal of Judas," Reform Judaism (Winter 2007): 40-46.
- "Paul's Argument in Romans 9-11," Review & Expositor 103 #1 (2006) 113-138
- "The Problem of Jewish Jurisprudence and the Trial of Jesus," Pondering the Passion: What's at Stake for Christians and Jews (New York: Sheed & Ward, 2004)
- "Evolving Jewish Views of Jesus," Jesus through Jewish Eyes (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2002) 3-24
- "Destabilizing the Tale of Judas Iscariot," An American Rabbinate (Pittsburgh: Rodef Shalom, 2001) 109-47
- "Righting What's Wrong with Church 'Seders,'" Central Conf. of Amer. Rabbis Jour. (Summer 2000) 1-17
- "The Play that Plagues the Jews: Oberammergau 2000," Reform Judaism (Summer 2000) 22-26
- "Jewish Reflections on Jesus: Abiding Trends," The Historical Jesus through Catholic and Jewish Eyes (Harrisburg: Trinity Int'l, 2000) 95-113
- A Manual for Managing the Millennium (Cincinnati, 1999)
- "The Death of Jesus" [opposite Raymond Brown], Nostra Aetate Dialogue Proceedings (New York: Fordham U., 1998) 56-100
- "Neutralizing Missionary Encroachment: Conceptual Frameworks," Through Those Near to Me (Danbury 1998) 307-42
- "Christian Appropriation of Passover: Jewish Responses Then and Now," Jewish History and Thought 5 (New York: Hunter Coll., 1998) 49-63
- "Jewish Scholars and New Testament Images of Judaism," Community at the Crossroads (Gettysburg, 1997) 21-41
- "Images of Jesus in the Arts," Proceedings of the Center for Jewish-Christian Learning 10 (St. Paul, 1996) 46-56
Electronic Publications
- Review of Neta Stahl, editor. Jesus Among the Jews: Representation and Thought (Milton Park, H-Net (forthcoming 2012)
- “'Gospel Dynamics': When the Jewish Jesus Won’t Suffice,” The Bible and Interpretation (August 2012)
- Review of Seth Schwartz, Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society? Reciprocity and Solidarity in Ancient Judaism. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2010. x + 212 pp., in Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, Vol. 5. The Council of Centers for Jewish-Christian Relations.
- Review of Daniel J. Harrington, The Synoptic Gospels Set Free: Preaching without Anti-Judaism (New York: Paulist, 2009)/ Pp. xii + 231. Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, Vol. 6. The Council of Centers for Jewish-Christian Relations.
- "The Bishops' Cop-Out" in The Forward (site registration required) (2004)
- "Some Jewish Reactions to Mel Gibson' s film, The Passion of the Christ" (2004)
- Excerpts from Postings Concerning: 'Our Gibson Strategy,' including a
'Checklist' of 48 critical motifs to look for in the Mel Gibson film, The Passion of the Christ" (2004)
- "An Insider's Account of the Mel Gibson Ordeal," Chronicle Issue 63 (2004) - available in
PDF format
- "Jewish Understandings of the New Testament," Chronicle Issue 58 (1999) - available in
PDF format
Video
- Missionary Impossible (academic / 45-minutes) -- based on Missionizing course (Cincinnati, 1998)
Public Lectures
- "'Mind the Gap': Bridging One Dozen Lacunae in Jewish Catholic Dialogue," – Delivered at Boston College's Second Annual John Paul II Lecture in Christian-Jewish Relations on March 20, 2013. Watch the video and follow along with the handout.
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