Customer Reviews

Messianic Christology

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The Hebrew Christian (or Messianic Jewish) scholar, Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum, goes through the entire Hebrew Bible -- the Law, Prophets and Writings -- and shows that Jesus Christ was prophesied in many places. He has a knack of communicating deep material in an easy-to-understand way. Where necessary, he analyzes the original Hebrew, and is erudite on Jewish interpretations of the passages.

It fills an important gap, because most Christians seem exclusively concerned with the New Testament, and forget about the Old Testament on which it rests.

His introduction is important, and warns against sensationalising, e.g. the claim that Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies at his first coming, when there are less than 100. Another error is forgetting that the Bible is a progressive revelation of God's Messianic program, foreordained from eternity but worked out in history. This results in falsely assuming NT understanding by OT saints who couldn't have had this.

The book provides many fascinating insights, e.g. into Genesis 4. There is also deep analysis of well-known prophecies. For example, he shows that Isaiah 7:14 was indeed prophesying a virginal conception of the Messiah, and that almah really does mean 'virgin' not 'young woman'.

Fruchtenbaum also shows that Isaiah 53 was really talking about the Messiah, as shown by the context. It is provides vital apologetic for witnessing to non-Christian Jews, because he shows that the vast majority of Jewish commentators, including Maimonides, believed that the passage is Messianic. The supposedly 'Jewish' view that it's referring to Israel is a fairly modern revisionist interpretation that was fiercely resisted by Rabbi Crispin as 'forced and far-fetched'.

There are also very valuable chapters about the plurality, unity and Triunity of the Godhead in the OT. The appendices also have much of value, including Daniel's '70 sevens' prophecy, 'How did the Wise Men know?', 'How the NT quotes the OT' and 'Jewish Objections to Jesus'.

I am also a Hebrew Christian or Messianic Jew, and think this book is unexcelled for Jewish insights into Yeshua Hamashiach. I think the only likely 'answers' to this book will be ad hominem, arbitrarily defining people like Fruchtenbaum and me as non-Jews, although we believe in the Jewish Messiah who fulfilled prophecies of the Hebrew Bible, and believe the New Testament also written entirely by Jews (including Luke!).

DO NOT BE PUT OFF BY THE TITLE! This is not another longwinded, dry theological tome gathering dust on the shelves of elderly clergymen! Arnold Fruchtenbaum has the rare gift of being able to write in a scholarly but clear, extremely readable manner.

"Messianic Christology" is the first book of his that I have read, and I want more! The title is simply the official term for a study of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. As the author is both Jewish and fluent in Hebrew, he is able to explain some of the finer points of what the Old Testament actually says. I never studied Hebrew but he explains things so clearly that this is no difficulty, and even an experienced Hebrew scholar will find fresh insights.

The main aim of the book is to show how Jesus fulfills the Messianic prophecies. The Old Testament scriptures are divided into the (Jewish) traditional three sections, the Law, the Prophets and the Writings (Psalms etc).

Charts and timelines are included as appropriate, and each chapter has brief "soundbites" at the end, summarising what the section has shown about the Messiah, for example: "Messiah is to be be a king"; "Messiah must be born prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70AD".

Finally, the printing is,like the content, very clear and easy to read.

The only fault I find with the book is that it's a paperback and likely to wear out long before I've finished with it!

Dr Fruchtenbaum has opened Biblical prophecy in ways that i have never seen before. He forcefully expounds the Old Testament prophecies that forecast the Messiah with such skill that it leaves me wondering how any Jew of today can not take the claims of Christ seriously.

For the Christian, this study will renew your appreciation of the supernatural unity of the Bible and augment your understanding of the identity of Jesus Christ. I thoroughly recomment this work to every Christian!

Amazing insights into the OT. Clearly explains OT references to the Messiah (as fulfilled by Yeshua of Nazareth) and the plurality of the godhead. Written in a very easy to read and well organized manner.

Essential for those wishing to talk to the Jewish unbeliever about Christ.

I have recently started going to a Messianic congregation, and this book was recommended to me as a resource for more information on the genealogies of Yeshua (which was the subject of the day in the adult class). I am deeply impressed with the amount of study that went into this book. There are some controversial things in this book, but Dr. Fruchtenbaum is such a clear, logical writer that, after searching through commentaries and doing my own language studies to confirm his findings, I've come away agreeing with him.

There are two things about the book that I really appreciated. One, that the Hebrew language of the text is printed alongside the English translation. This made my language studies easier, and I could compare more readily the Hebrew with English translation in the Fruchtenbaum book against the Hebrew and English of the JPS version and other translations. I was surprised that Fruchtenbaum's translation was closer to the original language than the JPS, and I was shocked to discover that Christian translations even mistranslated verses, sometimes in their favor, sometimes not. I've been told by many Orthodox and Messianic Jews that reading the Bible in Hebrew was different, more fuller; Fruchtenbaum allowed me to see that this is the case. I certainly am missing things by reading only the English version. And I also see now that I am missing things by not reading the Old Testament in the context of Jewish thinking.

The second thing that I really appreciated about the book was the appendices. When talking about the prophecy of the virgin birth in Isaiah 7, for example, Fruchtenbaum mentions Matthew 1:1-7. Since the genealogies themselves were not germane to the virgin birth argument Fruchtenbaum was making, they were not discussed at length in that section. But Fruchtenbaum being an obviously careful thinker discusses the genealogies as a separate topic in Appendix 4 (again, I found something in the genealogies that I had never heard before). Other appendix topics in the book that interested me include (as titled in the book): The Sons of God (I found this discussion controversial, but intellectually satisfying), Rabbinic Views of Messiah and Isaiah 53, How Did the Wise Men Know?, How the New Testament Quotes the Old Testament, and The Death of Judas Iscariot.

I highly recommend this book to all Christians (especially Gentiles because--as I discovered through this book--we don't always understand the context of what we are reading and sometimes miss details that are actually quite important). I also recommend it to my Jewish friends who will at least be challenged to disprove its interpretations. Comparing the content of this book with a leading anti-missionary's work on like subjects, Fruchtenbaum beats the anti-missionary hands down. In fact, what Fruchtenbaum does so well indirectly (meaning, he doesn't attempt to do this in his book) is show how unified the Tanach is at pointing out WHO the Messiah would be and how disconnected the traditional Jewish interpretations really are. Truly, as Messiah said, all the Law and the Prophets speak of Him.

This would be a great book to go through as a small group study. I envision a group working through a chapter a meeting and perhaps using the main prophecy for each chapter as the basis for a scripture memorization program.

I'm currently reading The Footsteps of the Messiah--Messianic Christology covers the first coming of Yeshua, Footsteps, the second--and I am finding Footsteps to be as good as Messianic Christology so far.

Greetings to all. I have read Arnold fruchtenbaum's book " Messianic Christology". It is one of the best life of Christ books from a Jewish perpsective that I have read to date. Mr Fruchtenbaum goes thru the Law, Prophets, and the writings to show that Jesus is in all of them. An excellent read to a Jew who wants to know Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah or the Gentile Christian wanting to know more of the Jewish roots of the Christian Faith. Enjoy. David

If you're interested in having all the Old Testament prophecies about Christ in one place, this is the perfect book. The author, being Jewish, brings fresh revelation to the subject. This study includes a deeper understanding of the original Hebrew text. I have studied the Bible for years, but this book brought fresh insights into Messiahic prophecy. Also, each lesson is short and easy to understand. There are several appendices at the end of the book giving further study into some of the sections. I would definitely recommend this study for anyone desiring to learn more about Jesus Christ and those prophecies concerning His first coming.

As with all of Dr. Fruchtenbaum's teachings, everything is backed up 100% by the Scriptures, nothing is conjecture and it all points to Christ. This is a must read to any serious student of God's word. It explains the roots of Messianic prophecies from the Old Testament which also back up the New Testament and teaches what most Christians have never heard, such as ancient Jewish Rabbinical teachings on such things as 2 comings of the Messiah and so much more! My words don't do this book justice. If you're serious about Truth, get it!

I can probably say that your Christology is incomplete without this work. Most systematic theologies give a brief synopsis of the pre-incarnate Christ and make some mention of His appearance as the Angel of the Lord.

But in Messianic Christology, Dr. Fruchtenbaum gives an in-depth study of all the passages in the Old Testament pertaining to the Messiah's first advent. And he shows articulately how Jesus alone fulfilled these manifold expectations and prophecies.

Dr. Fruchtenbaum knows very well the objections many Jews have today to Jesus being the Messiah, and he refutes their arguments clearly with even their own Rabbis' words.

This is a great resource on Christology, especially pertaining to how the Old Testament pictures the expected Messiah. While engaging with the original text and the history of Jewish interpretations concerning the texts, Dr. Fruchtenbaum shows very carefully the greatness of Christ's fulfillment of the Old Testament.

A valuable resource indeed.

This book is a wonderful review of Old Testament Messianic prophecy. It's well-written, concise and scholarly. Christians will benefit greatly by understanding this material.

I've also found it to be an important witnessing tool to Muslims as they've been taught to be mistrustful of New Testament authors. It's so important to be able to show them the consistency of the Old and New Testaments. (And they are consistent!)

And, of course, it's critical material to help Jews find, know and love their Messiah.