Messianic Users of TOG?

[susie in tx]

Hi,

I'm Susie and I'm a curriculum junkie.

My husband and I have 4 beautiful girls, all of whom we are homeschooling. Currently, we are using SL6, with bits of Core 1 and Core B thrown in for good measure. I love all of the books in SL. It was one of the great strengths I saw in Sonlight.

We are nearing the section in Core 6 where Jesus/Yeshua is introduced. I'm comfortable with Core 6. My concern with TOG is the view of church history. We would be picking up TOG at Y1U4, I think. Would someone explain the church history view of TOG to me? Or, are there any other messianic believers who use this curriculum who would care to share their perspective? It would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Susie
momma to four girls in TX
http://mom4safe.livejournal.com

[torahlover]

Hi Susie,
I was so excited when I saw your post! We too are Messianic and are using TOG. We are also past SL users.
There are many great pieces of TOG that support are Messianic beliefs and lifestyle. Sometimes the church history does not. I didn't find much in Year 1 that was a huge problem - I supplemented, particularly in Year 1 Unit 4, with historical and spiritual Messianic supportive materials, like those from Heart of Wisdom, First Fruits of Zion, Center for Judaic-Christian studies, etc. In year 2, we have encountered more cases where we've needed to use these resources as our main resource, but not to the exclusion of TOG. The only book (dialectic level) we have not used this year is the church history one. We also spent a little less time on the reformation information as presented, adding some info on what was happening to God's people during this time.
Overall, we've been pleased with TOG and its presentation of history. While certainly not messianic, it does give us a starting point. From one curriculum junkie to another, no curriculum completely covers everything from a Messianic point of view, so they all require some supplement on our parts. I think this is probably true for most families; they find supplemental materials for various interests, issues, and beliefs they have.
Perhaps this might help you in your journey. It's good to know there is someone else out there like me!
Blessings to you and your family.
Deb
momma to 2 girls in Ohio

[Pat]

Deb,

You've got my curiosity alert turned on. Can you suggest something to read about Messianic church history? At the least I'd like to get a sense of how it is different from standard stuff.

I'm reading a church history book on my own this coming year as my study time material with some throw in books on topics that interest me.

[torahlover]

Hi,
I am glad your interest is piqued! I first started studying the Bible and history from a Hebraic point of view a few years ago and I just can't articulate the massive changes in my faith. It's like the Veil has been lifted and I can see things so clearly - connections between old and new testaments, Paul's mindset, and Jesus' words. Anyway, I think the most definitive of all the books I have read is Marvin Wilson's Our Father Abraham. From there, my family began a regular study of Dwight Pryor's teachings. He is the very definition of Rabbi. He has a Baptist background, was involeved in the New AGe movement and now has been completely transformed into an incredible teacher of the Bible. We started with his Behold the Man DVD series. It is incredible and lifechanging. We also are in our 4th year of First Fruits of Zion Torah Study. This is a weekly study that we do within our family - many families though form groups for this study. Because of my husbands travel, we just haven't been able to consistently be a part of a group.
We use almost all of the other "regular" history books and just supplement it with books about our hebraic heritage as we need to. To be honest, it's just kind of Spirit led. Sometimes, we just get an inkling that there is more to the story, so we start digging. FYI, my oldest daughter is a freshman in college and our other daughter is a 7th grader.
Happy reading!
Deb

Dear Messianic believers,
I was excited to see your posts and have felt that as a family, we need to understand better the jewish roots of Christianity and celebrated Hannukah for the first time this year! It was very interesting and fun!
This is all new to me and I am planning on looking into some of the resources that were mentioned in the last post.
I do have a question about something that has really piqued my curiosity. We just finished studying the Reformation and loved it. But then I wondered how you would see it differently and then I wondered, "Where were the Jews during this time and what were they thinking about all of it?" If you have any insight, I would love to hear it.
Blessings,
Denise

Sadly, Martin Luther, after discovering that the Jews did not convert to Christianity "en masse", after he truly reached out to them, ended up cursing the Jews.

If you do some research, you will see that in many areas, persecution against the Jews actually rose during the Reformation.

[torahlover]

Sadly, yes. Jews did experience even more persecution. many lived in Jewish communties within larger cities, and as in Middle ages, were often bankers and business owners. some converted at lease outwardly. While Martin Luther's writings do give evidence early on of a desire to "convert" Jews, he became angry that they did not readily accept his reformation ideas. This led to his hatred of them. Since Luther was so influential, Jews became more persecuted by others as well. I am sure the entire story is not quite as simple as I have stated. I have only recently begun study of Luther's life. Those who have spent years studying him could give many more details.
Many Jews also travel to new areas to live during this time.
One of the great things about Tog and really any good history curriculum is that it encourages and excites you to dig and find truth. We have learned to question those red flags when we're reading. We've learned to research the authors so we understand their background and perhaps biases,. Mostly, we've learned to measure history against God's own word. From a timeline point of view, the Bible stops at a given point. But from a prophetic and learning angle it is timeless and complete. All the answers to the "why?" questions are there. We just have to search and seek.
Blessings to all for a faithful journey in 2008.

Deb

Not being Messianic, but very much wanting to understand more, I really appreciate your input, torahlover! Thank you all for sharing your wisdom and insight.

[susie in tx]

Rhetoric level for church history and the Jews is pretty easy. Has anyone found anything to use for D level? I plan to read _Our Father Abraham_ thoroughly. I've skimmed it in the past. I also understand that there is a pbs show based on this book and another curriculum has a workbook. But, I'd really like to put something together for my 12 yo. She will be studying this in her bat mitvah class, but I'd like to do more at home.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

susie
momma to four girls in tx

[Marcia]

Our Father Abraham: I love this book! It was too long to include in TOG, but we have it listed in our Alternate resources.