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
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Although the believing Jew had been absorbed into the Gentile-controlled church and independent Jewish congregations disappeared from view after the fourth century, there were those within church life who were known as both Jews and Christians. Arnold Fruchtenbaum comments:
The nineteenth century saw at least a quarter million Jews come to Christ, and many of them made invaluable contributions to their respective fields. The list would include Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of England who gained the Suez Canal and India for the British Empire; Alfred Edersheim, whose Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah is still the classic on the life of Christ; Felix Mendelssohn, the great composer; Johann August Wilhelm Neander, whose work in church history became the basis for all future works in this field. Franz Delitzsch, who along with Keil wrote the Old Testament commentary that is still the finest and the standard in this field (his translation of the New Testament into Hebrew is still the translation used in Israel today); Bishop Samuel Joseph Schereschewsky, the translator of the Chinese Bible; David Baron, whose commentaries on Isaiah 53 and the book of Zechariah have yet to be superseded; Bishop Michael Solomon Alexander, the first Anglican bishop of Jerusalem; Rabbi Leopold Cohn, founder of the American Board of Missions to the Jews, the largest Jewish mission in the world; Rabbi [sic] Joseph Rabinowitz, founder of the Hebrew Christian Synagogue in Hungary [sic, Kishinev, Russia]; Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein, who also had a Hebrew Christian Congregation in Europe; and many others.
The impetus toward Jewish Christian identity was fueled by the Reformation and Counter Reformation as well as the Enlightenment in Christian European circles and the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) among European Jews.
One of the results of both the Reformation and Counter Reformation was the rediscovery of the Hebrew Old Testament by Christian theologians. This led to the beginning of an acceptance of the Jewish people as legitimately the “chosen people” of God. The conflict between Church and Synagogue had moderated. After all, the Church was dominant on all fronts and there was little reason for Christians to see themselves in any meaningful competition with Judaism. With a greater recognition of the Jews as a people, doors that had been closed and societal functions that had been walled off now began to open to Jewish intellectuals, businessmen, doctors, and artists.
. . . CONTINUE READING CHAPTER 3
Messianic Jewish Congregations - Table of Contents
Wandering Jew - Table of Contents
