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1996 BookAwards
J
e w i s h
- C
h r i s t i a n
R
e l a t i o n s
Charles H. Revson Foundation Award.
The Mystery of the Romans: The Jewish Content ofPaul's Letter
,
by Mark D. Nanos. Fortress Press
The Mystery ofthe Romans
is an interpretation of Paul’s
Epistle to the Ro
mans,
which balances Paul’s new Christian faith with his loyalty to his Ju
daism, including the centrality of Torah in Jewish life. Nanos argues that
Paul advocated a Torah-observant Christianity for Jewish Christians and
a Noachide, Torah-respectful Christianity for gentile Christians. Schol
arly yet eminently readable, Nanos’ book advances our understanding of
first-century Judaism and Christianity and presents Paul in a pro-Jewish
rather than anti-Jewish light. It is amajor contribution to the dialogue be
tween the two faiths.
J
e w i s h
H
i s t o r y
The Gerrard and Ella Berman Award.
Founder ofHasidism: A Questfor the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov,
by Moshe Rosman. University of California Press.
Through the judicious sifting of newly discovered documents and a
wide range of previously known texts, Moshe Roman has created a com
pelling portrait of the Ba’al Shem Tov as “a person of his time”
Founder
ofHasidism,
is a model of sober scholarship that combines detective work
and careful reasoning in quest of the man behind centuries of accumulat
ed legends. Thanks to Rosman’s careful historical analysis, we can now at
tach a recognizable biography to Israel ben Eliezer of Miedzydoz and
situate the man within his times.