31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Combining Jewish tradition with Christian living, August 8, 2009
This review is from: The Torah Blessing (Paperback)
I always chuckle when I read that realizing that Jesus was a Jewish rabbi and that the early Christians were actually practicing Jews until about the 5the Century was a startling revelation to someone. Duh, it's basic pre-school Sunday School. However, I am fast learning that not every church or Sunday school teaches that fact. And, I think, after reading this book, that we need those people who are surprised because then if they are thinking students of Christianity, they go out and do some research and write very interesting books of which this book is a prime example. This is a well-written informative book about several of God's blessings that are recorded in the Old Testament and are still valid today but today's Christians don't really pay attention to them because basically we tend to shun anything that is "Jewish tradition". Mr. Huch's view is that we could be so much more, receive so many more of God's blessings, if we just understood what these traditions were and incorporated them into our livestyle. He has selected several blessings and has explained how they still relate to Christianity and how we can add a Christian slant to them. In the chapter about the Tallit, he also explains how words and word pictures that were automatically known to Jesus' audience would not make sense now unless we knew the Jewish tradition. For instance, the tassles at the corners of the Tallit have a blue thread in them which represents the complete Word of God and were called "wings". So, wrapping an ill person in a tallit is wrapping them in the Word of God and miracles will happen. It also explains Jesus' reference to gathering people under his wings. The last part of the book is about the seven Holy feasts and how to celebrate them and why they would bring meaning and peace to our lives. Many of his ideas are based on Ephesians 2:11-22 where we as Gentiles are no longer strangers to Judiasm but rather members. That God will not be able to save the world until we remove the wall between Judism and Christianity as in verses 20-21. It's a very interesting concept, he has some strong arguments for it, and this book is full of very interesting facts and explanations of Christian/Judish traditions that will make your Christian walk more meaningful whether you follow it or just gain some insight.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Useful work but...misses the mark in many ways, May 22, 2010
This review is from: The Torah Blessing (Paperback)
The Torah Blessing is a wonderful work in many respects. In the first part of the book Pastor Larry Huch, pastor of New Beginnings Church in Irving, Texas, lays out how Christians and Christianity through the centuries have pulled away from its Jewish roots and in doing so not only adopted and mixed pagan Roman rituals into the faith (for example the influence of Constantine and the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325) but how in Christian thought, doctrine and practice we became anti-Jewish and persecuted Jews. This is undeniably true.
When Huch talks about how the nomos (the law around the law or man-made tradition, is the curse Paul speaks about, and that the Law of Moses or Torah is a not a curse, as many Christians believe) he hits the mark.
However where he falls short, is his advocating the celebration of Jewish festivals for special blessings and in essence his advocating that Gentile believers can do well to become like Jewish-Christians. Huch does indeed states that Christians are saved by faith and faith alone. However he does claim that added and extra blessings come through observance of said Jewish holy days and festivals. This is where I part ways with Huch.
If Christians have to start keeping the Jewish calendar and holy days and festivals (not for salvation but for "blessing") are we getting entangled again in a yoke of slavery? I think so. It can be dangerously close to re-establishing legalism, the nomos or law around the law. If I think I can only obtain certain special favor of God by doing these things, am I countering Paul's' claims in the epistles. Again quit possibly.
Addressing the believers in Colossae, Paul though confronting the Gnostic heresy, lays out a clear principle applies to any situation. Paul states: "Let no one make rules about what you eat or drink or about holy days or the New Moon Festival or the Sabbath." Colossians 2:16
In the letter to the Hebrews, the author, who is anonymous, but still holds tightly to Pauline theology, argues that Christians do not need to be or become Jewish Christians since Christ is superior to the structure and rituals of Judaism.
Furthermore, most of the new converts to Christianity at the time of and after Paul's missionary journeys were Gentiles, with a mix of Jewish believers. It is not possible that they would want to or in many cases be allowed to live as Jewish believers. In fact, Paul addresses many of the believers who are meeting and holding church in individual homes, not synagogues. (Philemon 1:2, Romans 16:5)
In the early church we see the mother church (Jewish) in Jerusalem led by James, the brother of the Jesus, (Acts 15) and other Jewish churches. But what scholars call the Hellenistic churches were springing up all over the Roman Empire as the gospel went forth.
So, in summary Huch shines best when he exhorts the church to look at the faith through its roots- Judaism, that the Lord was after all Jewish and that Roman and Greek thought has permeated the church and therefore its Theology, both the Catholic Church and even the Protestant Reformation adherents up to the present. He is also correct when he discusses the fact that the church is to be one body of both Jewish and Christian believers, using Paul's terminology, of being "grafted" in together (Romans 11: 17-18.) Where he falls short is advocating the extra blessings that come from observing what can be called a return to Jewish-Christianity, and the very real possibility of re-establishing a practice that can led to legalism.
If you practice these things - and are blessed - then by all means continue therein. However guard against the very real threat of legalism and the temptation that arises when the church experiences any type of new or re-discovered revelation, excess.
Here is an acid test: Ask yourself: "Do I want/have to keep these festivals and observances to receive extra blessings?" If your answer is yes, by all means adhere to them. If your answer is: "I don't necessarily 'want' to but feel I 'have' to... I don't want to miss any blessings." If you feel you "have" to do these things, then it becomes an obligation and legalism, something Christ set us free from.
We can ask ourselves would Paul and the other New Testament writers would advocate for us the observance of Jewish days and festivals. The answer is that they most likely would not.
It is also worth noting what one of the early church fathers Irenaeus (2nd Century AD)(disciple of Polycarp, who was the disciple of the apostle John stated in his defense of the gospel against false doctrine or being lead astray when doing theology. He urged that "originality" was the last thing to be expected of a theologian and that heresy was born of the itch for something new.
It is useful advice.
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