Posts by Paul L. Saal
No Longer Male or Female? A Case for Leadership Equality for Women in the Messianic Jewish Synagogue
As Messianic Judaism continues through the inchoate stages of the 21st century, it can ill afford to ignore the larger social issues surrounding it. I believe that no single issue has loomed larger on the world scene this past half century than that of equality for all people. It is a concern that is multi-facetted,…
Read MoreHumble Uncertainty: A Narrower Path to a Greater Hope
The first time that I encountered the phrase “Jesus saves” was in 1969 when I was 11 years old. It appeared in the form of graffiti spray painted on a railroad trestle over the Arcadia Soda Shop on South Columbus Avenue where my friends and I would hang out after playing basketball. It didn’t take…
Read MoreHow to Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss
Reviewed by Paul L. Saal It is not often that I am afforded the opportunity to write a book review with the potential of being longer than the actual book I am reviewing. Though I write this somewhat tongue-in-cheek, How to Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss can be characterized by its brevity. Bound in a…
Read MoreMessianic Jewish Communities by Design: Open Doors and Reserved Seating
Discussing community definitively within 21st century Western culture is both an elusive and daunting task. Narrowing this exploration to Messianic Jewish congregational structures feels almost insurmountable. To do so will require an approach that is both descriptive and prescriptive. It must consider the host culture, the unique historical time, and the nature of the constituency,…
Read MoreProphetic Peace: Judaism, Religion, and Politics, by Alick Isaacs
Reviewed by Paul L. Saal What do Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jacques Derrida, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Martin Buber, and Joseph Soloveitchik have in common? They are all Jewish or of Jewish ancestry. They were each academics and philosophers of sorts. Buber, Heschel, and Soloveitchik were all religious, the latter two were rabbis, the first two mystics. Wittgenstein…
Read MoreOrigins and Destiny: Israel, Creation and the Messianic Jewish Canonical Narrative
Origins and Destiny: Israel, Creation and the Messianic Jewish Canonical Narrative Paul L. Saal The question of origins is one that affects each of us in a very personal and profound way. A person adopted at infancy may always wonder about the nature, personality and outcome of his/her biological parents, recognizing that deeply programmed within…
Read MoreQueer for Jesus: A Messianic Jewish Perspective
Concerning Alternative Sexuality and the Ethics of Identity I am aware that I could have chosen a less provocative title for this presentation. This was a working title that reminded me of an event which occurred over a decade ago and lasted for better than a year. It caused me to re-imagine my relational categories.…
Read MoreIt’s Not Your Meat
This past summer in my capacity as Northeast Regional Director of the UMJC Iwas visiting Camp Ohr L’Dor, a Messianic Jewish teen camp about an hour north ofNew York City. While speaking to a group of teen girls that had just returned from a camping and canoeing trip I inquired how they enjoyed the food…
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…
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