Jødekristen identitet som ambivalens i israelsmisjonene i Norge, Sverige og Danmark 1890-1914

Abstract

Chaim Jedidjah Pollak and Isaac Lichtenstein were both Jews born in Eastern or Central Europe in the 19th century, and who both embraced the Christian faith. Their attitudes to Judaism and Christianity were, however, different from most Jews who accepted Christianity and became assimilated into the non-Jewish culture. This became difficult to deal with for Christian mission societies that worked towards Jews, including the Jewish mission societies in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Lucky (1854–1916), from modern-day Ukraine, was a gifted scholar of Jewish tradition who made a significant contribution to the Christian missions and churches that were involved in evangelizing the Jews. He was baptized and was ordained in a Protestant denomination in the USA. He accepted Christianity and published Christian periodicals for Jews both in Hebrew and English (Edut leIsrael and The Peculiar People), yet fiercely criticized traditional mission work to the Jews. Lucky maintained that Jewish believers in Jesus should stay within the Jewish people and their traditions as much as possible. Lichtenstein (1825–1908) openly confessed his belief in Jesus while still in office as a relatively highly-ranking Hungarian rabbi. He never joined any Christian denomination by being officially baptized, but baptized himself in a synagogue mikve (ritual Jewish bath). In a number of publications and letters in response to criticism from both Christian and Jewish circles, he defended his belief in Christ and his ambivalent relationship to Judaism and the Christian church.

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