God Fearers, or B’nai Noah, worshipped one God even before the advent of organized religion. Annihilated 1700 years ago by Emperor Constantine, who declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire, it is only recently that they reappeared. A group of Evangelical Christian Ministers, searching for knowledge about the origins of Jesus, found more questions than answers about Christianity and its birth. They came to the conclusion that a proper understanding of the Torah, the Holy Book of Israel, was necessary to further their own religious understanding. Totally rejecting Jesus as a God, this small group identified themselves as “Noahides,” after Noah the God Fearer, who received the Seven Commandments of God. Neither Christian nor Jewish, they also are known as B’nai Noah, the Jewish term used for non Jews.
The Noahide movement revolves around the role of non Jews in this world and in the world to come. Questions such as “How did Christianity differ from Judaism?”;“Were the early followers of Jesus Jews or proto-Christians?”;“Can the New Testament be read as commentary on the Jewish Bible (the Tanach) rather than as scripture?”;“ What is the ‘myth’ of Christmas?” and many other topics are included in Alden Films’ CD and DVD Noahide Collection.
These thought provoking lectures are given my distinguished scholars from both Jewish and Christian perspectives. View individual titles below or see the complete catalog.
BELIEF VERSUS FAITH
J. David Davis
Listen to a sample (will launch a media player).
In Genesis, Abraham’s belief in God is not that of blind faith, but rather it is a certainty that is substantiated by a direct knowledge of God. This idea is significant, since God first promises, and then He acts. Thus certainty on the part of man is a requirement for incipient performance by God.
Torah is the pursuit of truth reinforced by fact. This idea is central to the Noahide understanding of God, which is unfettered by a faith having no proven relation to reality. This difference in outlook is what sets apart the Jewish conception of God versus the Christian imperative of absolute faith.
53 Minutes, CD; $12.95
CHRIST MYTH-MESS
J. David Davis
Listen to a sample (will launch a media player).
What is the origin of Christmas? In this incisive lecture on the origins of Christianity’s most holy day, J. David Davis explores the holiday’s pagan underpinnings; its development through the ages; its linkage with the pagan holidays of Winter Solstice (Jesus’ birth date itself is not mentioned in the New Testament); the development of the Mass; the symbolism of the Tree; and finally the creation of Santa Claus from a 16th century German priest to its present incarnation as first seen in the 1931 Coca Cola painting of a rotund, avuncular, jolly old man in a red suit, flying through the sky in his reindeer-driven sleigh.
57 Minutes, CD; $12.95
DREAMS-VISIONS-PROPHETS
J. David Davis
Listen to a sample (will launch a media player).
To study Judaism successfully, it is essential to give up all preconceived notions of God, and instead to look to the Torah for knowledge. The Prophets (“Neviim” in Hebrew) received God’s words and spoke them or wrote them to the Jewish People. But how did the Jewish nation receive God’s words, and by what means does God even today speak to man? Virtually everyone dreams, but on the whole we either forget our dreams or dismiss them as mere recollections not particularly applicable to life. Dreams, though, are the first step in the higher realm of consciousness.
Thus Avimelech dreamt of Abraham and Sarah; Jacob dreamt of the Ladder up to Heaven; and Joseph was known to all as an interpreter of dreams. Visions are of a higher order than dreams. They involve out-of-body experiences which, though many of us have had, we usually deny, or do not permit ourselves to recognize as visions. To attain a spiritual high level requires isolation from the external world, along with relaxation of the internal mind. Our religious thoughts often come from our dreams, if we are open to receiving and recognizing them. The prophet, unlike others, is “Called by God,” and has no choice but to receive and interpret visions. Prophecy is the highest level of communication. Openness to our inner world of dreams permits us to come closer to God. In this five part series, J. David Davis explores a hitherto unexplored but esoteric area of Judaism, with special relevance to the Noahide Movement.
5 Hours, 21 Minutes, 5 CDs; $59.95
THE FATHERS OF JESUS AND JAMES
J. David Davis
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Jesus’ genealogy is the question about who his parents were, and who his siblings were. Did Jesus and James share the same father? Was Simon Peter a half brother as well as a disciple? What about the other disciples? What tribe was Jesus from? What tribe was James from? Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene?
In this lecture, J. David Davis, in an intriguing look at the origins of Christianity, explores the complete genealogy of Jesus, his family and his disciples.
58 Minutes, 1 CD; $12.95
THE FIVE FUNDAMENTAL FLAWS OF FUNDAMENTALISM
Dr. James D. Tabor
How does Christianity differ from Judaism, and what sets it apart from the early followers of Jesus? In this lecture, Dr. James D. Tabor describes the “Five Fundamental Flaws of Christianity” as a Hellenistic (Greek) maladaptation of the Apostles and their writings. The flaws are: death is life; heaven is the goal; the Law (Torah) is abolished; the main purpose of life is evangelism; and Jesus is the One God of Israel. This thought-provoking lecture provides a rare glimpse of the world of Jesus as a devout Jew, as opposed to the present day Christian view of Jesus as a God.
Dr. Tabor, author of Things Unutterable, which is about the mysticism of the apostle Paul, is co-author of both A Noble Death, which discusses suicide and martyrdom in antiquity, and Why Waco? Cults and the Battle of Religious Freedom in America. He is a leading scholar on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple period, and on the origins of Christianity. Dr. Tabor also serves as Chief Editor of the Original Bible Project. He is currently working on his newest book, The Jesus Dynasty; A New Historical Investigation of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity.
2 Hours 21 Minutes, 2 CDs; $24.95
GOD’S DREAM
Dr. James D. Tabor
The Messianic vision of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, of a world where Mankind ascends to a life of Mercy (“Chesed”), Justice (“Mishpat”), and Righteousness (“Tzedakah”), is the whole point of the Bible (Tanach). As mandated in Deuteronomy, until its final mention in Malachi, the mission of the Jewish People as God’s “chosen” or “possession” (“Segula”), is to teach the Nations about God. In this inspiring lecture, Dr. James Tabor explores the subject of God’s Dream and the belief in a covenantal God who acts in history.
50 Minutes, CD; $12.95
THE HIDDEN FACE OF GOD
Dr. James D. Tabor
What is the “Hidden Face of God,” and where does this concept fit in with Noahide Law? Is there a plan for the Jewish People and mankind, as explained in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanach? How does this plan relate to the Noahide Movement? This insightful lecture, which also includes “To Torah and Testimony,” explains the core of the Noahide philosophy, and inspires and provokes interest in the Bible and its hidden meanings.
112 Minutes, 2 CDs; $24.95
THE HIDDEN POWER OF THE SOUL
J. David Davis
Who was the historical Jesus? How did the quest to discover more about the history of Jesus lead to the formation of the Noahide Movement? J. David Davis, a Baptist minister ordained in 1972, began to grapple with this question, along with members of the Emmanuel Congregation in Athens, Tennessee, in the early 1980’s. Ironically, their study of Jesus became the portal to a study of Judaism, since the more J. David Davis delved into the subject, the more necessary it was to become familiar with Judaism, the religion of Jesus and his followers.
Eventually Davis and his congregation reached the realization that Jesus’ role in history was forever changed by the Roman Empire and the “Hellenizing” of the gospels. The refusal by present day churches to regard the Hebrew Bible (the Tanach), along with its rabbinical interpretations based on a 3500-year history of Jews reading, praying and interpreting the Bible, as the real authority on God (this includes their God Jesus), and their contrived use of questionable passages (Isaiah 53, Daniel 9) which are interpreted as a preamble to a belief in a human deity, is akin to studying the Koran without consulting a Moslem or knowing Arabic.
The courage of J. David Davis and his congregants in continuing to study, regardless of painful consequences (the shunning of their community in the Bible Belt, and personal attacks on Mr. Davis), has awakened a thirst for knowledge of the one true God in all parts of the world.
4 Hours 22 Minutes, 4 CDs; $49.95
JESUS BAR ABUS
J. David Davis
Listen to a sample (will launch a media player).
The mysterious figure of Barrabas has haunted writers and theologians since the birth of Christianity. Who was this person? What significance did he have to Jesus?
In truth, there was no separate person named “Barrabas.” Rather, the name Barrabas evolved from reference to Jesus himself, as “Jesus Bar Abus” (Jesus, son of the Father). The early church father, Origen, was upset with the Gospel of Matthew, where the Ebionites wrote Jesus’ name in Hebrew, as “Jesus Bar Abus.” Eventually, Origen and the other church fathers had the first name, Jesus, dropped in the New Testament, thus leaving it as “Bar Abus,” which was then further shortened to “Barrabas.” The Church Fathers also embellished the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, shifting the blame from the Romans to the Jews, which then gave rise to the roots of anti-Semitism. J. David Davis exposes the myth of Barrabas in this revealing look at the “other” Jesus.
58 Minutes, CD; $12.95
MIKVAH-BAPTISM-WATER PURIFICATION
J. David Davis
Listen to a sample (will launch a media player).
Baptism is the most discussed rite among the many sects of Christianity. It is mentioned 98 times in the New Testament. Baptism’s origins, however, are obviously derived from the Jewish “Mikvah” (a pool of water as mentioned in Leviticus 11:36), which was central to the Judaism of the Second Temple Period, and is still essential in Orthodox Jewry today.
Who were the people who were baptized in the New Testament? With the exception of Cornelius in Acts 10, and Lydia in Acts 16, they were all Jews. Even with these exceptions, it is possible that they, too, were converts to Judaism. As recorded in the Gospels, Jesus himself went to the mikvah more than 100 times. How did the meaning of the Jewish mikvah change so radically that it became a Christian symbol of conversion, in the mode of the baptism?
In this lecture, J. David Davis explain how Baptism changed the entire meaning of the Mikvah and became a symbol of Christianity.
113 Minutes, 2 CDs; $24.95
RESTORING ABRAHAMIC FAITH
Dr. James D. Tabor
The bedrock faith of Abraham is expressed in four fundamental precepts: (1) It has to be uncompromisingly monotheistic, as is mentioned in the “Shema” in Deuteronomy, in Jeremiah and in the Prophets. (2) It is oriented to the Law (Torah) and riveted to the Prophets. Torah is the experiment, and the Prophets are the commentary. (3) It is strongly covenantal: Israel will always be the Holy Land, and the Jewish People will always be the “Chosen People;” and, (4) It is radically Messianic: the promises of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and other Prophets are not empty promises, but will be fulfilled. Jesus believed all these pillars of faith, but, as the great Christian theologian Rudolf Bultmann said, “The proclaimer became the proclaimed.” Thus Jesus’ message became garbled as it was taken into a new religion.
In this compelling lecture, Dr. James Tabor expresses the Noahide yearning for the restoration of Abrahamic Faith.
112 Minutes, 2 CDs; $24.95
SACRED SEASONS OF HASHEM
Dr. James D. Tabor
In Judaism there is a harmony and dynamic understanding of time and space that is contrary to the Greek stasis (being), and its offspring, the current Western and Christian civilizations. The Judaic month and moon are connected: the word “month” is derived from the word “moon”; the beginning of the Jewish day is sundown, which is observable rather than just mandated. The observed calendar is like looking at God’s watch, with its days, months, seasons and years. The time period of the week and its seven days does not correlate to anything in nature. It can be understood only by the acknowledgment of the primacy of the Sabbath day.
Sacred Seasons of Hashem, a riveting two part lecture presented by Dr. James D. Tabor, Professor and Chair of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, discusses the correlation between sanctified time and space in the Tanach (Bible), and God’s promise to mankind.
109 Minutes, 2 CDs; $24.95
SATAN
Rabbi Michael Katz
Satan is the fallen angel of gnostic origins and the universal symbol of evil as defined by Christianity and Islam. He is described in literature (Paradise Lost, et al.) and in theology as an adversary of God. This notion of Satan as a fiend or a Prince of Darkness is inimical to the Jewish concept of God, which regards Satan as a servant of God.
First mentioned in the Book of Job, Satan asks God to take away the earthly advantages of Job, in an effort to prove that Job might well not be so wonderful if all his benefits were removed. God permits Satan to do this, which is an example showing that Satan is always acting on God’s behalf, whether as the evil inclination or as the prosecuting angel in the world to come. Satan’s task is a thankless job where failure in effect denotes success. God creates Good and Evil in order to give man free will; Satan, rather than being an instigator creating evil, is God’s vehicle to test man’s free will of good versus evil. In this lecture, Rabbi Michael Katz explains who Satan really is and is not.
75 Minutes, CD, $12.95
UNDERSTANDING THE TALMUD
Rabbi Solomon Zweitter
In the revelation at Sinai, God (Hashem) gives the Jewish People the Law, the Written Torah, and the Oral Torah, also known as the Talmud. The Oral Law was written down in the 3rd and 4th centuries in response to the turmoil then taking place in Israel. These oral laws became the beginnings of the Talmud and of Talmudic literature. In this lecture, Rabbi Zweitter gives a glimpse of the Holy Book, and presents how it defines the normative Judaism of today and that of ancient times. This introduction, though brief in comparison to the huge existent body of knowledge, provides the Noahide Movement with a deeper understanding of how Jesus and his apostles lived and thought.
87 Minutes, 2 CDs; $24.95
TALMUDIC THOUGHT
Rabbi Saul Zucker
The two fundamental books of Judaism are the Torah, which includes the five books of Moses, the Prophets and the Writings; and the Talmud, otherwise referred to as “The Written Law” (Torah), and “The Oral Law” (Talmud). What is the Talmud? How does it correspond to the Torah, and why is it necessary? These questions lead to the kernel of Judaism – God’s revelation to the Jewish People at Sinai – and are essential for a real understanding of Judaism and of its unique way of worshipping God and following His precepts.
To better understand these questions, think of the Torah as a machine, and the Talmud as its manual. Without the manual, you could interpret the Torah in any way you choose. You could even go against the judgments and precepts of God. Torah and Talmud, in order to reach the real meaning of God’s Laws, must therefore always be intertwined. In this DVD, Rabbi Saul Zucker leads the viewer into the intricate world of Talmudic thought and the Talmud’s significance to Judaism.
93 Minutes, DVD; $24.95
TO TORAH AND TESTIMONY
In today’s culture of Post Modernism and moral relativism, can there be certainty in this age of uncertainty? This is the quintessential question posed in this intriguing DVD. Dr. James Tabor explores the message of the “Testimony,” also known as the “Law,” which Moses brings down to the Jewish People from Sinai. The witnessing of God’s presence by the Jewish People at Sinai is a unique event in history – it had never happened before, and probably will never happen again. According to Dr. Tabor, this witnessing serves as the bedrock faith, which is the foundation to inspire and comfort the true man of faith in the existence of Hashem (God).
63 Minutes, DVD; $24.95
WHO IS JESUS?
J. David Davis
Listen to a sample (will launch a media player).
In the Book of Acts, Chapter 12, when Peter is succeeded by Paul, even though the Apostles never cease being Jews, this marks a first major turning point in the divergent path that Christianity took from Judaism. The Gentiles to whom Paul preached are bystanders who do not have a major role until the latter part of the first century. Jesus never claimed to be a God, and there is no scriptural evidence that he is a God.
Perhaps the Greeks, who were the first Christians, confused “Deity” with “Divine.” While there is only one God, divinity can be bestowed by God on more than one man, or woman, as in the cases of Isaac, Samuel, Ruth, Zechariah, Jeremiah and Jesus. Thus the Gospel of John can be better understood as the uniqueness of Jesus, in the same way that reverence is bestowed upon Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “Who is Jesus?” shows us a revolutionary new way of understanding who Jesus really was, and what his mission was.
118 Minutes, 2 CDs; $24.95
DNA AND TORAH
Dr. Gene Lavers
The creation of life in the aqueous (water solution) environment of the cell is impossible to replicate in a laboratory, since chemicals cannot make changes without other chemicals (catalysts and enzymes) and heat. In other words, although man can create changes with the aid of catalysts, enzymes, and heat, we are not able to duplicate the miracle of life using the inert medium of water alone, as is found in all living matter.
The molecule responsible for this miracle of life is DNA. DNA is composed of four nucleic acids, Adenine (A); Cytosine (C); Guanine (G); and Thiamine (T), and serves as the alphabet of all creation. This simple alphabet of the four letters A, C, G, &T expands in sequence and number to determine the life and form of all organisms. In a similar fashion, in the Torah, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet provide a similar master code of how and why we exist, while DNA is a physical Torah of our chemical makeup. In this DVD, Dr. Lavers gives a clear and compelling introduction to one of the major building blocks of biology, DNA, and discusses its similarity to Torah.
65 Minutes, DVD; $24.95
IDOLATRY
Rabbi Israel Chait
The subject of idolatry, albeit a relic of the ancient world and seemingly far in the past, remains one of the most important areas of Jewish Law. Why is this? Torah considers one instinct of man to be the most dangerous: the religious/spiritual instinct. While Judaism acknowledges that idolatry is a part of man’s makeup in that it makes him feel secure, the unique doctrine of Judaism, one of its basic tenets, is that there are no idolatrous beliefs in its worship.
In the ancient world, many civilizations believed in an invisible supreme being, but continued to rely on magical thinking, astrology, and other manifestations of idol worship. Today idolatrous notions are not just from the past, but exist in the here and now in many spiritual new age movements. This reliance on primitive thought is becoming a hallmark of the modern age, just as it had been thousands of years ago.
In this DVD, Rabbi Israel Chait explores the important subject of idolatry, and its metaphysical construct as a universal primitive urge of mankind.
62 Minutes, DVD; $24.95
About the Lecturers
RABBI ISRAEL CHAIT is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva B’Nai Torah in Far Rockaway, New York, and has collaborated closely with the Noahide Movement.
J. DAVID DAVIS, a former ordained Baptist Minister, graduated from Tennessee Temple University of Chattanooga in 1972. Hired as Pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist Church of Athens in Tennessee, Mr. Davis and his congregants set out on a long and difficult journey seeking further knowledge, not of the “World as it is” but about the “Why” of the world. It was during this process of exploration that Mr. Davis discovered that people of all backgrounds want to relate to God without fear or condemnation. This study led to his discovery of one of the most fundamental, yet obscure, doctrines of biblical and ancient Hebrew tradition, “The Seven Universal Laws of Noah.”
RABBI MICHAEL KATZ, formerly of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was the first Rabbi to provide instruction to members of the Noahide movement in the Seven Commandments of Noah.
DR. JAMES D. TABOR, author of Things Unutterable, which is about the mysticism of the apostle Paul, is co-author of both A Noble Death, which discusses suicide and martyrdom in antiquity, and Why Waco? Cults and the Battle of Religious Freedom in America. He is a leading scholar on the Dead Sea Scrolls, on the Second Temple period, and on the origins of Christianity. Dr. Tabor also serves as Chief Editor of the Original Bible Project. He is currently working on his newest book, The Jesus Dynasty; A New Historical Investigation of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity.
RABBI SAUL ZUCKER is principal of the Mesivta of New Jersey in Teaneck, New Jersey.
RABBI SOLOMON ZWEITTER is Professor of Talmudic Literature at Bar Ilan University in Israel, and a graduate of the Rabbi Isaac Elhanan Seminary at Yeshiva University in New York.