Dr. Cohen's Gospel

Howard Cohen has been a Dallas dentist for 30 years. He's a Jew who takes his religion seriously, attending an Orthodox synagogue on Saturdays. But on Sundays he does something most Jews don't: He goes to church to talk about Jesus.

Cohen (who calls himself "Howard the Jew") began studying the history of the first century about 30 years ago. It was then that he had a realization: Jesus was a mainstream Palestinian Jew.

Before Cohen began his studies, he simply hadn't thought much about Jesus. Like most Jews, Jesus simply seemed linked with Christianity.

But since then, he has devoted his Sundays to discussing the Jewishness of Jesus. "I want Christians to hear their own testament from a Jewish perspective," Howard says. "Only recently have Christians begun to understand that their religious roots are Jewish, and they're eager to learn and embrace the connections." Cohen also believes that presenting the Christian testament from a Jewish perspective decreases anti-Semitism. When Christians understand that Jesus wasn't condemning his fellow Pharisees in a hateful manner, but merely engaging them in a debate about Jewish law, then a light comes on for many Christians.

"When I read your red letters," Cohen tells Christian groups (in some Christian Bibles, Jesus' words a re-printed in red letters), I don't see anything that contradicts Judaism. I see an observant Jew."

And Christians can't get enough. They are awed by Cohen's knowledge of their testament, which not only often surpasses their own knowledge, but gives them a Jewish perspective they've never before heard.

"All of us have questions in our minds about Jesus," says Bob Bragg, the leader of a Sunday school class that has booked Cohen every year for six years. "Was the tomb story true? Or was it altered over the years? When Jesus apparently rose from the dead and had dinner with disciples, was it an image or was Jesus really there? Howard made us think about these questions."

Even though Cohen raises questions that aren't typical for Christians to consider, Bragg assures me that his faith in Christianity isn't shaken. "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. But how much of the Bible is historically accurate? So much was written long after it actually happened, so how accurate is it? These questions just won't go away."

Jack Allen from the First Methodist Church in Richardson says someone once asked why the Jews didn't accept Jesus. Cohen's answer was, "Why did you guys accept him?" Allen said.

Cohen doesn't evangelize, because it's against a basic tenet of Judaism. When he talks about the historical Jesus from a Jewish perspective, he's simply--and with a contagious excitement--passing on what he's learned.

Cohen's spontaneous and energetic sense of humor allows him to get by with just about anything. People laugh as much as they learn. "This is what that story meant before you people got hold of it," he grins, launching into what is often another revolutionary interpretation for Christians of their own scriptures. "Jesus didn't tell his followers to start eating pig. He never advised them not to do Jewish stuff, like putting on tallis or tefillin. He said to stop doing things for the wrong reason."

Continued on page 2: Is Jesus the only way to God? »