January 22, 2007

• A Challenge for the Emerging Church

  B"H

  Just about a year ago this time I happened upon the blogsite of Phil Sinitiere - the Bald Blogger. Phil is an instructor of World History in Houston Tx. He writes some very thought provoking posts from time to time that deal with a host of topics that I am interested in. When I first discovered Phil he was sort of posing a question to those who are interested and involved in the Emerging Church movement.

  "Can the Emerging Church truly emerge without addressing racial reconciliation?"

  At this time I'd like to ask a slightly different question:

  "Can the modern community of believers truly grow to maturity without expressly renouncing the theology of anti-Judaism?"

  For those who might be new here I'll mention the distinction between anti-Judaism and anti-semitism. Anti-semitism is the teaching of hatred and animosity of the Jewish people, while Anti-Judaism is the teaching of despising the Jewish religion. See here for more details on the distinction.

  In today's church one can't easily find much support for the practice of anti-semitism. Especially since the Nazi holocaust of the last century, the Christian church has become quite outspoken about the horrors that anti-semitism produced. On the other hand however, Christian theology, going back to at least the 2nd century, has accepted and propagated the teaching that Christianity, and thus the Church, has surpassed and supplanted Judaism and the Jewish people.

  From a Biblical standpoint, Jews and Gentiles were intended by GOD to coexist and display unity in diversity. In Ephesians chapter 2 we read of an entity called the One New Man which is comprised of both Jews and Gentiles. This vision of Biblical unity assumes a dynamic relationship where each group retains its individual identity and yet contributes to a mutual blessing of the other. Unfortunately, the record of Church history testifies of the experience of supersession on the part of the Gentile Church over the Jewish nation. Israel is seen as having lost favor with GOD due to their rejection of Jesus as the promised Messiah. The Hebrew roots of the faith have been neglected and denigrated and ultimately Judaism is cast as a dead religion which only produces a legalistic system of works righteousness. Jesus is said to have freed his followers from the burden of the Law and all those who seek to practice its commandments are considered as fallen from grace.

  This view may seem perfectly logical to many, but its fruit has been a schism between the Church and the Synagogue which prevents the prayer of Jesus in John 17 from being fulfilled. Jesus prayed that his disciples would be one, just as he and the Father are one. Biblical oneness is a composite unity of the likeness of a marriage. A man and a woman are joined together and become one flesh, but their unique gender differences remain. We are called to a position of unity, not uniformity. Our sense of being one is not based on sameness.

  At present there is a movement among Jewish believers which is advocating that Judaism is a valid religious expression apart from Christianity. Christians need to learn about their Jewish roots and understand that the essence of Jewish identity stems from the call of GOD for Israel to be a light to the nations.

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  Coming soon, more thoughts and references along these lines. I'd be glad to interact with any of you on these and related topics.

  Blessings,

  Shlomo

   

  • 3:45 pm
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