David Birnbaum's Jews, Church & Civilization is a uniquely distinctive work on the extraordinary historical odyssey of the Jews. Birnbaum starts not with Abraham, but somewhat more adventurously, with the 'origin' of the cosmos as we know it. The author uniquely places the Jewish journey within the context of Western and Asian history and advance. Playing–out themes of the ebbs–and–flows of empires, discovery and exploration, scientific, intellectual and artistic advance, Birnbaum injects history with spice, flavor, irony and texture. Jewish and rabbinic scholarship are given not inconsiderable attention. The author of the iconic Summa Metaphysica philosophy series articulates the flow of Jewish intellectual advance winding through the centuries – in the context of world and Jewish history. A feast for the mind and the soul.