Olive Tree Theology

Messianic Judaism ( he, or , ) is a modernist and syncretic movement of Protestant Christianity that incorporates some elements of Judaism and other Jewish traditions into evangelicalism.

It emerged in the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier Hebrew Christian movement, and was most prominently propelled through the non-profit organization "Jews for Jesus" founded in 1973 by Martin "Moishe" Rosen, an American minister under the Conservative Baptist Association.

Evangelical Protestants who identify as Messianic Jews believe that Jesus (referred to by the Hebrew-language name among adherents) is the Jewish Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, and that the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) and the New Testament are the authoritative scriptures of mankind. Salvation in Messianic Judaism is achieved only through the acceptance of Jesus as one's saviour, and not through adherence to Jewish rabbinical law. Belief in Jesus as a messianic figure and as divine (i.e. God the Son) is considered by Jews to be one of the most defining distinctions between Judaism and Christianity.

Among other evangelical groups, Messianic Judaism is usually accepted as a form of Christianity. However, adherents of Messianic Judaism believe that the movement is instead a form of Judaism. In the Hebrew language, they tend to identify themselves with the terms (, ) and (, ) in opposition to being identified as (, ). Jewish organizations inside and outside of Israel reject this framing; the Supreme Court of Israel has also rejected this claim in cases related to the Israeli Law of Return, and Messianic Judaism is recognized only as a Christian movement in the country. In this context, there is discourse among scholars as to whether Messianic Judaism should be labeled a Jewish or Christian religious sect.

From 2003 to 2007, the movement grew from 150 Messianic houses of worship in the United States to as many as 438, with over 100 in Israel and more worldwide; congregations are often affiliated with larger Messianic organizations or alliances. , Messianic population estimates were between 175,000 and 250,000 members in the United States, between 10,000 and 20,000 members in Israel, and an estimated total worldwide membership of 350,000.

History

Pre-19th century

Efforts by Jewish Christians to proselytize to Jews began in the 1st century, when Paul the Apostle preached at the synagogues in each city that he visited. However, by the 4th century CE, non-biblical accounts of missions to the Jews do not mention converted Jews playing any leading role in proselytization. Notable converts from Judaism who attempted to convert other Jews are more visible in historical sources beginning around the 13th century, when Jewish convert Pablo Christiani attempted to convert other Jews. This activity, however, typically lacked any independent Jewish-Christian congregations, and was often imposed through force by organized Christian churches.

19th and early 20th centuries

In the 19th century, some groups attempted to create congregations and societies of Jewish converts to Christianity, though most of these early organizations were short-lived. Early formal organizations run by converted Jews include: the Anglican London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews of Joseph Frey (1809), which published the first Yiddish New Testament in 1821; the "Beni Abraham" association, established by Frey in 1813 with a group of 41 Jewish Christians who started meeting at Jews' Chapel, London for prayers Friday night and Sunday morning; and the London Hebrew Christian Alliance of Great Britain founded by Dr. Carl Schwartz in 1866.

The September 1813 meeting of Frey's "Beni Abraham" congregation at the rented "Jews' Chapel" in Spitalfields is sometimes pointed to as the birth of the semi-autonomous Hebrew Christian movement within Anglican and other established churches in Britain. However, the minister of the chapel at Spitalfields evicted Frey and his congregation three years later, and Frey severed his connections with the Society. A new location was found and the Episcopal Jew's Chapel Abrahamic Society registered in 1835.

In Eastern Europe, Joseph Rabinowitz established a Hebrew Christian mission and congregation called "Israelites of the New Covenant" in Kishinev, Bessarabia, in 1884. Rabinowitz was supported from overseas by the Christian Hebraist Franz Delitzsch, translator of the first modern Hebrew translation of the New Testament. In 1865, Rabinowitz created a sample order of worship for Sabbath morning service based on a mixture of Jewish and Christian elements. Mark John Levy pressed the Church of England to allow members to embrace Jewish customs.

In the United States, a congregation of Jewish converts to Christianity was established in New York City in 1885. In the 1890s, immigrant Jewish converts to Christianity worshiped at the Methodist "Hope of Israel" mission on New York's Lower East Side while retaining some Jewish rites and customs. In 1895, the 9th edition of Hope of Israel's ''Our Hope'' magazine carried the subtitle "A Monthly Devoted to the Study of Prophecy and to Messianic Judaism", the first use of the term "Messianic Judaism". In 1894, Christian missionary Leopold Cohn, a convert from Judaism, founded the Brownsville Mission to the Jews in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York as a Christian mission to Jews. After several changes in name, structure, and focus, the organization is now called Chosen People Ministries.

Missions to the Jews saw a period of growth between the 1920s and the 1960s. In the 1940s and 1950s, missionaries in Israel, including the Southern Baptists, adopted the term (, "messianics") to counter negative connotations of the word (, "Christians"). The term was used to designate all Jews who had converted to Protestant Evangelical Christianity.

Modern-day Messianic Judaism movement, 1960s onwards

The Messianic Jewish movement emerged in the United States in the 1960s. Prior to this time, Jewish converts assimilated into gentile Christianity, as the church required abandoning their Jewishness and assuming gentile ways to receive baptism. Peter Hocken postulates that the Jesus movement which swept the nation in the 1960s triggered a change from Hebrew Christians to Messianic Jews, and was a distinctly charismatic movement. These Jews wanted to "stay Jewish while believing in Jesus". This impulse was amplified by the results of the Six-Day War and the restoration of Jerusalem to Jewish control.

Foundational organizations

In 2004, there were 300 Messianic congregations in the United States, with roughly half of all attendants being gentiles, and roughly one third of all congregations consisting of 30 or fewer members. Many of these congregations belong to the International Association of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues (IAMCS), the Union of Messianic Congregations (UMJC), or Tikkun International.

The Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) began in 1915 as the Hebrew Christian Alliance of America (HCAA). As the idea of maintaining Jewish identity spread in the late 1960s, the Hebrew Christian Alliance of America (HCAA) changed its name to the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA). David Rausch writes that the change "signified far more than a semantical expression—it represented an evolution in the thought processes and religious and philosophical outlook toward a more fervent expression of Jewish identity." The MJAA was and still is an organization of individual Jewish members. In 1986, the MJAA formed a congregational branch called the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues (IAMCS).

In June 1979, 19 congregations in North America met at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania and formed the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC). In 2022, it would have 75 congregations in 8 countries.
In 2016, Douglas Hamp founded The Way Congregation near Denver, CO. with the concept of recognizing fundamentalist Christian beliefs and yet embracing One Law Theology, Two House Theology (see sections below), and Commonwealth Theology. Their website states the fellowship was founded "to serve as a bridge between the Jews and the gentile Church." Non-Jewish congregants are not encouraged to convert to Judaism and Jewish attendants are encouraged to celebrate their Jewish heritage. Hamp blames the heretic Marcion for mainstream Christianity's juxtaposition of Law and Grace. On the other hand, the Congregation meets on the Sabbath, celebrates the Feasts, and teaches conformance to the Dietary Laws given through Moses.

Messianic Seal of Jerusalem

The Messianic Seal of Jerusalem is a symbol used by Messianic Judaism. The symbol is a depiction of the Temple Menorah, an ancient Jewish symbol, together with the Ichthys, an ancient depictive representation of Christian faith and the community of Jesus followers, creating a Star of David at the intersection. The Messianic Seal is not the only symbol of Messianic Judaism, which has other symbols such the cross in the Star of David, and the dolphin.

There is an ongoing dispute as to whether or not the seal dates from the 1st century CE, or if it is a 20th-century invention.

Theology and core doctrines

As with many religious faiths, the exact tenets held vary from congregation to congregation. In general, essential doctrines of Messianic Judaism include views on:
* God is omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal, outside creation, infinitely significant and benevolent; viewpoints vary on the Trinity
* Jesus is the Messiah; views on his divinity vary
* Messianic Jews believe, with a few exceptions, that Jesus taught and reaffirmed the Torah and that it remains fully in force
* The Children of Israel are central to God's plan; replacement theology is opposed
* The Tanakh

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