From the editor – Issue 38
By Russ Resnik
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has chosen us from all the peoples and given us His Torah. (Koren Siddur) Scripture is a gift, perhaps the defining gift, of the Jewish people and the community of Messiah that has arisen from among them. As with many gifts, we need to…
Oral Hermeneutics: A Conversation with Bill Bjoraker
By Russ Resnik
Oral Hermeneutics: A Conversation with Bill Bjoraker For most of their journey through history, the texts of Scripture have been passed on from mouth to mouth, or mouth to ear, rather than from scroll to scroll or page to page. This mode of transmission shaped the way Scripture was told, proclaimed, and interpreted through the…
For Better and For Worse: The Faithfulness of God through the Exile and Return of the Shekhinah
By Edjan Westerman
This article addresses the faithfulness of God (toward Israel) and thereby confronts us with our understanding of him. The extent to which we have learned to understand God’s self-revelation through Scripture enables or hinders us to understand God’s faithfulness toward his people, and consequently toward the whole of his creation. This includes “us,” believers in…
The Redemptive Seed Type-scene in the Davidic Narrative Arc: Raising up Seed for David as Yibbum in 2 Samuel 7:12
By Derek Chong
The Redemptive Seed Type-scene in the Davidic Narrative Arc: Raising up Seed for David as Yibbum in 2 Samuel 7:12 Derek Chong Introduction: The Paternity of the Messiah Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The…
An Approach to Transgender Issues
By Jon C. Olson
If you swim to rescue a drowning person, they may put you in a headlock and try to climb onto you in an effort to keep their head above water. You should not fight to break loose or compete for breaths. Rather, you should dive. They will release you to stay on the surface. You…
Disability in the World of the Apostolic Writings
By Yahnatan Lasko
What can we know about the daily lives, experiences, and perceptions of people with disabilities in the Second Temple period? As a Messianic Jewish parent of a child with significant physical disabilities,1 I am particularly interested in how the Apostolic Writings (or New Testament) depict people living with mobility disabilities. This paper draws from emerging…
Book Review
The Gospel of Luke: New Cambridge Bible Commentary, by Amy-Jill Levine and Ben Witherington III
By Michael Schiffman
Reviewed by Michael Schiffman Although I am not a fan of superlatives, I have to say this is the most enjoyable commentary I have ever read. I first became interested in it because of my familiarity with the authors. Ben Witherington, professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, was my supervisor when I was working on my…
Book Review
Learning Messiah—Israel and the Nations: Learning to Read God’s Way Anew, by Edjan Westerman
By Jennifer Rosner
Reviewed by Jennifer M. Rosner The post-Holocaust world has been marked by a striking two-way reappraisal between Christians and Jews. The historical events of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century have provided ample fodder for theological reflection (and revision) along these lines. The Holocaust itself brought the plight of the Jewish people onto the…
Book Review
Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times, by Jonathan Sacks
By Russ Resnik
Reviewed by Russ Resnik Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, was one of the preeminent Jewish voices of the past few decades—and one of the preeminent moral voices as well. His final book, Morality, is a fitting culmination to a career cut short by Rabbi Sacks’ death in November, 2020, just weeks after its…
