Salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22): Saving Grace in Judaism and Messianic Hope in ChristianityGrowing up in an ethnic suburb in Cleveland, Aaron Milavec was an impressionable adolescent whose religious and cultural influences made it natural for him to pity, blame, and despise Jews. All of that began to change in 1955 when Mr. Martin, a Jewish merchant, hired Milavec as a stock boy. Milavec's initial anxieties over working for a Jew surprisingly gave way to profound personal admiration. This, in turn, plunged Milavec into a troubling theological dilemma: How could God consign Mr. Martin to eternal hellfire due to his ancestral role in the death of Jesus when it was clear that Mr. Martin would not harm me, a Christian, even in small ways? This book is not for the faint-hearted. Most Christians imagine that the poison of anti-Judaism has been largely eliminated. In contrast, Milavec reveals how this poison has gone underground--disfiguring not only the role of Israel in God's plan of salvation but also horribly twisting the faith, the forgiveness, and the salvation that Christians find through Jesus Christ. This painful realization serves as the necessary first step for our healing. At each step of the way, Milavec's sure hand builds bridges of mutual understanding that enable both Christians and Jews to cross the chasm of distrust and distortion that has infected both church and synagogue over the centuries. In the end, Milavec securely brings his readers to that place where Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity can again be admired as sister religions intimately united to one other in God's drama of salvation. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 32
... Abraham and Sarah . Even the Vatican's 1985 Notes on the Correct Way to Present Judaism said many wonderful things about Jews and Judaism but then turned around and starkly de- clared that the " Church and Judaism cannot then be seen as ...
... term " Israel " designates those religious peoples who accept Abraham and Sarah as their ancestors ( whether by biological generation or by religious conver- sion ) and who live by the covenants that God xvi Salvation Is from the Jews.
... Abraham , but also the reality of Jesus Christ , in whom the faith of Abraham finds its fulfillment . " Ratzinger then immediately used Edith Stein , a Carmelite nun who had converted from Judaism , as an example of a Jew who , " on ...
... Abraham is honored as exemplifying saving faith both as a Jew 13. In Ratzinger's book God and the World , released shortly after the appearance of Do- minus Jesus , the cardinal again affirmed that " Christianity , as compared with the ...
... Abraham trusted God ( before his circumcision and without Torah ) , Paul says that " it was reckoned to him as righteous- ness " ( Rom 4 : 3 ) . This is the situation of the believing Gentile . Later , after Abraham was circumcised ...
Contents
1 | |
23 | |
The Story of Salvation | 57 |
Parting of the Ways | 84 |
Jesus as Messiah | 116 |
The Unsavory Odor of Christian Evangelization | 152 |
Reflections on Covenant and Mission | 173 |
Bibliography | 183 |
Index | 196 |