This issue of Kesher offers a forum on the ongoing dialogue on the nature and direction of Messianic Judaism. Dr. Mark Kinzer’s new book Postmissionary Messianic Judaism: Redefining Christian Engagement with the Jewish People serves as a catalyst for this dialogue. Kinzer’s Postmissionary Messianic Judaism seeks to redefine Messianic Judaism in terms of its relationship…

This issue of Kesher is dedicated to fostering discussion about Mark S. Kinzer’s new work Postmissionary Messianic Judaism: Redefining Christian Engagement with the Jewish People. Kinzer, an ordained rabbi of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC), serves as spiritual leader of Congregation Zera Avraham in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and as president of Messianic Jewish…

Mark Kinzer has written an original, broad and deep study of ecclesiology, presenting a paradigm shift in how to understand the relationships between the church, the Jewish people, and Messianic Jews. He writes: Despite its title, this is not mainly a book about Messianic Judaism but about the ekklesia—the community of those who believe in…

Mark Kinzer has recently authored a very important book on Messianic Judaism. The book is clearly and logically presented and persuasive, however, I do have some disagreements.   A HERMENEUTIC OF LOVE The first chapter of Kinzer’s book provides us with a very helpful hermeneutic. When the teaching of Scripture is clear, we are to…

As a career missionary, I read the title of Mark Kinzer’s new book, Postmissionary Messianic Judaism, with some consternation. After all, he seems to be indicating that my job is obsolete! However, Kinzer has made it clear in conversation that the title of the book was not intended to be disrespectful to the Jewish missions…

Good books, though rare enough, are more common than important books. Mark Kinzer has written a good and important book. Kinzer writes lucidly and argues his case clearly and cogently. He is fair-minded and judicious in dealing with the evidence he covers, even when treating data that create difficulties for his position, and he is…

It was Groucho Marx who said, “I wouldn’t want to be a part of any club that would have me as a member.” I feel like I can relate to this. For the Jewish people, identity and community are interconnected. The nature of being part of Kol Israel connects us to the wider Jewish community…

I believe Mark Kinzer’s Postmissionary Messianic Judaism makes a timely, groundbreaking and crucial theological contribution in several respects: 1. It reflects and contributes to the theological maturing of Messianic Judaism; 2. It challenges Christian theology to ask more seriously what it will make of the Jewish people and practice, in the first place as found…

As a Catholic friend and close observer of the Messianic Jewish movement, I want to give a warm welcome to Mark Kinzer’s new book Postmissionary Messianic Judaism. My reasons for this welcome are as follows. First, for seeking to provide a distinctively Messianic Jewish ecclesiology. His ecclesiology is summarised in five basic principles: “1. the…