Members’ Books
New Releases: June 2024
As recovering Fundamentalists we often find ourselves unknowingly remaining within the Fundamentalist worldview. We think that if we enter into Progressive Christianity we’re leaving behind the irrational, hurtful, racist, and untrue theological worldview we were brought up in. But what if Fundamentalism is really a kind of Progressive Christianity? And both of these twin children of modernity are inherently racist, anti-Jewish, and colonial, and therefore antithetical to the brown Jewish Incarnation of the God of Israel? What if instead of leaving Fundamentalism we’ve really just changed the garbs of the Northern European Enlightenment rather than truly reorientating our whole lives towards the True, Good, and Beautiful? In this book we will examine a need for former Fundamentalists to be reintroduced to the Christian faith. One that looks backwards towards Christianity as it existed before the Enlightenment and even the Reformation. One that de-centers Christian traditions which originated out of Northern Europe by centering Christian traditions rooted in such places as Southwest Asia and North and East Africa. By criticizing modernist white Christianity the reader is guided into a Christianity that isn’t merely the other side of the same coin but looks radically different.
Since the groundbreaking publication of Postmissionary Messianic Judaism (2005), Mark Kinzer has challenged theologians and religious leaders to consider the essential ecumenical vocation of Jewish disciples of Jesus. Proposing a bilateral ecclesiology in solidarity with Israel, he argued that the overcoming of Christian supersessionism required a robust affirmation of the distinctive calling of Jews within the community of Jesus the Messiah. In this way, Kinzer's work put the issue of Jewish followers of Jesus on the theological agenda for those seeking a reparative reconfiguration of the relationship between the church and the Jewish people. In recent years, Kinzer has attended to the theological implications of this perspective and has widened his focus to include not only the Messianic Jewish movement but also Jews within Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches. The present collection of essays reflects this wider concern. According to Kinzer, the theological stones of contention are Christology conceived of as Messianology, ecclesiology understood as Israelology, and eschatology imagined as Zionology. Moreover, it is the presence of Jewish disciples of Jesus that concretizes these theological abstractions in the form of Jewish flesh and blood, summoning Jews and Christians to rethink their relationship to one another in ways that express their essential mutual dependence.
Covenant and the People of God
Newly Published June 2023
Covenant and the People of God gathers twenty-four essays from friends and colleagues of Messianic Jewish theologian and New Testament scholar Mark S. Kinzer, in honor of his seventieth birthday.
The essays are organized around two central themes that have animated Kinzer's work: the nature of the covenant and what it means to be the people of God. The volume includes fascinating discussions of some of the most sensitive areas related to Jewish-Christian dialogue, post-supersessionist interpretation of Scripture, and the theological shape of Messianic Judaism.
Among the contributors are scholars working in North America, Europe, and Israel. They include: Gabriele Boccaccini, Douglas A. Campbell, Holly Taylor Coolman, Gavin D'Costa, Jean-Miguel Garrigues, Douglas Harink, Richard Harvey, Vered Hillel, Jonathan Kaplan, Daniel Keating, Amy-Jill Levine, Antoine Levy, Gerald McDermott, Michael C. Mulder, David M. Neuhaus, Isaac W. Oliver, Ephraim Radner, Jennifer M. Rosner, David J. Rudolph, Thomas Schumacher, Faydra L. Shapiro, R. Kendall Soulen, Lee B. Spitzer, and Etienne Veto.
NEW RELEASES: October 2022
Lee B. Spitzer
This resource compellingly retells how Baptists in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany responded to Nazism and the ensuing Holocaust. Readers will learn that European Baptists faced the same challenges as those in the U.S., but at a much closer distance (physically and politically) to Nazi Germany. And Spitzer shares how European Baptist national fellowships felt compelled to clarify their stance on totalitarianism, Nazism, and anti-Semitism in light of Baptist core convictions such as soul freedom and personality, separation of church and state, and democracy and freedom in both the civil and political spheres. Drawing from historical documents from the Baptist World Alliance, newspaper articles from the Baptist Times and others, and the works of contemporary and historic German theologians, Spitzer weaves a narrative that engages hope.
“Drawing from historical documents from the Baptist World Alliance, newspaper articles from the Baptist Times and others, and the works of contemporary and historic German theologians, Spitzer weaves a narrative that engages hope.”
NEW RELEASES: July 2022
Anwarul Azad & Ida Glaser
Genesis 1-11
Genesis is the book of beginnings; and creation begins with light. Most religious people live with shuttered windows, receiving light only from their own people and their own tradition. Genesis 1-11 calls us to recognize all peoples as created by God and under the rainbow covenant of his light. This commentary opens windows on seeds of truth from Genesis 1-11 which are planted in the various environments "in front of the text" - including the New Testament, rabbinic tradition, the Qur'an, and Bangladeshi culture. It examines those seeds in their original seedbed, discerning how their truths will unfurl from the fragrant Genesis 1-11 bud of theology through the blessings given to Eve, Noah, and Abraham.
Windows on the Text is a ground-breaking Bible commentary series written by followers of Jesus in Muslim contexts. It develops biblical insight in deliberate conversation with the Qur'an, the Hadith, and local Islamic cultures. Confident that the Bible in its entirety speaks directly into Muslim contexts, it opens new windows into the holy word of God to equip and empower believers to live out their faith in loving service and clear communication within their communities.
“Genesis is the book of beginnings; and creation begins with light. Most religious people live with shuttered windows, receiving light only from their own people and their own tradition. Genesis 1-11 calls us to recognize all peoples as created by God and under the rainbow covenant of his light..”
RELEASED: June 2021
Mark S. Kinzer & Russell L. Resnik
Besorah: The Resurrection of Jerusalem and the
Healing of a Fractured Gospel
The gospel of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth has healed countless lives over the centuries, but the gospel itself has been wounded through neglect of one of its main components. The books of Luke and Acts reveal that the death and resurrection of Jesus are linked inextricably to the destruction and promised restoration of Jerusalem, the city that personifies the Jewish people as a whole. To highlight this expanded understanding of the gospel, Mark Kinzer and Russ Resnik unpack the Hebrew term for gospel, besorah, as a prophetic message of salvation for Israel and all nations. In Luke’s besorah, the death and resurrection of the Messiah are a sign of the coming judgment and restoration of Jerusalem and the Jewish people—a restoration that brings with it the renewal of all creation. This prophetic dimension of the besorah is a key to healing the fractured gospel and restoring its power amidst the strife and tumult of the twenty-first century.
“The book focuses on the good news of the death and resurrection of Yeshua, and shows how it is truly good news for the Jewish people.”
RELEASED: 01.28.2021
Antoine Lévy, O.P.
Jewish Church: A Catholic Approach to Messianic Judaism
The idea of a Jewish Church has been banned from the Christian horizon for almost two millennia. But things are changing. Since the middle of the 70s the Messianic Jewish movement has strived to build an ecclesial home for all Jewish believers in Christ. This new phenomenon brings to life issues that had disappeared since the first centuries of the Church. What does it mean to be a Jew in the Church? As he reflects on the purpose and form of a Jewish community of disciples in the visible Body of Messiah, Fr. Antoine Levy O.P. critically engages with the ecclesiology of Mark Kinzer.
“With his (Levy) critical analysis of various positions, he has profoundly and convincingly presented a case for continued Jewish identity and practice in Jesus. A challenge to church leaders and to Messianic Jews on the ecclesial unity of the Church”
Published Works by Our Members
The books listed here have been written or edited by Yachad BeYeshua members, and the viewpoints expressed may not necessarily reflect the positions of Yachad BeYeshua.
Mark S. Kinzer
Searching Her Own Mystery: Nostra Aetate, the Jewish People, and the Identity of the Church. Vatican II’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate) transformed the Catholic view of the Jewish people and the Jewish religious tradition. In response, Kinzer proposes an Israel-ecclesiology rooted in Israel-Christology in which a restored ecclesia assumes a crucial role as a sacramental sign of the Church’s bond with the Jewish people and genealogical-Israel’s irrevocable election.
David J. Rudolph
Introduction to Messianic Judaism: Its Ecclesial Context and Biblical Foundations.
This book is the go-to source for introductory information on Messianic Judaism. Editors David Rudolph and Joel Willitts have assembled a thorough examination of the ecclesial context and biblical foundations of the diverse Messianic Jewish movement.
David J. Rudolph
A Jew to the Jews: Jewish Contours of Pauline Flexibility in 1 Corinthians 9:19 - 23.
David J. Rudolph raises new questions about Paul’s view of the Torah and Jewish identity in this post-supersessionist interpretation of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. Paul’s principle of accommodation is considered in light of the diversity of Second Temple Judaism and Jesus’ example and rule of accommodation.
Dr. Larry Feingold
This work, the first of a series, presents a theology of Israel and her beautiful mission in salvation history from the perspective of the Catholic faith. Topics include: the election of Israel, messianic prophecy, Biblical typology, the major feasts of Israel and their relation to the paschal mystery, the Mosaic Law and the New Law of Christ, the prayer of Israel and of the Church, the ongoing mission of the Jewish people to witness to the Messiah, and Mary-daughter of Zion and Mother of the Church.
Dr. Larry Feingold
This work, the second in a series, presents a theology of Israel and her mission in salvation history from the perspective of the Catholic faith. It seeks to bring out the beautiful role of Israel in the history of salvation and the deep ties between Israel and the Church. Key elements of theology-faith, hope, charity, the problem of suffering, priesthood and sacrifice, marriage and the family, the gifts of the Holy Spirit-are treated from the perspectives of the Old and the New Covenants.
Dr. Larry Feingold
This work, the third in a series, seeks to elucidate the complex and beautiful relationship between Biblical Israel and the Church in God's plan. The Church is viewed as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the messianic Kingdom. Themes include: the People of God; the four marks of the Church (one, holy, catholic, and apostolic); the oral Torah and oral Tradition; the universal call to holiness; justification; continuity and discontinuity between Israel and the Church; and Mary, daughter of Zion and Mother of the Church.
Jennifer M. Rosner
Healing the Schism: Barth, Rosenzweig, and the New Jewish-Christian Encounter.
Two paradigm shifts hallmark Jewish-Christian relations in the twentieth century: the collapse of “Christendom” and the Holocaust. From within these shifts, reassessment of the Jewish-Christian relationship emerged.
Ephraim Radner
Leviticus (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible). Leviticus is the fifth volume in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series. It is designed to serve the church--through aid in preaching, teaching, study groups, and so forth--and demonstrate the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible.
Mark S. Kinzer; series editor Jennifer M. Rosner
Israel's Messiah and the People of God: A Vision for Messianic Jewish Covenant Fidelity.
This collection illuminates Kinzer’s thought on topics such as Oral Torah, Jewish prayer, eschatology, soteriology, and Messianic Jewish-Catholic dialogue. An introductory essay by editor Jennifer M. Rosner sets Kinzer’s thought and writings in context.
Lee B. Spitzer
Baptists, Jews, and the Holocaust: The Hand of Sincere Friendship. How did US Baptists and the global Baptist family respond to Nazi antisemitism and the Holocaust? Unveiling the history of Northern (American) Baptists, Southern Baptists, African American Baptists and the Baptist World Alliance, this volume offers a thorough narrative history exploring how Baptists sought to extend the hand of sincere friendship to the Jewish people both before and during the Second World War.