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 25
... Jew I came to love . His justice and his generosity first turned my heart toward the spiritual plight of Jews . In so doing , he forced me to boldly confront the poison of anti - Judaism that infected my Catholic upbringing . For this I ...
... Judaism for nearly eighteen hundred years . This book is a testament to my journey . In the aftermath of Vatican II , I was both puzzled and pleased that my church had " come clean " and had identified the tragic poison of anti- Judaism ...
Saving Grace in Judaism and Messianic Hope in Christianity Aaron Milavec. knew that Jews ... Judaism I would never have imagined existed . I was sixteen then . Now I am ... anti - Judaism is found only in a few isolated doctrines and biblical ...
... Jews , so now the distinct possibility arises that Vatican efforts to exalt the universal mission of the church while overlooking God's expressed mission assigned to Israel is a remnant of its own former pattern of anti- Judaism . Time ...
Saving Grace in Judaism and Messianic Hope in Christianity Aaron Milavec. Gospel of John was prepared for reading aloud ... anti- Semitism of the modern variety nor a view that rejects the spiritual heritage of Judaism.21 memories makes ...
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 |