The Enduring Paradox

by John Fischer (Editor)

Yeshua and his Jewish followers began a new movement - Messianic Judaism -2,000 years ago. In the twentieth century, it was reborn, and, now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is maturing. The Enduring Paradox is a collection of essays from some of the top contributors to the theology of this vital movement of God: Dr. Walter C. Kaiser, Dr. David H. Stern, Dr. John Fischer, Dr. Patrice Fischer, Dr. Michael Schiffman, Dr. Louis Goldberg, Elliot Klayman, Esq., Lawrence Rich. Their research and writing will impact the maturing of Messianic Judaism for years to come. 196 pages.

184 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2000

About the author

Dr. Fischer was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1946 to survivors of the Holocaust. He immigrated to the United States in 1949. He married 4 Jun 1972 to Patrice and they have two children and three grandchildren. Rabbi John has six earned college and university degrees, two of them doctorates (a Ph.D. and a Th.D.). Dr. Fischer has spoken and taught repeatedly throughout the United States and around the world. He has lectured in Israel, Russia, France, Germany, Hungary, the Ukraine, Canada, and South Africa. He is the author of numerous academic articles and books.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS DEALING WITH A VARIETY OF ISSUES

The Preface to this 2000 book explains, “The authors of the essays in this volume are united in their desire to see a firm biblical foundation developed for the benefit of Jewish people who are or may be coming to faith in the Messiah… Our authors unite around these broad tenets: 1. The complete biblical faith must consider the life, death, and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah. He was a Jew as were all of his first followers. Thus it would seem that expressions of the New Testament faith, that are more in keeping with the original cradle of that faith, are valid and appropriate, especially for Jewish people. 2. That the unity of all believers in the Messiah … does not call for all individual and cultural differences to be dissolved into one amorphous group. Unity and love in the Messiah are challenges to accept while appreciating diversity. 3. That Israel is God’s national people, a chosen nation. Participation in the one people of God through the New Covenant does not and should not cause Jewish people to lose their identity as part of Israel. Thus we look warily at the assimilation of Jewish believers into a gentile Christianity wherein this identity is often lost. Such loss of Jewish identity is detrimental to evangelism among Jewish people and is contrary to God’s desire for Israel’s salvation. Moreover, it is not God’s will that the Jewish people disappear.

Editor John Fischer wrote in the introductory essay, ‘Why Messianic Judaism?’: “From the Jewish perspective, beginning with 1967, the years have produced some alarming events and trends as well… Yet, despite the discouraging outlook, we can trace God’s hand at work in our world, and we can see it quite clearly in relation to the Jewish people, Many Jewish people have expressed a growing spiritual hunger, a searching for God… In addition, the drastic nature of our times has caused some Jewish people to hope for a supernatural solution… As a result, a growing number of Jews have accepted Yeshua as Messiah. This trend has alarmed many rabbis, some of whom have estimated that 2,000-3,000 Jewish people make this decision each year.

“Still another aspect of the positive response is the growing Jewish interest in Jesus. Evidence of this appears in a number of ways. Israeli public schools … launched a program to teach the gospels and the life of Jesus to junior high students… Important Jewish scholars such as David Flusser and Pinchas Lapide have spoken and written very positively about Jesus… yet… [there] is another response. It views evangelism as a threat to Jewish survival, as an attempt to wipe out Judaism…. Beyond this, many Jews perceive Christianity as permeated with anti-Jewish sentiment, which makes it virtually impossible for them to consider Christianity as a serious option.” (Pg. 1-2)

Later, he adds, “As one Jewish newspaper noted, ‘more Jewish people have accepted Yeshua as Messiah in the last 20 years than in the past 20 centuries.’ The Messianic synagogues have attracted Jewish people of all ages who come from different backgrounds, from orthodox to atheistic. As a result, the Jewish community has been afforded a less threatening opportunity and environment in which to investigate the claims of Yeshua… These congregations… have raised some biblical and theological issues, in addition to providing fresh and unique insights into the Scriptures and into biblical faith. The following articles are grouped around three issues---Messianic Jewish Theology, Messianic Jews and Israel, and Practical Matters for Messianic Jews and non-Jews.” (Pg. 9-10)

Walter C. Kaiser observes, “While modern scholarship is loathe to bring together the figures of the Servant of God and the Son of Man, neither Jesus nor some of his earlier predecessors at Qumran were at all hesitant to do so. An obedient, serving, suffering ‘Son of Man’ was not a contradiction in terms or mission, for it was all one person with one mission and a single plan: God’s Messiah as announced in his everlasting promise.” (Pg. 25)

Michael Schiffman states, “Some have questioned why Messianic Jews, coming from a strong monotheistic heritage, would accept belief in a Tri-unity. It is assumed by some that Messianic Jews have accepted belief in the Messiah because of Gentile believers, and have consequentially accepted evangelical biblical theology because it came from the gospel message we received from the Gentiles. This is an error of understanding, and an over-simplification. Messianic Jews have accepted belief in the Messiah IN SPITE OF Gentiles. It has been Gentile anti-Semitism over 18 centuries that has put a stumbling block between Jewish people and their Messiah. Secondly, Messianic believers have not INHERITED anyone else’s errors… Messianic Jews have come to these conclusions … after examining the biblical materials and concluding that they are correct. If what Messianic Jews believe coincides with evangelical theology, it is … because the teaching is true.” (Pg. 61)

David H. Stern explains, “Any right theology of the people of God must account not for one or two groups but three. Rom 11:17-26, in the analogy of the olive tree, depicts natural branches (non-Messianic Jews), grafted-in wild branches (Gentile Christians) and formerly cut-off but now regrafted-in natural branches (Messianic Jews). I use the term ‘Olive Tree Theology’ for any theology of the people of God which acknowledges that the Jews and the Church are each imperfect subpeoples of God, and that Messianic Jews belong to both… this theology must surely postulate that when all Israel is saved (Rom 11:26), the two subpeoples will, at least in some senses, become one.” (Pg. 81)

Louis Goldberg asserts, “When we talk about Israel and prophecy, these three covenants---Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenant---need consideration. God has a purpose within history whereby he is moving Israel for a great rendezvous with the true Messiah… The terms Israel and Prophecy belong together.” (Pg. 120)

John Fisher wrote in an essay, “[A] problem arises with respect to Yeshua’s statements about eating and washing (Mt 15:1-8, Mk 7:1-19). Here Yeshua enters into the handwashing discussion going on between the Pharisaic Schools of Hillel and Shammai… Yeshua makes some comments about ritual cleanness and internal corruption and discusses what constitutes real cleanness and uncleanness… Then he makes the statement that is usually translated: ‘Thus he declared all foods clean.’ (Mk 7:19). Based on this passage, some say he abolished … the dietary laws. However, that would be inconsistent with his argument earlier, where he warns some of the Pharisees against invalidating God’s laws by inappropriate traditions.” (Pg. 150)

This book will be of keen interest to those studying Messianic Judaism.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book, as is common from books of this type that seek to combine the efforts of a lot of writers together in various treatises, many of which have their own particular agendas and areas of research and axes to grind.  As a whole, my own thoughts of messianic Judaism are rather mixed.  For one, I find my own place as a member of the Church of God to be similar to that of many messianic Jews who seek to recover the faith of the early apostolic Church before the spread of Hellenism that led to a great and hostile divide between followers of Yeshua and those who followed the post-70AD proto-Orthodox Jews.  So there is a sense of being kindred in many cases with Messianic Jews, despite the fact that my own view of the Talmud, especially the Mishnaic approach, is far less positive than that of the writers, here, though to the extent that the writers are more fond of the midrashic approach that was done during the time of the Great Assembly, we will find more to agree with, without a doubt.

This particular book is a short one and it is divided into three sections and numerous papers from a distinguished group of panelists that includes a few writers that I am familiar with (like Dr. David Stern) who are among the messianic community.  The book begins with a look at messianic Jewish theology, which includes papers on Messianic prophecies in the Hebrew scriptures, Jewish practice and identity in the book of Acts, covenant, fulfillment, and Judaism in Hebrews, and a look at the supposed tri-unity of God, about which I am in full disagreement with the author of that paper.  The second section examines the contentious relationship between Messianic Jews and the state of Israel, including the law of return, the people and promises of God and the land of Israel, the significance of Judaism for Messianic Jews, and the role of Israel in prophecy.  In general I find myself in a great deal of empathy with their concerns about their ambivalent place with regards to Judaism given that they are not recognized as Jews by contemporary Israeli courts.  Finally, the book concludes with some discussions on practical matters for Messianic Jews and non-Jews, with papers on the problem of assimilation in America, the place of rabbinic tradition in the lifestyle of Messianic Jews, something which I am ambivalent to hostile about personally, and a closing discussion about modern-day Godfearers.

By and large this book only slightly informed me about messianic Judaism given my general familiarity with it.  I would say, speaking for myself, that the only papers I found problematic were the one on the Trinity that espoused a nonbiblical view of the nature of God as a way of defending a fallacious view of progressive revelation as well as a vain attempt to be seen as mainstream Christians, and the one on the traditions of the rabbis that sought to appeal in vain to the Jews as a way of being viewed within the Jewish mainstream.  To the extent that the papers focused on the Bible and on the complexities and awkwardness of the identity of messianic Judaism, I found a great deal to appreciate and indeed to agree with as far as my own background is concerned.  It is striking, though, that the only times when this particular book is less than successful is when the author of a particular paper is trying to be seen as either a mainstream Jew or a mainstream Christian rather than a follower of the whole biblical scriptures, and an acceptance that doing so will make one out of the mainstream both as far as Jews and Christians are concerned.

[J.J. Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a collection of Essays by some of the best scholars in the Messianic Judaism. All of them brought incredible insight into Jewish thought, practice and theology in Messianic terms. As someone who's not Jewish I found this book very helpful in helping me to understand the Jewish roots of the Christian movement but some of the book didn't apply to me as a non-jew. It did have a sobering and heartbreaking account of the atrocities that have been committed over the centuries by Christians, even those supposedly devout. But it's important for Gentiles to understand that Jewish culture reminds it's adherents of this all the time. This book may challenge your theology a bit if you come from a well read Christian background, but I very much think you will benefit from it. If you are just curious about learning the contrast and relationship and mission the Messianic Jews have with Christians, other Jews, then this is also a great book for that.