Drinking At the Sources

The schism between Israel and the Christian church is rooted in the most profound reality in history. 



When Jesus said that He was the Messiah, was His contention not to have consequences in a land occupied by Roman legions since 66 b.c.? In a land where leaders of resistance movements had regularly been proclaimed king and messiah of Israel by their troops? Alas, messianic adventures were not uncommon in those times! Many of them ended in atrocious massacres—from Judas the Galilean, who preached revolt against Rome when Jesus was a child, to Bar-Kokhba.


Because Israel lived constantly under the threat of extermination by pagan, barbarian, and imperial Rome, were not the men responsible for her well-being and destiny to be extremely concerned by the rising tide of another messianic movement? And especially since this latest manifestation was led by a self-proclaimed Christ with an overpowering personality? The word from Caiaphas that it was to their advantage that one man should die to save the nation must be understood in the light of the stark reality of Roman repression, which was responsible for more than 600,000 crucified victims.


Drinking at the Sources separates historical fact from fiction in an attempt to discover what was responsible for the hatred between early Christians and Jews that carries on to this day. It seeks to identify, from each side’s viewpoint, the decisive factors and arguments both sides have used in constructing seemingly insurmountable walls.