To understand who we are as Christians is to understand our beginning. Did Jesus intend to have His "church" separated from the Jewish community? Did the Apostle Paul emphasize a truncation of the Jewish cradle for this new community of unique people? What does the New Testament teach about Jesus, His followers, and the new sect He founded? Did the Church replace Israel? Do Gentile Christians need to worship in a Jewish form? Who was this man called Jesus, and what were the influences in his life? The church in the twenty-first century would do itself a disservice not to acknowledge its Jewish beginnings, or to ignore the man Jesus and the cultural mores that shaped his teaching.
