S502 – Apostolic Writings: The Early Messianic Jewish Community​

Instructor: Rabbi Dr. Joshua Brumbach​
Dates: January 12th – March 16th, 2025 (Winter Term 2024-25)
Location: Populi (https://mjti.populiweb.com)

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course places the Apostolic Writings in a Jewish context with an emphasis on Yeshua as God’s incarnate presence among the Jewish people, the varieties of Jewish expression existing in the 1st-century world and reflected among the first Jewish Yeshua-believers, the meaning of the good news in its original Jewish setting, and the structure and life of the diverse communities of the early Yeshua movement. The course examines the Apostolic Writings from a post-supersessionist perspective. Special emphasis is placed on the understanding the Ekklesia consisting of those from the circumcision and from the non-circumcision as a prolepsis of the eschaton.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

• Discuss the development of the New Testament canon;
• Explain the role of the Ecclesia of the circumcision and of the non-circumcision form the Body of Messiah and is a representation of the eschaton;
• Understanding the development of the Apostolic Writings in relation to the Tanakh and its function in the canonical narrative;
• Detail how study of the Apostolic Writings intersects with contemporary issues in the Messianic Jewish community and the Christian world;
• Demonstrate a familiarity with the diversity of Second Temple Judaism;
• Describe the earliest community of Yeshua-believing Jews in the Land of Israel and the Diaspora.

RELATIONSHIP TO THE CURRICULUM
This is a first-year foundational class, as such it introduces key theological points and ethos of MJTI. It is a core course required for all graduate programs and certificate tracks.

RELEVANCE
The Apostolic Writings represent the final stage of canon-history. Understanding the development of the Apostolic Writings in relation to the Tanakh, its diversity of voices, and how these texts have been interpreted by Christian and Jewish scholars is essential for solid lay and rabbinical leadership within the Messianic Jewish community.

PREREQUISITE
Students enrolled in the 2024-2025 catalog must have taken GR101 or be taking it concurrently with this course.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
The student must have a computer, headset, and high-speed internet access. For assistance with Populi, please contact Rabbi Michael Hillel at admin@mjti.org.

COURSE FORMAT
Online webinar and occasional asynchronous online discussion.

REQUIRED TEXTS

• David A. DeSilva, An Introduction to the New Testament, Second Edition (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018).
• Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler. The Jewish Annotated New Testament, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford, 2017).
• Oskar Skarsaune, In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2002).

STRONGLY SUGGESTED

• Fredriksen, Paula. Paul: The Pagan’s Apostle. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017.

ARTICLES AND MEDIA (PROVIDED BY PROFESSOR)

• Bauckham, Richard. “Introduction” in Jesus and the God of Israel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), ix-xii.
• Joshua Brumbach, Jude: On Faith and the Destructive Influence of Heresy (Clarksville: Lederer, 2014), 1-26.
• ______. “Complexity in Early Jewish Messianism.” Kesher 23 (2009): 70-74.
• Mark Kinzer. 2010. “Finding Our Way Through Nicaea: The Deity of Yeshua, Bilateral Ecclesiology, and Redemptive Encounter with the Living God.” Hashivenu Theological Forum, Los Angeles, CA.
• Korner, Ralph J. “Introduction” in Reading Revelation After Supersessionism (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2020), 1-26.
• VIDEO: David Rudolph. 2020. “The Jewish Apostle: ‘To the Jew First’ as an Expression of Paul Within Judaism.” Borough Park Symposium, New York City –
  https://boroughparksymposium.com/bps5/
• Joel Willitts, “The Re-Newed Perspective: Post-Supersessionist Approach to the New Testament,” Hebrew Studies 57 (2016): 377-380.

RECOMMENDED READING (SELECTION)

• Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the God of Israel. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
• ______. Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1990.
• Blomberg, Craig L. The Historical Reliability of the New Testament. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2016.
• Boyarin, Daniel. The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ. New York: The New Press, 2012.
• ______. Borderlines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
• Fredriksen, Paula. Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2024.
• ______. When Christians Were Jews. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.
• Huffman, Douglas S. Understanding the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2024.
• Hurtado, Larry W. One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism, 2nd ed. London: T&T Clark, 1998.
• Jackson-McCabe, Matt. Jewish Christianity: The Making of the Christianity-Judaism Divide. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020.
• Kinzer, Mark S. and Russel Resnik. Besorah. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2021.
• Korner, Ralph J. Reading Revelation After Supersessionism. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2020.
• Miller, John W. How the Bible Came to Be. New York: Paulist Press, 2004.
• Moffit, David M. Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
• Nanos, Mark D. and Magnus Zetterholm, Eds. Paul Within Judaism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015.
• Powell, Mark Allan. Introducing the New Testament, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018.
• Soulen, R. Kendall. The God of Israel and Christian Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.
• Stern, David H. Jewish New Testament Commentary. Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1999.
• Tomson, Peter J. ‘If this be from heaven…’: Jesus and the New Testament Authors in their Relationship to Judaism. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001.
• Zetterholm, Magnus. Approaches to Paul: A Student’s Guide to Recent Scholarship. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009.