As I read a lot of stuff on the internet and blog relatively little I thought it would be nice to give an overview of interesting posts I read in June:
A blog I visit quite frequently is the one by Dr. James McGrath, he posited a very interesting thesis which I also quoted on my blog: the idea that to Jewish hearers in the first century, the word became flesh (Joh 1:14) could be equivalent to the spirit descending and remaining on Jesus (Joh 1:32).
Whilst thinking myself about another insight into the Prologue from a mystical source I also had an interesting encounter with a blogger (The Emergent Observer) who was new to me: who on his blog brought forth some interesting speculations about the Rabbinic explanation of megaddlela in conjunction with Mary Magdala.
Furthermore in the category of Christology, Joshua at Yinon also posted an excerpt of a forthcoming article, wherein he essentially tried to show that the idea of the deity/divinity of the messiah wasnt foreign to 2nd Temple [-or perhaps his:)-] Judaism.
A scholar that approaches Christology from a very different angle is April DeConinck over at The Forbidden Gospels who started – and is still continuing – a series of posts titled: Creating Jesus: How a Jewish Rabbi became God. She makes a big thing of the relationship between the Angel of the Lord and Jesus, though I must say Im a bit skeptical of finding that in the NT, surely this plays a role in the Christology of post-NT figures like Justin Martyr and admittedly Paul seems to attach the Name to Jesus (but see an entry overhere that rightly shows how the Name was also attached to other messengers in Ancient Judaism without making them an intrinsic part of Hashem, or worse, Hashem himself) but thats is as far as it goes I think, but have a look at her posts, they are quite interesting.
Lastly in this category, albeit in Dutch, Geert at Messianic613 managed to put out an interesting post on the anarthrous construction in John 1:1c, which makes him come to the conclusion that “and the word was God” refers to the nature of the word, without implying a second divine person. He says: “the messiah is not a second divine person, but the human in which the word of God is given expression”.
For those who were fed up with reading all those blogs and desired some coffee, Aaron Eby over at Messianics for Torah, uploaded a video showing how the new Starbucks VIA Ready Brew could be the solution to having a nice (kosher!) cup of coffee on Shabbat.
If you thought that finding solutions for a nice coffee on Shabbat was a bit over the top, how about this post on Hirhurim Musings that shortly explains the halacha wrt wearing a watch on Shabbat!:) as always the opinion is yes and no, depending on different things, like whether its jewelery or clothing, but a definite yes for gold watches:)
Some other interesting musings were put up by Derek Leman, one a bit controversial, by reviewing a book that essentially called for the encouragement of gentile conversion to Judaism and another post that caught my eyes, and judging from the number of comments also alot of others, was about a reference in the Mishnah to how converts should deal with pieces in the liturgy that refer to the patriarchs as “our fathers”.
Also this month FFOZ republished the late Paul Levertoff’s Love and the Messianic Age, which received quite some coverage. Seth and Brian over at Judeoxian also have posted several entries about Paul Levertoff, one of which was the fact that his church was a bonafide boxing ring!:)
Speaking of Jewish converts, another blogpost caught my eye, that related some of the story of Solomon Deutsch, who also wrote a book in (old) Dutch, does this sound like an opportunity for a particular organisation?;) And yet another story (HT: Aaron Eby) of a Jewish convert, published in the Forward, related how a catholic priest desired to make aliyah and has received permission.
As if this was not enough to blow my mind (as I think Judaism is much more appealing!:P), the Jerusalem Post relates the story (again HT: Aaron Eby) of another convert in Israel who appealed to the Supreme Court to overrule the decision by the Chief Rabbinate to declare her bakery un-kosher (on the basis of her new beliefs), which she won.
Paula at Grasping Mashi’ach also appealed to the court but in her case not the Supreme Court but to the Heavenly Court, and in particular to the Moon
Another blog that was new to me called Chidushei Yeshua, compared some of the thoughts of R. Luzatto (aka the Ramchal) in his The Path of the Just with those of Yeshua as written in Mk 8:34-35.
Lastly, as the month May ended with Shavuot, there were several entries on that.
By now its possible you think I have nothing else to do in my life than reading blogs, which isnt true!:P One of the things I have been busy with is my thesis, which is almost finished and after one resit coming wednesday, for which I now have to study, ill be receiving, B”H, my Bachelor degree in Economics:)
A couple of days ago I received in our mail a booklet titled: “What if Genesis 1-3 did not happen literally”. It was a booklet promoting the belief in creationism and showing how evolution was problematic for faith in God as the Creator.

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