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
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... Moses ( Torah ) in anticipation of the kingdom of God that was ready to break into history . At no point did Jesus or his first disciples renounce their Judaism in favor of establishing a new religion . If the Jesus move- ment had ...
... Moses and the proph- ets.20 It would be blasphemy to imagine that the Scriptures lied when they affirmed that " the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face , as one speaks to a friend " ( Exod 33:11 ; Num 2 : 8 ; Deut 34:10 ; Sir 45 ...
... Moses is greater than Jesus or that Jesus is just another Moses . For the reader of John's gospel , Jesus is identified as the eschatological prophet anticipated by Moses : For John , Jesus is the supreme and final fulfillment of the ...
... prayer for all " who have not received the Gospel of Christ . " 24. Pope John Paul II , cited in the New York Times , April 14 , 1986 . of Abraham and the Torah of Moses rightly guide them 20 Salvation Is from the Jews.
... Moses rightly guide them to know , love , and serve their Lord and Father . One must likewise lament the fact that Dominus Jesus , published in 2001 , did not specify that the Lord himself declared " salvation is from the Jews " ( John ...
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 |