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Reader Feedback
2009.01.19 — The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue is an informative work that any serious student of the Bible should read. James Parkes does and excellent job of providing us with a professional work of objective research that is absolutely commendable. The history and context that led to the manipulation and misinformation that we see today is simply illuminating. JulioO, Las Palmas, Canary Islands
2007.09.03 — I'm already well into Parkes' book and it seems to be an extremely good work of scholarship.
Already in reading I've been able to correct some of my earlier mistakes concerning the age of the Birqat ha-Minim. Already in reading I've corrected my earlier misconception of the 3 "synoptic gospels" being roughly equal deviations from a source Hebrew-Q; there was indeed a firm Mark-Luke-Matthew redactive progression from that elusive source "Q" (e.g. Hebrew Matityahu?).
Admittedly, Parkes presentation was a bit stilted at times especially when it concerned his compulsory and sometimes inconsistent use of ecclesiastical Christian terminology (although that remains his main audience) even when discussing intrinsically Judaic phenomena, especially in light of modern Jewish scholarship. This prevents the experience of reading it from being fully engrossing.
Considering the fact that James Parkes was a Christian clergyman still living in an era where the antagonism between "the Pharisees" (which in all honesty, continue even to this day to be interpreted by Xns more as a metaphor for "hypocrisy" or "legalism" than an actual historical sect) and "J*esus" was considered axiomatic (even as today's most cutting-edge scholars assert that the complete opposite is far likelier to be true), at the height of European antisemitism preceding the Holocaust no less, the level of objectivity and meticulous citation of sources in the book is incredible. This is one book I'll be referring my friends to.AndrewT, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA
2006.10.10 — "Oxford scholar James Parkes surveys the period before Chrisitanity through its establishment as the Roman state religion, focusing on its relationship to the Jewish people. Parkes demonstrates from the historical record that Christianity developed as a religion completely separate from the normative Judaism of the time. Christianity's development as an easier-for-pagans-to-enter look-alike to Torah Judaism was driven by pagan syncretists in their pursuit of political power. Parkes' book shows that the Torah-faithful Netzarim followers of Ribi Yehoshua were unfortunate victims of the machinations of those interested in political control over religious truth." WilliamH, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
2005.12 — "I was thinking this would be just another book about anti-Semitism written from the opinion of another self-proclaimed 'scholar' trying to cover up Christian responsibility. I ended up walking away with my mouth hanging open — not what I had expected at all. Like the Netzarim materials, the author, Scholar James Parkes, deals only with proven fact. A Christian himself and more specifically an Anglican clergyman, Parkes exhausts just about every conceivable authoritative source (His library consisted of 20,000 items and 400 manuscripts): official decrees of kings, emperors, priests, bishops, monks, to even writings of poets and play writers. Parkes even reveals even anti-Jewish feelings within even the NT texts! All of which are authoritatively and irrefutably unanimous in the fact that Christianity does not possess pro-Jewish 'Hebrew Roots,' but rather misojudaic and anti-Semitic roots. Please also note scholar Parkes was one of the first Christians in the Western world ever to trace back the Christian roots of anti-Semitism. He also gave expert evidence at the 1935 trial at Geneva and named pioneer of Jewish Studies — it doesn't get anymore authoritative than this folks! A MUST READ!" John F., North Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
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