Chizuk Emunah Under the Microscope: an Introduction

The main playbook for Jewish anti-missionaries is the book Faith Strengthened (Chizzuk Emunah חזוק אמונה) by Isaac Troki (1533-1594), a Karaite Jew of Lithuania. The text consists of two parts:

1. Countering Christian missionary arguments
2. Attacking the New Testament

Personally, I am more interested in the second part than I am in the first. I do not always agree with the standard prooftexts for the Messiahship of Jesus, and hence I will have points of agreement with Troki which I will try to minimize.

Nevertheless, it is important that anyone who deals with evangelism or apologetics with Jews become familiar with these objections. This is not because most Jews are even aware of these objections, but because it is dishonest to witness to the Jews while refusing to study their objections to Jesus.

Faith Strengthened is the standard text, from which anti-missionaries pull almost all their arguments. It is similar Cardinal Bellarmine's Disputationes, from which traditional Roman Catholics pull their arguments. Becuase of this, apologists who are familiar with the arguments from Faith Strengthened, and who also have responses to these arguments, will be very strongly prepared for Jewish evangelism, and will be able to answer objections graciously.

My journey through Faith Strengthened is mainly for myself right now. I, too, need to become more familiar with these arguments and their responses if I am ever to engage in public debates against Jewish anti-missionaries.

Faith Strengthened is a book of biblical arguments. This means that the historical arguments advanced by William Lane Craig, Michael Licona, Gary Habermas, and N.T. Wright are outside the scope of this book.

The author argues that the Jewish people know the original text in a way that the Christian church does not. This was definitely true when the book was originally written. However, the advent of today's scholarship of Semitic languages actually gives the Christian Hebraist an advantage over the Rabbis. While the Rabbis are locked into the traditional interpretations and are required to defend them regardless of whether archaeological evidence mounts against the traditional interpretations.

Furthermore, Troki's point of contention that Christianity is committing spiritual genocide is unfounded. Most Jews who lose their affiliation do so as a result of becoming secularized. They assimilate into society and will convert to other religions in order to marry. Also, many Jews who believe in Jesus maintain their cultural identity as Jews. An example is in New York City, where there are so many Jewish Catholics that some churches have special services for their Jewish members. Also, the return of the nation of Israel is helping to ensure that there will always be a Jewish nation, regardless of what religion its inhabitants practice.

A. Lukyn Williams notes three major flaws of Isaac Troki in Faith Strengthened:

(1). He forgets, or is not aware, that the New Testament was written by Jews, and must be judged in its arguments by Jewish methods. R. Isaac argues as though he thought that the New Testament was written, for example, by a learned and logical Pole of his own time. In other words R. Isaac fails to judge the New Testament by the same standard as that which he would apply to the writers of the Talmud. 


(2). He misunderstands the Christian doctrine about Jesus. He forgets, whenever at least he can score a point by doing so, that Jesus was not only God but also man, with a manhood perfect and complete in every respect. 

(3). He fails to see the attractiveness of the character of Jesus, and confines his argument much too exclusively to the relation that Jesus holds in word and work to the prophecies of Messiah contained in the Old Testament. 

The goal of this project is to respond in blog post form. After all 150 chapters are covered, I will revisit and expand each post and turn it into a YouTube video.

Troki's book is somewhat out of date, but is still the primary playbook for anti-missionaries today. Let's get started in finding some answers to Troki.

Index of Posts

Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 21b
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50

Part 2
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100