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June 15, 2006
Israelology Seminar
This year was the fifth time we've had Messianic Jewish leader Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum come to Japan for one of his Bible seminars. His presentations are always so intense and logically consistent and this year was no exception. The topic title this time was "Israelology: Theology's 'Missing Link'." Dr. Fruchtenbaum explained in detail about Israel's place in scripture, a subject which has never really received a fully-developed treatment in systematic theology. His lectures touched on four areas:
He explained the various covenants in the Bible and how they relate to Israel by the use of a historical timeline and also dealt with the relationship between Israel and the Church. Here are my impressions of how things went.
- Israel in the Past
- Modern-day Israel
- Israel in the Future
- Other Matters Related to Israel.
In Christianity, as in the world at large, there are certain ideas that come in and go out of fashion. I want to focus my attention on the information, movements and activities that have eternal significance rather than on those things that are just here for awhile. When our session was over one day, a fellow came up to me and said, "After today's session, I can see the outline of the whole Bible!" As one who was responsible for hosting this event, I can't tell you how happy those words made me feel. That's precisely the purpose for which we created this event.
- The entire seminar took up 12 hours over the course of two days, but it clearly wasn't enough time to cover the subject. In the Tōkyō meeting, we had to rush through the final section just to finish the material, but in Ōsaka we did a better job of apportioning the time.
- The content of the teaching was heavy stuff, indeed. However, with all the important ideas that were included, not even a moment of it seemed dull or boring. From beginning to end, there was the tension of expectation in the air and each participant paid serious attention to every word.
- Dr. Fruchtenbaum's purpose in his explanations was to correct what he feels are distortions in the systematic theology of the past. In particular, he attempted to put the realtionship between law and grace in its proper place. Likewise, he tried to show how the idea that the Church is the new Israel, or "spiritual Israel," is not a biblical concept.
- Dr. Fruchtenbaum's seminars have a reputation for being extremely interesting, yet at the same time, difficult to understand. I'm so thankful, then, for all of those who participated (over 100 at each of the two locations) and especially for the way everyone took such copious notes and listened so attentively. Dr. Fruchtenbaum noticed this as well and remarked to me that Japanese Christians have such a wonderful attitude when it comes to learning.
- We live in an age where people value convenience and simplicity. However, the things we truly need don't always fall into those categories. During this seminar, I thought back to my days in seminary. I had several courses that provided me with ideas I could immediately put into practice. However, the value of such things often tend to depreciate over time. After a few years, those concepts are no longer all that useful anymore. There were also some courses that were uninteresting to me and others that were just plain tough. I really struggled with my biblical language studies and exegesis classes, for example. However, what I learned in those classes has turned out to be some of the most useful knowledge I gained. It's the same with information in general. With time, some of it becomes useless and other information always remains valid. What we learned from Dr. Fruchtenbaum falls into the latter category.
We recorded the entire seminar, of course, and will be offering it for sale. The CD set will be ready to ship by the middle of July if any of you are interested in ordering it. One set will consist of eight audio CDs (in English with Japanese translation) with a Japanese-language text and will sell for ¥4,900 (tax included). Contact our office to place an order. May God's richest blessings be upon you in Y'shua's precious name!
Kenichi Nakagawa
Posted by HarvestTV at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)