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Conclusion: Christian Judaizing and the Forging of a Distinct Christian Identity ‫ﱜ‬ This study demonstrates the plausible contention that Christian leaders in the period between c.50 and 160 ce were responding to Gentile Christian attraction to Judaism and such rites as circumcision, Sabbath observance, or following dietary laws. These Gentile Christians combined a commitment to Christianity with adherence, in varying degrees, to Jewish practices, but apparently did not view such behaviour as incompatible with their Christian faith. From the perspective expressed in the writings of certain ecclesiastical leaders, judaizers dangerously blurred the boundaries between nascent Christianity and well-established Judaism. They were “playing a Jewish game,” one that was hardly frivolous but, rather, represented a serious threat to the developing sense of Christian identity. As such, within attempts to suppress this phenomenon, Christian judaizers became the target of anti-Jewish rhetoric in various early Christian writings. This discourse, then, represented part of an internal debate among Christians, rather than, as many scholars have characterized it, between Christians and Jews. Pre-Constantinian evidence for Christian judaizing is not lacking in ecclesiastical documents, the authors of which were deeply troubled by Christian judaizing in some Asia Minor and Syrian cities during the first two centuries of the Common Era. John Chrysostom, the fourth-century preacher often understood to be the quintessential combatant of judaizing within a Christian community, in fact stands as a rather late example of an ecclesiastical leader grappling with Christian judaizers. This factor demonstrates the endurance of the effect of judaizing on Jewish/Christian relations in Antioch, Syria, during the post-Constantinian period. Why Christians Judaized A wide variety of Jewish customs are raised for discussion in the literature surveyed, including circumcision, Sabbath observance, kashruth (food laws), synagogue attendance, fasting, new moon celebrations, feschapter 7 117 Notes to chapter 7 start on page 178 tival gatherings, and prayer. The first three are most frequently discussed by the authors noted here—three rites that most effectively served to distinguish Jews from non-Jews.1 I have suggested that these practices were attacked by these authors because they were being practised by members of their own congregations. From the literature surveyed I have elucidated a variety of factors that may have motivated Gentile Christians to judaize, none of which is mutually exclusive of others. In some cases—for example , the situation reflected in Galatians, and in Ignatius’s letters—their own reading of the Septuagint may have persuaded individual Christians that, to belong to the people of God, they needed to observe the Mosaic law. Those church congregations that were influenced by Paul may have been motivated by Paul’s speaking highly of Jewish Christians and Jerusalem when he alluded to Hebrew scripture; this may have generated judaizing behaviour among Gentile Christians in churches founded by Paul. Some Gentiles may have brought an interest in Judaism and adherence to Jewish customs with them when they became Christians, then simply voluntarily continued to live in the same manner they had prior to their conversion to Christianity. Certain Gentile Christians received encouragement and pressure to judaize from fellow Gentile Christians already engaged in judaizing behaviour —as was likely the case in Galatians, in Ignatius’s letters to the Philadelphians and the Magnesians, and in the Epistle of Barnabas. They also were likely influenced by Jewish Christians, as reflected in Galatians, the Didache, in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho, the Kerygmata Petrou in the Pseudo-Clementine literature, and in Colossians. Other Gentile Christians perceived Judaism and/or the synagogue to possess security and confidence greater than that found within their Christian churches, and hence may have been motivated by feelings of insecurity and fear; this situation may be reflected in the Book of Revelation and, perhaps, in the Epistle of Barnabas. In Revelation, for example, letters sent to Smyrna and Philadelphia express hostility toward Gentile Christians who were in some fashion living like Jews—“pretending” to be Jews, perhaps to avoid persecution by local Roman authorities. Assuming that judaizing was indeed occurring, there is no substantive evidence that Jews were the instigators of such behaviour among Christians. Rather, as stated above, this study contends that fellow Gentile Christians more likely were the primary aggressors—as, for example, in Galatia and, possibly, in Philadelphia. In other cases—such as the Didache and, possibly , in Colossae—Jewish Christians were the propagating party. Sometimes both Jewish and Gentile Christians were involved—as in Galatia. I suggest that it was unlikely...

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