Summer Reading Recommendations
Apostates, Hybrids, or True Jews? Jewish Christians and Jewish Identity in Eastern Europe, 1860–1914. Raymond Lillevik. USA: Wipf and Stock, 2014.
This fascinating, groundbreaking and much-needed study of three pioneering Jewish believers in Jesus - Rudolf Hermann (Chaim) Gurland, Christian Theophilus Lucky (Chaim Jedidjah Pollak), and Isaac (Ignatz) Lichtenstein -highlights their contribution to 19th century Hebrew Christianity and to Messianic Judaism today. Lillevik tells their stories, traces their theological development and explores the challenges they posed and faced. Through the lens of history and comparative analysis, his careful scholarship calls for renewed attention to the role of Jewish believers in Jesus as the bridge between Church and Synagogue. Read, reflect and enjoy!
Jude: On Faith and the Destructive Influence of Heresy (A Messianic Jewish Commentary). Joshua Brumbach. USA: Lederer, USA, 2014.
I am delighted that Joshua Brumbach has taken time from his busy schedule as Messianic Rabbi to write on this much-neglected biblical gem. Like the book of Jude itself, this short commentary punches above its weight. Brumbach introduces the book and its author in an easily accessible way, drawing from the cutting edge of contemporary biblical scholarship. He also, from his own distinctive Messianic Jewish perspective, takes us to the heart of the text and its meaning for Israel and the nations. If you want to understand more of the significance of Yeshua (Jesus) as seen by one of his own brothers then, and by a leading Jewish believer in Yeshua today, you need to read this book.
To the Jew First or to the Jew at Last? Antoine Fritz. USA: Wipf and Stock, 2013.
As a Messianic Jew involved in witness to my people I have been stimulated and challenged to review my understanding of this key verse and its use as a rationale for Jewish evangelism. Antoine Fritz's provocative and well-argued thesis is a pioneering study of the history of its interpretation, offering a careful reading of the passage in the context of Romans and in the light of modern understandings. His own radical proposals for its interpretation and missiological application must be taken seriously by all who are concerned for the meaning of the Gospel, the salvation of Israel and the nations, and the right response to the scriptural mandate "to the Jew first".
Hugh Schonfield: A Case Study of Complex Jewish Identities, Owen Power. USA: Wipf and Stock, 2013.
I first met Hugh Schonfield at a meeting of the local synagogue to which my great-aunt had invited me. There he spoke about his latest book, a study of the life of Jesus, to the somewhat bemused Rabbi and synagogue members. At the end of the meeting my great-aunt was curious about Schonfield’s unorthodox but sympathetic historical reconstruction of the life of Jesus. “Isn’t he one of yours?” she asked, knowing of my own beliefs as a Messianic Jew.
Owen Power has made a pioneering contribution to the study of Hugh Schonfield, a complex personality and maverick scholar, whose writings and activities have earned him a significant but underestimated place in 20th century religious thought. John Lennon referenced his work when charting the rise of the Beatles. His book “The Passover Plot” sold millions of copies. His ideas influenced successive generations of Jewish, Christian and Messianic Jewish thinkers. But his thought and the context in which it emerged remains a mystery which this important study explores and explains.
Readers will find Power’s study invaluable in understanding the times in which Schonfield lived and wrote. He wrote in response to the threat of anti-Semitism in Europe, the position of the Jewish people in the United Kingdom, the birth of the modern Hebrew Christian (Messianic Jewish) movement and the utopian idealism of various political movements. These all combined with the zeitgeist of the 1920s and 1930s in the midst of a world in crisis. Political, social and religious concerns were combined in Schonfield’s unique and eclectic blend of philosophy and spirituality. His skills as a writer, publicist and political activist brought a small coterie of followers together that continues to this day in the Mondcitivan movement, for which he was nominated (unsuccessfully) to receive the Nobel prize. Power’s study takes on these diverse and contradictory aspects of his career, and sets them in the context of the intellectual history of the 20th century.
Through My Enemy’s Eyes.Lisa Loden and Salim Munayer. UK/USA: Paternoster/Authentic Media, 2014.
Lisa Loden and Salim Munayer, experienced long-term practitioners and participants in Reconciliation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, have produced a ground-breaking book. For the first time we have a serious attempt to span the differences, both theological, political and personal, that have divided Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians, setting them at odds with each other in the context of this intractable violent conflict. Nowhere is an understanding and outworking of the reconciling love of the Messiah more greatly needed, and this book shows the way this can be done, by seeing the issues through the eyes of the other. Together they help us see the way forward, following in the path of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
The People, the Land, and the Future of Israel: Israel and the Jewish People in the Plan of God.Eds. Daryl Bock and Mitch Glaser. USA, Kregel Publications, 2014.
Few subjects in theology have provoked as much controversy or been dealt in such a cavalier fashion as that of the significance of Israel. The editors and authors of The People, the Land, and the Future of Israel: Israel and the Jewish People in the Plan of God redress this imbalance, giving clear and detailed consideration to all aspects of the topic. This single volume is a rich resource for anyone wanting to study carefully what the Bible has to say about the Jewish people and the Land. It provides relevant and practical teaching on the Jewish people in Scripture, theology and today’s world. With a high view of Scripture and a firm confidence in God’s ongoing purposes for the Jewish people, this book adds a vital and well-articulated contribution to the present-day political and theological debate, and challenges the reader to take seriously God’s faithfulness to His people.
The Jews, Modern Israel and the New Superssionism. Calvin Smith. UK: King's Divinity Press; 2nd edition, 2013.
“Supersessionism” is not just a technical theological term. It is the deeply rooted mistaken assumption in much Christian thinking that God has finished with Israel (the Jewish people) and that his covenant with them has been 'superseded' now that the Church has become the ‘new Israel’. In its modern form, sometimes known as ‘replacement theology’, it has done irreparable damage to relations between Jews and Christians, and has been a cancer in the Church’s self-understanding and its attempts to share the Gospel with Jewish people. Calvin Smith has done us a great service in bringing together and carefully editing these essays by leading scholars and Messianic Jews to explain the theoretical aspects and practical effects of such teaching. He calls on Christians to read their Scriptures more carefully and treat their Jewish friends more sensitively in the light of God’s ongoing election of Israel. This book should be required reading for anyone who loves God, His Word, His Church and His people Israel.
Richard Harvey, PhD is Senior Researcher, Jews for Jesus; former Academic Dean, All Nations Christian College (UK); past President, International Messianic Jewish Alliance; author of Mapping Messianic Jewish Theology: A Constructive Approach.
