The Council of Nicaea called by the Emperor Constantine met in 325 C.E. to establish a unified Catholic Church. At that point no universally sanctioned Scriptures or Christian Bible existed. Various churches and officials adopted different texts and gospels. That's why the Council of Hippo sanctioned 27 books...

We know little about Jesus' personal life. The four canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) provide few details -- and they say nothing about his life between adolescence and early adulthood. We are introduced to Jesus at his birth in the manger in Bethlehem. We next meet him at...

When the media dubbed an innovative and informative exhibit at the Jewish Museum in Berlin "Jew in a Box," it drew outrage from around the globe. Jews, Jewish organizations and others rose up to condemn the exhibit, which the media likened to boxcars that transported Jews...

When I began gathering material for my recently published book, "Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew," I described the project to an orthodox rabbi I know. I was prepared for an indifferent response, or perhaps a negative one, since I have found that Jews do not readily warm...

An exhibit of Pre-Raphaelite art opened at Washington's National Gallery of Art on Feb. 17th that will run through May 19th. This art genre was launched in 1848, when seven British artists led by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais...

When I first read the headline "Jew in a Box," describing a museum exhibit, I was shocked. I immediately assumed that it must be an anti-Semitic, if not neo-Nazi, display. What a surprise to learn that the headline referred to a performance piece at the Jewish Museum in...

Christians call Jesus the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace and the Embodiment of Love. These spiritual and humanistic depictions of Jesus, drawn from the Gospels, have attracted billions of devotees to Christianity throughout the ages and...

On the heels of the court revocation of Bloomberg's ban on 16-ounce soft drinks, New York's mayor promptly created a secret Passover police unit (code name Sugar Daddy). According to information leaked from the mayor's office, the unit's mandate is to burst...

If you looked at Leonardo da Vinci's 15th century painting "The Last Supper" and didn't know that it depicted a gathering of Jesus and his disciples for a Passover celebration, you would probably think it was a get-together of Christian monks. Not surprising, since that's just what it...

The New York Times recently reviewed an impressive new exhibit at the Frick Collection in New York City of the paintings of 15th century artist Piero della Francesco. The Frick exhibit is a rare opportunity for art lovers to see these seven paintings in one location...

The question of who killed Jesus or who was primarily responsible for the crucifixion has been debated by scholars, biblical experts and ordinary people for 2000 years. For my part, I hoped to put the issue to rest...

One of the most potent sources of the Jewish-Christian divide is the historic charge that "the Jews killed Jesus." That's why in writing my new book, Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew, I wanted to know more about this puzzling accusation. How could the Jews have killed Jesus...

Jews comprise a tiny percentage of the world's population -- about 0-2 percent (13.75 million). And they are scattered in communities across the planet, even in remote places. That wasn't always the case.

In the first century C.E., under the Roman Empire, Jews were mostly...

When I interviewed Christians and Jews for my book "Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew," I heard over and over "everyone knows Jesus was Jewish." But when I dug a little deeper I discovered that "everyone knows he was Jewish" really means "he used to be Jewish." Then I found...

Self-publishing continues its exponential growth. More and more authors are choosing this route for presenting their work to the public, encouraged by impressive success stories, including accounts by bestselling writers who have moved over from traditional publishing to take advantage of greater profits and better control...

Since the beginnings of formal religions, prophets and mystics have been predicting the spiritual transformation of mankind, a transformation that will usher in an age of peace and harmony. In Judaism, for example, a long-standing tradition holds that a Messiah will one day deliver the "golden age." Of course, Christians...

Climate change was noticeably absent from the presidential debates. It's not a "gut" issue, the pundits said: "Voters want to hear about jobs, the economy, health care and other issues that impact their daily lives and security." The consensus of commentators was that no matter what position candidates took on...

There is nothing totally new in the discovery by a Harvard scholar of a fourth-century papyrus fragment indicating that Jesus was married. The so-called "Gnostic Gospels," which were written by early Christian sects and uncovered in the Egyptian desert in 1945 ("Nag Hammadi Library"), also reported a romantic...

I recently completed a book that includes photos of Medieval and Renaissance artworks. Although the paintings are out of copyright and in the public domain, I was dismayed to discover that the museums that own these paintings charge hefty licensing fees to use their photos of these works. Then, lo...

The old vanity publishing offered authors who could not attract the interest of a traditional publisher an opportunity to get their books published. The process was costly and often required that the author purchase large quantities of books. According to legend, garages throughout America are warehousing these dust-gathering...