Comments for Hope Abbey

Comment on How to Find Reliable (Academic) Sources of Information by Peter

Peter — Sat, 19 May 2012 19:23:37 +0000

I’ve stumbled upon another strategy for finding academic research. But this requires having direct access to a seminary library. If you do have access, try this: simply look up the shelves containing all of the academic commentaries on the book (e.g. John, Acts of the Apostles) in which your pericope (the particular passage you’re studying) occurs. Next, flip through the commentary until you arrive at your pericope. Next, take note of all of the footnotes/endnotes and compile a list of academic sources.

This is just something I’ve figured out on my own. I have no idea whether it’s an efficient way of gathering research. But I suspect that it’s fairly efficient.

Shabbat Shalom,

Peter

Comment on How to Find Reliable (Academic) Sources of Information by Yahnatan

Yahnatan — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:18:34 +0000

“if you have access to JSTOR…”

Ah, JSTOR. If I should forget thee…

Comment on How to Find Reliable (Academic) Sources of Information by James

James — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:06:15 +0000

“Other students might recognize that the covers of most of these books are pretty; they are designed to have mass appeal. Scholarly books are usually ugly as sin.”

Not sure you said it this way on purpose, but I like it. :-)

Comment on Christian Disputes Which Messianic Judaism Can Solve by Jacob Fronczak

Jacob Fronczak — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:12:27 +0000

RE: infant baptism, I do think, as I stated, that it is possible another justification besides the classical supersessionist interpretation (i.e., the sign of the covenant has changed from circumcision to baptism) might arise as a reason to continue the practice. It’s true that the NT is silent either way.

Comment on Christian Disputes Which Messianic Judaism Can Solve by Yahnatan

Yahnatan — Wed, 02 May 2012 23:40:45 +0000

Great post, and definitely on your last comment about eschatology. Your comment about infant baptism made me think: while the Jewish context of John’s baptism as a sort of one-time dedication for “converts” makes sense to me, I guess for some time I’ve thought of infant baptism as an acceptable dedication for the non-circumcision crowd, especially given Paul’s analogy in Col 2:11. Admittedly though, I haven’t really studied this one intently…

Comment on Christian Disputes Which Messianic Judaism Can Solve by Jacob Fronczak

Jacob Fronczak — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:04:15 +0000

Another one – eschatology. Amillennialism is only possible with a rejection of the promised physical reign of the Jewish King in Jerusalem during the Messianic Age.

Comment on Christian Disputes Which Messianic Judaism Can Solve by Ronald Gilden

Ronald Gilden — Tue, 01 May 2012 03:04:44 +0000

I’m of the mindset that the Messianic movement will rejuvenate greater Christianity, for similar reasons to the ones you listed. While I’m especially interested to see it implemented into the field of NT studies and scholarly discussion, it also has a lot to offer inter-Christian debates as well as discussions with other religions and atheists.

Some specific areas that come to my mind that I’d add to your list that I’ve seen remedied by Messianic theology:

Divorce and remarriage – based on David Instone-Brewer’s work. While he isn’t a Messianic Jew, his area of study is the rabbinic background of the NT. He has managed to greatly re-examine Jesus’ words in light of the 1st century rabbinic discussions and the results are pretty amazing, in my opinion.

Homosexuality – Most Christians struggle to determine if homosexual acts are sinful. I’ve seen many Christians argue that they are against nature, and outside of marriage it is forbidden. Even the Christians who look to the NT for help seem unsure if Paul’s actually talking about homosexuality or something else, failing to connect Paul to his Jewish background. The Torah’s much more clear on the subject, but Christians tend to fear utilizing because they don’t know how to answer the questions that follow after (“So, do you eat shellfish?” “You support polygamy?” etc). Considering how important this issue is in the Western world right now, I believe Messianic is extremely relevant to assisting the discussion.

Christian/Muslim dialogue – The idea of the most recent revelation overturning previous revelation is a proven issue for Christians in this area. The same issue seems to also exist in dialogues with Jehovah’s Witness and Mormons.

Obviously there are plenty more, but it’ll be exciting to see these subject play out in the future.

Comment on Christian Disputes Which Messianic Judaism Can Solve by James

James — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:53:00 +0000

I think those Christians who see the merit of returning to the roots of the faith join one type of Hebrew Roots congregation or another. The majority of what we think of as “mainstream Christianity” will tend to see the idea as “going under the Law.” Human beings create traditions and practices as an interface by which we can express our faith. Once those traditions have been around long enough, they become canon and then unshakable theology. We aren’t very flexible critters.

Comment on Christian Disputes Which Messianic Judaism Can Solve by Chris Kotting

Chris Kotting — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:45:45 +0000

As a Gentile who came to faith within Messianic Judaism, there is much in your article that I agree with. However, your comment on infant baptism may need some clarification. While some do justify infant baptism on the basis of supersessionism, the origins may be somewhat more benign.

Generally, infant baptism was instituted during a time of high infant mortality. As I understand it, the thought was that at the very least a baptized infant who died would not be forbidden entry to Heaven because they weren’t baptized. While this in itself is a distortion of mikveh (the rite on which baptism is based) the intention was at least benevolent towards both the child and the parents.

Comment on A graduate-level paper on Hebrews and Supersessionism by Yahnatan

Yahnatan — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:59:51 +0000

One more voice in the chorus: well done, sir.

Hope you don’t mind, I linked to it here: Jacob Fronczak on Hebrews and Supersessionism.