Reviews & Recommendations

NB: Many of the web pages from which the following blurbs were excerpted
have over the years vanished into cyberspace.
Links are provided to those that are still on-line.


  • Update: Into His Own is one of the first 35 websites chosen for inclusion in the American Theological Libraries Association's ATSRW List of Catalogued Websites (20 October 2005).
  • "A first class new site exploring the world in which Jesus lived by means of well-organised, newly translated primary texts and other material. A major new web resource, strongly recommended." -- Prof. Mark Goodacre, Department of Religious Studies, Duke University, NC. [New Testament Gateway].

  • "Thorough and scholarly, but still aimed at an audience of non-experts, this resource is an excellent teaching and introductory research tool." -- Eva De Visscher, University of Leeds, UK [Intute: Arts & Humanities, U of Oxford].

  • "I want to congratulate you on your website "Into His Own": it is a tremendously useful resource in providing context and linkages regarding the beginnings of Christianity... it is really a treasured moment to find a large solid set of accurate and minimally interpreted data on a field of vital relevance to those interested in the late Second Temple and origins of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism." -- Terrence Kaufman, Professor of Anthropology & Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh (personal e-mail quoted with permission).

  • "The electronic pages provided by Prof. Mahlon H. Smith are an excellent source for the early Mishnaic period. The correlation with apocryphal and pseudo-apocryphal works is especially useful since some of these texts are available only in sometimes difficult to obtain journals... This sort of information is particularly useful for a scholar such as myself who in addition to some 60 publications in scientific journals also publishes articles on veterinary science and Jewish law." -- Lawrence S. Shore, Israel (personal e-mail quoted with permission).

  • March 2001 -- Ranked third most important high-quality website related to the study of Jesus by Google Web Directory (part of the Open Directory project).

  • "I'm adding your map to the [Jewish Virtual] Library and as I go through your links I'm finding an incredible wealth of material. I hope you don't mind that I'm also adding the descriptions of places on the map (those I don't have already) and some of the bios of the major figures that are referenced in those links (e.g., Hyrcanus, Mattathias, etc). This is filling in some major historical gaps in the Library and is a huge help." - Mitchell G. Bard, Executive Director, American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (personal e-mail cited with permission).

  • "...go to Mahlon Smith's website "Into His Own: Perspective on the World of Jesus", which contains a wealth of information on ancient Judaism, including excerpts from numerous primary texts, introductory material on Josephus, on the Dead Sea Scrolls (including a timeline of the story of their discovery and publication), and on rabbinic literature, and much more. It could be a very useful resource for your undergraduate and even postgraduate students." -- James R. Davila, Prof. of Early Jewish Studies, St. Mary's College, U of St. Andrews UK [PaleoJudaica: A Weblog on Ancient Judaism in its Context].

  • "Thorough and scholarly, but still aimed at an audience of non-experts, this resource is an excellent teaching and introductory research tool." - ARCH: Arts and Humanities Community Resource record 91325 [Oxford U, UK].

  • "This is a massive book-sized project" - David Instone-Brewer (Tyndale House, U of Cambridge UK), author of Traditions of the Rabbis from the Era of the New Testament.

  •  "An award-winning resource" - Thomas Power (Trinity College Library & Archives, U of Toronto, Ontario).

  • "[A] rich collection of texts from early sources" -- Peter P. Kenny, Irish Theological Association [Biblical Resources, Theology.ie].

 

Other scholarly resources that have recommended this web site (with links to those still on line):

  • Second Temple and Talmudic Era [Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem].

  • SBL Forum: Sites of Interest [Society of Biblical Literature].

  • British Academy Portal [The British Academy, UK}.

  • Eikon: Database for Biblical Studies [Yale Divinity School].

  • Resource Pages for Biblical Studies [Prof. Torrey Seland, Volda University, Norway].

  • Webliography [United Theological Seminary, Dayton OH].

  • The Quest for the Historical Jesus: General Resources [Andover Newton Theological Seminary MA].

  • Bible Study: New Testament [Fuller Theological Seminary].

  • Research Tools [for SBL Josephus Seminar & Brill Josephus Project - Prof. Steve Mason, York U, Canada]

  • Resources for New Testament Studies [Prof. Rodney Decker, Baptist Bible Seminary PA].

  • Literary Resources: Classical & Biblical [Prof. Jack Lynch, Department of English, Rutgers University].

  • Parables of Jesus [Eugene Hensell, OSB, Associate Prof. of Scripture, St. Meinrad School of Theology].

  • New Testament Links [Andrew Dolan, adjunct professor, LaSalle University].

  • WebNexus: Links for students and scholars of Early Judaism and Christianity [Loren Stuckenbruck, Department of Theology, University of Durham UK].

  • Jews Among Greeks & Romans [course by David Noy, Department of Classics, U of Wales UK].

  • Jesus and the Gospels [course by Prof. Daniel Falk, Department of Religion, U of Oregon; also quoted in his course on early Judaism].

  • Research Resources: Websites [James Baker, ed., The Jesus Archive].

  • Historical Jesus Studies [Dr. Gregory C. Jenks, FaithFutures Foundation].

  • XTalk: Moderated Internet Discussion Group for the Academic Study of the Historical Jesus and the Rise of Christianity.

  • United Methodist Course of Study in Israel.

  • Exorcism 101 [article by Clinton E. Arnold, Talbot School of Theology, in Christianity Today 9/3/2001].

revised  26 Feb 2023

Perspective on the World of Jesus

with new translations from primary texts

Copyright © 1999-2023 by Mahlon H. Smith
All rights reserved.

an American Theological Library Association Selected Religion Website 
OCLC World catalog no. 62046512

[Hypertext links to this web page are invited. Brief quotations may be used in scholarly reviews and research providing the author is credited & the URL for this web page properly noted. But the text as a whole may not be posted or reproduced elsewhere without express written permission of the author.]