Aquinas and More, the largest online Catholic bookstore, recently interviewed me about the writing process for my new book, The Crucified Rabbi: Judaism and the Origins of the Catholic Church.

You can read the whole interview here.

Below is a sampling of the interview:

We recently had the opportunity to interview Taylor Marshall concerning his new book The Crucified Rabbi. The book is getting rave reviews and the subject matter is extremely interesting. As we approach the holy season of Lent, there is no better time than the present to get a copy of this wonderful new book!

Our interview:

Tell us about your motivation to write your new book.

When I was an Episcopalian priest doing a hospital visit, I met a Jewish rabbi who informed me that when a fellow Jew is suffering, they often invoke the name of that person’s mother in prayer with the belief that it provokes God’s mercy. This intrigued me, especially as to how it might relate to the Catholic practice of invoking the name of Mary—since she is the mother of the suffering servant Jesus Christ. This breakthrough led to many others. Eventually I was convinced that only Catholicism could truly account for the Jewish heritage of Christ and the Apostles. I renounced my Episcopalian ministry and became Catholic.

Writing the book was probably both a faith experience and an academic one. Can you speak to those two points?

Doing research for this book certainly confirmed for me that Christ and the Catholic Church fulfill the Old Testament prophecies. Christ, Mary, and the Apostles were Jewish—Catholicism preserves the vestiges of its Hebraic origins.

From an academic point of view, the most challenging task was to present the material in a non-threatening way. I was very careful to write a book that would not offend or put off Jews. My goal was to write a book that Catholics could share with their Jewish friends. The Crucified Rabbi makes a compelling argument for Christ, without being triumphalistic.

What main points or ideas would you like readers of your book to come away with?

There are two points that I would like readers to discover in The Crucified Rabbi. First, that Jesus of Nazareth perfectly fulfills the Hebrew Scriptures as the Messiah and King of the Jews. I list over 300 prophecies from the Old Testament and show that Jesus fulfills everyone of them. It’s really quite remarkable. Secondly, The Crucified Rabbi demonstrates that only Catholicism (not Protestantism) can truly account for the Jewish prophecies pertaining to the Messiah’s kingdom on earth.

You can read the whole interview here from Aquinas and More.

Please support Aquinas and More by purchasing The Crucified Rabbi through them. Also, please consider writing the first review of the book over at Aquinas and More.

Cale Clarke’s review of the book: The Crucified Rabbi by Taylor Marshall