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Issue 18 - Winter 2005
This issue of Kesher includes
additional articles and book reviews. Deborah Kaplan and Elliot Klayman explore
the two most popular Messianic figures of the last four centuries. Both
Shabbetai Zevi and the Lubavitcher Rebbe have been heralded as messiah by many
Jews in the modern era and continue to impact the Jewish community.
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Articles and Book Reviews... |
| Andrew Sparks
The
last issue of Kesher caused some controversy with the publication of "Competing
Trends In Messianic Judaism: The Debate Over Evangelicalism," by Gabriela
Reason. As Editor-in-Chief, I feel that it is necessary to clarify the position
of Kesher concerning this article. The author, Gabriela Reason, does not
represent any constituency within the Messianic movement; neither is the
publication of the article intended to exalt the UMJC over the MJAA or
vice-versa. In fact, Reason makes critical and supportive statements of trends
in both the UMJC and...Read More >> |
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| Gabriela M. Reason
One of
the central challenges Messianic Judaism faces is how to orient itself against
its two parent communities: modern evangelicalism and American Judaism. As
modern Messianic Judaism is historically rooted chiefly in the evangelical
movements of the twentieth century, I will trace Messianic Judaism's
relationship with this particular parent. Nevertheless, one cannot discuss the
one without the other: the further Messianic Jews move from evangelicalism,
the more closely they identify with the Jewish community. The central question
to determine the extent of identification with evangelicalism will be whether,
in the end,...Read More >> |
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| Marc H. Ellis
A few
years ago a group from the local Jewish community met with the president (an
evangelical Christian) of my university and demanded that he fire me from my
position in Jewish Studies. The charge, repeated in a subsequent meeting with
the group, with myself and the provost present, was anti-Semitism. How could I
be seen as anti-Semitic? Easy. I have and continue to defend the rights of the
Palestinians to be free in their own homeland.
I
remember the meeting well. Fifteen affluent southern Jews, including a...Read More >> |
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| Russell ResnikThe
mission of the UMJC can be captured in one sentence: We are committed to
establishing, strengthening, and multiplying dynamic congregations for Yeshua
within the wider Jewish community. This one sentence, however, introduces the
tension underlying Gabriella Reason's article-the inevitable tension of living
at the intersection of Yeshua and Jewishness. This tension can be healthy as
well as inevitable, if it moves us to refine and articulate more clearly the
biblical mandate for our community.
For this
reason, as much as I appreciate the article's insights, I find its...Read More >> |
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| Daniel C. Juster
Many years
ago, one of my favorite philosophy professors made this point: before we have
the right to criticize another perspective, we should understand the
perspective of the other. The acid test of this dictum is that we can repeat
the perspective in our own words in such a way that the other will confirm that
we have truly understood his perspective.
On this basis, I found the article by Gabriela M. Reason sometimes
to be amazingly perceptive concerning the issues facing the movement. This
included her analysis...Read More >> |
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| Jamie Cowen
In
the Spring, 2004, issue of Kesher, Ms. Gabriela Reason tackles a series
of complex and controversial issues facing the modern Messianic Jewish
movement. Her thesis focuses on the tensions inherent in the movement between
the pulls of Evangelical Christianity and Judaism. On the one hand, as she
purports, Messianic Judaism was birthed from the modern Evangelical movement,
and yet on other, the Messianic movement is increasingly identifying with and
seeking to cooperate with the larger Jewish world. She throws down the gauntlet
to the Messianic Jewish community to...Read More >> |
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| Murray Silberling
I want to
begin my response to Gabriela Reason's article titled, "Competing Trends in
Messianic Judaism: The Debate Over Evangelicalism," with a "thank you" for her
arduous work in gathering research. Every effort to gather data, whether
sociological, historical, or theological, stimulates the Messianic community
and advances us in defining our purpose and mission more clearly. I also
realize this article was taken from her graduate level thesis and, therefore,
had obvious limitations in its methodology and gathering of data. In framing
the debate, Reason primarily selected one congregation from...Read More >> |
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| Deborah Pardo-Kaplan
Antinomianism has
been defined as the "subversion of a religious or moral code." 1 On a
superficial level, this may be perceived as motivated only by a rebellious
attitude towards authority. Yet what might outwardly appear as subversive
behavior may truly be an inner desire to affirm religious truth as the
protagonists define it, or as they interpret a particular religious tradition.
Unintentional factors may also motivate antinomian behavior, such as the
psychological state of the individual or group involved. Jewish texts
throughout the ages have offered theoretical...Read More >> |
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| Elliot KlaymanToward A Quantifiable Approach To The Measurement Of Failed Prophecy
In July
12, 1994 Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh dynastic rebbe of the
Lubavitch sect of the Chasidim was pronounced dead. Some cried while others
danced; some fasted and others gave themselves to strong drink.1 The hope
of Jewish redemption was entombed in the ground. What was the reaction of the
followers of this charismatic rebbe who had served the movement so faithfully
as its spiritual head from 1951 until his death, and who was lauded...Read More >> |
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| Jon Olson
Is there
any merit in an Orthodox Jew's theological objections to Jewish Christianity?
Much, in every way! Can believers in Yeshua agree with all these objections,
and still be faithful? By no means! However, in several instances, the objections
are closer to the truth than what they resist. Resources for responses of faithful
discipleship already exist within traditional Judaism, Christianity, and
Messianic Judaism. The purpose of this article is to reflect on specific
theological objections to Jewish Christianity by Michael Wyschogrod.
John
Howard Yoder entitled one of his essays,...Read More >> |
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Articles and Book Reviews
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| Book Review | | Russell Resnik (reviewer)2006-11-13 12:45 | | (Chosen Books ©2004 A Division Of...Read More >> |
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| Book Review | | Dr. Mark Kinzer (reviewer)2006-11-13 12:47 | | (Christian Focus ©2003 Scotland)
In his
recent...Read More >> |
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| Book Review | | Jonathan Kaplan (reviewer)2006-11-13 12:49 | | (Princeton University Press © 2001 Princeton, NJ.)...Read More >> |
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