At the Foot of the Mountain

Where does a relatively young movement turn for identity and direction when it straddles the fence between two competing major religions? Messianic Jews have done something that for centuries was considered untenable. Like Christians, they have embraced Jesus as the divine Messiah, but they have refused to surrender their place within the Jewish people. How compatible are these two sides of Messianic Jewish faith? Can Messianic Jews participate as full members in both the body of Messiah and the people of Israel? Can they be led by the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised while also following the rulings of the Jewish sages? Did Jesus affirm rabbinic authority, or does that authority now lie elsewhere within the new covenant? In this volume, Messianic Jewish rabbi Joshua Lessard and Messianic Jewish scholar Jennifer Rosner debate the path forward for Messianic Judaism as it grapples with being the child of divorced parents—the church and Israel. Both Lessard and Rosner are committed to the success of Messianic Judaism, though they put forth contrasting visions of what that means. The discussion herein is unique and provocative, not only for Messianic Jews, but for all who have wrestled at the crossroads of Torah, tradition, and Spirit.

Jennifer M. Rosner is Affiliate Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. You can find her online at www.jenrosner.com.




Joshua M. Lessard is ordained as a Messianic Jewish rabbi through the IAMCS and leads Tree of Life Messianic Fellowship in Tallahassee, Florida.

David J. Rudolph holds a PhD from Cambridge University. He teaches New Testament and Jewish Studies at The King's University in Southlake, TX. David has published numerous books and articles on the New Testament, Second Temple Judaism and Jewish-Christian relations. His recent publications include Introduction to Messianic Judaism: Its Ecclesial Context and Biblical Foundations (co-edited with Joel Willitts, 2013) and A Jew to the Jews: Jewish Contours of Pauline Flexibility in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (2011), which won the Franz Delitzsch Prize from the Freie Theologische Akademie in Germany.