Messianic Judaism: A Modern Movement with an Ancient Past

by David H. Stern

In the first century of the Common Era, tens of thousands of Jewish people followed Yeshua (Jesus), believing him to be the promised Messiah of Israel. They didn't renounce their heritage, their customs, nor their people. They remained Jews. Two thousand years later, hundreds of thousands of Jewish people follow Yeshua, also believing that he is the Messiah. They, too, have not renounced their heritage, customs, nor their people. Messianic Judaism is the modern movement that is bringing it all together, for Jews and non-Jews.

Genres: Theology, History, Christianity, Religion

321 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

David H. Stern born in Los Angeles in 1935, is the great-grandson of two of the city's first twenty Jews. He earned a Ph.D. in economics at Princeton University and was a professor at UCLA. He then received a Master of Divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary, did graduate work at the University of Judaism, and was active in the Messianic Jewish movement. Dr. Stern authored the highly acclaimed English translations, the Jewish New Testament, the Jewish New Testament Commentary, and the Complete Jewish Bible.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book. Stern writes with great conviction and clarity and succeeds in giving a great overview of the state of Messianic Judaism at the time of publishing (2007).

There is much to commend this book and its pages contain many gold nuggets of truth. I heartily affirm so much of Stern's assessment.

Important for readers to understand is the narrow-sense of Stern's use of the term "Messianic Judaism." for Stern, this is a narrower idea than simply a Jewish person who believes in Jesus. For Stern, the emphasis is upon "Judaism," and therefore "Messianic Judaism" must necessarily be "Jewish," which Stern largely sees in terms of Orthodox Jewish tradition. He'll need to work harder to convince me on this point.

I do have some reservations, however. Most significantly, Stern's view of Torah. He sees Torah as the rules which should govern Jewish life, and rightly concludes that the Torah is not exhaustive enough to govern every aspect of life. Therefore, Jewish halakhah as found in the Oral Torah is needed. This is the view of Orthodox Judaism. Stern even seems to understand this Oral Torah as having a semi-canonical status, though admitting it can be changed or adjusted depending on circumstances. But I believe this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the genre and purpose of the Torah (five books of Moses). I feel compelled to push back against Stern's consistent need to appropriate nearly everything from the Orthodox tradition into a Messianic tradition.

I deeply sympathize with Stern, and I have the upmost respect and admiration for him as a pioneer of this movement. He and other Messianic authors and scholars have begun laying a foundation for a growing movement. It is an exciting time to be alive and build upon their foundation. While I would not accept everything Stern proposes, I believe he has generally pointed the movement in a helpful direction. In writing this book, Stern is not claiming to have all the answers; in fact, he raises as many questions as he answers, with the hope that the next generation of Messianic believers will carry the baton to the finish.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

AN UPDATED VERSION OF HIS ‘MESSIANIC JEWISH MANIFESTO’

David H. Stern (1935-2022) was one of the most respected "theologians" of the "Messianic Jewish" movement.

He explains in the Preface, “This [2007] book is a partially revised version of my book ‘Messianic Jewish Manifesto,’ which I … wrote in 1988. That book was addressed primarily to Messianic Jews, offering elements of ideology, theology and program in a call to action. However, I hoped it would be informative for others, whether in favor of our movement, opposed, or just curious. The book fulfilled my expectations. Now the time has come to update it.”

He states in Chapter 1, “The central theme of this book is that without Messianic Judaism---Judaism which accepts Yeshua … as the Messiah---both the Jewish people and the Church will fail to achieve their proper and glorious goals, goals which are ultimately coextensive.” (Pg. 3)

He reports that “David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, said that a Jew is anybody who, given the burdens Jews bear, is willing to call himself one. His witticism shows that there are factors other than parentage which help identify Jewishness: nationhood, peoplehood, ethnicity, culture, sociology, religion, history. It also points to the subjective side of being Jewish, acknowledging one’s Jewishness, as opposed to denying or ignoring it.” (Pg. 17)

He asks: “An empirical question: ‘Are there Messianic Jews?’ Christian theologians have usually followed one of two approaches in dealing with this subject. The older and better known is generally called ‘Replacement or Covenant theology,’ although it has resurfaced lately as ‘Kingdom Now’ theology, ‘Dominionism,’ ‘Reconstructionism,’ and (in England) ‘Restorationism.’ Under any name it says that the Church is the ‘New’ or ‘Spiritual’ Israel, having replaced the ‘Old’ Israel (the Jews) as God’s people. (Pg. 46)

He states, “A Jewish man is not compelled by halakhah to wear a kippah; there is no mention of it anywhere in the Talmud. But it is certainly an identification tag, since it has become such a universal custom among religious Jews that it nearly carries the weight of a halakhic requirement.” (Pg. 170)

He explains, “a Messianic Jew was defined as a person born or a Jewish mother or who converted to Judaism, who is a genuine believer, and who positively acknowledges his Jewishness.” (Pg. 175-176)

He provides some statistics: “It is difficult to give numbers, partly became of definitional problems (Who is Jewish? Messianic? A Messianic Jew?) and partly because the Jewish believers, however defined, are often hard to locate and count…. I have heard estimates in the 50,000-100,000 range for the number of Jewish believers in America… In Israel there may be 1,000-3,000 Jewish believers in 25-30 congregations… There are in the United States over 120 Messianic Jewish congregations, mostly independent but some affiliated with denominations.” (Pg. 197-198)

He reports that “on December 25, 1989, the [Israeli] High Court of Justice rejected the petition of Messianic Jews Gary and Shirley Beresford to make ‘aliyah’ as Jews…[The judges wrote in effect] that no conceivable change could reverse the ‘historical decision of the Jewish people’ centuries ago to deny rights as Jews to Jewish believers in Yeshua.” (Pg. 265-266)

This book will be of keen interest to those studying the issues relating to ‘Messianic’ Jews.

[Duane Alexander Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stern has presented us with a vigorous and readable defense of Messianic Jewish thought. His differentiation between Israeli and American branches are appreciated. His sensitivity to the historical progression of Hebrew Christianity (with was instrumental to the foundation the Diocese of Jerusalem, of which I am a member) is also laudable.

The book has a number of typos and misspellings, which is odd since it is itself an edited and expanded version of an earlier book.

The main drawback of this book is his handling of biblical material. He spends a good amount of time countering replacement theology, which claims that the Church replaced ethnic Israel after the advent of Messiah as the covenant people of God. In this, he fails to deal with the more nuanced and (I think) compelling scholarship which proposes a fulfillment theology. He also rejects the interpretation that Jesus having fulfilled the Torah means it is no longer in effect. But that is to ignore another interpretation, which understands Jesus' words as meaning that his ministry and his privileging of the prerogatives of the Kingdom of God over the Law of God (ie, healing on Shabbat) is what fulfills the Torah, in that the most profound reality of Torah is only brought out and completed and made full within the ethical and eschatological contours of the Kingdom life which Jesus taught. Such an interpretation would then see the Torah in the light of the Kingdom kerygma coming to fruition and pointing beyond itself--and beyond ethnic Israel to a reality open to ethnic Israel but larger than it. Whatever ethnic Israel was and is, it was and is only insofar as that earlier Israel inheres with the one, true Israel--Yeshua/Jesus. Matthew understood this well when he radically reappropriated Hosea's historical recollection, "Out of Egypt I have called my son."

Nor does he given an account of why he feels justified in connecting the secular State of Israel, proclaimed in 1948, with the Davidic Kingdom of Judah. He proposes that non-Jews should have rights 'in the Land' but not 'to the Land'. But what if they owned the land for centuries and have the legal documents to prove it? The ethical issues related to occupation are very demanding, and the author barely touches on them. Nor does he specify what exactly the borders of 'the Land' are. These are pressing issues since Yeshua/Jesus had a great deal to say about justice and nothing to say about Jews politically controlling Palestine.

The author's appeal to Arab Christians and Messianic Jews to listen to each other and learn from each other is laudable and appreciated. But his simultaneous zeal for Messianic Jews making Aliya (migration to Israel) is a bit difficult to square with that. What if, upon listening to Arab brothers and sisters, they come to realize that they don't believe the Land really belongs to Jews, and the 'right of return' is unethical?

There is a battle going on right now for the hearts and minds of American and European evangelicals, without whom the continued existence of the State of Israel would be considerably more difficult. This book is a credible attempt to win them over, while also speaking to Messianc Jews about their own issues and problems and suggest constructive way froward for them, while also trying to convince non-Messianic Jews that Messianic Jews really are Jews. Regarding the first goal, I do not think most of his arguments succeed. Regarding the latter two, as someone who is a mere Messianic Gentile, it is not for me to say.

D A Miller
Nazareth Seminary
Nazareth, Israel

[Leandro Dutra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting book, with a somewhat weak theology.

It is well laid-out, easy on the eyes, and written in a very fluid language, can be read fast.

It was badly revised: quite some typos, specially in the latter half or so, such as hyphens separating words in the middle of lines, or missing letters. Also the footnotes are quite confusing, leading one to chains of references that at least once I gave up on following.

Theologically it assumes a Neoarminian, Neoevangelical approach without quite making it explicit. One can only wonder about how would be a similar book by a Reformed Baptist Hebrew Christian (or Messianic Jew).

A bit weak too on the historical side, but it points to some interesting resources. This is not necessarily a failure, because as a successor to the Messianic Judaism Manifesto by the same author one of its proposals are to point out which resources Hebrew Christians still do lack, and this is one of the gaps it points out.

Perhaps the biggest theological fault is a somewhat glib approach on interpreting the ‘Israel of God’, and too easily identifying occupation of the Land of Israel as a requisite for modern Jews. In this aspect, it is quite the mirror image of Palmer’s _The Israel of God_. I suspect I have exegetically to agree more with Palmer, even if I like better Stern’s general attitude. It seems to me Palmer dismisses the current State of Israel too lightly with one or two consequential non sequiturs, and even if Stern’s sympathy towards it may be theologically unfounded, at least it recognises better the essential justice of Jewish colonisation of Palestine.

[Dr. Paul T. Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

He had some great quotes on the importance of history. The book was written quite some time ago, so it's a bit outdated at this point for the Messianic movement. Large sections of his book deal with Biblical passages, and it's probably easier to just get that out of the Jewish New Testament Commentary by the same author.