I mentioned in a previous blog that I was reading the "Rabbi from Burbank" by Isidor Zwirn and Bob Owen.
His story, in many respects, is a poignant one: After being rejected by his fellow Jews for becoming a Christian, he found it difficult to be understood by Christians as well.
One of the problems he found was that Christians would not, could not accept that they were not Gentiles.
"The church people of any denomination I had occasion to meet were all courteous and respectful to me... ...When I appealed to them to search out and discover their own biblical roots in Abraham and Judaism, my words fell upon deaf ears. I tried to tell the Christians that they were not goyim as defined by the Jews, a somewhat derisive term that means "heathen" or "pagan," but they would not hear me and continued to refer to themselves as Gentiles." [1]
Christians are Jews too?! Through the spirit of adoption, through the teaching on being grafted in, through being considered as Sons of God, Paul teaches that we are all a part of the Seed of Abraham. Thus we too inherit the Promises.
[1] Zwirn, R I and Owen, B (1987). The Rabbi from Burbank. Tyndale House Publishers. Illinois. Page 77.
See also Carpe Deo: "Who is a Jew?" Revisited (carpe-deo.blogspot.com)
5 comments:
Maybe a redefinition of 'Gentile' would help. This man says "I tried to tell [them] they were not goyim ... but they continued to [call themselves] Gentiles." Um, I don't know if this is mentioned in the book, but 'goyim' and 'Gentile' are not the same word, according to the definition given. I hope he made it more clear when he 'tried to tell them'. Our understanding of 'Gentile' must have changed if it used to mean heathen or pagan (though, interestingly, all christians were called pagans -derisively- because they didn't worship 'the Gods').
I think many Christians (myself included) feel there is nothing wrong with being a Gentile, and that we are clearly not Jews. I would claim 'Gentile believer' as my title.
I agree that modern Christianity has Judaism as a part of its (historical) family. We are grafted into God's family, which means we inherit certain promises, but that does not mean we become Jews (which may need redefining as well). If your children have dark skin, and adopt a white person, though they become a part of your family they do not become dark skinned - no matter how much they inherit in terms of promise.
"... they were not Gentiles," "I tried to tell them," and "discover their biblical roots". These are not the kind of comments that endear me to a person. He sounds like a whiny minority to me, just another person with an axe to grind.
I think he sounds quite insulting, actually. It's not surprising it fell on deaf ears.
Please bear with me, but can you expand on why you find it insulting?
Perhaps this quotation from the Dictonary of Biblical Imagery might help:
“Gentiles” is the general English rendering of the Hebrew terms gôyîm and ’ammîm and the Greek term ethnē when these terms are interpreted to refer to non-Israelites or non-Jews.
This is the most basic social, ethnic distinction that can be made-“not us” (like the Japanese term for foreigners, gai jin).
Ryken, L., Wilhoit, J., Longman, T., Duriez, C., Penney, D., & Reid, D. G. (2000, c1998). Dictionary of biblical imagery (electronic ed.) (324). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
HTH...
I think the Rabbi from Burbank has drawn a profound insight. God's revelation focuses around distinction: clean/unclean, purity/mixtures, for me/against me, sheep on the right/goats on the left. The distinctions are to do with man's response to God/non-God. Other distinctions: male/female, slave/free, Jew (ethnic)/Gentile (ethnic) are lower in the descriptive hierarchy and are not annulled by one being within the people of God. Biblically speaking the "people of God" are called "Jews". The Biblical language for those who are "not the people of God" is "Gentile", and while the issue has been clouded with ethnic overtones, at the heart of God's revelation this is the language HE chooses to use. Would you be more biblically accurate Ben, if you called yourself a Jewish Gentile (i.e, a believing Gentile)? A believing Jew could call himself a Jewish Jew. A non-believing Jew could call himself a Gentile Jew. A non-believing Gentile could call himself a Gentile Gentile. The primary distinction between people is whether one is, or is not part of the people of God. Maybe when Jesus asks us to leave family for his sake, he is implying that our ethnicity is secondary now to our adoption into the family of God, i.e., in Biblical terminology A JEW.
Just another thought. Being a Jew means being called to bless non-Jews. It is not a position of superiority but one of service.
Sorry to have not disagreed for so long, I have been caught up with general business. You'll be pleased to hear I'm learning Hebrew this year :)
Genghis, I find it insulting (well, I almost find it insulting) because of the tone with which he presents his thoughts. The three quotes I gave demonstrate this.
"... they were not Gentiles,"^1 "I tried to tell them,"^2 and "discover their biblical roots"^3:
1) "that they were...". The Rabbi has decided the Christians are not Gentiles. There is no allowance for discussion here, he simply assumes his superiority is sufficient to quell any disagreement.
2) "I tried to tell them," again leaves out any possibility of two way conversation. He has preached at them, not talked to them.
3) "discover their biblical roots" sounds to me as though again, he knows better - end of discussion. Never mind that he's been reading the bible wrong himself for so many years.
For example, someone comes up to you after a recent conversion, and says that they, after short years, have superior knowledge of your scriptures (of, say, 21 years in my case). How are you going to take that?
I would try to take it gracefully, and to credit their flaws (arrogance) to differing cultures or upbringings, but it is hard to completely ignore when they are telling you about the most important thing in your life.
This is how his tone appears to me.
The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery you quote helps, though it serves also to illustrate what a gap of two millenia has done to the meaning of 'non Jew' (Gentile, goyim, whatever word you use). I like Annie's distinctions of Jewish by ethnicity or Jewish by one's response to God. Though I think that the name "Jew" is inherently attached to both ethnicity and religion. I agree that "Jewish Gentile" would be accurate.
Sorry, that's a lot of writing, I have to go and adjust a course now, but I look forward to your thoughts.
God Bless.
PS, I'm going to start my own blog soon, in fact almost as soon as I think of a name for it. Haha. Shalom.
Post a Comment