From the editor – Issue 40
By Kesher Editor
Community, by its very nature, lives in the past, present, and future. Community rests upon an extended narrative that retells its reason for being and the roots of its character. It lives in the present shared life of its members and neighbors. And it prepares to meet the future with integrity and vigor. In…
Crisis, Reaction, and Hope: Jewish Adaptations to Past Adversity
By Elliot Klayman
Introduction As we contemplate a post-Covid-19 world, we must never forget that the Jewish people are survivors, with a history of adapting to change in reaction to the most extreme life-threatening circumstances. No matter how often the Jewish people are perched on the brink of destruction, their spirit and calling have ensured their continued existence.1…
Messianic Jewish Synagogues: Coping with Covid
By Rich Nichol
Introduction In the first of our three-part Kesher series on Tomorrow Together, Rabbi Elliot Klayman explored how the Jewish community historically has dealt with world-shaking traumatic situations that directly affected the Jewish world. In this second part of our three-part series we will survey how the modern Messianic Jewish congregational movement has adapted to…
Thriving, Not Just Surviving: Reconceiving Community for a Better Tomorrow
By Stuart Dauermann
Rabbis Klayman and Nichol provide excellent retrospectives on Jewish communal stability amidst the crises of yesterday and today. They speak of past and present. In the current essay, however, my focus will be on community structures suited to a better tomorrow. Just as the quality of a building is determined by how well it…
Toward a Messianic Jewish Doctrine of the Atonement
By Stephen Burnhope
Atonement is the Christian doctrine of reconciliation with God through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It lies at the very heart of Christian faith. And yet, surprisingly, doctrinal orthodoxy has never prescribed a particular or exclusive way of answering the question of how, exactly, that state of “at-one-ment” with God—of being…
Reading Jacques Maritain in the Twenty-First Century: Personalism, Aliyah, and the Political Organization of the World
By Walter Schultz
Here we are faced with a major problem which has long tormented this old philosopher: the problem—I will not say of a World Government, for this term tends to be too equivocal—I prefer to say a supranational political authority consisting, not of a world-wide empire or a world super-State, but of a real political organization…
Book Review
The Holy Spirit before Christianity, by John R. Levison
By Henri Louis Goulet
Reviewed by Henri Louis Goulet This is arguably the most important and insightful monograph ever written on the origins of what should rightfully be called “ruachology.”1 The result of over two decades of research, its historically, hermeneutically, and exegetically sound approach reveals “unprecedented conceptions of the spirit (i.e., ‘ruach’) that emerged in the crises of…
Book Review
The Nations in the Divine Economy: Paul’s Covenantal Hermeneutics and Participation in Christ by William S. Campbell
By Joseph Culbertson
Reviewed by Joseph Culbertson In a book about Paul’s vision for how the nations would relate to God’s covenant with Israel, William S. Campbell begins by sketching the history of the successors to Paul’s communities of gentile Christ-followers. Campbell asserts that it was Paul’s intention to cultivate a healthy identity for these congregations, in…
Book Review
At the Foot of the Mountain: Two Views on Torah and the Spirit by Joshua Lessard and Jennifer Rosner
By Adam Millson
Reviewed by Adam Millson One of my favorite ways to spend my free time is in deep and friendly discussion of serious topics. Digging into the subject, examining our assumptions, pushing the boundaries of our understanding together—every part of the experience is delightful. Imagine my pleasure, then, when I picked up At the Foot of…
