by James C. Whitman
Time magazine (March 2008) identified “Re-Judaizing Jesus” as one of ten trends changing the world. Though we may quibble with their title we agree with their assessment. Moreover, we believe it is a gift from the Holy One and is a revelation that JC Studies has an obligation to be faithful with in our generation. The common starting point is Jesus - “born King of the Jews” - in his Jewish world and our approach can be summarized by the phrase: Hebraic perspective.
For us, the word Hebraic relates to both method and meaning. ʻMethodʼ refers to an ongoing academic exploration of language, literature, culture and the religious traditions associated with Israel during the Second Temple Period; ʻmeaningʼ refers to the scriptural insights these studies yield. Perspective (whose Latin origin is from the field of optics) is best understood by its synonyms: point of view, frame of reference and way of seeing.
Imagine trying on a new set of spectacles; how different the world looks through them! By way of analogy Hebraic represents the eye glasses and perspective is what you actually see while wearing them. Remarkable sights come into focus when you gaze at Jesus anew through these lenses. Consider just three.
1. You have a perspective. Think about our simple illustration of eye glasses. In order to try on a new pair (Hebraic perspective) you need to take a pair off (your perspective). The impact of recognizing your own frame of reference is astonishing, profound and potentially life changing.
I have a friend who grew up acting on what sheʼd been told about having “thin blood” and the need to limit activity as a result. Can you imagine her response when, as a young adult, the Doctor said that the uninformed diagnosis of her well meaning parents had been wrong all along? Can you say paradigm shift?!
Our Lord Jesus, in a triple tradition, highlights the limiting effects of an unexamined perspective using picturesque language concerning wineskins, old and new. His words serve as a sobering reminder that we continually need an objective viewpoint from which to consider our ways. Those objective viewpoints are continually presented to us in the Gospel accounts offering fresh vistas that are truly breathtaking.
2. Jesus had a perspective: a way of thinking, speaking and acting dramatically different from our own. This obvious but obscured idea rarely occurs to us until we identify our own cultural lenses. Once our eyes adjust to the new glasses we find ourselves transported into His- story; the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4), the promised land (Heb. 11:9). Practically speaking, it is wrong-headed to say we can know the perspective of Jesus completely. But competent historians will tell you that due diligence in original material can lead upstream, closer to the source. This is where the method portion of our Hebraic perspective phrase comes into play.
Given how little the Gospels are preached and how much scholarly chatter there is surrounding the historical Jesus you might be tempted to ask, How important is this really? Sociologist Jacques Elul prophetically observes that to divorce the revelation of God in Jesus from its historicity leads to a condition where, “Christianity becomes an empty bottle that the successive cultures fill with all kinds of things.”
3. Jesus presents a Kingdom perspective. So what exactly did Jesus fill the bottle/ wineskin with? Certainly this brief article cannot probe the depths of the question but it is one of supreme importance. And now, oriented to the life and times of the Messiah, we are in a better position to hear His message the way those traveling with Him heard it. This corresponds to the meaning portion of our Hebraic perspective definition.
The birthright of those in the new covenant is to have Torah (embodied and defined by Yeshua) written upon their hearts, to literally have the mind of Messiah in increasing measure! The process begun by putting off our limited way of seeing, continues through Bible study that conditions the ear to hear the King, who is speaking to us from his context (John 14:26). Most importantly, this transformation is being perfected by the Fatherʼs faithful Spirit-work in and through us.
A word of caution is in order here. All that has been said so far is rather pointless if what we learn isnʼt immediately put into practice on behalf of our fellow man. Dwight Pryor persistently pointed out that the reason we go back to Yeshuaʼs generation is in order to go forward into our own with greater faithfulness. Tom Wright constantly reminds serious students of Scripture that the aim is to recover the first-century questions and try to give twenty-first century answers.
The ongoing scholarship of the Center for Judaic- Christian Studies is dedicated to developing a Hebraic perspective that is vibrantly biblical, balanced and Christ- centered. To complete my analogy, the eye glasses we provide the Church are bifocals; one half of each lens devoted to seeing things far away (historically), and the other half to seeing things up close (locally). Our prayer is that this trend observed by Time magazine will indeed, truly change the world. Because Messiah Yeshua is God's gift to humanity.
==============
Want to study this subject in-depth? We recommend Jewish Roots 101.
Take me back to the library. Or if you prefer, back to the topic Hebraic Perspective.