Called to Controversy - by Ruth Rosen

Moishe Rosen did not grow up in a home that believed in Jesus as Messiah.  He originally scoffed at his wife when she introduced the idea as truth to him.  And yet, he was let to a belief so full of passion that he could not keep it to himself, but felt called to bring this truth to his people, the Jews.  His ministry took him cross-country several times and led to an organization that brought the truth of Jesus to Jews internationally.

I am not typically a reader of biographies, and it took me a long time to get through this book.  The delay was not due to my disinterest in Moishe Rosen, on the contrary, I found him to be a fascinating person and his passion for Jesus and for the Jewish people to know Jesus as Messiah was incredible.  However, I found the book to be less than its subject.  Maybe it was precisely because Mr. Rosen led such an incredibly interesting life that it was hard to narrow down the stories to include in his biography.  The result was a mishmash of anecdotes and facts that muddled the timeline of Moshie's life and his ministry.

On the plus side, although the book was written by his daughter, Ms. Ruth Rosen, the descriptions of Mr. Rosen's personality felt impartial, and his praises as well as his flaws were accounted for.  Ms. Rosen was not only his daughter, but she was heavily involved in the Jews for Jesus organization, and thus had full access to Moshie's life as both father and leader.

As a person, Mr. Rosen's work was incredible and his life story and his life work are an amazing testimony to the Jesus whom he called Messiah.  As a book, Called to Controversy could have been a more succinct account of that life and work.

I give this book 3 stars.  I am glad that I read it, but I did struggle to get through it.
The website for Jews for Jesus can be found HERE, and their work continues on without their founder.
Ruth Rosen has her own page in the staff section of the organization's website HERE.

I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson, as part of their BookSneeze program, in exchange for my honest review.