Customer Reviews

Messianic Judaism: A Modern Movement With an Ancient Past: (A Revision of Messianic Jewish Manifesto)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book is very informative about the Messianic Jewish movement. It also clarifies previous translations to give a new understanding of the Old and New Testament. It lends itself to a better understanding of what is taught in the Church as tradition versus what is the Word is really saying. A must read for Jews and Christians.

Top notch scholarship from a warm heart that exposes Biblical translation errors resulting from anti-Jewish prejudice and reveals the relevance of today's Middle-East conflict to the fullfillment of Biblical prophecy and the kingdom of God coming on earth. An absolute must for serious students of the Bible or the Tanakh.

This book is wonderful for anyone who is either new to Messianic Judaism or anyone who is curious about what it really is. David Stern gives thorough explanations and historical verifiable information. I also have the Complete Jewish Bible by Stern and this book really complements the Bible and helps me understand everything with much more depth.

I was interested in this book, in order to explain to me what Messianic Judaism is to a deeper level. I have to admit that I was interested in it to begin with. By reading this book, I learned more than I ever knew before about the past of Judaism. I recommend this book to anyone whether they be a Rabbinic Jew who wants to learns more, or a Gentile Believer who wants to know more about Jewish Believers.

David H. Stern is (along with Dan Juster and Michael L. Brown) one of the most respected "theologians" of the "Messianic Jewish" movement. Stern is also the author of Complete Jewish Bible : An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B'Rit Hadashah (New Testament), Jewish New Testament Commentary: A Companion Volume to the Jewish New Testament, Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospel: A Message for Christians Condensed from Messianic Judaism, and Messianic Jewish Manifesto (of which this is an expansion).

He writes in the Preface to this 2007 revised edition, "This book is a partially revised version of my book 'Messianic Jewish Manifesto,' which I developed in 1975 and 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 also be informative for others, whether in favor of our movement, or just curious. That book fulfilled my expectations. Now the time has come to update it."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"The central theme of this book is that without Messianic Judaism... both the Jewish people and the Church will fail to achieve their proper and glorious goals, goals which are ultimately coextensive." (Pg. 3)
"...because the (Messianic Jewish) movement was still pervasively Gentilized, it won mostly marginal Jews..." (Pg. 75)
"Recall that a Messianic Jew was defined as a person born of a Jewish mother or who converted to Judaism, who is a genuine believer, and who positively acknowledges his Jewishness." (Pg. 175-176)
"Actually, most conflicts in the Messianic Jewish movement (and all other movements) revolve around neither doctrines nor practices but personalities and power struggles." (Pg. 193)
"It is difficult to give numbers, partly because 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. In recent years I have heard estimates in the 50,000-100,000 range for the number of Jewish believers in America, but some would say fewer and others more." (Pg. 197)

I'm still reading the book. I've been slow because I'm underlining a lot of text. The book is deep; well-researched. I'm getting a lot from it. I have David Stern's "Complete Jewish Bible." His translation is the way it should have been done from the beginning. Since the church has been grafted into the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we are intrinsicly related to Israel and brothers and sisters in the Messiah. I recommend this book for Messianic Gentiles (Christians) and seeking Jews.

A very insightful book that gives one a nice perspective on this movement. Very comprehensive. A good read.

This book says so much that I needed said about what it means to be a Jewish follower of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua. David Stern is so important to the Jewish believer's journey with the Lord, with his Jewish New Testament and its commentary. With this book I truly have an expanded sense of purpose and understanding of what my "assignment" is as a Jewish believer in Yeshua.
(The only reason for not giving 5 stars is that whoever edited it left in typos and silly errors that I find distracting, though they are not important at all to the content.)

If you are a Practicing Jew then you might feel like this Book trying to Convert you to Messianic Judaism however it is just an informitive Book about the Messianic Christian Practice of the Old and New Testament So to say that this Book is trying to convert someone is totally wrong please leave your opinion to the Reader.... Sincerly Joe Berry

There is absolutely no Judaism in the messianic movement. The beliefs are identical with mainstream christianity. Eating matza and gefilte fish does not represent Judaism. Judaism is about fearing God, loving God, and keeping His commandments. God's oneness is mentioned countless times. There is no concept of faith in the messiah. there is no concept of dying for another's sins. Judaism keeps to Tanach, and there is nothing in the scriptures that supports or allows for christianity. Hence, just quit the games and call it a group of Jews who embrace christianity