Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-century Syria (Patristic Monograph Series)

3. Ephrem’s Use of Scriptural History

69 Chapter Three u Ephrem’s Use of Scriptural History While Ephrem’s anti-Judaizing language and concerns for the Judaizing behavior of his local church audience represent one significant means by which he attempts to assert the framework of Nicene orthodoxy in his eastern Syrian context, it is by no means the only one by which he does so. Ephrem’s arguments against those Christians whose teachings subordinate the Son too much to the Father likewise struggle to promote Nicene Christianity as the orthodoxy of the Roman Empire, and also use anti-Jewish language to do so. In order that these “Arian” Christians can become “Jews” in Ephrem’s rhetorical accusations, his definition of “Jews” must be one that does not rely solely on his audience’s interaction with members of the contemporary local synagogue .1 Since Ephrem does not accuse these particular Christians of Judaizing in their physical behavior, he must draw on a broader definition of Jews and Judaism in order to conflate these Christians with the Jews. Ephrem accomplishes this rhetorical twist through his complex interpretation of Christian Scripture. Ephrem’s use of the two Testaments of Christian Scripture to paint a very particular negative history for, and description of, “the People” provides the framework for understanding how Ephrem then manipulates this scriptural history in order to invalidate not only contemporary Judaism, but also the teachings of “Arian” Christians. 1. Compare the discussion in Averil Cameron, “Jews and Heretics—A Category Error?” in The Ways that Never Parted, eds. Adam Becker and Annette Yoshiko Reed (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck , 2003), 345–60. 70 Ephrem’s Use of Scriptural History Scriptural Interpretation as Self-Definition The relationship between Scripture and history is complex in any Christian account, which must, by its very nature, concurrently account for the world that Christians inhabit as well as for Christian salvation history. For Ephrem, Scripture is a detailed and accurate record of the history of the world. As such, Christian Scripture provides Ephrem not only with the history of God’s interaction with humanity, but also more broadly with the events of human history in terms of different social groups and their behavior relative to one another as well as to the divine. Therefore, all of human history is sacred for Ephrem, and thus the right telling of that history is the provenance of the orthodox religious leaders of God’s chosen people. Understanding himself to be one of these leaders, Ephrem narrates Scripture through his liturgical writings, and in the process presents a world history that has significant social ramifications within his own fourth-century community. Ephrem’s use of Scripture to recount history produces a grand narrative that supports, and in fact culminates in, his own conclusions that the Jewish people forfeited God’s divine favor through their creation of the golden calf at Mt. Sinai, and that Judaism after the crucifixion of Jesus is entirely defunct. Through such scripturally supported historical narratives, Ephrem constructs for his audience a world with distinct and divinely sanctioned social boundaries between Jews and Christians, and at the same time leaves no doubt that it is “Christians” rather than “Jews” who are God’s chosen people. Outlining the rhetoric that supports and validates Ephrem’s historical narrative reveals that he uses Scripture in order to “prove” to his audience that Jews are dangerous, blind, and divinely rejected, that Christians are now God’s people, and that he is an authoritative interpreter of Scripture. Ephrem’s anti-Jewish language participates in outlining an ideological framework that reifies that framework while purporting to describe the social, religious, and political situation in fourth-century Syria.2 Ephrem, like other fourth-century Christians, found himself in the ironic situation of needing to rescue Jewish Scripture (and God’s covenant with 2. Ephrem similarly constructs scriptural arguments against groups other than Jews and Judaizers, particularly against the followers of Mani, Marcion, and Bardaisan (see especially Ephrem’s Prose Refutations). This current discussion focuses explicitly on Ephrem’s anti-Jewish language, but this rhetoric is undeniably part of Ephrem’s larger polemical project, in which Christian Scripture plays a significant role. Ephrem’s Use of Scriptural History 71 Israel) from the Jews, while also denouncing contemporary Jews and Judaism . While this situation led to a tradition of Christian anti-Jewish polemic, it also made Christian interpretation of Scripture a complex and political enterprise .3 Christian leaders negotiated...