Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity: Volume 2: Separation and Polemic

Index nominorum

170 Separation and Polemic judaizing Christian sects seems to beg the question. There is also the temptation of Christian scholars to want to see the seeds of develop­ ment in the Gentile church already present in the "mother church," even though their theology wasprobably much moreJewish and much less "Christian" than many would like. We are in need of a convincing study of early Christian Judaism, if one can be written. The Death of Jesus The seminar spent considerable time discussing anti­Judaism in the passion narratives; we discussed only in passing the actual cir­ cumstances of that death and the significance of the retelling of it in the oral tradition. WasJesus executed purely as a political rebel against Rome, and mistakenly at that? Was he really seen as a threat by the Temple authorities? Was it simply the common fate of the prophets, but if so, how? AlreadyMark has difficulty connecting the two halvesof his story, and later interpreters should not try to be wiser in under­ standing Jesus' death as the natural consequence of his teaching, dif­ ficult as this may be to accept. In any case no connection can be made with Jesus' supposed opposition to the lawor to the Pharisees, even if such existed. Whatever the historical circumstances, the earliest theol­ ogy presupposes a Pharisaic doctrine of atonement (4 Mace.) and says thatJesus died in our place, for our sins (note that hyper does not mean "because of"), asan expression not of thejudgment but the love of God (Rom. 5:6). Any anti­Jewish motifs connected with the death of Jesus derive from Gentile Christian redaction or hermeneutic and cannot be justified either by the actual circumstances or the earliest theological reflections on them. Paul Whether or not it is appropriate to speak of theological anti­Judaism in Paul depends on a number of prior questions, which can only briefly be indicated here. Christian Judaism in the Diaspora Most commentators make assumptions about the shape and size of communities of ChristianJews in the Diaspora, without much explicit discussion. We know that there were other Christian Jews who served as missionaries, either together with Paul (e.g., Barnabas, Junia) or in opposition to him (2 Cor. 11, Phil. 3). But are we to imagine any Retrospect 171 Christian Jews present in communities founded by Paul and addressed by his letters? This is very important in dealing with the accusation found in Acts 21:21, that he "teaches all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses,telling them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs." If there were any Christian Jews present in Galatia, for example, they would be clearly told just this, and Paul would be guilty of the charge. On the other hand, the rapid successof the Pauline mission and his ability in many of his letters (e.g., Romans) to presuppose knowledge of things Jewish lead us to question just who the first converts were. Even though there are many problems with the concept and name of "God­fearers," should we conclude that Gentiles who had been attracted to and were knowledgeable about Judaism might have been an important part of the Pauline churches? It would be helpful if we knew much more about diaspora Hellenistic Jews and their relations with their Gentile neighbours. "Opponents" Beginning already with Marcion, it has been the pattern to understand Paul in relation to certain opponents. Given the vividness of the polemic in some passages this is no surprise. A number of questions need to be raised however. Is it proper to posit a unified front of opponents who appear in all the letters, or should we think of quite different groups in each situation? Some at least of the opponents were Christian Jews, but were they advocating conversion to Judaism? Should Paul's arguments against them be understood to be directed against Judaism? There is the additional hermeneutical problem that the existence of opponents is often assumed, even in the case of pas­ sages which do not specifically mention them, so that whatever Paul says he must be saying in opposition to certainJewish views which he is then made to deny. Because of the dangers of circular reasoning and of imposing on the text a hermeneutic of antithesis, the issue of "oppo­ nents" should be handled very carefully in each specific case. The Law Since the question of the law represents the fundamental source of anti­Judaism in the later church, how we...