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IN MEMORY OF GREAT SCHOOLAR OF HEBREW ROOTS

SHALOM IN THE OLAM….

Dwight's Credentials

Dwight A. Pryor is the Founder and President of the Center for Judaic-Christian Studies
in Dayton, Ohio. He is also a founding board member of the Jerusalem School of
Synoptic Research in Israel. While studying in Israel, he came to realize the critical
importance of understanding Christianity's Hebraic origins and dimensions.

Since 1984, he has traveled the world as one of the most widely acclaimed teachers on
the subject.

Dr. Pryor's academic credentials include a Bachelor of Arts degree, with Special
Distinction, in Philosophy from the University of Oklahoma, extensive postgraduate
studies in Philosophy and Judaism from the University of Texas, and a Doctor of Divinity
degree from the Centre for the Study of Biblical Research.

The Calling of JC Studies

We have a passion — born of the Spirit, we believe — to proclaim and explain certain
vital but imperiled truths to the Body of Messiah and especially to believers that are
recapturing their Hebrew heritage in Yeshua.
Dwight A. Pryor ... an interview
Author: Dwight A. Pryor

Q: How did you first get involved with the Jewish Roots of Christianity?

A: My journey actually began with a small ad in the back of a Christian magazine in

1981 that led me to a discovery of the Jewish background to the life and teachings of
Jesus.

A few years earlier, in 1977, the Lord had sovereignly brought me out of the New Age
Movement into the Kingdom of God. For seven years I had served as the President of a
nationally known New Age organization when, with many of my colleagues and friends,
I encountered the extraordinary reality of Jesus as Messiah and Lord and the power of the
Holy Spirit to radically transform lives and bring people into an intimate relationship
with the true and living God.

As a result of that experience, I developed a keen interest in the Bible and its wisdom. I
was influenced in my early studies by the writings of Derek Prince and developed a
growing respect for the importance of Israel. Indeed I found myself drawn to the Hebrew
Bible and surprisingly attracted to the Hebrew language.

In the spring of 1981 I noticed a small ad in the classifieds of Logos magazine that posed
a provocative question: Can the sayings of Jesus be properly understood without a
knowledge of Hebrew? Readers were invited to request free information from Israel about
exciting developments there in gospel research. Which I did . . . and the rest of the story,
as they say, is history!

Q: Who placed the ad, and what information did you receive?

A: I received a packet of information from David Bivin telling about the unprecedented
collaboration of Jewish and Christian scholars in Jerusalem studying the synoptic gospels
of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and their growing conviction that Jesus of Nazareth likely
spoke Hebrew in his religious discourses. More importantly, in their excavation of the
gospels, Dr. Robert Lindsey and Professor David Flusser discovered mounting evidence
that Jesus original words, idioms and Hebrew syntax are remarkably well preserved
behind the earliest Greek manuscripts of the gospels.

Later, through a generous gift of a dear friend, I was able to travel to Israel on a study
tour and meet David and many of the scholars of what became known as the Jerusalem
School. I was captivated by the brilliant insights their research shed on the life and times
of Messiah Jesus, and felt strongly that the Body of Messiah worldwide should share in
the fruit of this pioneering work, and not just a coterie of a few gifted men and women in
Jerusalem.
That journey up to Jerusalem forever changed my life and chartered the course for what
would become my ministry. I went to Israel as a Spirit-filled believer, and I returned with
a burning desire to become an authentic disciple of the historical Jesus of Nazareth. I
went back to graduate school at the University of Texas, where I had attended more than
a decade before as a Philosophy student, and took courses in modern Hebrew and Jewish
studies. With the help of several friends, I started the Center for Judaic-Christian Studies
in order to raise funds to further gospel research in Israel and to share those results with
others. Since its inception in 1984, I have served as the Center's president.

Q: You must have seen many changes in the last 25 years in public awareness regarding
the Jewishness of Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Christian faith?

A: In the 80’s I could say to a church congregation that Jesus wasn't a Christian, he was a
Jew! and there would be gasps in the audience. Today everyone acknowledges that our
Lord was not an Englishman but a devout Jew. Back then few people had ever heard the
terminology Jewish roots of Christianity. Today you can do a Google search on the term
and be directed to over 200,000 websites.

So yes, there has been a noticeable awakening in the Church, even worldwide, to its
historic and spiritual origins in the Judaism of Jesus and the Second Temple era in Jewish
history. But I am not really surprised by this. From the beginning I had the sense that we
were witnessing more than some idiosyncratic curiosity of a few Hebrew-philes, but a
move of God's Spirit that would eventually spread throughout the Body of Messiah.

In the mid-80's, when I was trying to convince Eerdmans to publish the book Dr. Marvin
Wilson had written for us, Our Father Abraham, I told them this work would not be just
another typical academic volume, with a short lifespan, but would circulate for years and
become a classic in the Church's awakening to it Hebrew heritage in Messiah. Though
they were reluctant they did not think there was a market for the book they finally agreed
to publish it (after we agreed to purchase 1000 copies in advance!). Today Our Father
Abraham is in its thirteenth printing and is one of the five all-time bestselling academic
books for the second largest Christian publishing house in America!

Q: Are you pleased with the way this movement has developed over the years? And what
do you see to be its future?

A: Many positive and edifying things are occurring for believers returning to the
foundations of their faith in a Jewish Messiah and his Hebrew scriptures. Minds are being
renewed in the service of God, hearts are being mended, and families are finding blessing
and shalom in celebrating the biblical holidays, including the Sabbath. I especially am
thrilled with the fact that we now are witnessing the third generation of young scholars
fully acquainted with and academically prepared to advance the Church's knowledge of
the thorough-going Jewishness of Jesus and to promote the value of a Hebraic worldview
to the Christian vision.
On the other hand, at times I have mixed feelings about the directions some in the so-
called Jewish Roots Movement are taking. It is not surprising I suppose that with any
move of God's Spirit in the Church there will be excesses and even extremism that can
lead to spiritual pride, soulishness, and sectarianism. Too many who are leaders, it seems,
have little scholarly background or accountability, and sometimes their new revelations
are nothing more than retooled ancient heresies garbed in Hebrew clothing. That does not
contribute to the renewing of the Christian mind nor to the sanctifying of God's name.

My strong conviction is that the Lord is restoring the Hebraic foundations of the Church
so that together we all can move forward in greater faithfulness and maturity in the
service of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God. Toward that end we should be Father-
focused, Christ-centered and Spirit-saturated. We should stand with and pray for Israel.
Our teaching should strive to be biblically balanced and theologically sound.

Of all the followers of Jesus, we who are being reconnected to the olive-tree roots of our
faith, who study Torah and treasure Jewish wisdom surely we should be the most humble
and wise, with a servant heart and a good eye, like Abraham, our father in the faith. Love
should abound in all that we do. More than just knowledge, if the fruit of the Spirit is not
characterizing our lives and our communities, then we are in the wrong movement.

At the end of the day, we can never improve upon Jesus and his example. His passion
was for one movement alone, the Kingdom of God, and his priority was for the raising up
of disciples through sound instruction and godly example. To authentically emulate that
and to carry on that mission should be the raison d'etre of the Hebraic renewal
community.

Click here to learn about Dwight's Haverim Study Community

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