Abstrakt
The Messianic Judaism movement has not historically been a widespread form of religion in the Czech lands, but now it is becoming increasingly popular among Protestant Christians. Based on nearly 2 years of field research conducted in a Czech Messianic community and in-depth interviews with believers, this paper aims to reveal why this type of religiosity is attracting more and more (non-Jewish)Protestants in the Czech Republic.
The author relies on Kaell's (2015) concept of "born-again seeking", while trying to clarify the impulses that bring the "seekers" into the Messianic communities as they travel through various churches. This spiritual journey has both theological and political dimensions.
From the theological point of view, the believers seek to cultivate fundamentalist, conservative and intellectual Christianity, which returns to its origins in the time of Yeshua. Having experience with Pentecostal movement, they define themselves against religiosity that is focused on emotions, miracles, charisma and energetic physical manifestations during the service.
The ideology of Messianic Judaism is also inextricably linked to the support of the State of Israel and the fight against anti-Semitism in church. After being involved in Messianic Community, believers begin to develop a third, aesthetic-symbolic, dimension of this religiosity.
Messianic believers typically learn Hebrew, describing this language as beautiful and deep and also take pride in wearing visible Jewish symbols or decorating their house with Jewish religious objects. Messianic believers balance in the space between two poles - Christianity and Judaism, drawing from both and constantly selecting the elements they intend to include in their religiosity.
This forms the "bricolage" that is typical of modern Christianity according to Hérvieu-Léger (1999).