David Berger, The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference
(Portland, Oregon: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2001.) Without a doubt, the central argument of David Berger’s The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference will strike a Messianic Jew differently than your average Orthodox rabbi or layperson, who are presumably Berger’s intended audience. For many of us, a particular line of…
Read MoreDavid Brondos, Fortress Introduction to Salvation and the Cross
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007.) In Fortress Introduction to Salvation and the Cross, David Brondos, Professor of Theology at the Theological Community of Mexico, surveys soteriological constructs ranging from the book of Isaiah to 21st century theologian Rosemary Radford Reuther. Brondos’ writing style is clear and readable, and while his treatment of biblical voices at times…
Read MoreDaniel Gruber, The Separation Of Church & Faith, Volume 1:Copernicus And The Jews
(Hanover, Nh: Elijah, 2005. 332 PP.) Reviewed by Jonathan Kaplan, M.Div., M.A., A.M. and Noel Rabinowitz, Ph.D. Daniel Gruber’s recent work, The Separation of Church & Faith, Volume 1: Copernicus and the Jews, provides us with a fascinating and controversial discussion of a subject that the vast majority of Christians take for granted as an…
Read MoreJohn W. Miller, How The Bible Came To Be: Exploring The Narrative And Message
(Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 2004. 188 PP.) John W. Miller, professor emeritus at Conrad Grebel University College/ University of Waterloo in Ontario and author of The Origins of the Bible: Rethinking Canon History, 1 has produced a simple proposal with broad implications in How the Bible Came to Be . The latter book was drafted…
Read MoreBook Review: Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo Christianity By Daniel Boyarin
By Daniel Boyarin, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS ©2004 • PHILADELPHIA , PA Reviewed by Paul L. Saal In recent years many books have been written which bolster the Messianic Jewish claim that Yeshua and his earliest talmidim would have been at home within the normative Jewish culture and practices of their day. Both post-critical studies…
Read MoreImperialism And Jewish Society, 200 B.C.E. To 640 C.E. by Seth Schwartz
(Princeton University Press © 2001 Princeton, NJ.) In Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E., Seth Schwartz, the Gerson D. Cohen Professor of Rabbinic Culture and Professor of History at Jewish Theological Seminary, offers a challenging blow to regnant reconstructions of Judaism and Jewish life in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Schwartz’s compelling…
Read MoreJudaism Is Not Jewish by Baruch Maoz
(Christian Focus ©2003 Scotland) In his recent volume, Judaism is Not Jewish, Baruch Maoz provides a notable service for the Messianic Jewish movement by drawing the distinction between Jewish Christianity and Messianic Judaism in a clear and unambiguous fashion, and challenging Yeshua-believing Jews to make a decision between the two. He further serves the movement…
Read MoreCommunicating God’s Word In A Complex World: God’s Truth Or Hocus Pocus?
By Daniel R. Shaw and Charles E. Van Engen Rowman And Littlefield (©2002 Lanham, Md.) Daniel Shaw is Professor of Anthropology and of Bible Translation at the Fuller Theological Seminary School of Intercultural Studies, Pasadena, CA. Son of missionary parents, he grew up in South India and the southern Philippines. With an M.A and Ph.D.…
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