User:Ovadyah

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[edit] Greetings!

Welcome to my user page. My specific interest is in the ancient and modern Ebionites and their place within Judaism.

[edit] Evidence of Modern Ebionite Movements

I will be collecting links here which give evidence of the notability of modern Ebionites. Some links will be scholarly references while others are polemical attacks by Christian missionaries.

A particularly nasty polemic directed against the Ebionite Jewish Community: [1]. You can't make this stuff up!

An interesting contrast between Ebionism and Marcionism in ancient times and today. [2] The article cites a review by Donald Bloesch (1978), who reviewed several contemporary christologies and concluded that "the Ebionite perspective of Jesus is the most prominent fallacious Christology today." See, Bloesch, D G (1978), Essentials of Evangelical Theology, Volume 1., Harper, New York.

The books of Prof. Hyam Maccoby are considered to be foundational reading for Ebionites. Here's a quote from his book, The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity (1986), "The Ebionites were not heretics, as the Church asserted, nor 're-Judaizers', as modern scholars call them, but the authentic successors of the immediate disciples and followers of Jesus, whose views and doctrines they faithfully transmitted, believing correctly that they were derived from Jesus himself. They were the same group that had earlier been called the Nazarenes, who were led by James and Peter, who had known Jesus during his lifetime, and were in a far better position to know his aims than Paul, who met Jesus only in dreams and visions. Thus the opinion held by the Ebionites about Paul is of extraordinary interest and deserves respectful consideration, instead of dismissal as 'scurrilous' propaganda -- the reaction of Christian scholars from ancient to modern times." A more complete excerpt of the text can be found at this link: [3]

A screed from Apologetics Press commenting on the effect that modern scholarship has had on the revival of the Ebionite heresy, "By way of summary, two hundred years of liberal scholastic inquiry into the question of the identity of Jesus have resulted, essentially, in a revival of the Ebionite heresy. The new portraits depict a Jesus Who is no more than a man and Who was nothing like the Christ preached by Paul and worshipped for nearly two millennia by faithful Christians." [4]

Ebionites have wedding ceremonies just like other religious communities. Here's a useful link if you're planning one: [5]

A Messianic web resource asks, Should Christians be Torah Observant? "Today’s neo-Ebionites will say that since Jesus and his first followers were “Torah observant,” we should be likewise. They will point out that the only reference in the Tanakh for the new covenant (brit chadashah) is in Jeremiah 31:31-34, where it is clearly stated that God would write his Torah within our inward parts and write in upon our hearts: I will put my torah into their inward parts and I will write it in their hearts..." [6]

A United Methodist bishop, Rev. Joseph Sprague espouses a theology that includes denials of Jesus' divinity, the virgin birth, and a physical resurrection. Here's a quote from an online excerpt of his book, Affirmations of a Dissenter (2003), "To state it unequivocally: Jesus was in toto fully human. His life was no masquerade. He was the child of human parents, complete with belly button and genetic code." For more, see [7]

A warning about the impending collapse of Messianic Judaism being caused by leaders that deny Jesus' divinity: [8]

An article from Moriel Ministries about Messianic leaders in Israel denying the divinity of Jesus entitled, "Jeremiah 31:31 & the Epistle to the Galatians - You Foolish Galatians, Who Betwitched You? A Crisis in Messianic Judaism?" The article concludes, "It is absolutely amazing to see the same Ebionite heresy with which Satan attempted to destroy the first Messianic Movement in the early centuries of the church making a come back today as God once again turns His grace back towards His ancient people Israel." For more details, see [9]

Modern groups such as the Talmidi Jews share Maccoby's views on Paul's doctrines and see Paul as an apostate from Judaism. [10] Talmidaism is not considered notable by Wikipedia, however an encyclopedic description of this modern Ebionite movement can be found here. [11]