| David H. Stern | |
| Birth Date: | October 31, 1935 |
| Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California |
| Death Date: | October 8, 2022 (aged 86) |
| Death Place: | Jerusalem, Israel |
| Nationality: | Israeli and American |
| Occupation: | Theologian |
David Harold Stern (October 31, 1935 - October 8, 2022) was an American-born Messianic Jewish theologian who lived in Israel. He was the third son of Harold Stern and Marion Levi Stern.
Stern's background included surfing,[1] plus a Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, a graduate course at the University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University), and a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University. He taught the first course in 'Judaism and Christianity' at Fuller Theological Seminary and was a professor at UCLA.[2] Toward the end of his life, Stern emigrated to Jerusalem, where he remained active in Israel's Messianic Jewish community until his death.[3] As well as being a sometime surfer, David Stern was also a member of the UCLA Bruin Mountaineers in the mid 1950s.
Stern's major work is the Complete Jewish Bible, his English translation of the Tanakh and New Testament (which he, like many Messianic Jews, refers to as the "B'rit Hadashah", from the Hebrew term ברית חדשה, often translated "new covenant", used in Jeremiah 31).[4] One unique feature of Stern's translation is the wide usage of transliteration, rather than literal translation, throughout the Bible. For the New Testament, Greek proper nouns are often replaced with transliterated Hebrew words. Stern himself refers to this as a "cosmetic" treatment.[5]
Other notable characteristics of Stern's translation include the translating of Greek phrases about "the law" as having to do with "Torah-legalism" instead. More explanation is found in his Messianic Jewish Manifesto (now out of print) and his Messianic Judaism: A Modern Movement With an Ancient Past (a revision of the Manifesto).