Véronique Altglas, "Judaizing Christianity and Christian Zionism in Northern Ireland" (Routledge, 2025)

Jun 24, 2025

Véronique Altglas, a sociology lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast with a focus on religion, discusses her book on the Judaization of evangelical Christianity in Northern Ireland. She explores how Messianic congregations combine Jewish and Christian practices, shedding light on evolving religious identities. Altglas tackles the blending of traditions, the complexities of faith in the region, and the disbandment of a key congregation due to internal conflict. She also examines the relationship between Jewish identity and nationalism in contemporary contexts.

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ANECDOTE

Altglas' Research Journey

Véronique Altglas initially studied Westerners practicing yoga but shifted focus to evangelical Christians borrowing Jewish practices in Northern Ireland.
Invited warmly by a Messianic congregation, she found their conservative Christianity fascinating and engaging.

INSIGHT

Messianic Christianity's Jewish Roots

The Messianic congregation seeks to restore Christianity's Hebrew roots, blending Jewish tradition with evangelical core beliefs.
They observe rituals like Friday meetings and Passover reenactments but do not identify as Jews.

INSIGHT

Religious Bricolage Explained

The Messianic movement practices bricolage: crafting new traditions by blending existing Christian and Jewish elements with logical constraints.
This approach is not random but involves picking and creatively assembling practices within set boundaries.

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Véronique Altglas holds a PhD from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris and has served as a as a lecturer in sociology at Queen’s University Belfast since 2009.

Dr. Altglas’ publications include two monographs: Le nouvel hindouisme occidental (CNRS, 2005); and From Yoga to Kabbalah: Religious Exoticism and the Logics of Bricolage (Oxford University Press, 2014), for which she won the book award of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion in 2017. She is also the editor of a four-volume reader, Religion and Globalization: Critical Concepts in Social Studies (Routledge, 2010). Her

In this interview, she discusses her new book, Judaizing Christianity and Christian Zionism in Northern Ireland, recently published with Routledge.

This book explores the contemporary Judaization of evangelical Christianity through the ethnography of a Messianic congregation in Northern Ireland. A constellation of Messianic "congregations" have expanded worldwide over recent years, combining Jewish liturgy, symbols, and artifacts with prophecies about the End Times and the return of Jesus. Increasingly recognized as a legitimate subdivision within evangelicalism, the Messianic movement has facilitated a popularization of Jewish practices and symbolism beyond its own congregations. The author considers: What insights do these congregations offer about the deregulation of religions? Is there any logic to the combinations of Christian and Jewish sources in Messianic beliefs and practices? How can we understand this fascination with Jews and Judaism? Finally, what is the political significance of Messianic relationship with Jewish people, the state of Israel, and Christian Zionism? The book will be of particular interest to scholars of the sociology and anthropology of religion, religion and politics, and Jewish-Christian relations.

Judaizing Christianity and Christian Zionism in Northern Ireland. For God, Israel and Ulster is published with Routledge

Aidan Beatty is a lecturer in the history department at Carnegie Mellon University

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