Apostates, Hybrids, or True Jews?: Jewish Christians and Jewish Identity in Eastern Europe, 1860-1914

by Raymond Lillevik

Overview

This book explores the relationship between Christian faith and Jewish identity from the perspective of three Jewish believers in Jesus living in eastern and central Europe before World War 1: Rudolf Hermann (Chaim) Gurland, Christian Theophilus Lucky (Chaim Jedidjah Pollak), and Isaac (Ignatz) Lichtenstein. They were all rabbis or had rabbinic education, and were in different ways combining their faith in Jesus as Messiah with a Jewish identity. The book offers a biographical study of the three men and an analysis of their understandings of identity. This analysis considers five categories for identification: the relation of Gurland, Lucky, and Lichtenstein to Jewish tradition, to the Jewish people, to Christian tradition, to the Christian community, and to the network of Jewish believers in Jesus. Lillevik argues that Gurland, Lucky, and Lichtenstein in very different ways transcended essentialist as well as constructionist ideas of Jewish and Christian identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625645302
Publisher:	Pickwick Publications
Publication date:	07/03/2014
Pages:	402
Sales rank:	1,005,404
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

Raymond Lillevik (PhD) is lecturer in Kristen Videregaende skole in Nordland, Nesna in Norway. Apostates, Hybrids, or Jews? is a publication of his Phd-dissertation at The Norwegian School of Theology.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Foreword Oskar Skarsaune xi

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

1 Introduction 1

Presentation 1

Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Road Less Taken 2

Previous Research 7

Method: A Narrative and Analytical Approach 8

Sources 10

Constructing Identities 14

The Problematic Term "Jewish Christian" 19

Jewish Identification: Sergio DellaPergola 20

Outline 26

2 Eastern European Jews between 1860 and 1914 and the Christian Missions 28

Introduction 28

The Term "Eastern Europe" 30

The Jews 31

Christian Mission Work to the Jews 37

3 The Biographies of Gurland, Lucky, and Lichtenstein 4

Rudolf Hermann (Charm) Gurland (1831-1905) 43

Christian Theophilus Lucky/Chaim Jcdidjah Pollak (1854-1916) 89

Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein (1825-1908) 142

4 Analyzing the Relationship between Jewish Identity and Faith in Jesus 174

Introduction 174

The Relation to Judaism and the Jewish Tradition 174

The Relation to the Jewish People 238

The Relationship to the Christian Tradition and Doctrines 273

The Relation to the Christian Community 290

The Relationship to Jewish-Christian Groups and Individuals 310

5 Conclusion 333

Three Jewish-Christian Identities 333

Further Perspectives 339

Appendix: The False Doctrines of Talmud 345

Introduction 345

Text: "False doctrines of the Talmud" 346

Bibliography 359

Index of Subjects and Names 379

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This fascinating, groundbreaking, and much-needed study of these three pioneers highlights their contribution to nineteenth-century Hebrew Christianity and to Messianic Judaism today. Lillevik tells their stories, traces their theological development, and explores the challenges they posed and faced. Through the lens of history and comparative analysis, his careful scholarship calls for renewed attention to the role of Jewish believers in Jesus as the bridge between church and synagogue. Read, reflect, and enjoy!"
—Richard Harvey, Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies, All Nations Christian College, Hertfordshire, UK

"Lillevik's book is a timely and pioneering study of three Jewish-Christian leaders of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. How did they negotiate the difficult challenge of combining two apparently incompatible identities, Jewish and Christian? Lillevik addresses this question with great empathy and methodical finesse. No one has presented and studied these three leaders in such breadth and depth before. His book will remain a landmark study of Jewish-Christian identities in the modern period."
—Oskar Skarsaune, Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo, Norway

Editorial Reviews

This fascinating, groundbreaking, and much-needed study of these three pioneers highlights their contribution to nineteenth-century Hebrew Christianity and to Messianic Judaism today. Lillevik tells their stories, traces their theological development, and explores the challenges they posed and faced. Through the lens of history and comparative analysis, his careful scholarship calls for renewed attention to the role of Jewish believers in Jesus as the bridge between church and synagogue. Read, reflect, and enjoy!
--Richard Harvey, Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies, All Nations Christian College, Hertfordshire, UK

Lillevik's book is a timely and pioneering study of three Jewish-Christian leaders of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. How did they negotiate the difficult challenge of combining two apparently incompatible identities, Jewish and Christian? Lillevik addresses this question with great empathy and methodical finesse. No one has presented and studied these three leaders in such breadth and depth before. His book will remain a landmark study of Jewish-Christian identities in the modern period.
--Oskar Skarsaune, Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo, Norway

From the Publisher