The following is a reproduction of my 1997 doctoral dissertation demonstrating that modern “Messianic Jewish Congregations” are actually evangelical Christian congregations, not Jewish.
As such it represents my perspective in 1997 before my return to a Jewish way of life in 1999. Please see my Wanderings 1967-2025 for context.
Both the 2000 print version and 2012 ePub are available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Messianic-Jewish-Congregations-Business-Gentiles-ebook/dp/B0097GFOTK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0
Quite a bit has transpired in the world and my own life since the publication of Messianic Jewish Congregations by University Press in 2000. As a 1997 dissertation, its research and writing represented a “waypoint” in my religious journey.
Raised in a Jewish home, I ended my teen years dabbling in eastern religious experiences encouraged by the 60s counterculture and fueled by psychedelic music and substances. With Vietnam as an ever-threatening storm ready to burst on any draft-eligible college student falling below 30 credit-hour per year threshold, I eventually found myself attracted to the philosophical and ethical teachings of the first century Jewish itinerant rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth. My interest in Jesus’ life and teachings eventually attracted me to the emerging sub-culture of “Jesus Freaks” in southern California. After a summer of religious exploration just before I started basic training at Great Lakes Naval Training Center north of Chicago, I began to see myself as a present-day Jewish follower of Jesus—just two millennia late!
I spent the next three decades trying to fit in with the gentile-Christian community. By 1994, I was beginning to suspect that there was just no way to reconcile my Jewish sensibilities and my attraction to the person of Jesus with any “Christian” institution or organization. It was at that time that I heard about the late-19th century Jewish-Christian Kishinev congregation in Eastern Europe (chapter three). As I began to research what seemed to be an isolated historical occurrence, I was made aware of the current-day proliferation of Jewish-Christian congregations in the United States and Israel.
The more research I did into this subject, the more encouraged and excited I became that this Messianic Jewish movement might be the spiritual home I sought for so long. However, after completing my research, and especially the interviews of chapters four and five, I began to find this “Jewish” form of Christianity to be virtually indistinguishable from the historic Evangelical movement that has risen to prominence in the last 150 years.
I had very little time to consider the implications of my own research. I finished the dissertation and all my requirements for my Ph.D. in World Religions in May 1997. Within a few months I had moved my family to the other side of the world to teach at the Singapore Baptist Seminary. After 18 months as a very unhappy employee of a Christian denomination, I brought my family home. I was “finished with Christianity!”
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Messianic Jewish Congregations - Table of Contents
