Messianic Judaism

Who are the Messianic Jews? What do they believe and practice? What is the Jewish community's reaction to this movement? This study traces the development of the movement from its origins in the early part of the 19th century and its transformation in the post-World War years. Focusing on the nature of Hebrew Christianity today, the volume continues with a sociological analysis of its adherents and theological exploration of its central tenets. It also pays attention to the tensions within Messianic Judaism and the central dilemmas it faces in the future.
"The very noticeable current interest in the supernatural has the potential to build a bridge between the concerns of academic historians and the predilections of a broader reading public. These two books illustrate both the possibilities for meaningful exchanges and the considerable width of the gulf. Though appearing in identical format from the same publisher, and with similarly lurid dustjacket illustrations, a trained eye can identify differences of genus even in advance of reading the texts. The presence of endnotes is one indicator, and the phraseology of the titles another (contrast the technical epithet ‘ early modern ’ with the more easy-listening ‘ through the ages ’). None the less, the Newman book is not bereft of ideas. Almost in the manner of Philippe Arie' s, Newman identifies a series of overlapping historical stages in mankind’s fear of the supernatural : ‘ primal response ’, ‘ superstition ’, ‘ frisson ’, ‘ satire or comedy ’ (roughly corresponding to prehistory, Middle Ages, romantic period, modern age). But his implicit understanding of fear as a protean cultural construction is undercut both by a recurrent functionalism (the Church frightens people into orthodoxy and obedience), and a conviction that irrational fear is a biological constant which will always express itself in moral panics of one kind or another. In practice, the conceptual framework gives way to a succession of picaresque sketches of such fearmeisters as the earl of Rochester, the marquis de Sade, Aleister Crowley, Joseph Stalin, Joe McCarthy and David Koresh, and to descriptions of the undoubted horrors of the Albigensian Crusade, the ‘ witch craze ’ and Anabaptist
rule at Mu$nster (the Spanish Inquisition is a surprising absence). I enjoyed reading the book, and learned some interesting things (such as that ‘ panic ’ derives from the God Pan, and that ‘ gala day ’ was originally ‘ gallows day ’), but otherwise did not feel much enlightened. The evident existence of a considerable audience for books of this sort, should, however, give professional historians pause for thought."