for ulterior motives, or because they are rejecting Judaism. And indeed, this was quite a common phenomenon in 19th century England.5
But there were also many Jews in England and other parts of Europe who turned to Christianity for a different reason. They truly believed that Jesus is the one promised by Moses and the Jewish Prophets. And for these Jews – just like today – there was usually a great price to be paid. While we do not have personal examples from Edersheim’s life, he did write of this in some of his stories (see quotes below, “Jewish Views of Jewish Christians”), which are almost certainly based on personal accounts. This reality is often overlooked by the skeptics. It is also not true that “those converts who chose Christianity out of complete identification with its principles became the greatest enemies and persecutors of Judaism, just like their medieval counterparts.”6 The Hebrew Christian movement actually helped Gentile Christians begin to understand the Jewishness of Jesus, as well as God’s plan for Israel. This was one way to distinguish genuine believers from others who “converted” for personal gain. One rabbi who did acknowledge the real faith of at least some of these believers was Max Heller. “No one,” he wrote in a 1925 article about apostates, “has ever called in question the sincere Christian faith of Neander, Edersheim or Veit.”7
In the twentieth century the term ‘Hebrew Christian’ was eventually changed to ‘Jewish Christian,’ as the designation ‘Hebrew’ began to be seen as antiquated. Still later, the term ‘Messianic Jew’ would make its appearance. The ‘Jesus Revolution’ of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the U.S. led to a bonafide revival among the Jewish people, fueling the Messianic movement we know today.8
The great Hebrew Christian development of the nineteenth century was a special gift to the entire body of believers in Jesus. For the Church at large, it powerfully reminds us of the Jewish roots of our faith. This truth was sadly lost for most of the Church’s existence. To the modern community of Messianic Jews, on the other hand, the Hebrew Christians are our spiritual forefathers. They helped set the course. And there has recently been a rise in interest in studying the history of Jews who have believed in Jesus.9
Edersheim and his contemporaries were dealing with many of the same issues as today’s Messianic movement. There are also some big differences. Even their language sounds foreign to the 21st century Jew who believes in Jesus. The word Yeshua (Jesus), for example, was not part of their everyday vocabulary. And their use of such words as “Jehovah,” “Jewess,” “convert” and “Christ” would be all but unrecognizable to most modern day Jewish believers. Before World War II, Jewish believers were simply not wrestling with questions of Jewish identity. Today, common questions in the movement include not only, “how Jewish can we be?” but, “how Jewish should we be?”10 These are important issues which will take time to debate and clarify. But, whichever way the Messianic movement develops or splinters, we would be greatly amiss to neglect the teachings and witness of those who came before us. One contemporary Messianic leader said the following regarding Jewish believers of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
To affix the label Hebrew Christian – and in doing so imply that the Jewish believers had renounced their Jewish identities – is based upon false assumptions. They were called Hebrew Christians, as that was the terminology of the day. However, the strength of their Jewish identity cannot be questioned. To imply otherwise ignores the modern history of our movement and diminishes the testimony of those who died in the Holocaust as Jews and as believers in Jesus.11
Even amongst this special group, Alfred Edersheim was unique. His writings have impacted the Church at large. His very life is also a major challenge to those in the Jewish community who say that only uneducated Jews come to profess faith in Jesus! And his legacy is a reminder that examining the “Jewish roots” of the Bible is not exactly a new phenomenon. Jacob Gartenhaus said this:
Edersheim therefore became one of the world’s greatest teachers through the rich and powerful influence of his books. It was his delight to set down and to show how all Jewish hopes were fulfilled in Christ. To the end he remained as intense and brilliant a Jew as he was a profound and faithful Christian.12
1. OT, 59
2. Watchman, March 1877, p. 2
3. Paget, James Carleton, “The Terms Jewish Christian and Jewish Christianity in the History of Research,” in Skarsaune, Oskar and Hvalvik, Reidar, Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries (Peabody, Hendrickson, 2007), p. 22–52
4. Schonfield, Hugh, The History of Jewish Christianity (Duckworth, London, 1936), p. 36
5. Endelman, Todd M., Jewish Apostacy in the Modern World (NY, Holmes and Meier, 1987)
6. Ben-Sasson, H.H. (editor), A History of the Jewish People (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1976), p. 827
7. Heller, Max, “The Quandry of the Apostate Jew,” B’nei B’rith magazine, January 1925
8. Schiffman, Michael, Return of the Remnant (Messianic Jewish Resources International, 1996); Rausch, David, Messianic Judaism: Its History, Theology and Polity (NY, Edwin Mellon Press, 1982)
9. See for example, Kjaer-Hansen, Kai, Joseph Rabinowitz and the Messianic Movement: The Herzl of Jewish Christianity (Eerdman’s 1994)
10. Goldberg, Louis, How Jewish is Christianity?: Two Views on the Messianic Movement (Zondervan, 2001), Cohn-Sherbock, Dan, Voices of Messianic Judaism: Confronting Critical Issues Facing a Maturing Movement (Messianic Jewish Resources International, 2001);
11. Glaser, Mitch, “The Traditional Jewish Mission as a Model,” in Voices of Messianic Judaism, p. 169
12. Gartenhaus, 78
His Magnum Opus
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah has truly earned the right to be called a classic. Today, over one hundred and twenty years after its publication, it remains a favorite on the shelves of seminary libraries and Christian bookstores around the world. It has been translated into several languages (including Arabic!!). Yet, when it was first published not everyone thought it would have such a lasting impact. In 1885 one reviewer in the British periodical called The Expositor said the following:
Dr. Edersheim is not likely to prove a formidable rival either to Dr. Gelkie or to Canon Farrar in veracity and style, or in insight into the meaning of the things which Jesus said and did; but whatever aide can be gained from the study of rabbinical writings and knowledge of
