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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The reemergence of Messianic Jewish congregations in the late twentieth century North America is not directly linked to the Messianic Judaism of the first through fourth centuries nor to the European Messianic developments such as that of Rabinowitz or the London Mildmay Mission. Rather, it is an outgrowth of evangelical Protestantism that flourished in the absence of a State Church. Independently minded North Americans have approached church development with the same pioneering spirit that impelled coast to coast expansion. In every locale, adjustments were made to existing church models to fit geographical, social, and cultural requirements.
American Messianic Jewish congregations represent another adaptation of Evangelical Protestantism to the diverse American context. And it is the very diversity of the American context that complicates description of North American Messianic Judaism. Presently, there are as many as 200 to 250 Messianic congregations in North America. David Brickner of Jews for Jesus comments:
We have surveys from over 800 Messianic congregations in our files. They start up and go out of existence almost overnight. There are probably no more than 150 to 200 in existence at any one time.
Sources
In this section, I will not attempt to treat every facet of the constantly changing American Messianic Jewish landscape. Rather, I have selected individuals and congregations to characterize it. Such a characterization must certainly leave out much of what some will consider essential elements of Messianic Judaism. The sources for this characterization include 62 surveys completed by congregational leaders and interviews with Roy Schwarcz, a Messianic pastor; Suzanne, a new convert; Steve Katz, a Messianic worship leader; Jeff Feinberg, a scholar; and Rich, a member of “Generation X.” The subsequent sections on fellowship, discipleship, and evangelism will draw on these sources as well as Messianic literature, my personal visits to congregations in San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Louisville, and Cincinnati, as well as conversations with Messianic leaders from Boston, Atlanta, Hartford, Houston, and New York.
. . . CONTINUE READING CHAPTER 4
Messianic Jewish Congregations - Table of Contents
Wandering Jew - Table of Contents
