THE STEVE MALTZ CROWDFUNDER

(100% of total reached – 25th November – still open though, with excess funds used for marketing)

My next book is my biggest to date, both in terms of physical size and potential impact on the wider Christian church. Five times already I have been helped by crowdfunders to publish my books. Without such help the following books could not have been published; Hebraic Church, Livin’ the Life, Into the Lion’s Den, Shalom and The Sinner’s. Charter. For those of you who helped with these books, you will know the impact they have made (and can still potentially make) to the Church. 

We are now looking for 40-60 crowdfunders to pay £150 each ASAP to enable us to publish the next book, JESUS: Life and Times, early in 2022. You will receive 10 books as soon as they are printed and a selection of 5 of my other books as an added bonus. The book will be around double the size of my usual books, around 500 pages, and will sell from £12-£15 each. Why is it so big and what’s it all about? Here’s the story:

For those Christians eager to find out more about the roots of their faith, particularly regarding the life of Christ and 1^st century environment in Israel and cultural and religious considerations, the go to book has always been The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, written by a Jewish Christian, Alfred Edersheim in 1883. I, like many other people I know, have had this on my bookshelf for over 30 years, but had rarely picked it up – until now. The reason? It is big – very big! Also it is a dense read, packed with obscure footnotes and paragraph-long sentences. Totally unsuitable for most modern Christians, more used to bite-sized content! Yet the book is absolutely fantastic and fascinating in terms of insights and some of his prose sucks you right in, with evocative descriptions and surprising expressions of the joy of his discoveries.

The original book is way out of copyright, though it hasn’t stopped publishers from re-printing it, usually as a collection of scans from an earlier edition. My task is to re-write this book for the modern reader. Here is my methodology:

1. Drastically reduce it in size, from 500,000 words to 120,000 words
2. To ensure that the content provides a thorough background of the Life and Times of Jesus, without being distracted into peripheral subjects
3. To use my prose style – engaging, fast-moving – predominantly, but preserving some of his ‘purple patches’ where appropriate
4. To create a readable narrative, but also to provide full Biblical references, so it can be used for those interested in deeper study
5. To include material and understanding that you will not find elsewhere, particularly regarding to motivations of the Gospel characters, from Jesus, to his disciples, to his opposition.
6. To provide links to appropriate pages in the original book, for folk who want to go deeper
7. To include a glossary of terms used.

The funds received will be used in the following way:

£3000 to print the book and pay all associated production fees

£3000 to pay my annual book storage costs (in a storage facility in Romford)

(up to) £3000 to pay marketing costs (engaging an expert to get the book known in the wider Christian community)

There is a Christian publisher showing an interest and so there’s a possibility that they would take over the printing and marketing process. As we would then have to buy a large quantity of books off them at a % discount, rather than at cost price, the Crowdfunder funds will still be needed. Will keep you posted on this one.

Please pray and help if you can. It is my belief that this book can potentially be the most effective (and most Hebraic) introduction to the Life and purpose of Jesus currently available. It has been a total blessing and a privilege to me to write it!

If £150 is a bit of a push, I would be happy to take £75 for 5 books instead of 10.

If you can help, either:

1. Phone Steve on 07885 941848 and pay £150 by card
2. Send £150 by Bank Transfer to HSBC. Account name: Saltshakers, Sort Code 40 09 07, Account number 71387324
3. Send a cheque by post to Saltshakers, PO BOX 2215, Ilford, Essex IG1 9TR
4. Click on web link to our shop here: https://www.sppublishing.com/steve-maltz-crowdfunder-376-p.asp