After he spent five years attending Chever Torah, Athol Dickson found his faith radically changed-the result being a deeper relationship with God. In beautiful and simple language, The Gospel according to Moses illustrates Dickson’s journey of faith exploring some of the primary theological differences and similarities between Christianity and Judaism. He draws generously on both Old and New Testament scriptures, looking at Christian and Jewish perspectives on topics such as suffering, grace vs. works, and the place of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures.
“Dickson is endearing in his enthusiasm for learning, and he encourages Christians to explore their Jewish roots as a way to grow in their faith.” – Christianity Today
“So what has Dickson taken away from his studies at Chever Torah? ‘Strange as it may seem,’ he writes, ‘the Jewish perspective of Chever Torah had given me a richer, more solid foundation for my own faith.’ That’s a perspective evangelicals who’ve had any contact with Judaism or Israel can resonate with.” – Books and Culture
This book is just AMAZING! I love your way of sharing the different perspectives of the Christian and Jewish Faith! Your experiences and your illustrations just tie everything together and leads to one unified thing that matters most….a relationship with GOD! This book says all that I have ever felt about religion itself and how we get so caught up in the legalistic, religious and doctrinal functions of the church and forget what is most important.
You are an amazing author and I hope you plan to write more of books like this….I would love for you to write something relating to the Christian beliefs vs. the atheist or intellectual….I have a friend who cannot get past the idea that there could be a GOD and this book itself maybe a great gift for him. Hmmmm….Thank you for your truth in this writing and I look forward to your upcoming books!
Thank you so much for this encouragement, Toni. As it happens, I do have another non-fiction project in mind. I plan to call it THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOB. It will explore one of the main objections atheists have to faith, which is the problem of a good God in an evil world. I’m months away from starting it because of my fiction commitments (four new editions of prior novels coming up, plus the first novel in a new mystery series) but it’s a project that’s dear to my heart, so I hope to have it finished in the next year or two.
I just ordered this and am SO excited to read it!!
My parents were involved in a church plant before I was even born that ministered to the Jewish community in the suburbs of Chicago. So having grown up in a Messianic Jewish congregation and attended others along the way, my knowledge of God began with knowing His” Chosen People.” Reading the Torah in the original Hebrew, saying the traditional Hebrew blessings & prayers, lighting the Menorah, celebrating ALL of the festivals and feasts not just the “12” was my church upbringing. I am so thankful and blessed because of it. (And you can imagine the shock of going from that to a “stuffy” Evangelical Free Church – which we came to love as well, *muffled chuckle*)
The fact that Jesus was Jewish and that His entire life was a fulfillment of prophecies from hundreds of years previous were never foreign concepts for me. As a child Passover and Purim were my favorite and now as an adult, they remain my favorite. I can never make it through a Seder or reading of the book of Esther without crying – the weight of all that history and God’s plan weaving through thousands of years and people to finally be here: in this place, Jesus Messiah…the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with us..the Ultimate Sacrifice, the last Lamb, blood shed for us, atonement for me…today, hundreds of years later…still brings tears to my eyes as I think about the grace that came down so that I can approach a God who many men out of ultimate reverence would not even write His name…Y-H-W-H.
Job is close to my heart. Please write that one, too! I listen to John Piper’s CD of his poetry version of Job at least once every other month (The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God). Shakespeare is wonderful, but no poetry has come close to changing my life like that little number did. May be inspirational to you as you embark on The Gospel According to Job…blessings!
Job was the first book of the Bible that once I started reading the first verse of the book I literally had to continue. The only thing I can compare it to is a beautifully constructed symphony which, by the time it reaches its finale, leaves me breathless. I await THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOB eagerly!