Alfred Edersheim Page

Alfred Edersheim

1825 - 1889

Born in the early 1800s in Vienna, Austria to Jewish parents, Edersheim was well educated both in the secular subjects of the day and in the Talmudic traditions of his family's faith. As a young man he converted to Christianity and then went on to study to become a Presbyterian minister and eventually a vicar in the Church of England. His unique position as a scholar trained in both the Jewish and the Christian traditions including all the Biblical languages and his extensive knowledge and understanding of the culture and religious beliefs in early first century Roman-ruled Judea make him quite an authority on all things Biblical. He wrote quite a number of books and contributed to many others as a translator or an editor. He also contributed entries to dictionaries and other reference works. Unfortunately, some of his books are out of print and very hard to find. But four of his most famous works are available. I have greatly profited from reading these books and I'd like to highly recommend them to you!

If you would like to read a short biography of Alfred Edersheim - a much better and more detailed one than I have provided here, please check out this page written by Stewart Edersheim. A direct descendant? I don't know...but he's done a lot of research on the subject! This document is located at Restoring Christian Keys. I'm not real familiar with this site, but you might want to check it out and see what else they have to offer.

The Life And Times Of Jesus The Messiah

This first book of Edersheim's that I would like to recommend to you is in our permanent collection of Bible study helps in our bookstore because it is such a great reference for New Testament study. It's organized with a scripture reference index so one can easily go to material on specific passages while studying, but it is also such a wonderful book to just read straight through. Get a copy or just find out more about it here. This work is now online, too and can be read or downloaded by clicking here.

These next two books are kind of companion volumes. The Temple: It's Ministry And Services covers the religious and Sketches Of Jewish Social Life the civil aspects of Jewish life at the time of Christ.

The Temple: It's Ministry And Services. Edersheim carries the reader with him into the Sanctuary to be able to witness it's priesthood, the worshipers, all it's solemnities and everything connected with it's institutions. Read it online here.

Sketches Of Jewish Social Life. In this book, Edersheim takes the reader into ordinary civil society in first century Palestine. He'll make you mingle with the men and women of the period, see them in their homes, with their families, learn their customs and manners, and get familiar with their ways of thinking. Read it online here.

Bible History: Old Testament. This is Edersheim's book by book, chapter by chapter exposition of the Old Testament complete with his answers to the arguments of the so-called "Higher Critics" of his day. Their same old low criticisms are still heard today. I say low, because they exhibit a low view of Scripture. Edersheim's counter-arguments are still relevant in our own time. Check it out! Read it online here.

All four of the online versions of the books above are found at the Philologos website. This site is truly worth a visit because they have many additional books available to read online from authors such as E. W. Bullinger, Alexander Hislop, John Bunyan and others.

Other Available Selections From Edersheim

Other Authors