Yes, I have broken links for a little while, but at least I have a site that is working again. After fighting with my previous host and ancient WordPress installation, I decided on at least getting a quick-fix up, albeit a broken one, so that I could at least start posting again and fixing things along the way. So… If you run into a lot of broken links, I apologize in advance and will try to fix them as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience and I look forward to getting back on the blogging wagon…

ps. This is just a temporary theme/design. I’m working on a revamp of my original.

“And they will know you are my disciples by your Systematic Theology.”

I would like to hear about your highlights for this year’s Shavuot, especially from you who attended the FFOZ Conference in Hudson. Leave me a comment with a special memory to share with others!

If you would like to see more texts available freely online that related to Messianic studies, please consider helping me out. I’m looking for a volunteer to help develop my textual repository site DWD eTexts. I currently have posted all of Pirkei Avot (in both Hebrew and English, with a bit of commentary), Odes of Solomon, the Didache, and have begun adding 1 Clement.

You don’t have to be a web developer. You just need to be a little computer savvy. Essentially, you would just be logging into the site and copying/pasting in text. There would be a little formatting required, but not much. If anyone would like to help me add more texts (and finish 1 Clement) to this site, please post a comment on this post.

Meet the Rabbis

by Brad H. Young
Hendrickson Publishers

Many people ask why studying Jewish sources is important. They are extremely important in that they help us to understand our faith in context. Familiarizing oneself with Jewish sources will add dimension to your faith, and help gain a more in-depth understanding of key concepts found within the Biblical narratives, particularly in the Gospels and Epistles. I recommend Brad Young’s newest work as a starting point for those who desire to explore Jewish texts.

Following his other excellent works such as Jesus the Jewish Theologian, Paul the Jewish Theologian, and The Parables, Young puts forth his most recent work, Meet the Rabbis, in an effort to continue educating his readers about the Jewish context of our Scriptures, our Savior and our Faith. Young helps to gently bridge the gap between Christian understanding and the world of rabbinic writings, thought and Scriptural application. He does a great job and engaging the reader through continual cross referencing between the rabbinic texts and the teachings of our Master. This is why MTR is such a great starting point for those new to Jewish texts.

In MTR, he introduces the reader to rabbinic writings in a way that is very engaging, even including the full text of Pirkei Avot, one of the foundational texts for understanding the teachings of Judaism. This is a “don’t miss” book.

At FFOZ’s Shavuot 09 Conference last week, I had a few people ask me for recommendations on books to help them get started in Jewish sources. I’ll try to post recommendations / reviews now and then to help out with this. I’ll be publishing a review of Brad Young’s Meet the Rabbis a little later today.

One exciting thing about the conference was the re-release of Paul Philip Levertoff’s Love and the Messianic Age, a chasidic-orthodox insight into the message of the Gospel in relation to a chasidic frame of reference, drawing from some of the deepest of mystical texts within Judaism. It was released in hardback (a first for FFOZ) under a new publishing arm of FFOZ called Vine of David (which I will have to discuss at a later date). It is a small book, but packed with a lot of punch. Therefore, they simultaneously released a study guide (which is actually larger than the book) in which Daniel Lancaster and others break down concepts that appear within the text and try to guide the uninitiated reader into a working knowledge of the principles Levertoff uses to explain his discourse. Unless you are extremely familiar with rabbinic works (especially chasidic ones), I suggest you acquire the book and study guide as a set. Lord willing, I hope to publish a full review of the text in the days ahead.

I failed to mention the final session of the FFOZ Shavuot ‘09 conference, which was taught by Daniel Lancaster. This was probably the biggest “aha!” moment at the conference for most attendees and ended with a long, standing, round of applause.

Daniel took a long, 2-part session to go into great detail and offer up an almost air-tight case for the proper interpretation of the terminology and analogy of the book of Hebrews (particularly chapters 7-10).

He first set his teaching up with three arguments typical of Christian theology & interpretation based on the book of Hebrews. With each of these, he presented the problems associated with such a perspective with an expression with Talmudic sentiments, “This is a difficulty.” Of course, he stated that the goal was to be able to reach the actual Talmudic statement, “There is no difficulty here” (for which he did—at least in my estimation).

He specifically addressed issues such as how to resolve phrases that seem to negate the Mosaic covenant, overthrow the Aaronic priesthood and the belittle the function of the Temple service.

His second part systematically worked through each of these “difficulties” and resolved them to what appears to be great satisfaction. Lord willing, I’ll be cleaning up my notes over the next few days and posting them. However, I believe Daniel is planning on posting a full, 30-page article (I am pretty sure I heard) on this teaching in the next Messiah Journal (which we all eagerly await!).

Thank you FFOZ for all of your hard work and diligent study, and for sharing it with us.