From the Editor – Issue 42
By Russ Resnik
This issue of Kesher reminds me of the householder in Yeshua’s brief parable: Therefore every Torah scholar discipled for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure both new things and old. Matthew 13:52 TLV The “old things” we bring out in this issue are found in three…
Leviathan and Exegetical Imagination
By Joshua Brumbach
The Bible is more than simply a theological resource; it can also serve, like J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, as an indispensable introduction to the magical beasts of the biblical world.1 Leviathan, an enormous mythical sea-creature with seven heads, is one of the most significant of these biblical beasts, bearing eschatological…
Reconciling the Antisemitism of the Church Fathers with Their Devotion to Messiah
By Ron Cantor
Introduction Throughout history, those who have presented themselves to society as devout Christians have taken some very undevout positions. Many slave owners in America were not only born-again Christians but held services for their slaves. And after slavery, many white Christians continued to harbor racist sentiments against blacks. In the Middle Ages, the bishops forbade…
Enoch: Its History and Role in New Testament Understanding
By Christen Coulter
Introduction Second Temple Judaism was the context in which the New Testament texts were penned, and studying the non-canonical Jewish literature produced during this era can help bring greater understanding to those texts.1 Richard Bauckham strongly suggests that “Only someone who understands early Judaism for its own sake will be able to use Jewish texts…
Suffering Israel: Sharing the Sufferings of God and Messiah
By Edjan Westerman
“In all their affliction” Marc Chagall (1887–1985) spoke of his bewilderment as a Jew being confronted with a world of pogroms, Jewish-Christian encounters, and antisemitism coming to its culmination in the Shoah. When he inserted into his paintings crucifixion scenes picturing a crucified Jewish Jesus amidst Israel’s sufferings, he wished to blend Jewish elements with…
Journey
Self-Identity after Supersessionism: My Story
By Jon C. Olson
Introduction The Bible presents a role for the body and sexuality within which Messiah-followers are called to serve God. They can flourish either as celibates or as sexually active within marriage between a man and a woman. I have a stake in teaching this ethic, since I have tried to live by it. Despite costs…
Special Report: Turning the Tide of Replacement Theology in Europe
By James Patrick
Report on Vienna Theological Symposium, 11–13 July 2022 by James Patrick The parting of the ways between Judaism and Christianity in the first few centuries after Jesus has been gradually converging again in the past six decades. Christians have realized how Christian antisemitism contributed to the Holocaust, and also that Jesus and the first generation…
Book Review
Jesus, King of the Jews! Messianic Judaism, Jewish Christians, and Theology Beyond Supersessionism – ed. James Earle Patrick
By Russ Resnik
Reviewed by Russ Resnik A sea-change in Jewish-Christian relations since World War II is undeniable. The two world-wide communities that for many centuries saw themselves as adversaries and often behaved accordingly have in recent decades been seeking peace and understanding. But one of the ironies of Jewish-Christian dialogue is that Messianic Jews have generally been…
Book Review
Jewish Church: A Catholic Approach to Messianic Judaism by Antoine Levy, OP
By Richard Harvey
Reviewed by Richard Harvey Jewish Church1 is not for the faint-hearted. Not only does it weigh in at 416 pages, but it costs $125 in hardback and $50 on Kindle, a serious financial investment. The time to read it, and the careful study required to understand it, mean that anyone delving into it is making…
Book Review
Jacques Maritain in the 21st Century: Personalism and the Political Organization of the World by Walter Schultz
By Christopher S. Morrissey
Reviewed by Christopher S. Morrissey This handsome hardcover volume contains a collection of essential studies by the Jacques Maritain scholar Walter Schultz. It offers readers a splendid synoptic view of the trajectory of Schultz’s academic work, from his Ph.D. dissertation on Maritain’s social thought to his discovery of the project of Rabbi Mark S. Kinzer…
