Variations on the Messianic Theme

Over fifty years after the Holocaust, Marion Wyse explores interfaith dialogue between the Jewish and Christian communities and attempts to evaluate what goals these communities have reached and where they now stand. While many painful issues have been addressed and Jews and Christians in dialogue have achieved a solid respect for each other, the basic disagreement over the Christian designation of Jesus as the Jewish messiah still stands. Theologians have suggested varying approaches but none convince both parties. This work employs William James’ radical empirical method to show that the original Jewish messianic concept, the Christian shift, and the Jewish repudiation of the shift, can each be seen as valid faith variants.

Marion Wyse is a Professor at the School of Asian Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow. She is a multi-University of Toronto graduate, during which time Tyndale published her novel The Prophet and the Prostitute. Her ThD (1998) investigated the history of the Jewish-Christian Dialogue. She taught six years in China's Xiamen University and three in Moscow affiliated with Touro College New York. CrossCurrents published her "Fa Lung Gong and Religious Freedom" in Spring 2000.

Libby Garshowitz, University of Toronto:
“Wyse’s explorations, beginning post-Shoah and retracing the steps backward into history to recover the idea of the messianic concept, hopefully to bring about future redemption and the reign of God, about which Jesus spoke and which Wyse holds out as the highest ideal for both religions, are extremely important.”

Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR:
"Canadian scholar and international business traveler Wyse argues that Christians and Jews can learn to approach the divisive messiah issue fruitfully and positively to advance mutual understanding. She considers the Jewish-Christian dialogue, exploring some christological paths, examining the radical empirical methods, and mapping some variations on the messianic theme."