My Top 20 Books plus some:

I was asked recently to give a list of a few recommended books for serious students of the Bible. When I tried to reduce a huge list down to just a few, it not only proved next to impossible, but I am sure the lists below are missing one of two of my favourites that I have forgotten about. 

Anyway, for those interested, here is my top 20; then a Highly Commended Top 15 and then a top 10 of my own articles (from over 60+) and a couple of others I highly recommend. These books are in no special order, as the order depends really on what you are looking forward and what importance you place of the issues addressed in each:

My Top 20 Books  (apart from the Bible & in no particular order):

1.         A History of the Jews’ by Paul Johnson

2.         ‘Crash Course in Jewish History’ by Rabbi Ken Spiro

3.         ‘Jesus’ By Prof David Flusser

4.         ‘They Never Told Me This in Church’ by Greg Deuble

5.         ‘The Doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound’ by Anthony Buzzard and Charles Hunting

6.         ‘The Teacher and The Preacher – a dialogue’ by Moshe Avraham Kempinski

7.         ‘Should Israel Exist?: A Sovereign Nation Under Attack by the International Community’ by Michael Curtis

9.          ‘Torah: Mosaic Law or Divine Instructions’ by Frank Selch

10.      The Mystery of Romans: The Jewish Context of Paul's Letters’ by Mark Nanos

11.      ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments’ by Randy Alcorn

12. 'The Dead Sea Scrolls'  by Prof Gary A Rendsburg

13 'The Book of Genesis' by Gary Rendsburg

14 'The Jews in History' by Dr David Neiman

15 'The Lost World of Genesis One' by John H Walton

16.  'Where is the Body? Discovering the Church in the Heart of Israel’ by Victor Schlatter

17.  ‘Befriending The Beloved Disciple: A Jewish Reading of the Gospel of John’ by Adele Reinhartz

18. 'Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence' by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

19. The Rational Bible: Exodus (and Genesis) by Denis Prager

20. The Source New Testament by Dr Ann Nyland

21: 'The Return of the God Hypothesis' By  Stephen C Meyer

Top 20+ Highly Recommended: (in no particular order)

1.         ‘The Historical Jesus in Context’ Editors Amy-Jill Levine, Dale C. Allison, John Dominic Crossan

2.         ‘The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English’ – Translated by Geza Vermes

3.         ‘Judaism and the Second Temple Period’ by David Flusser

4.         Judaism And The Origins Of Christianity By David Flusser,

5.         ‘Programming of Life’ by Donald E. Johnson

6.         Our Father Abraham By Marvin Wilson

7.         ‘The Irony of Galatians: Paul's Letter in First-Century Context’ by Mark Nanos

8.         ‘God According to God: A Scientist Discovers We've Been Wrong About God All Along’ by Gerald Schroeder

9.         ‘Genesis and the Big Bang: The Discovery Of Harmony Between Modern Science And The Bible’ by G. Schroeder

10.      ‘Kosher Jesus’ by Rabbi Schmuley Boteach

11.      'Revelation- a Biblical Approach' by H.A. Whittaker

12.      ‘The Heavenly Man' by Brother Yun

13.      ‘Why Me, God? A Jewish Guide for coping with suffering’ by Lisa Aiken

14.      ‘Replacement Theology’ by Frank Selch

15.      ‘Dancing with the Scimitar of Islam’ by Frank Selch

16. 'The Doctrinal Pitfalls of Hellenism' by Paul Herring

17.       ‘Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls’ Edited by Herschel Shanks

18. O Jerusalem' by Larry Collins and Dominque Lapierre

19. 'Darwin's Doubt' by Stephen Meyer

20. 'Kosher Lust' by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

21. 'Shalom in the Home' by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

22.'Everyday Holiness' by Alan Morris

23. 'Lost Christianities' by Prof Bart  D Ehrman

24. Discover The Land of Israel: A Guided Tour in Biblical Israel with Talmud and Midrash - by Yossi Maimon 

25.      The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah: A Solution to the Riddle of the New Testament’ – by Anthony Buzzard

26.      ‘The New Testament: The Hebrew Behind The Greek’ by Paul Herring

27.      ‘Defending The Apostle Paul: Weighing the Evidence’ by Paul Herring

28. 'Discovering Genesis' by Dr David Neiman

29. 'If: The End of a Messianic Lie' by Uriel Ben Mordechai

30. 'Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide' by former Israel Ambassador (2009 - 2013) Michael Oren

31. The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership, by Yehuda Avner

32. Six Days of War, by Michael Oren

33. Darwin Devolves by Micahel J Behe

34. 10 Conversations You Need To Have With Yourself by Rabbi Schmuley Boteach 

35. Einstein and the Rabbi by Rabbi Naomi Levy

36. The Gates of Repentance by Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerona

37. The Complete Artscroll Siddur  by Rabbi Nosson Scherman 

38. ‘Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design’ by Stephen C Meyer 

39.  ‘The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions About Intelligent Design’ by William Dembsk

40. The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon by Bart Erhman 

41: 'Creation and Evolution: Facts and Fallacies' by Alan Hayward 

42: ‘More Than a Theory: Revealing a Testable Model for Creation’ by Hugh Ross

                                            

Some very good resources for those who wish to dig a little deeper:

1. ‘A History Of The Jewish People In The Time Of Jesus Christ’ By Prof. Emil Schürer,
2. ‘The Sages—Their Concepts And Beliefs’ By Prof. Ephraim E. Urbach
3. ‘Christianity And Judaism’ – Two Covenants By Yehezkel Kaufmann,
4. ‘Jews, Judaism And The Classical World’ By Gedalyahu Alon,
5. ‘Studies In Jewish History In The Times Of The Second Temple And Talmud’ Translated From The Hebrew By Israel Abrahams,
6. ‘Jesus Of Nazareth His Life, Times, And Teaching’ By Joseph Klausner,
7. ‘Nazarene Jewish Christianity From The End Of The New Testament Period Until Its Disappearance In The Fourth Century’ by Ray A. Pritz,
8.  ‘Jews, Pagans And Christians In Conflict’ By David Rokeah
9. The Modern Scholar: The Hebrew Bible' by Lawrence H Schiffman
10. The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God's Law's' by Laura Schlessinger and Rabbi Stewart Vogel

Top Articles from the Circumcised Heart Website (www.circumcisedheart.info):

1.  Does God Exist?
2.  Understanding the Bible 101
3. Amazing Grace
4.  The Resurrection and Jewish Scepticism
5.   Living Truth - the Hebraic Mindset
6.  Siblings of the King - Living in the Will of the Father
7.  Righteousness Before Messiah
8. Israel: Return in Belief or Unbelief?
9.   Resurrected to Life - The New Heavens and the New Earth
10.  Colossians 2:16 and the Sabbath
11.  The Tripartite Salvation Paradigm
12. The Times of Yeshua
13. The Genealogy of Yeshua
14. James the Just: Re-evaluating his legacy
15.   ‘Fiat Days’ - THE best interpretation of the creation  by Hill Roberts
16.   ‘Are there gaps in the Genesis Genealogies?’  By  WH Green