Yes, I Need to Repent of My (Prior) Gentile Insistence that Messianic Judaism is Authentic Judaism

8:30 PM Sunday.

I attended another exceptional MJTI class with Dr. Stuart Dauermann this evening. The principle that one cannot be 100% Jewish and 100% Christian came up again, and I asked him the best question I could think of, one that has been weighing on me for a week: Can one be authentically Jewish and French, or Italian and Christian, in a way that one cannot be authentically Jewish and Christian? 

Dr. Dauermann thought about it for a moment and then responded with absolute brilliance. Given the flow of the class, I did not get a chance to ask press him further, but I think we might be in disagreement on this point. Which probably just means that I need to learn more, not that I am right!

I am inclined to believe that one can be ethnically 100% Jewish and religiously 100% Christian and civically 100% American, just as I think one can be ethnically 100% Italian and religiously 100% Christian and civically 100% American. 

But now that I write it out, this looks very hard to defend.

What I can say with somewhat greater confidence is that I do need to repent of my prior Gentile insistence that Messianic Judaism is authentic Judaism. It's not culturally competent for me as a Gentile to insist that I know what authentic Judaism is. As clearly as I can tell, Messianic Judaism is a heresy from the standpoint of all schools of rabbinic Judaism. The arguments from its adherents that it's a legitimate branch of Judaism may sound quite compelling to me, but if I want to maintain culturally competent interfaith dialogue with the Jewish world as a whole, I need to recognize this as a contested area that I have not been appointed to arbitrate. The rabbinic and secular legal consensus in Israel is that I should refer to Messianic Jews as Notzrim (Nazarenes), i.e., Christians:

https://share.google/aimode/iZVTvbGPjh8X3q2j5

This does not, however, mean that I believe in suppressing the voices, theological insights, and lived experiences of those who identify as Messianic Jews. On the contrary, I think there is likely to be significant eschatological significance in this new religious movement.

Dr. Dauermann ended the class by asking what we think is God's purpose in raising up Messianic Judaism. He is looking for something measurable against which to gauge success. I commented tentatively in the chat that maybe it has to do with healing the split between Judaism and Christianity.

I look forward to next Sunday evening's session.

End 10:35 PM.