From the Publisher
“Learning Messiah by Edjan Westerman is a full scale biblical theology that is passionately Christian and passionately ‘post-supersessionist’ in equal measure . . . the contents of the book have impressed me as accessible, engaging, detailed, and often profound.”
—R. Kendall Soulen, Emory University, Atlanta
“E. J. Westerman has written a very important book that revolutionizes our understanding of both Israel and the church. In the case of the latter, a more deeply rooted biblical identity of the church arises on the basis of a new canonical approach to biblical theology. This new canonical approach restores the ongoing meaning of Israel to God's purpose in creation and consummation and hence the unity of purpose for Israel and the church.”
—Daniel Juster, director of Tikkun Ministries International
“Ever since the Holocaust Christian theologians have reexamined previous Christian thinking about Israel. Most have rejected one aspect of supersessionism, that which posited an end to God’s covenant with the Jewish people . . . EJ Westerman provides us with a retelling of the biblical story in which Israel and her Messiah are at the center. This retelling sheds much new light on not only the Bible but the meaning of Israel and the nations. This is an important and helpful book for Christian theology, the Church, and Israel today.”
—Gerald R. McDermott, Beeson Divinity School/Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama
“Learning Messiah is an important book. Edjan Westerman reads the Bible as a ‘co-reader’ with deep respect for Israel, the first reader. Starting from the belief that we received the Tenach and the New Testament from the beloved and elected people of Israel’s God, he overviews and corrects the common Christian Biblical theology with his ‘own’ integral canonical approach . . . He wrote this book for the common, interested reader and invites them to react and to take a position. If we receive the Bible in modesty and in acceptance of the priority of God to Israel—what does this mean for our faith and our relation to the people of the Messiah?”
—Bas Plaisier, and former Vice President of the World Communion of Reformed Churches
“E. J. Westerman's book sets the standard for a new genre of theological literature—a post-supersessionist biblical theology which re-casts the biblical metanarrative along the lines of R. K. Soulen's The God of Israel and Christian Theology. His proposals will not be accepted by all, as they challenge a deep-rooted and prevailing paradigm. But anyone interested in a renewed biblical understanding of God's ongoing purposes through Jesus the Messiah with both Israel and the Church and all nations, and a detailed exposition of the whole of Scripture in support of such an understanding, will take serious note of this exciting and radical approach.”
—Richard Harvey, author of Mapping Messianic Jewish Theology
"This new volume by Edjan Westerman is an impressive and ambitious re-reading of the bible as a whole, with the aim of articulating its coherent narrative in a way that does justice to the enduring significance of the Jewish people and to the unique salvific role of Jesus. While demonstrating knowledge of scholarly currents, Westerman presents his material in a popular and accessible fashion."
—Mark Kinzer, President Emeritus of the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute
“This fascinating and revealing study is nothing less than a hermeneutical eye operation. It unveils the beauty of God’s lasting covenant with Israel including the new covenant of the Messiah . . . Reading with new eyes yields a twofold fruit: the joy of a new understanding of God’s way in this world, and tears of shame. Because we need to repent from using our traditional reading glasses that caused so much separation between the church and the people of God’s original covenant.”
—Niek M. Tramper, pastor of the Protestant Church of the Netherlands
"I believe that this book provides a fresh and challenging new approach to the place of Israel in redemptive history. Proceeding from a post-supersessionist perspective, Westerman seeks to narrate the central message of the Tanach in such a way that the history of Israel as the people of God connects naturally to the coming of the Messiah and the foundation of the Church."
—William T. Koopmans, Dutch reading OT-scholar
“Westerman offers a lucid, comprehensive, and compelling treatment of Israel’s indelible role in God’s unfolding plan of blessing and redemption for the whole world. Written with a conscious eye to the dark shadow cast by the Holocaust (and the preceding centuries of erroneous Christian Israelology), Westerman’s work contributes an important voice to the growing body of Christian scholarship reassessing Israel’s significance in salvation history and her ongoing, unbreakable covenant with God.”
—Jennifer M. Rosner, Fuller Theological Seminary
“[This] book is a Biblical Theology as I have never read before . . . It is a systematic theological study of the Bible starting from the conviction that . . . [God’s] choice of Israel is still valid and is not in variance with the coming of the Messiah . . . Westerman shows that he can read the texts in a new manner from the perspective of a new canonical narrative . . . The book provides a good starting point to rethink the position of the nations in relation to Israel.”
—Ron van den Hout, Roman-Catholic bishop of Groningen-Leeuwarden, the Netherlands
“This is a conscientious and thorough study of Israel’s role in redemptive history. Though not being a fundamentalist myself, I became intrigued by the systematic patterns Edjan Westerman discovered through careful study of the texts. It gave me new insights in the continuing role of Israel and the relation between Israel and the Christians from the nations. This book certainly deserves a broad readership.”
—A. Houtman, Protestant Theological University, Amsterdam
