On Messianic Judaism

In this episode we interview Rabbi Joshua Brumbach on his recent commentary on the New Testament letter of Jude. Jude, or more properly Judah, was Yeshua’s brother. He is one of two of Yeshua’s brothers to write books that are now in the New Testament Cannon. His letter to other Messianic Jews is essential for rehabilitating our understanding of the New Testament and its theology in its native, Jewish, context.   To order the commentary, go to https://www.messianicjewish.net/products/a-messianic-commentary-jude?_pos=1&_sid=5dd82e09d&_ss=r

In this episode, we are going to look at some of the people, movements, and events that followed the second (or third as I argue in a previous episode) Jewish revolt. We will ask:What kind of interaction did Messianic Jews with the larger Jewish community?Who was the Jewish Christian Melito of Sardis, and why is he significant?What does the Didache, a first century manual for gentile disciples, tell us about the relationship between Messianic Jews and gentile Christians? What did these Messianic Jews expect of gentile Christians in these early days?By the time of Nicaea, what did gentile Christians generally expect of Jews who believed Yeshua was the Messiah?

In this episode we look at attitudes and prejudices apparent in Christian writings mainly between the Second Jewish War and the Council of Nicaea. As we take a look at the key authors in particular, we will see a continued hardening of Christian attitudes towards Jews, an increasingly strident supersessionism, and the increasingly difficult theologies and attitudes that Jewish disciples in Yeshua would have to deal with if they were to have any dealings with the majority church. In particular, we will look at Ignatius, Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Tertullian. This episode might seem to record the doom of the Messianic Jewish Movement, but have no fear. Future episodes will document their perseverance from other sources. 

In this episode, we ask questions about the Second Jewish War, its "messiah" Bar Koziba, and its rabbi, Akiva.What made the revolt so inevitable?What made it such a milestone in Jewish, including Messianic Jewish, history?Did this war really cause a parting of the ways between Christianity and Judaism?What happened to the Messianic Jews who lived at that time – the Nazarenes, Ebionites, and others?And – were the Messianic Jews really singled out as heretics in the curse on the “minim”?