Semi-Public Hints of Jewish Lineage in Messianic Judaism. Issue 3 (27th May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kaell, Hillary
• Is Part Of: Ethnos. Volume 87:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 478
• Page End: 497
• Publication Date: 2022-05-27
• Subjects: Messianic Judaism -- United States -- gossip -- rumours -- DNA science; Ethnology -- Periodicals; Archaeology -- Periodicals; 305.8
• DOI: 10.1080/00141844.2020.1745862
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0014-1844

Abstract

ABSTRACT : Based on a multi-sited study of five Messianic Jewish congregations in North America, this paper analyses the widespread tendency for gentile (non-Jewish) adherents to hint about having 'Jewish DNA'. I argue that Messianic Judaism's theology and social structures promote the search for Jewish roots while also suppressing it, which results in the grassroots circulation of hints in a 'semi-public' register. Bringing together work by Kim Tallbear on gene talk and Veena Das on rumours, I frame these hints as unfinished stories that may benefit believers within religious communities oriented around individual seeking. However, my second point concerns how such 'hints' serve as, what Ritchie Lowry calls, 'a primary means for informal social control'. The semi-public genre encourages informal strictures, often based on the racialisation of 'Jewish DNA'. I end by exploring another aspect related to registers of disclosure regarding my role as a fieldworker who conceals other people's secrets.