Customer Reviews

Passing Over Easter: Constructing the Boundaries of Messianic Judaism

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This is an illuminating investigation of the nature of Messianic Judaism. It is written by an ethnologist who probes the boundaries between Judaism and Christianity. For all those interested in this important development on the religious scene, this study is of paramount significance

This book is a rarity today: an objective view of a movement by someone who doesn't agree with the position. If only republicans and democrats could learn something ...

Anyway, Shoshana Feher did an interesting study in that she is a Jewish lady who applied sociological analysis to a Messianic congregation in Southern California. Although not Messianic herself, she attended the congregation regularly and conducted detailed interviews for 3 years and has recorded her observations in this book. The book works because the author isn't interested in building up or tearing down the theology of Messianic Judaism. She is there as an imbedded reporter, as it were.

It was very interesting to see how the author described how Messianic Judaism doesn't fit in very well with modern Judaism. The Jewish leaders she interviewed, for example, all felt that Messianic Judaism wasn't really Jewish, or just some "Christian stunt" for force conversions. The sociological implications of this make for fascinating reading. And having been involved with Messianic congregations for several years, I can attest to her observations, but they are more interesting coming from a non-Messianic Jew.

Perhaps the most detailed and interesting chapter has to be the one on the role of women ("Bringing home the bacon"). Perhaps the reason for this is that this type of question lends it self very well to sociological analysis, but this is definitely one of the brightest spots of the book. I especially liked how she studied Jewish, Christian, and Messianic views of the role of women. She found, interestingly, that Messianic are more concerned in this area about influences from the secular world, and not so much with being Jewish or Christian.

One minor trouble with the book was that some generalizations were made. The author cites many other older studies that have attempted to analyze Messianic people etc, which I found very helpful. But in several places she seems to translate her experiences at this congregation to how Messianic believers behave everywhere. For example, she cited that one of the main reasons people like the Messianic movement is identification with an ethnic origin. In her study, many gentiles apparently desired to be Jewish and wanted to "get in" on God's chosen people. Now I have definitely met Gentiles who feel this way, that somehow they have "missed out" because they aren't Jewish etc ... but we don't really have any of those at our congregation.

From what I could tell I believe that the author has given a fair assessment of her experiences at this Messianic Congregation. She doesn't try to tear it down because she has theological disagreements, nor does she sugar coat some issues that arose. She seems to like the fellowship expressed there, and people's sincerity, but she was a bit troubled by "open proselytizing." Note to Messianic people; you can present the gospel without a full fontal assault. I can confirm the author's feelings; when non-believing (i.e. non Messianic) Jews attend our congregation; they don't like being bombarded with the gospel either. Gospel discussions are not out of the question, but full-forced pushes to accept the Messiah are generally not well received.

In summary, this was a book that needed to be written, and Messianic Congregational leaders should really take note of her observations.

This 1998 book takes a sociological/ethnographic look at Adat haRuach, a Messianic Jewish congregation in Southern California. At the time of publication, the author was "on the research faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles."

In the "Acknowledgements" section, she writes, "I had never heard of Messianic Jews until a few years ago, when Gordon Melton ... mentioned them in conjunction with a book he was lending me... I was intrigued. Despite my interest in the topic, I found little information to satisfy my curiosity. Perhaps, I decided, the only way to understand ... was to involve myself in such a community. This book is the result of my active three-year involvement, from 1992 to 1995, at the Messianic congregation Adat haRuach."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Holocaust memory is another factor that unites Messianic Jews with the rest of the Jewish community, since Messianic Believers identify with the Jews who were destroyed in the genocide." (Pg. 77)
"Just as Messianic Believers cannot talk about Hanukkah or Passover without making mention of their Gentile counterparts, they cannot talk about Christmas or Easter without mention of paganism." (Pg. 110)
"Messianic marriage does not allow for divorce. The Rawlings know couples who have been separated for years rather than divorcing." (Pg. 129)
"Being a Messianic, they say, has strengthened their Jewish identity. By establishing a personal realtionship with God, Messianic Believers have transcended what some people call the 'greeting card' version of Judaism." (Pg. 139-140)