From Tel Aviv to Nazareth: Why Jews Become Messianic Jews

Conversion of Non-Jews to Messianic Judaism: Test-Case of Membership and Identity in a New Religious Movement” assesses the policy and practice of conversion in Messianic Judaism. Using surveys, interviews and publications it critically investigates the theological, anthropological and social-psychological issues, discussing the implications for individual converts, Messianic Judaism, and the wider Jewish community.

The subject of conversion has engaged sociologists in Israel and around the world for decades. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism etc. all have their own understanding of conversion. In this paper it is a tongues speaking Charismatic who is under investigation. Among the issues discussed are: (1) The relationship between macro-historical changes and personal redefinition. (2) The role of “crises”, whether personal or societal, in the conversion process. (3) Does the emphasis on “narratives” preclude a discussion of the crucial rule of “ritual” in conversion? (4) As opposed to “access to wider values,” how do conversions often reflect a choice to join smaller more particularistic associations such as “deviant” groups and “local” churches? The study looks at a case study of Edi Nachman a tradition Baptist turned Spirit filled Charismatic Evangelical whose conversion the author argues is revivalistic a category which has come under some challenge in recent scholarship. Lofland and Stark, Rambo, Heirich, Harding and Beckford all have their perspectives on what is conversion.

Theodor Dunkelgrün, Paweł Maciejko (eds.), Bastards and Believers: Jewish Converts and Conversion from the Bible to the Present, 2020

Perichoresis, 2018

Conversion is a critical part of Evangelical theology and missiology. It has been defined as a crisis experience or a decision at a specific point in time. However, there is always an aspect of development, a process, involved. Increasingly, the phenomenon of conversion of those from non-Christian backgrounds, for example from other world religions, indicates that how they become followers of Christ is often characterised by a gradual journey, sometimes accompanied by visions and dreams. This paper looks at the phenomenon of conversion through a historical and missiological lens to explain and understand the dynamics of the conversion .

2018

2006

This article explores the major factors involved in why a sample of Messianic Jews have chosen this system of belief rather than stay within traditional Judaism or become Christian. Those interviewed are critical of their religious upbringing as Jews, although traditional aspects of Judaism remain important and relevant to their Messianic belief. The anti-Judaism present within the Church, both past and present, is their primary reason for not becoming Christian. The challenge that Messianic Jews present for both religions is how effective they are in helping people to live a faith perspective that has meaning in the complex, multi-faceted contemporary world.

Hebrew Studies, 2016

The 2013 volume of Introduction to Messianic Judaism, edited by David Rudolph and Joel Willitts, consists of two distinct sets of articles. 1 The first contains essays dealing with the contemporary Messianic Jewish movement and authored by leaders of that movement. The second set includes articles by Christian scholars on exegetical and theological topics related to Messianic Judaism. The pieces dealing with the twenty-first century reality of the Messianic Jewish movement are of special importance because they defy stereotypes which dominate not only popular opinion but also academic discourse. These essays reveal a diverse and dynamic movement whose relationship to traditional Judaism and evangelical Christianity is a matter of intense inner debate. While as a whole it continues to be shaped by evangelicalism, postevangelical trajectories which identify with Jewish history and tradition appear to be ascendant. In October 2012, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement approved (without a dissenting vote) a responsum on the halakic status of Messianic Jews. In its opening description of the Messianic Jewish movement, the document treats the missionary organization "Jews for Jesus" as the prototypical expression of Messianic Judaism and views the founder of that organization-Martin (Moishe) Rosen-as the seminal figure in the movement's emergence: This idea [i.e., Messianic Judaism] was originally promulgated by Martin Rosen in 1973. Rosen was born a Jew but converted to Christianity and became a Baptist minister. He led a mission to convert other Jews, but when he found that they were not responsive, he came up with the idea that the impediment to Jews accepting Jesus was their reluctance to give up their identity as Jews and become "Christians." Jews for Jesus was his new tactic for converting Jews. 2