Last spring, you generously sponsored me to write “an article of 1,500 words, give or take, that gives a good introduction to Messianic Judaism today.”

I finished the article some time ago and was very pleased at how it turned out, but it wound up being around 11,000 words — nearly eight times its anticipated length.

On Chanukah, we remember the miracle of the oil in the Temple burning for eight times its anticipated length. And while my article’s becoming similarly long was the furthest thing from a miracle, I do think it makes Chanukah a serviceable if somewhat contrived time-peg for my finally publishing the article.

So here it is. But really, I believe and hope that my article, “Whither Messianic Judaism?” might be something fun and unusual for you to read this time of year, while you may be thinking about religious traditions and hopefully have some extra time.

"Whither Messianic Judaism?" on Medium

Happy holidays, and thank you again for your support!

Paul

Hi all!  Things are still moving along with my article on Messianic Judaism, thank you for your patience and support.  Adam Jack Gomolin at Inkshares had some great edit suggestions on my first version, so I revised accordingly and the second draft is now being read by another Inkshares editor, Barnaby Conrad III.

Meanwhile, my friend Mark Glaser will be reading it this weekend with an eye towards helping figure out what to do with it-- like, should we send it out to publishers, and if so, who; or should we publish it ourselves, and if so, how.

The article is nearly 10,000 words in length, which makes it long for an article but short for a book, so it could go in a few different directions.  It's also a tricky piece to categorize because it includes some fictional elements (which are clearly delineated) along with the regular reporting-- so it's not standard journalism, and would not work for publications that frame their content as such.

But however the piece comes out, I'm excited about it.  I think it's super interesting (I'm biased, of course).

Paul