While at Reformed Seminary, our most famous professor, R.C. Sproul, resigned because he disagreed with colleagues for not standing against the ecumenical document Evangelicals and Catholics Together. I recall him stating the Roman Church needed almost 500 years to forge its Christology and so I thought, and 1500 years to state its soteriology? R.C.’s provocative posits also confused many, including admiration for Thomas Aquinas, thus the metaphysical bondage upon the Western canon. Yet nobody could simplify theology like the mavrick R.C..
Such an emphasis upon Aristotle stands vulnerable to sacramentalism, as witnessed by those coming home to Rome and ‘deep history.’ We must be careful about structuring faith based on metaphysics and ascertain the narrative of the Roman victor. Thus, revelation and redemption stand above the canonization of the ‘Great Western Tradition.’ Analogous to Thomas's short work On Being and Essence: “A small mistake, in the beginning, is a big one in the end, according to Aristotle.”
So how should we proceed for a reflection on unity and a correct understanding of 325 AD given the anniversary? Nicaea’s ‘Christology’ is sufficient through a Pharisaical understanding of the Root of David’s lineage. While the narratives are challenging, the facts connect, demonstrating our Jewish Jesus is not the cursed Jesus of Talmud Gittin 56b and 57a.
Sadly, history discloses a strife-ridden and conflated story. We are part of an ‘old faith’ to understand and follow, not necessarily initiated nor replaced by our Lord through projected covenants or dispensations where God’s people are divided; nationalism and racism is always wrong for a believer over their Heavenly citizenship. Therefore, ‘fulfillment theology’ concurs with a well-documented lineage of Pharisees validating the Christian faith, not Constantinian initiated Christianity.
The search for Gospel foundations surrounding the Incarnation termed ‘first coming’ abound, so let the ‘Revelation at Mount Sinai’ through the Torah speak, both written and oral. Here, Israel as a observant ‘revelational religion’ received its purpose, but not out of a vacuum; the replacement idea based upon nationalistic failures and the Temple’s destruction for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah begs many questions and continues—first, concerning our current context.
Are we, as Evangelicals, still bound by Rome or Modernity’s hegemony? The Reformation came to no defense of, nor trusted true observant Jews, not the apostates. Causual observation recognizes the fallout of Luther’s rants and Calvin’s curses as indefensable. Calvin like so many saw an ethnic future, rather than the ‘cultivated olive tree.’
Nevertheless, the Hebrew prayer and praise language was exalted yet severed from missiology along with the Judaeo-Greek Septuagint and its essential Maccabean history (a religious revival not a pretext for Zionism), overlooked for the Masorite Textus Receptus. Thus, reductionisms emerged upon the via moderna. In other words, textual perspicuity (a simple reading of the text) extrapolated soteriology as progressive revelation onto our perch of replacement and rationality and embedded within a Christendom that manipulates in promoting secondary separationism.
Let us also remember that with modernity in full swing, Louis the Fourteenth asked Blaise Pascal for proof of the existence of God. Pascal responded, “Why the Jews, my King.” The apologist mentioned the Jews over 100 times in his Pensées. Still, an ambivalence lurks with subtle supersessionism, yet he confessed “the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob with fire, not of Philosophers nor Jesuits.
Later, Christian Hebraists like Franz Delitzsch were more sensitive to Jewish Halahkah than today's Messianics. Converts such as the Lutheran Jacob Kemper or the Presbyterian Adolph Saphir flirted with the Hebrew/Jew distinction, yet still as Church triumphant. Modernity's hubris elicited postmodernity, which Friedrich Nietzsche helped initiate through ‘a will to power’ to trump revelation. After all, the Judeo-Christian ‘slave religions’ should not hinder our new world of expressive individualism.
No, but Christianity requires a framing as a proselyte faith, not a new religion; thus, Romanism’s challenge, to we, who are falsely called ‘fideists’ fails only if Evangelicals stay clear of hyper-grace antinomianism based upon a projection of Jesus severed from the school of Hillel.
The ‘paper trail academics’ have posited many types of Judaism, but in reality, Moses brings out of Egypt (alongside his fellow Israelites) the mixed multitude (erev rav, where the word Arab is derived) of other slaves also. Nevertheless, rather than accommodating their ways, brings the Torah, providing a light to the nations as ‘the organizational principle for the old faith’ renaming them ‘HaGerim' i.e. the Noahides or better still ‘Pilgrims’, ‘Sojourners’ or ‘Resident Aliens’. “The Lord loves the gates (sha’ar - sharia) of Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob.” Psalm 87:1.
Here, Ptolemaic Alexandria (proto-Anabaptism) shapes theologically rather than the Seleucid Antioch political reading, a contextualization with the Hellenist world showing that Maccabees 1 & 2 documents a religious revival within Judea, not the nationalistic resistance that today’s Zionists exploit. Hellenization was nothing new, and the hard lessons of exile were fresh, but Rome's occupation came swiftly. The Qumran Essenes stood against Jerusalem’s corruption, while Herod’s Idumean (Edom) house transferred to imperial Rome and Byzantium. We posit a ‘spiritual Israel,’ but what about Prophets Obadiah, Job, Eliphaz, even Caleb, all Edomites descended from ‘unspiritual Esau.’ Such prophecy and Jewish Midrash discloses gaps in our understanding of Abraham's covenant children.
The word Jew (Yehudi), signifying people of praise, goes way back before the kingdom of Judah and doesn’t mean all the Kingdom of Israel were apostates nor does a person who practices or observes the Torah consider themselves saved by the law. Judaism (Yahadut) was the religion revealed at Mt. Sinai. A mixing of peoples goes far back before Abraham’s seed to bring righteousness. Here the Genesis 6:4 ‘Sons of God and Daughters of Men’ shows how spiritual lineages spread from the Son of God, Root of David as linked in the Lukean genealogy. Paul connected this ‘Second Adam’ to Christ Jesus as the Last Adam in (Rom 5 & 1 Cor 15). The Reformed Puritans projected this upon a covenant of works and grace, a rather recent theology, yet it preaches. The Book of Hebrews, written to Pilgrims no longer Jews nor Greeks, affirms the eternal Son, now empowering his righteousness into one people through the two-tiered Mosaic revelation of Qehel (Authority) and HaGerim (Pilgrims).
Recently, as in Paul’s day, a Jew stands for a cultural-ethnic group rather than the genuinely religious who indeed suffered under Christ-E(n)dom. Still, “A Mamzer shall live in Ashdod” (Zech 9:6) perhaps fulfills the current State of Israel in prophecy after the virtual elimination of Eastern Europe practicing Jews. The Temple was never exclusive for worship yet symbolizes our collective role as the body of Christ the Head and True Light that lighteth all persons. (John 1:9) Incarnarnational presence in the Edah, but not on Rome’s terms.
Those who understood the ‘old faith’ aligned with the great 17th-century Rabbi of Hamburg, Jacob Emden (1697-1776), who affirmed the mission of the Apostle Paul from within Judaism; Emden channels many sources, mainly the great Talmud commentator RASHI (1040-1105), the Tosafists and the Hasidei Ashkenaz NOT the Aristotelian Moses Maimonides RAMBAM (1138-1204). The great Pharisee Emden, was also a staunch critic of the Zoharists and freewheeling Kabbalists in The Pale of Settlement of Eastern Europe.
The Holocaust redeemed Emden’s Pharisees from the earth although now their testimony is enthroned in judgment through the remnants of their texts. In contrast, the last Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Chabad organization began its outreach from the haven of New York with their Maimonidean synthesis. Chabad continues to move the cultural gene pool back to Torah through its state-of-the-art outreach yet indirectly affirms militant Zionist nationalism.
A proper Haredi yeshiva facilitates a religious oral tradition that holds back specific knowledge until the student is already a Presbyter and eligible for the Kollel (post graduate) and its Kabbalah. Such knowledge was passed on verbally, just as Jesus taught, to faithful Talmidim (disciples) and through the Talmud. After all, the New Testament affirms the Jews as God’s Oracle keepers. The emergence of Jewish texts such as The Zohar and other concepts from Kabbalah continue to confuse and aid selfish esotericism without its tightly controlled Episcopal system of the Jewish Qehila.
The aforementioned narrative now uncovers propositions gleaned from sola scriptura. With the ‘old faith’s’ insight, the Septuagint (LXX) tapped into the Mishnaic element and amplified the Tanakh that the non-observant ethnic Sadducees rejected. The New Testament stands binding for the nations, yet its Mishnaic genre is undeniable. It provides us with what the Qehal Scribes & Pharisees expect from the righteous among the nations to be guaranteed a place in the world to come and with the easy yoke of Jesus of Nazareth.
Only in Antioch, where believers first called Christians in an era of false Messiahs, because grafting-in Hebrews was nothing new. (Acts 11:24). We have acquired Hebrew roots through the cultivated olive tree, Jesus of Nazareth has become our Rebbe, and we obey Him! Concerning the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 we must read between the lines. Its anti-circumcision dietary controversy takes prominence over the fact that the Way Derech Eretz (the pre-Noahic way of the land preserved through the 7 Laws of Noah) are implicit and still in discussion around 325AD and after, as evidenced by Augustine of Hippo in Contra Faustum, and again only a couple centuries after him even in the Quran as the sharia of Noah in Sura 42.
When Jesus told His followers to obey the Scribes & Pharisees in (Matthew 23:2-3), “Do what they say for they sit in the seat of Moses,” he meant the ancient Pilgrim faith with a diaconate-led congregation like the one (Edah) in the wilderness mentioned by Stephan in Acts 7:38. When he said “Don't do what they do,” he meant those who are sick lost Jews of the crowd (erev rav) mustn’t Judaize nor try to copy the ways of the Qehal Jews who alone are chosen to enjoy the best places in the synagogues and be called Rabbi. Yet in Talmudic style listed 7 types of actor Scribes and Pharisees and criticized the Sanhedrn’s ethnocentric Sadducees who dismissed the oral Torah observance that guided the Pilgrim wild branches grafted-in to the cultivated olive tree. For who was the Apostle Paul, but a Hillite Pharisee taught by Gamaliel, as he echoed the position of our Lord against the nationalist Sadducees.
Lest we succumb to contextual and conceptual limits, our sola scriptura foundation requires the ‘cultivated olive tree’ for our ‘wild branch’ interpretations. For example, when Jesus triggered his disciples at Caesarea Philippi amid pagan temples. With beauty, Rome seduces our senses where Matthew 16:13-20 is etched in gold along the Vatican's towering Basilica's perimeter. Have we as Evangelicals escaped seduction and understood the text?
Here, accepting Simon Cephas’ confession as the divergence between Rome and Protestants misses the Hebrew reading, with the insertion of Petter (petra), a pun — often used in Talmudic discussions — with Cephas the rock, referring to the Maccabean absorption of Edom/Petra/Nabataea now comprised of Herodians and Rome as it had been with the Greeks and Persians before. Nabaeot is the Petter Chamor, the Firstborn of the Donkey Ishmael’s children. But Jesus rode in on a donkey when he came to redeem the lost sheep and this is significant. Donkeys, perhaps, needed no explanation from the Good Shepherd but were slandered into a symbol of stupidity in the West. A very clever travel companion who instinctively knows the safest, shortest route, the Donkey is the only contaminant (Tumah) animal holy enough to be redeemed through Pidyon haBen (redeeming the offspring), as described in Exodus 13.
Jesus used the Petter pun on ‘Cephas’ a sinful man (Luke 5:8) who by his confession becomes holy enough to be redeemed as a Petter (firstborn) among the lost sheep in the Edah as a pillar. Nevertheless, all things whatsoever a Qehel Pharisee like Paul bids must be kept and observed which explains Paul’s authority to rebuke Simon Peter in Galatians.
RASHI states this about the Apostles “who purposely infected their culture in order to sway the Notzri faith away from Judaism (into Messianic Noahides) ; they themselves were not heretics and did so for the benefit of the Jewish people.” Even more conclusive is the Hebrew word Petur, meaning ‘exempt’ which describes the role of a Petter Chamor, a Baal Teshuva who guides the Pilgrim Messianic Noahides like Cornelius. Possibly, the most enduring testament in Rome to ‘Simon St. Peter'’is the Alexamenos Graffiti on Palatine Hill.
The Netzar root of the scions of the house of David and their geographical location in the former Northern Kingdom (where the Notzrim secretly did evil before the Lord II Kings 17:9) provides an answer as to why no good could come from Nazareth—no wonder the ambiguous Gnostic movement provided a target for Rome. Perhaps to tidy up ‘orthodoxy’ against texts that already had a consensus early on in the Jesus Movement’s Jewish narrative that had no utility for Constantine’s emerging religion.
Two millennia of misinformation endures because of debates on whether Jesus of Nazareth is among the infamous Yeshus of the Talmud. In fact his closest relative appears in the Teliya, which tells the story of the wayward Son born to Mary Magdalene and his “brother” Joses (who Epiphanius surnames Pandera). The Teliya Ye.Sh.U. provides the basis for many distorted versions of the story, known as the Toledot Yeshu, a title misappropriated from a Hebrew version of Matthew still preserved by the Scribes & Pharisees. Even liberal historical Jesus scholars indirectly confirm this narrative. Thus, fantasy novels like Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code perpetuate the confusion.
Later, corrupted stories from the Teliya and its Talmudic references emerged and merged with all kinds of evil from Jews converted to Christianity, often for the wrong reasons in the Middle Ages. The most famous was Nicolas Donin, an obvious Zoharist who entered the Dominican order and put the Talmud on trial in Paris in 1240, resulting in book burnings and intensifying pogroms against the anti-Zoharist Pharisees.
The most telling element of Toledot Yeshu’s central character born to Mary Magdala is his Antichrist status as the Balam and Belial of both the NT and the Baraitas. The very ‘number of his name’ Yeshu Notzri, is the infamous number of the Beast in the Apocalypse. Sadly, even today, Christians are known as Notzrim in modern Hebrew, implying antinomianism fueled by hyper-grace, indulgences and cults of personalities found throughout Christianity.
Josephus, Epiphanius, and Nag Hammadi as recorded by Eusebius confirm these false Jesus descriptions about ‘this son of perdition’ from Jesus of Nazareth's extended family. Whether this textual record was intentional or a conflation remains a question. But the compilation of the NT following the destruction of the Temple is described only in the Teliya, demonstrating the Hillite Pharisee's mission to channel their lost sheep toward the Jesus movement before Bar Kochba's defeat as also affirmed by RASHI.
Did the Nicaean Council finalize the ‘parting of ways?’ No, but it kicked off specific persecution because its Christology was kosher: God from God, Light from Light, the same essence, substance or being as the Father, stands paramount. Athanasius and Arius become prominent in our theology, evidenced by C.S. Lewis's introduction to a reprint of Athanasius 'On the Incarnation,' which demonstrates a reflection completely oblivious to Constantine's machinations. Does the humanity of Christ require a human? No, evidenced by Theotokos (God-Bearer), a term coined in the pre-Nicene era as kosher and later developed into the ‘Mother of God’ like ‘begotten’ for the Son in a propositional creedal form that diverts from its Scriptural use, distorting their original meaning through human posits rather than their use in their respective genre found in scripture.
Since Jesus Christ was a “demigod-king”, why not Constantine? But his Arian team didn’t win in 325 as Homoousios prevailed! Still Constantine’s setback from his Arian stance, including Eusebius, was brief. The theological-political-ecclesial merger was set despite the ‘Kosher’ Christology. Moving to Constantinople in 330 and posting the 50 bibles in 331 he suddenly unleashed his wrath on the Holy Land, where he built the first three basilicas in 333 and, in the footsteps of Antiochus Epiphanius, Constantine compelled Christians to abandon Synagogues and forced them to eat pork at Pascha under the pain of death.
Nicaea exposes today’s Vatican II Jewish apology with the ‘Mother Church’ at the center, leveraging Evangelical accommodation and confusion under Rome's hegemony. After all, two of Constantine’s 50 Bibles remain today. The Codexes Vaticanus and Sinaiticus formed a complete text. The Old and New Testament divisions refer to Israel's covenantal reception, yet the titles force a faulty paradigm as the New Covenant was already given in Jeremiah. In other words, discipleship is the obedience of faith and the coercive law is for children. Didn’t Jesus say let the little Children come unto me, including the family dog who benefitted from their proximity like the Syro-Phoenican Woman; examples of Pilgrims.
Was the eventual Chalcedonian Christology purely revelatory alignment? Significantly, the ancient churches Armenia, Syria, and the Copts are Mia/monophysite, as is Ana-Baptist Christology, recognizable within Kabbalah's Adam Kadmon (2nd Adam) as this aligns with Theophanies, Sar HaPanim, or the Netaiot, a mediator angelic being, one with the Father (Ein sof Ohr) unapproachable light, manifested as the Spirit hovering above the waters, the One who walked in the cool of the day, and the Root of David, Luke 3:38’s Son of God who with his Heavenly Bride redeem the Sons of Men from their fallen (Nephil) Cain (Genesis 4:6) ancestry. Not the myths of Enochian corpus distorting Metatron and the Two Powers in heaven controversy, yet where the victory of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ .
Abraham’s Hagar (Pilgrim), who called upon ‘the God who sees.’ Even the ‘Three as One’ in the visit to Abraham and Sarah at Mamre seems similar to the manifestation on Mount of Transfiguration. Calvin’s Threefold Office; Prophet, Priest and King came from Jewish Theophanies, not Eusebius. Including the Burning Bush, the Passover Destroyer, and the many appearances of the Angel, Word or Spirit of the Lord. All different from the Nephradim (disembodied spirits/angels which is all Maimonides seems to know of).
Christianity’s valid distillations such as Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation, provide order. Yet, as concepts begging Qehel authority, but not to Judaize. Still, these distillations serve the nations by announcing a Biblical message focused on the centrality of the Messiah from Judaism. Yeshua Sar Haphanim (Jesus, the Prince of the Presence) is found explicitly in the Jewish Machzorim (Prayer books), revealing the Netiaot as an extension of God’s justice for sin and repeated every month of Tishrei and as Yeshua (Salvation) in daily prayer. After all, the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world. (Rev 13:8).
Finally, calling Rome Pharisaical fails in light of the last centuries mostly higher critical N.T. Studies which further confirms the ‘Jewish Jesus’ as truly historical over the mythical constructions. Moreover, Reformed Christians like Corrie Ten Boom’s family shine for protecting cultural-ethnic Jews during the Holocaust. God forbid, that we’re entering such an undiscerning time of scapegoating again today. Antisemitism is ultimately anti-HaShem-ism.
Let us love! - for it is the new commandment from our Rebbe Jesus, the New Testament (Evangelion, Injeel) Gospel (announcement) means the ‘end of ungodliness’ as understood in the Teliya; the easy yoke of the Sermon on the Mount approved for the Gentiles at the Jerusalem Council. Therefore, the last Judeo-Christian Council, Nicaea, provides an essential understanding of the Christian Faith, not necessarily Christianity. Constantine's mistake played out after the Council, and it looms large, yet does not eclipse 325 AD’s Bibles which proclaim our LORD the Way (Derech Eretz), The Truth (Torah), and the Life (Our Saviour).
Magharians, Melchizedekians, Tazigane, Athiganoi, Paulicians, Passagians, Ebionite Gnostics (1 of three kinds), Tsabians, Tarsakan, Alevis, Messianists, Bogomills, Abigensians, Arnoldists, Waldensians. Plus, the many that went back and forth to Africa through the ages and all those forgotten. - a.k.a. The Trail of Blood https://youtu.be/2uKLOKqek1A?si=N-la8B7NIsI1V-hk
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Judeo-Christians
Pseudognostic Independent Baptists is a phrase that describes Messianic Noahides (Hebrew Messianists) throughout the ages. Noahide Judaism plays a key role in retrieving people lost in Gnosticism by appealing to certain Gnostic concepts (e.g. the Jesus Patibilis concept) and correcting others (e.g. Luciferianism). The end result is no-longer Gnosticism though it sometimes looks similar. None of these groups were Luciferian Gnostics but have often been accused as such and had many members fall into it, this is clear from general narrative out of traditional Christianity. Messianic Noahides working among these groups were abused and persecuted by people speaking all kinds of calumny against them for trying to be faithful to the NT and for attempting to convert the Eliphas Levi types throughout history.
Pseudo-gnostic Independent Baptists are the sane counterpart to other sects which gave into the Dark Side such as the Hermetic Rosicrucian order of the Golden Dawn etc.
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Rebbe_Yehoshuah_Minzaret
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Halakha
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Modern_attempts_to_revive_the_Sanhedrin
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Prohibition_of_Blasphemy
Reading Galatians within Judaism: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos, Vol. 3 (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2021/22) https://youtu.be/otzyUSOniSE?si=_HPwuFZtsMTCfNqQ Nanos’ interview with Israel Bible Center aligns with HaGerim from the many New Perspective on Paul ‘perspectives’. Nanos rises above them all and should not be associated with them, but he is not promoting Orthodox Judaism, and seems to practice a type of reform Judaism as an academic. He had a rather disappointing exchange with Thomas Schreiner over a decade ago in https://enhancededitions.zondervanacademic.com/four-views-on-the-apostle-paul-ee This shows the need for framing the discussion which I believe many of us from Evangelical Christianity are unable to do with out leaving aside our ‘idealogical’ commitments to Jesus of Nazareth as the exclusive second Adam (which He certainly is) but let us allow a contextual focus. Homiletical simplicity is drawn from a full exegesis of the text and culture and secondary applications should not rupture our proclamation for which we trust the Holy Spirit to bring home. Since we still cannot agree on who the Judaizers were in most Christian commentaries, perhaps its time to start listening to Jews?
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Ger_Tzedek
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Jewish_views_of_religious_diversity
The proper Jewish genealogy https://youtu.be/_AF3G7gHuHs?si=ds5IDJhMfrjt5fneC
A search for a foundation thus manifests by the conflict within Evangelicalism concerning atonement theories like substitution and sacrifice from the Cross event, versus, progressive expressions that refer to the resurrection event as foundational for the Gospel, i.e., Anselm vs Christus Victor. There is no rejection of these distillations as they are theological descriptions presented as dogma, but what is the prescription? The revelation of Mt. Sinai and knowing that God's element of justice, He, as the Messiah, has visited his people many times. Thus, it must be situated in the whole council of the Lord. Another move is interpreting Isaiah 61:1&2 through Jesus' reading in the synagogue recorded by Luke 4:14-30 announcing the Lord's favor as Gospel, with the day of wrath in the future, (described in vivid color in Is.63) and not edited out as some liberals or progressives have attempted. (Rather this shows Jesus read from the LXX affirming the Romaniote Minhag as perhaps the Judeo-Greek language was a textual depository over the Messianic the Qehel Pharisees, as Aramaic was used to preach to the Lost Sheep. Other evidence that is congruent with the Revelation of Mt Sinai could be Jesus' Sermon on the Mount using Peacemakers (Meshulam, Noahites), which frames the Gospel to listen oh wise ones (chochmai) for I have a righteousness answer for you all who thirst for righteousness (chassidut). So, 'take on my easy yoke,' Matt. 11:29-20, not the heavy yoke of Judaism as Simon Peter referred to in Acts 15, juxtaposing the seven mitzvot (for the nations) with the 613 mitzvot (as observed within Judaism). This is no denial of substitution and sacrifice in terms of the atonement. Still, Jesus as the slain Lamb of God raises many questions from within Judaism with their view that human sacrifice is pagan, yet certain midrashim hold that Abraham actually sacrificed Isaac and he was raised. Other questions are why the Son is referred to the Lamb of God? And finally, the explanation of the cross with whoever is hung on a tree is certainly cursed. (Deut. 21:23 & Gal. 3:13) These questions also revolve around the Passover (an incomplete area in Christian comment) and this will be treated elsewhere.
John Calvin, “Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah,” in Calvin’s Commentaries 8:269.
Judaism was NOT anti-greek nor any other language (Acts 2) According to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, books of Tanach (Hebrew Scripture) may be translated only into Ancient Greek. He based this on pasuk, which says that the beauty of Yefes - the beautiful language of Greece, descendants of Yefes — rests in the [study] halls of Shem - the Jews (Megillah 9b; Yerushalmi Megillah 1:9). From the Jerusalem Talmud
Peter Vogt, Count Zinzendorf's Encounter with Judaism and the Jews. A Fictitious Dialogue from 1739 Journal of Moravian History No. 6 (Spring 2009), pp. 101-119 (19 pages): Penn State University Press
I have purposefully left out a very significant history of ‘Christian Cabbala’ through the Italian humanists Marcelo Ficino and Pico di Mirandola.
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Religious_conversion
A. Fratini, C.Prato, I Sebòmenoi (tòn Theòn): Una Risposta all’ Antico Enigma dei Sabei, Rome 1977 (in Italian, with an English Summary). God-Fearers: A Solution to the Ancient Problem of the Identity of the Sabians
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/God-Fearers_and_the_Identity_of_the_Sabians
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Kaftorite_Nation
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Essenes
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Edom
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Idumeans
The word “Jew” is often derived from Genesis 29:35, which states that the matriarch Leah, Judah’s mother, named him Yehudah (in Hebrew), which is Judah in English. Still, she needed to name him after some word, action or concept, so the word existed before Judah, who was Jacob’s fourth son. Thus, the word Judah means “praise” and “thanks” because Leah wanted to “praise and thank God” for giving birth to so many sons. “She said, ‘This time let me praise God,’ and named the child Judah,” thus combining “praise” and “God” into one new name. In Hebrew, the name “Judah” contains the four letters of the Tetragrammaton — the unique, holy, and ineffable name of the Jewish God. The very holiness of the name of Judah attests to its importance as an alternate name for “Israelites” that it ultimately replaced. When the northern kingdom of Israel no longer existed, the kingdom of Judah stood as a Jewish state, but still copying the nations around them. Perhaps then the term in Hebrew, Yehudi, translated as “Jew,” was applied to all Jews BUT let it harken back to etymology otherwise sacred seed doctrines arise which are prevalent in Zionist nationalist and Chardali attitudes. The very concept of praise and Thanksgiving is inherent in the word “Jew.” Jews are reminded of Thanksgiving every day and celebrate the Sabbath as Thanksgiving. According to Judaism there are two major groups of people covered by the religion of Mount Sinai. One is the Ezrah (אזרח) group and the other is the Ger (גר) group. The Ezrah (אזרח) group covers anyone whose Mother is recognized as Jewish by the Scribes and Pharisees. The Ger (גר) group covers anyone who believes in Judaism but whose Mother is not recognized as Jewish by the Scribes and Pharisees. All of Am Israel are brethren, both Ger and Ezrah alike, but it is better to be a believing Ger than a non-believing Ezrah. The worst kinds of Jew are the Ezrahim who think they are more Jewish than Gerim or anyone who thinks that only an Ezrah is a child of God because such views blasphemed the Ruakh haQodesh which is the only true promised seed in Judaism. There are only two ways in Orthodox Judaism, either the Scribe/Pharisee Halakhah of the Qehal or the Noahide/Ger Derekh Eretz of the Edah. Any Ezrah who will not come to one or the other is outside of the folds of Judaism and is considered Apikorus. Although the Law commands Kiruv to all lost Ezrahim so that they might at least return to the Derekh Eretz, nevertheless, it is always better for a believing Ezrah to socialize with Gerim and other believers if available to keep yourself grounded.
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Yakov_Yisrael_Emden See Harvey Falk, Jesus the Pharisee, for Emden’s letter on Paul.
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Rashi
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Rambam
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Menachem_Mendel_Schneerson
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Chabad_Lubavitch
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Ashkenazite_Nation In the history of the Dominican order the narrative presents the heretical Cathars in Southern France as the reason to establish their mission, note the similarity with Khazars. Edward Peters. Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe. University of Pennsylvania Press, (1980) A collection of primary sources, some on Catharism.
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/The_Eucharist_for_Messianic_Noahites
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Hassidei_Umot_Ha_Olam http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9D
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Council_of_Jerusalem
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Subdividing_the_Seven_Commandments
Augustine of Hippo on Noahite Laws
... enjoined in ancient times upon Noah himself after the deluge, Genesis 9:6 the meaning of which we have already explained, is thought by many to be what is meant in the Acts of the Apostles, where we read that the Gentiles were required to abstain from fornication, and from things sacrificed, and ... Acts15:29 ... from blood means not to be polluted with the crime of murder. ... and not to eat of things strangled, theya seem to me to have consulted the time in choosing an easy observance that could not be burdensome to any one, and which the Gentiles might have in common with the Israelities, for the sake of the Cornerstone, who makes both one in Himself; Ephesians 2:11-22 while at the same time they would be reminded how the Church of all nations was prefigured by the Ark of Noah, when God gave this command — a type which began to be fulfilled in the time of the apostles by the accession of the Gentiles to the faith." (Contra Faustum 32:13)
The Shariah in the Arabic Quran itself is defined only once and it is defined as being the Law of Noah in 42:13. Thus Islam inherited the tradition of 7 Mathaani from the Sabians. The word Mesani is translated as meaning “repetition” Two verses in Qur'an refer to Al mesani / Al mesaniy: 15:87 and 39:23. They are pronounced in the Noachite oath (Bayah) of the Muhajirun (HaGerim) given in Quran 60:12:
يا أيها النبي إذا جاءك المؤمنات يبايعنك على أن (Deen)
لا يشركن بالله شيئا (no Idols)
ولا يسرقن (no Theft)
ولا يزنين (no Immorality)
ولا يقتلن أولادهن (no Murder)
ولا يأتين ببهتان يفترينه بين أيديهن وأرجلهن (no Blasphemy)
ولا يعصينك في معروف (no Haram)
فبايعهن واستغفر لهن الله إن الله غفور رحيم
Qur'an 39:23 makes it clear that there is a mesani / mesaniy and Qur'an, and they are separate: Allah has revealed (from time to time) the most beautiful Message in the form of a Book, consistent with itself, (yet) repeating (its teaching in various aspects): the skins of those who fear their Lord tremble there at; then their skins and their hearts do soften to the celebration of Allah's praises. Such is the guidance of Allah: He guides there with whom He pleases, but such as Allah leaves to stray, can have none to guide.The main text makes it clear that something, a book or a text called mesaniy / mesani were given to Mohamed (pbuh).15.87 And We have bestowed upon thee the Seven Oft-repeated (verses) and the Grand Qur'an. Which implies that there were seven laws before the giving of the Qur'an. It is generally accepted that saban minel masani (Seven Oft-repeated verses) and quranel azim (Grand Reading/Qur'an) must be two different things because they are separated with conjunction waw. However, many Islamic scholars are at a loss to define what the Mesani is. The proposal that they are the seven laws of Noah has been found acceptable by certain Muslims who have studied the issue and not found to be theologically problematic. In the Qur'an Noah is portrayed as prophet teaching against idolatry even before the flood. The Qur'anic word ‘mesani’ is the same word as the Hebrew word ‘mishna’ (repetition) analogous to the meaning of Kabbalah as received, as Hebrew is a language of verbs.
Abraham Geiger (1896) Judaism and Islam. A prize essay translated from the German by F.M Young.
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Ma%27amad
Patricia Crone, Michael Cook (1977). Hagarism; The Making Of The Islamic World. London: Cambridge University Press.
Gavin McDowell, Ron Naiweld, Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra, (2021) Diversity and Rabbinization Jewish Texts and Societies between 400 and 1000 CE, Open Book Publishers.
Hakim Yossi Cohen, interviewed on the origins of Islam by Al- Fadi of CIRA International https://youtu.be/xTqMwCrniWM?si=L-jMVLnh5pxx6iBb
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Mages
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Pharisees
Was Saul/Paul's presence at Stephan's stoning intentional as a persecutor of the new Jesus Movement? Yes and no, but it is a bigger question if he was firmly entrenched with such Shammaite stacked Sanhedrin activities. Under Halahkah, the criminal was to be stripped (Mishnah Sanhedrin 6:4), but the executioners strip themselves here. Thus, the reasons from Halahkah present Luke is showing that such an execution was not Jewish. This confirms the important preamble to Deut. 20:18–19; Susanna 55, 59, 62. Mishnah Makkot 1:6; Sanhedrin 11:6; Tosefta Sanhedrin 6:5; 9:5; 14:17; Sifre to Deuteronomy 190:4-5. Why would Paul even be associated with this as a Pharisee? The issue of Hellenism—Greek living and acting methods was at the forefront. Greeks exercised naked (that's where the word gymnasium comes from, "to exercise naked"). The conflict between Greek Jews and Hebrew Greeks is categorized in Acts 6:1 and 9:29. Hellenists are the born (Greek) Jews who are complaining that there are common Hebrews getting attention ahead of born (Greek) Jews. And this would be the beginning of the division between Romaniot Jews and the Messianic Noahides. Deacons were assigned to deal with the Messianic Noahides while the apostles tried to work more on softening the hearts of the born (Greek) Jews. The Hebrews or Messianic Noahides where nothing new but now given great impetus by the Jesus Movement.
Harvey Falk (1984, 2003), Jesus: The Pharisee: A New Look at the Jewishness of Jesus (first published by Paulist Press. Latest Wipf & Stock) This book is an important and provocative study of the thought of the Pharisees in the time of Jesus and marks the first attempt by a rabbinic writer to demonstrate that Jesus of Nazareth consistently upheld the views of the rabbis of the School of Hillel, and that all his criticism was directed at the School of Shammai and their followers. After the School of Shammai disappeared from the Jewish scene following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in the first century, Judaism developed according to the teachings of Bet Hillel. https://amzn.eu/d/2zCLX37
Susannah Heschel (1998), Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus, University of Chicago.
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Petter_Chamor In Exodus 13:13 a Chamor is a domesticated male donkey. It explains concerning when a Chamor opens-up the way as his mother's firstborn. Such is called a Petter Chamor and is to be consecrated as Holy unto the Lord and does no manner of secular work. If he does do secular work he is to be redeemed by offering a Lamb or Goat. Otherwise, he is to be beheaded. And a parallel is drawn with the firstborn sons of Israel. Only these two Tamei Animals are consecrated to the Lord: the Donkey and the Israelite. Only Pidyon can save every Petter Donkey and every Petter Israelite from being beheaded if they do secular work.
The historical Peter and Paul controversy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexamenos_graffito
Eutychius of Alexandria in J.P. Migne, Patralogia Graeca 111.1012-13. at the top of page his book: The Church from the Circumcision, Bellarmino Bagatti says that Eutychius reports that at the time (333) when Constantine was erecting the first three Basillicas in the Holy Land by force, Constantine was forcing the Christians who were leaving the Churches during Passover "were forced to eat pork under pain of death". So why would Constantine have to be trying to force Christians to obey him after Nicaea if he was considered the benefactor of the Church? And who were the true guides of the Church at that time if the Christians were not eating pork during Passover? Needless to say, that Constantine's campaign was successful, and the Church of Thyatira was snatched up to heaven from the Jaws of Edom's Dragon.
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Judaizers
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Yeshua_Sar_HaPanim
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Esavite_Nation
See John Piper, The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23 (1983) his republished doctoral dissertation. For all the ink Piper spills on this chapter, he treats “Jacob I have loved Esau have I hated” with a limited excursus through selected German Historical Jesus Scholars and some Jewish comments on the book of Sirach from the Apocrypha that argue for his posit of election which totally misses the point of the chapter. Absolutely, God is sovereign; what earthly creation knows His mind? Who would deny He chooses? Nevertheless, because of this essay's data, the consensus of a 'spiritual Israel' election within Reformed Theology is 'a truth' but must be situated. The historical Esau/Edom destination rejection shows the limits of explanation, understanding, and the depths of such a lacuna of teaching from Judaism, which is simple and rests upon Abraham's two children, Ishmael and Isaac. From a historical vista and narrative including Reformed Covenant theology, this is a rather severe 'wrong step at the beginning' where Covenant theology should instead gain an understanding of Nebajoath (meaning Prophet), the twin brother of Mahalath, both children of Ishmael. After the wrong wives from Caanan, Esau pleased his parents by marrying Mahalath. Nevertheless, the Christ of the Covenant projections of Reformed theology are certainly not a mistake for glorifying the Son, typology if you will. Nevertheless, if we say, 'spiritual Israel,' then what about 'unspiritual Esau or Edom' a.k.a Rome? Thus, where does Christianity/ Christendom through Jacob and Esau meet again? Esau, says Judaism, was redeemed through Ishmael Abraham’s firstborn, so Jesus Christ is Torat Edom or Red Judaism, a.k.a Noahidism clarified through Mount Sinai and brought down through HaGerim to the Hasomonean period to set the stage for the Gospel to all peoples. Here, and here only, can we get Christianity and Islam on the same page and present Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah from Judaism. The text Piper is dealing with is written to Messianic Noahides (or Hebrews, former Gentiles and lost sheep Jews), who witnessed Claudius' expulsion of the Zealot inspired ethnic Jews in the late 40s. Paul is telling the church in Rome 'now don’t get full of yourselves,' although there is such a statement in chapter 11 on 'the fullness of the Gentiles' that is a little bit more difficult to figure out time sense, yet it makes sense as the Lord works through times and seasons. Such is the occasion for the Book of Romans, not some text Luther rediscovered to create a doctrinal polemic against Rome, no matter how well it preaches, and I would not deny this right in interpretation as a homiletical application for the Holy Spirit has certainly spoken through it. Luther is certainly among a fragmented sourcing in Piper’s work, but Emperor Claudius expulsion is nowhere to be found.
Suetonius, De vita XII Caesarum libri, Claud. 25.4: Iudaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit (‘He expelled the Jews from Rome who through instigation of Chrestus had constantly created rows’); Acts 18:2: διὰ τὸ διατεταχέναι Κλαύδιον χωρίζεσθαι πάντας τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἀπὸ τῆς Ῥώμης (‘Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome’); see also Orosius, Historiae Adversus Paganos 7.6.5. On these measures see Botermann 1996.
יז״וש (Yimakh Zikhron U Shemo) Yizush or Yazush or Yezush or Yazosh or Jezus is also known as Yeshu Natzri and Ha-Mitzri (after the Blasphemer of Leviticus 24:10) and Dositheus and Ben Setada as well as Hiram. He is also referred to as Belial in the Teliya and by Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:15 or as Balam son of Bezer in 2 Peter 2:15 and in Jude 1:11 and as polluting the of Pergamum under Satan's throne as well as of course in Revelations 13 and He is the traditional Eastern Yiddish Ashkenazi version of Krampus who appears on the last night of Saturnalia called Nittel. Yazosh was the son of Miriam Magdalena and Joses Pantera the (step)brother of Rebbe Yehoshuah Minzaret. The sea he came from is the Red Sea (the Sea of Edom meaning mamzerim). The 7 letters are the 7 heads (one of which is damaged). The tops of the letters stand for the 10 horns. There are also 10 crowns (crownable letters are only crowned once per noun).התלי was supposed to have been the source of his power. It was Mead who found that‚ the identification of Balaam (Bileam) with Jeschu [1] in a number of the Talmud stories we are considering cannot possibly be held in doubt, will be amply seen from the passages which we are now about to bring forward. As Mentioned above, Yeshu Natzri is identified with Ha-Mitzri. Minchat Y'hudah on Vayiqra 24:11, Chapter 61 says that Ha-Notzri is Ha Mitzri
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895. Josephus, J.W. 2.13.5 §261-263
There was an Egyptian false prophet that did the Jews more mischief than the former; for he was a cheat, and pretended to be a prophet also, and got together thirty thousand men that were deluded by him; these he led roundabout from the wilderness to the mount which was called the Mount of Olives, and was ready to break into Jerusalem by force from that place; and if he could but once conquer the Roman garrison and the people, he intended to domineer over them by the assistance of those guards of his that were to break into the city with him. But Felix prevented his attempt, and met him with his Roman soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack upon them, insomuch that when it came to a battle, the Egyptian ran away, with a few others, while the greatest part of those that were with him were either destroyed or taken alive; but the rest of the multitude were dispersed every one to their own homes, and there concealed themselves.
C.A. Evans, Jesus in Non-Christian Sources. In: Studying the Historical Jesus. 1994. Lieden: Brill.
footnote 5. D. Rokeach, "Ben Stada is Ben Pantera-Towards the Clarification of a Philological-Historical Problem," Tarbiz 39 (1969-70) 9-18 (Hebrew). Herford (Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, 37, 345) speculates that the Egyptian Jew who in 56 C.E. claimed to be able to command Jerusalem's walls to collapse (cf. Josephus, J.W. 2.13.5 §261-263; Ant. 20.8.6 §169-172; Acts 21:38) may have been the original Ben Stada. Later forgotten, his name and the criticisms that went with it were applied to Jesus. Klausner (Jesus, 21-22) and Goldstein (Jesus in the Jewish Tradition, 57-62) agree, believing that this identification arose late. Bringing "spells from Egypt in a cut" means smuggling magic spells out of the country by hiding them in an incision in one's flesh; cf. Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, 36. Whereas Herford (Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, 39) was convinced that Ben Pandira (or Ben Panthera) had nothing to do with Jesus ton Parthenou ("son of the virgin"), Klausner (Jesus of Nazareth, 24) was equally convinced that it did. Recently W. Ziffer ("Two Epithets for Jesus of Nazareth in Talmud and Midrash," JBL 85 [1966] 356-59) has speculated that Ben Stada and Ben Pandira are to be understood as Ben Satana and Ben Pandora. Klausner (Jesus of Nazareth, 20-23) argued that ben Stada originally did not refer to Jesus. Maier (Jesus von Nazareth, 243-55) agrees, arguing further that ben Pandira originally did not refer to Jesus. Meier (A Marginal Jew, 95-97)
The Teliyat Ye.Sh.U. (Hanging Esav) Teliya or Tole in Yiddish (also known as the Ma‘aseh Ye.Sh.U., Ma‘aseh Talui, Ma‘aseh Toleh and Asham Talui) is the second part of the Book of Acts and original story behind the Acts of Peter. It is the Jewish aggadah (tale) on the origins of Christianity and Islam based on Yohanan Ben Zakkai's story of Magdalena's son, 666 (also known as Dositheus and Yizush and Ben Stada), from which the Gentiles' so-called "Toledot Yeshu" and other such tales originated. It is referred to as תליית ישו by Rashi in a tradition describing the origins of the Evangelion with legitimate Jews who affected their culture for the good of all Jews. Hagahos Baruch Frankel on 580 also refers to this manuscript. The Teliya was read by Messianic Noahites often over a game of Trumps on Nittle Nacht (ניטל נאכט), the night before Kalenda. The word Nittle (ניטל) is the Yiddish pun used for the Nativity of the Evangelion after 666 (the Ashkenazi version of "Krampus") was hanged. The Ashkenazi version of Santa is the Spirit of Elijah. The Teliya Ye.Sh.U. is the origin story for the Evangelion from the Judaic perspective. Again, it could be described as a second book of Acts which has only preserved in Judaism. It is the inspiration behind certain apocryphal books such as the Acts of Peter and the many doctored versions of the story which are known as the Toledot Yeshus; many corrupted versions of the Teliya which emerged from Jews converted to Christianity under the 1588 laws of the Polish-Lithuanian Republic as well as from Karaites of Worms to slander Jews in other parts.
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Notzrim
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Netzarim
http://www.wikinoah.org/en/index.php/Apollos
Sources that are of no help, but perhaps indirectly confirm
Jean Daniélou, The Theology of Jewish Christianity: A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before, The Council of Nicaea, Westminster Press; First American Edition (1977)
Philo of Alexandria trs. James. G. Colbert, Wipf & Stock (2014) “Philo’s Alexandrian Judaism is far from Palestinian Judaism. For Palestinian Jews, nation and religion are one. The sons of Abraham are the people of God. They bear Rome’s political yoke impatiently. This nationalism will grow enormously during Philo’s lifetime, animated by the zealots. In the end, even the Essenes will be swept along. The culmination will be the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Philo must have had no sympathy for this particularism. It is not by chance that his nephew Tiberius Alexander is at Titus’s side as chief of staff during of the siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.” Excerpt from: "Philo of Alexandria" by Jean Danielou SJ. Scribd.
[...]. such are the traditional standard narratives. It is a bold statement to say that “the Essenes were swept along.” According to the Telyia the Pharisees simply suffered for not separating themselves from the Zealots and Sadducees and Notzrim who went to war. That is why after the destruction of the temple the Pharisees decided to do something about it and commissioned the NT. Sweeping statements from monolithic thinking structures narratives with caricatures of opposing groups, none the less. It is said that Rabbi Akiva during the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 who also was taken by the moment but came to his senses against the militaristic solution.
Daniélou’s research is analogous to an atomistic approach because he really doesn’t have the proper Pharisee distinctions between Shammai & Hillel in view, nor the Maccabean period and its complexity of Jewish influenced upon the peoples of the area, notwithstanding the thesis of this paper which has sought a congruent and systemic received tradition of the biblical record of the grafting in of the nations all through the summary texts of the Tanakh & LXX. This method has continued with recent researchers like Hans Boersma and Brant J. Pitre, who write about Jewish roots but also miss the Pharisaical lineage in light of a proper understanding of the nuances of the 2nd Temple period.
