Mapping Messianic Jewish Theology : A Constructive Approach

by Harvey, Richard

• ISBN13: 9781842276440
• ISBN10: 1842276441
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-06
• Publisher: INGRAM

Summary

Richard Harvey, himself a Messianic Jew, maps the diverse theological terrain of this young movement. He makes an original and innovative contribution by clarifying, affirming and constructively critiquing the present state of its theology. The book examines five topics of theological concern 1. God's nature, activity and attributes (can the one God of Israel and the Christian Trinity be the same?) 2. The Messiah (Messianic Jewish Christologies) 3. Torah in theory (the meaning and interpretation of the Torah in the light of Jesus) 4. Torah in practice (Messianic practice of Sabbath, food laws and Passover) 5. Eschatology (the diverse models employed within the movement to describe the future of Israel). Within each topic Harvey explores the range of Messianic Jewish views and their roots in both Jewish and Christian theological traditions. The author proposes a typology of eight theological tendencies within Messianic Judaism and identifies issues where further theological development is required.

Author Biography

Richard Harvey is Academic Dean and Tutor in Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at all nations.

Table of Contents

Series Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Abbreviations and Acronyms	p. xv
Introduction: Approaching Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 1
The Question of Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 1
The Methodology of 'Mapping Messianic Jewish Theology'	p. 5
Defining Messianic Judaism	p. 8
Structure of the Study	p. 12
Previous Studies: Anthropology, Social Psychology and Historical Theology	p. 14
Previous Studies	p. 14
Anthropological Approaches	p. 14
A Marginalised Fundamentalist Sect	p. 14
Ethnic Judaism on the Church-Sect Continuum	p. 15
Revitalisation through Mazeway Resynthesis	p. 17
Theological Amalgam for a Hybridised Identity	p. 19
Construction of the Messianic Jewish Self	p. 21
Identity Formation and Boundary Negotiation	p. 22
Ethnographic Self-Understanding	p. 22
Conceptual Space on the Continuum	p. 24
Minor Studies	p. 24
Reflection on Anthropological Studies	p. 25
Social Psychological Approaches	p. 26
Brother or Other? Messianic Jews and JUBUs	p. 26
Minor Studies	p. 28
Historico-Theological Approaches	p. 28
New Religious Movement	p. 29
Neglected Element in Jewish-Christian Relations	p. 30
A Tool for Mission	p. 31
Seventh Branch of Judaism	p. 33
Previous Studies: Theological Studies by Practitioners	p. 35
Advocates and Practitioners	p. 35
Contextualisation and Rediscovery	p. 35
The Development of Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 37
Realised Eschatology	p. 37
Two Types of Messianic Judaism	p. 38
Field Guide to the Messianic Movement	p. 38
Strengths and Weaknesses of Previous Studies	p. 39
Theological Approaches	p. 40
Proposals for Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 40
The Quest for Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 43
Shaping Postmissionary Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 45
The Doctrine of God in Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 49
Introduction	p. 49
God in Judaism, Christianity and Messianic Judaism	p. 49
Creedal Statements	p. 51
Detailed Presentations	p. 52
Revelation	p. 54
General and Special Revelation (Maoz)	p. 54
The Supremacy of Special Revelation (Fruchtenbaum, Stern, Goldberg and Juster)	p. 55
Revelation in Yeshua (Juster)	p. 57
Canonical, Cumulative and Communal Revelation (Kinzer)	p. 58
The Existence of God	p. 60
God's existence as a 'given'	p. 60
God's Self-Existence (Goldberg)	p. 62
The Nature of God	p. 63
The Personhood of God (Maoz and Goldberg)	p. 63
The Essence of God (Maoz and Goldberg)	p. 64
The Attributes of God (Maoz)	p. 65
The Unity of God	p. 66
A Trinity of Persons (Maoz)	p. 66
Echad and Yachid (Fruchtenbaum)	p. 68
Biblical Trinitarianism (Stern)	p. 69
Composite Unity (Goldberg)	p. 69
Differentiation within the Godhead (Kinzer)	p. 72
Transcendence, Immanence and Omnipresence	p. 72
Presence and Immanence (Maoz)	p. 72
Sh'kinah and Incarnation (Juster, Stern and Goldberg)	p. 73
Omnipresence and Anthropomorphism (Goldberg and Stern)	p. 75
The Eternal and Infinite God	p. 77
The Meaning of 'Eternal' (Maoz)	p. 77
The Eternal King (Stern)	p. 77
Comprehending the Infinite (Goldberg)	p. 78
Omniscience and Omnipotence	p. 80
Foreknowledge and Predestination (Maoz)	p. 80
Beyond Human Understanding (Goldberg)	p. 82
The Perfection of God	p. 84
Self-sufficiency and Perfection (Maoz)	p. 84
Perfection as Completion (Goldberg)	p. 85
Creation and Consummation	p. 86
God the Creator and Sustainer (Maoz)	p. 86
The Creator and his Creation (Goldberg)	p. 87
Creation and Science (Stern)	p. 87
Creation as a Personal Act of Divine Love (Kinzer)	p. 88
Providence (Goldberg and Stern)	p. 90
Evil and a Righteous God of Love	p. 91
Justice and Mercy (Juster and Maoz)	p. 91
Theodicy and the Holocaust (Goldberg et al)	p. 92
Conclusion	p. 94
Yeshua the Messiah: The Shaping of Messianic Jewish Christology	p. 96
Introduction	p. 96
The Need for Christology	p. 98
Christology in Doctrinal Statements	p. 99
Assent to Creeds in Messianic Judaism	p. 100
Hugh Schonfield and the Divinity of the Messiah	p. 101
The Development of Christology	p. 102
Emerging Christologies	p. 103
Protestant and Evangelical	p. 104
Theocentric Christology	p. 104
The Pre-Incarnate Christ	p. 107
Recontextualised Nicene Christology	p. 108
The Trinity in the Dead Sea Scrolls	p. 109
Transcending Hebrew and Greek Categories	p. 110
Antinomies and Mysteries	p. 112
Jewishly Palatable and Theologically Precise	p. 113
Jewish Mystical Christology	p. 114
Christian Kabbalah	p. 114
Contemporary Mystical Exegesis	p. 118
Raising the Bar of Devotion	p. 122
The Hidden Messiah of Postmissionary Messianic Judaism	p. 123
Adoptionist Christology	p. 131
Monotheism and Idolatry	p. 132
Hebraic and Hellenistic Thinking	p. 133
Christian Unitarianism	p. 135
Conclusion	p. 137
Torah in Theory	p. 140
Introduction	p. 140
'Torah Negative' Views	p. 142
Messiah, not Moses (Fruchtenbaum)	p. 143
'Jewishness', not 'Judaism' (Maoz)	p. 144
Biblical Halacha Without Rabbinic Tradition (Nerel)	p. 147
'Torah Positive' Views	p. 150
'Torah Incognita' (Stern)	p. 150
'My Law on Your Heart' (Powlison)	p. 154
Variety With Guidelines (Goldberg)	p. 156
New Covenant Halacha (Juster)	p. 157
The Messianic Taryag Mitzvot (Michael Rudolph)	p. 160
Biblical Torah Without Rabbinic Tradition (Berkowitz)	p. 161
Biblical Re-Appropriation of Torah (Schiffman)	p. 162
Yeshua Kept Halacha - So Should We! (Fischer)	p. 163
Messianic Halacha not easy to define (Sadan)	p. 166
'Yes!' and 'No!' to Messianic Halacha (Shulam)	p. 167
Halacha - Messianic and Conservative (Kinzer)	p. 170
A Reflection of Yeshua's Heart (Hashivenu)	p. 174
Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council	p. 176
Rabbinic Halacha for Messianic Jews	p. 179
Conclusion - Abandon, Adapt, Adopt or Accept?	p. 181
Torah in Practice	p. 184
Introduction	p. 184
The Diversity of Messianic Jewish Practice	p. 186
Surveys of Messianic Jewish Practice	p. 187
The Sabbath	p. 188
Sabbath with Gusto, But Not According to the Rabbis (Maoz)	p. 189
Preaching Law Whilst Practicing Grace (Fruchtenbaum)	p. 190
Biblical Sabbath Without Rabbinic Additions (Nerel)	p. 192
Freedom, Not A Requirement (Kasdan)	p. 193
Celebration Without Legalism (Juster)	p. 196
Following the Pharisaic Pattern (Fischer)	p. 197
Keeping the Sabbath Holy and Wholly (Kinzer)	p. 199
Summary	p. 203
Kashrut	p. 203
A Sign of Weakness (Maoz)	p. 204
A Ham Sandwich in Harlem (Fruchtenbaum)	p. 205
'Biblical Kashrut' (Kasdan)	p. 205
Cleanliness Laws Superseded? (Juster)	p. 207
Torah Still Valid - According to Yeshua (Nerel)	p. 207
Reinterpreting Mark 7:19b (Rudolph)	p. 209
Preventing the Abolition of the Jewish People (Kinzer)	p. 210
Summary	p. 212
Passover	p. 212
The Afikoman Not Inspired (Maoz)	p. 214
Lamb, not Chicken (Fruchtenbaum)	p. 215
The 'Biblical Pesach' (Nerel)	p. 216
Joyous Celebration Without Legalism (Juster)	p. 217
Redemption Typified (Kasdan)	p. 218
Misuse of Jewish Sancta? (Stern)	p. 219
Conclusion	p. 220
The Future of Israel	p. 223
Introduction	p. 223
Dispensational Premillennialism	p. 225
Historic Premillennialism	p. 227
Postmillennialism	p. 228
Amillennialism	p. 229
Previous Studies of Messianic Jewish Bschatology	p. 230
Development of a Messianic Jewish Bschatology	p. 233
Messianic dispensationalism (Fruchtenbaum)	p. 234
Messianic Historic Premillennialism	p. 237
A 'Millennium of Sorts' (Stern)	p. 237
Restorationist Historic Premillennialism (Juster)	p. 240
Messianic Amillennialism	p. 244
Studied Agnosticism (Maoz)	p. 244
Present and Future in Tension (Nichol)	p. 248
Re-Ordering the Messianic Jewish Canonical Narrative (Kinzer)	p. 250
Conclusion	p. 258
Conclusion: The Future of Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 262
Introduction	p. 262
Summary of Findings	p. 262
Approaching Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 262
The Doctrine of God	p. 262
Yeshua the Messiah	p. 263
Torah in Theory	p. 263
Torah in Practice	p. 264
The Future of Israel	p. 264
Identifying Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 264
A Typology of Messianic Jewish Theologies	p. 265
Eight Types of Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 267
The Future of Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 277
The Task of Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 277
Recognition of the Need for MJT	p. 277
Interdependency within MJT	p. 278
Discussion of Methodology	p. 279
Future Topics for Consideration in Messianic Jewish Theology	p. 279
Questions for Future Research	p. 283
Models For Messianic Jewish Theology as Theology and Contextual Theology	p. 283
Detailed studies of Messianic Jewish Theologians	p. 283
Theological Methodology and Interface with Cultural Studies	p. 284
Concluding Summary	p. 284
Appendix - Materials	p. 285
Primary Sources	p. 285
Rationale for the Use of Quotations	p. 285
Choice of Contributors	p. 285
Official Documents of Messianic Jewish Organisations	p. 287
Secondary Sources	p. 287
Bibliography	p. 288
Glossary	p. 309
Index	p. 312
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