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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... how deeply anti - Judaism 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 xi Preface.
Saving Grace in Judaism and Messianic Hope in Christianity Aaron Milavec. faith , the forgiveness , and the salvation that Christians celebrate as com- ing to them through Jesus Christ . These revelations will be distressing and painful ...
... forgiveness , and the salvation brought to us through Jesus Christ as well . Accordingly , this book will systematically unravel how the major aspects of Christian theology and spirituality have secretly been shaped by eighteen hun ...
... forgiveness inde- pendent of Jesus . How the theology of the atoning death of Jesus puts Jews and Judaism at risk . • When and why the church broke its ties with Judaism . How to challenge and replace superficial myths regarding the ...
... forgive them , for they do not know what they are doing " ( Luke 23:34 ) . Nor did the bishops try to convince us that Jesus died for all our sins and , as a result , " all our sins " and not just " Jewish sins " had to be accounted for ...
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 |