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2 - The Image of Jews and Judaism in the Apostolic Fathers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2021

By
Philip Alexander
Edited by
Michael F. Bird  and
Scott Harrower
Michael F. Bird
Affiliation:
Ridley College, Melbourne
Scott Harrower
Affiliation:
Ridley College, Melbourne
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Summary

Christianity and Judaism as we know them today can both be traced back to the richly diverse Judaism that flourished in Palestine in late Second Temple times, but it was only after 70 CE that the two traditions began to define themselves over against each other in mutually exclusive ways. The period between the First Jewish Revolt (66–74 CE) and the Bar Kokhba war (132–135 CE) – the period in which much of the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers was written – was crucial in this development. The aim of this study will be to throw light on this parting of the ways. It will outline briefly what we know about Rabbinic Judaism in Palestine and synagogal Judaism in the Diaspora at this time, and then read against this picture the references to Jews and Judaism in the Apostolic Fathers, especially in the Epistle of Barnabas. What Barnabas shows is a Christianity that sharply differentiates itself from Judaism, but at the same time does not want to sever all ties. It wants to hold on to the Jewish Scriptures as word of God, but through a process of allegorization to appropriate them as Christian Scripture.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers , pp. 29 - 49
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Alexander, Philip. “The Rabbis and Their Rivals in the Second Century CE,” in Christianity in the Second Century: Themes and Developments, ed. Paget, James Carleton and Lieu, Judith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017, 57–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barclay, John M.G. Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora from Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE–117 CE). Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996.Google Scholar
Dunn, James D.G. (ed.). Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, AD 70–135. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992.Google Scholar
Goodman, Martin. Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations. London: Allen Lane, 2007.Google Scholar
Hezser, Catherine. The Social Structure of the Rabbinic Movement in Roman Palestine. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997.Google Scholar
Horbury, William. “Jewish–Christian Relations in Barnabas and Justin Martyr,” in Horbury, William, Jews and Christians in Contact and Controversy. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1998, 127–61.Google Scholar
Horbury, William. Jewish War under Trajan and Hadrian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, Steven T. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Judaism. Volume 4: The Late Roman–Rabbinic Period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, Lee I. The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000).Google Scholar
Lieu, Judith. Image and Reality: The Jews in the World of the Christians in the Second Century. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996.Google Scholar
Mimouni, Simon Claude. Le judaïsme ancien du VIe siècle avant notre ère au IIIe siècle de notre ère: Des prêtres aux rabbins. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2012.Google Scholar
Paget, James Carleton. Jews, Christians and Jewish Christians in Antiquity. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.Google Scholar
Rosenfeld, Ben-Zion. Torah Centres and Rabbinic Activity in Palestine 70–400 CE: History and Geography. Brill: Leiden and Boston, MA, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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