Joseph Rabinowitz (1837-1899) is one of the most remarkable figures of the recent history of Jewish Christianity. In the Russian town of Kishinev he set up a congregation which is called "The Israelites of the New Covenant". As a Jew who believed in Jesus, Rabinowitz insisted on his Jewish identity; that caused some problems which Messianic Jews of our day are familiar with. In 1888 Rabinowitz said, "I have two subjects with which I am absorbed: one, the Lord Jesus Christ; the other, Israel". This book gives insight into the recent history of Jewish Christianity and the controversial question of the identity of Messianic believers.
In nineteenth-century Britain the majority of Jewish believers in Christ worshipped in Gentile churches. Some attained ethnic and institutional independence. A few debated the implications of incorporating into their worship the observance of Jewish tradition, and advocated the theological and liturgical independence of Hebrew Christianity, characterised by opponents as the "scandal of particularity". Previous scholarship has documented several Hebrew Christian initiatives but this monograph breaks new ground by identifying almost forthy discrete institutions as components of a century-long movement. The book analyses the major pioneers, institutions and ideologies of this movement and recounts how, through identity negotiation, hebrew Christians - and also their Gentile supporters - prepared the way for the development in the twentieth century of Messianic Judaism.
This monograph analyses almost forty Hebrew Christian institutions - and the ideology of their founders - in nineteenth-century Britain, components of a century-long movement which were to varying degrees characteristic, through identity negotiation, of ehtnic, institutional, theological and liturgical independence.
This book is the go-to source for introductory information on Messianic Judaism. Editors David Rudolph and Joel Willitts have assembled a thorough examination of the ecclesial context and biblical foundations of the diverse Messianic Jewish movement. Unique among similar works in its Jew-Gentile partnership, this book brings together a team of respected Messianic Jewish and Gentile Christian scholars, including Mark Kinzer, Richard Bauckham, Markus Bockmuehl, Craig Keener, Darrell Bock, Scott Hafemann, Daniel Harrington, R. Kendall Soulen, Douglas Harink and others. Opening essays, written by Messianic Jewish scholars and synagogue leaders, provide a window into the on-the-ground reality of the Messianic Jewish community and reveal the challenges, questions and issues with which Messianic Jews grapple. The following predominantly Gentile Christian discussion explores a number of biblical and theological issues that inform our understanding of the Messianic Jewish ecclesial context. Here is a balanced and accessible introduction to the diverse Messianic Jewish movement that both Gentile Christian and Messianic Jewish readers will find informative and fascinating.
This book explores the Pentecostal and charismatic movements, tracing their development and their variety. Hocken shows how these movements of the Holy Spirit, both outside the mainline churches and as renewal currents within the churches, can be understood as mutually challenging and as complementary. The similarities and the differences are significant. The Messianic Jewish movement possesses elements of both the new and the old. Addressing the issues of modernity and globalization, this book explores major phenomena in contemporary Christianity including the relationship between the new churches and entrepreneurial capitalism.
While all have reason to celebrate the greening of Christian-Jewish relations since the Shoah and the promulgation of Nostra Aetate (4), few will deny that much work remains to be done by Christians and Jews seeking the best way forward that they might best serve God's purposes in the world, the mission of God. This book addresses that need by first surveying how each community has historically conceived of its own mission and from that stance assigned an identity to the other. The text illuminates how such construals have often impeded progress and therefore need to be upgraded and supplemented. But how shall this be done? Converging Destinies proposes an eschatological vision and practical suggestions to summon Jews and Christians to prepare for that day when each will be both commended and reproved by the judge of all, sounding a call for more determined action, greater humility, and cooperative effort as together Jews and Christians serve the mission of God, accountable to him for how they have served him and each other in the world that he has created according to his will.
How indigenous was the Evangelical Free Church movement in Tsarist Russia? Was it simply a foreign import? To what extent did it threaten the political stability of the nation and encroach upon the existing Russian and German churches? On the Edge examines the efforts of the regimes to suppress the movement and how the movement not only survived but also expanded. To what extent did the movement bring upon itself unnecessary opposition because of aggressiveness and tactics? Albert Wardin describes the contributions the movement made to the religious life of Russia and examines its numerical success.
Rabbi Gordon Fuller and Dr. Christian van Gorder are committed to helping people of both faith traditions gain, as far as is possible, a participant's appreciation of those from the other community. This means addressing misconceptions and misrepresentations as well as challenging widely held assumptions. Jews and Christians Together delves into the strained relationship between these two faith communities and exposes why these communities need to come to a better understanding and appreciation of the other. Events such as the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania demonstrate why society must address and foil anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism wherever and whenever such views appear. The efforts of Fuller and van Gorder to explore these issues with their own faith communities can provide a helpful starting-point to confront trends of increasing hate and bigotry towards Jews today. Fuller and van Gorder ask us to acknowledge the marred history of Christianity and anti-Semitism, so that we can explore healthy Jewish-Christian dialogue and gain a shared and constructive mutual respect.
You're Jewish, aren't you? This blunt question is the way that college freshman Richard Cohn is introduced to an outspoken fellow student named Dov Epstein, who calls himself a Messianic Jew, and believes that God has a special purpose for the Jewish people in these Last Days. Raised by secular Jewish parents, Richard is completely oblivious to his own Jewish background, until this ongoing dialogue forces him to confront his own heritage. The two young men vigorously argue with each other over the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible (particularly its reputed predictions of a Messiah ), Christian doctrines such as the Trinity, and most significantly, about the identity and significance of Jesus of Nazareth. The rigorous process of self-examination this initiates leads Richard to embrace his Jewish identity, even as he vehemently denies the same for Dov. The two ultimately become fast friends; but as they progress from an academic environment to the professional world, they are challenged by racist statements made by prominent national figures, anti-Semitic doctrines such as Christian Identity which teaches that white Anglo-Saxons are the true Israel and also purported scholars who deny the reality of the Holocaust itself. Circumstances in life connect them with a young Iranian émigré named Jahangir Khatami, whose Muslim beliefs conflict strongly with their own. Yet when a violent incident brings the three of them together, they are forced to reexamine not just their differences, but their similarities. While they clash over the ideals of Zionism and its ramifications in the modern State of Israel, they are united in their horror over the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Join a diverse cast of characters (some of whom appeared in the author's earlier book, Beyond Heaven and Earth) in a probing exploration that may help you reconsider just what it means to be Jewish, Christian, or Muslim in the modern world.
