Twenty-First Century Messianic Judaism: Evangelical and Post-Evangelical Trajectories

Abstract

The 2013 volume of Introduction to Messianic Judaism, edited by David Rudolph and Joel Willitts, consists of two distinct sets of articles. The first contains essays dealing with the contemporary Messianic Jewish movement and authored by leaders of that movement. The second set includes articles by Christian scholars on exegetical and theological topics related to Messianic Judaism. The pieces dealing with the twenty-first century reality of the Messianic Jewish movement are of special importance because they defy stereotypes which dominate not only popular opinion but also academic discourse. These essays reveal a diverse and dynamic movement whose relationship to traditional Judaism and evangelical Christianity is a matter of intense inner debate. While as a whole it continues to be shaped by evangelicalism, post-evangelical trajectories which identify with Jewish history and tradition appear to be ascendant.