"Return to Roots": an Introduction and Specifics of the Czech Form of the Messianic Judaism Movement - an Etnographic Study

Abstract

Historically, the Messianic Judaism movement was not a very widespread form of religion in the Czech environment, but nowadays it is becoming very popular with Czech Protestants. Based on a two-year field research in the Messianic-Jewish community in Prague, the author describes the specifics of the Czech form of this religiosity in the context of historical development of the country, while presenting Czech Messianic Judaism as a fundamentalist, conservative and intelectually oriented religious movement, which understands itself in opposition to emotionally oriented Pentecostal religiosity on the one hand and Judaism contamined by the deposition of later traditions on the other hand.

Messianic believers balance in the space between two poles - Christianity and Judaism, drawing from both and permanently chooding the elements they want to include in their religiosity.