This book explores the relationship between Christian faith and Jewish identity from the perspective of three Jewish believers in Jesus living in eastern and central Europe before World War 1: Rudolf Hermann (Chaim) Gurland, Christian Theophilus Lucky (Chaim Jedidjah Pollak), and Isaac (Ignatz) Lichtenstein. They were all rabbis or had rabbinic education, and were in different ways combining their faith in Jesus as Messiah with a Jewish identity. The book offers a biographical study of the three men and an analysis of their understandings of identity. This analysis considers five categories for identification: the relation of Gurland, Lucky, and Lichtenstein to Jewish tradition, to the Jewish people, to Christian tradition, to the Christian community, and to the network of Jewish believers in Jesus. Lillevik argues that Gurland, Lucky, and Lichtenstein in very different ways transcended essentialist as well as constructionist ideas of Jewish and Christian identity.This fascinating, groundbreaking, and much-needed study of these three pioneers highlights their contribution to nineteenth-century Hebrew Christianity and to Messianic Judaism today. Lillevik tells their stories, traces their theological development, and explores the challenges they posed and faced. Through the lens of history and comparative analysis, his careful scholarship calls for renewed attention to the role of Jewish believers in Jesus as the bridge between church and synagogue. Read, reflect, and enjoy!--R...