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Christians and Heretics in Rabbinic Literature of Late Antiquity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Richard Kalmin
Richard Kalmin
Affiliation:
Jewish Theological Seminary
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Extract

This article argues that early and later rabbinic texts, as well as Babylonian and Palestinian sources, express different attitudes toward minim (“heretics”) and Christians, and that these differing attitudes are useful in reconstructing the histories of diverse rabbinic communities. In evaluating the historicity of the rabbinic sources, it is important to bear in mind that early sources do not necessarily provide reliable information about early periods, nor do Palestinian materials necessarily depict Palestinian reality more accurately than do Babylonian materials. Portrayals of minim and Christians in talmudic sources may tell us much about relations between Jews and Christians in the Persian and Roman empires of late antiquity, but they perhaps tell us more about the desires and prejudices of rabbinic authors and editors.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 87 , Issue 2 , April 1994 , pp. 155 - 169
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1994

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References

1 See, for example, Herford, R. Travers, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash (London: Williams & Norgate, 1903)Google Scholar; Simon, Marcel, Verus Israel: A Study of the Relations Between Christians and Jews in the Roman Empire, 135–425 (trans. McKeating, Henry; New York: Oxford University Press, 1986) 184–96Google Scholar; Büchler, Adolf, “The Minim of Sepphoris and Tiberias in the Second and Third Centuries,” in Brodie, I. and Rabbinowitz, J., eds., Studies in Jewish History: The Adolf Büchler Memorial Volume (London: Oxford University Press, 1956) 245–74Google Scholar; Kimelman, Reuven, ”Birkat ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for an Anti-Christian Prayer in Late Antiquity,” in Sanders, E. P., ed., Jewish and Christian Self-Definition (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981) 226–32Google Scholar; and Katz, Steven T., “Issues in the Separation of Judaism and Christianity After 70 C.E.: A Reconsideration,” JBL 103 (1984) 53–76.Google Scholar

2 At times, the term “early” designates rabbis who lived one or two generations after the end of the tannaitic period. My purpose in this article is not to describe the tannaitic period but rather to identify differences between portrayals of early and later rabbis. The slight terminological inconsistency noted above, therefore, has no affect on my arguments.

3 For more on the dating and provenance of ancient rabbinic works, see, for example, Strack, Hermann L. and Stemberger, Gunther, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash (trans. Bockmuehl, Markus; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992) 119–349.Google Scholar

4 For earlier evaluations of the historicity of rabbinic sources regarding Jesus, see Meier, John P., A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (New York: Doubleday, 1991) 93–99Google Scholar; and Sanders, E. P., “The Life of Jesus,” in Shanks, Hershel, ed., Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism (Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1992) 42.Google Scholar

5 b. Sanh. 107b (and parallel). I use the term “rabbi” here loosely, since the story purports to take place during the period prior to the adoption of the title “rabbi.” Talmudic sources frequently portray prerabbinic Jewish sages as typical rabbis, however, and for my present purposes the differences between them are irrelevant.

According to conventional accounts of the chronology of Yehoshua ben Perahya, he lived well before Jesus and could not have come in contact with him. The rabbis here reveal either ignorance of Jesus' chronology or a lack of concern for historical accuracy. It is conceivable, although unlikely, that the present story has in mind a Jesus other than the founder of the Christian faith.

6 The printed edition, which has been censored, lacks Jesus' name. See Rabbinowicz, Rafael, Dikdukei Soferim (1868–97; reprinted Jerusalem: Ma˓ayan ha-Hokhmah, 1960) n. resh.Google Scholar

7 y. Hag. 2.2 and y. Sanh. 6.9.

8 b. Ber. 17a-b (the same statement is found in a different context in b. Sanh. 103a) and b. ˓Aboda Zar. 16b-17a. See below for further discussion of this story. See also Hirshman, Marc G., “Midrash Qohelet Rabbah” (3 vols.; Ph.D. diss., Jewish Theological Seminary, 1982) 2. 52–58.Google Scholar

9 b. ˓Aboda Zar. 16b-17a. Compare the version in t Hul. 2.24. The printed edition, which lacks Jesus' name, has been censored. See Rabbinowicz, Dikdukei Soferim, nn. mem and samekh. For further discussion of this story, including the unconvincing claim that the passage refers to a Jesus other than the founder of Christianity, see Maier, Johann, Jesus von Nazareth in der talmudischen Überlieferung (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1978) 144–82.Google Scholar

10 See the previous note. Some versions lack the designation “of Nazareth.”

11 Meier, A Marginal Jew, 97.

12 Despite the fact that Eliezer ben Hyrcanus's excommunication is described in several ancient rabbinic stories, he is widely respected in rabbinic sources (including the source presently under discussion).

13 Jesus is also rabbinized in b. Ber. 17b (Rabbinowicz, Dikdukei Soferim, n. lamed) and b. Sanh. 103a (Rabbinowicz, Dikdukei Soferim, n. hei). See also b. Giṭ. 57a, where Jesus may be quoting a rabbinic statement.

14 See Green, William Scott, “Palestinian Holy Men: Charismatic Leadership and Rabbinic Tradition,” ANRW 2. 19/2 (1979) 628–47Google Scholar; and Bokser, Baruch M., “Wonder-Working and the Rabbinic Tradition: The Case of Hanina ben Dosa,” JSJ 16 (1985) 42–92.Google Scholar

15 Bokser, “Wonder-Working,” 79.

16 Ibid., 82, 84.

17 Green (“Palestinian Holy Men,” 641) views the rabbinization of Honi as an attempt to show that “the new religion of the rabbis had superceded the old religion of the priests.” See also Bokser, “Wonder-Working,” 80, and the references cited in n. 114 there.

18 By interpreting the story in this fashion, I do not mean to exaggerate its negative attitude toward Jesus. The story belittles Jesus, making him out to be a pathetic victim rather than an evil monster.

19 See, for example, Bokser, “Wonder-Working,” 71, and the literature cited in n. 95 there; see also Friedman, Shamma, “La-Aggadah ha-Historit ba-Talmud ha-Bavli,” in idem, ed., Sefer ha-Zikaron le-R. Shaul Lieberman (Jerusalem: Saul Lieberman Institute for Talmudic Research, 1989) 44–45.Google Scholar

20 See, for example, m. ˒Abot 1.12.

21 Philo Vit. Mos. 1.5.21–23.

22 t. ḥul. 2.24 and b. ˓Aboda Zar. 16b-17a.

23 See Hirshman, Menahem, Ha-Mikra u-Midrasho: Bein ḥazal le-Avot ha-Kenesiah (Jerusalem: Ha-Kibbuẓ ha-Me˒uḥad, 1992) 9–10.Google Scholar

24 See also y. Šabbat 14d and Eccl. R. 1.8.

25 On the question of the identity of these minim, see Hirshman, “Midrash Qohelet Rabbah,” 2. 61; Visotzky, Burton L., “Overturning the Lamp,” JJS 38 (1987) 76–77Google Scholar; and Miller, Stuart S., “The Minim of Sepphoris Reconsidered,” HTR 86 (1993) 384–85 n. 31.Google Scholar

26 Regarding the chronology of this sage, see Hyman, Aharon, Toldot Tanna˒im ve-Amora˒im (London: Ha-Express, 1910) 697–700.Google Scholar

27 On the dating of Avot de-Rabbi Natan, see Fraenkel, Yonah, Darkhei ha-Aggadah ve-ha-Midrash (Givatayim: Yad la-Talmud, 1991) 10.Google Scholar

28 Sif. Deut. 48 (ed. Finklestein, Louis; 1939; reprinted New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1969) 110.Google Scholar

29 Schechter, Solomon, ed., Aboth de-Rabbi Nathan (1887; reprinted Hildesheim/New York: Olms, 1979) (B) 3 (p. 14).Google Scholar

30 See Josephus Ant. 18.3.3; Smith, Morton, Jesus the Magician (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981) 48Google Scholar; Kimelman, ”Birkat ha-Minim,” 226–44; Schiffman, Lawrence, Who Was a Jew? (New York: Ktav, 1985) 1–7Google Scholar, 51–78, 94 n. 5; Wilson, Stephen G., “Jewish-Christian Relations 70–170 C.E.,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary 3 (1992) 835–37Google Scholar; and Harold W. Attridge, “Christianity from the Destruction of Jerusalem to Constantine's Adoption of the New Religion: 70–312 C.E.,” in Shanks, Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, 153–55, 165, 168. On the receptivity of diaspora Jews to Christianity, see Romans 9–11; Acts 13:16–14:23; 15:36–41; 17:1–15; and 18:1–17.

31 y Ber. 12d-13a (R. Simlai); Gen. R. 25.1 (R. Abahu) and 82.19 (R. Yannai and R. Yonatan); Pesikta de Rav Kahana 18 (R. Yoḥanan); b. Ber. 10a (R. Abahu) and 58a (R. Sheshet); b. Šabbat 88a-b (Rava); b. Pesaḥ. 87b (R. Yehuda Nesia [see Rabbinowicz, Dikdukei Soferim, n. resh]); b. Yoma 56b (R. ḥanina); b. Sukk. 48b (R. Abahu); b. Ketub. 112a (R. ḥanina); b. Ketub. 112a. (R. Zeira); b. Sanh. 37a (R. Kahana), 38b (R. Idi), 38b (R. Yishmael ben R. Yosi), 39a (R. Abahu), 39a (R. Abahu), 39a (R. Tanḥum), 39a-b (R. Avina [see Rabbinowicz, Dikdukei Soferim, n. resh]), 91a (R. Ami), 99a (R. Abahu), and 106b (R. ḥanina); b. ˓Aboda Zar. 4a (R. Abahu and R. Safra); and b. ḥul. 87a (R. Yehuda ha-Nasi).

32 Not surprisingly, Christians always win out in Christian accounts of dialogues with Jews. See McDonald, Lee Martin, “Anti-Judaism in the Early Church Fathers,” in Evans, Craig A. and Hagner, Donald A., eds., Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity: Issues of Polemic and Faith (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993) 226.Google Scholar

33 See the story involving R. Yehuda ben Nakosa in Eccl. R. 1.8.

34 For further discussion of this issue, see, for example, Simon, Verus Israel, 135–201; and Wilken, Robert, Judaism and the Early Christian Mind: A Study of Cyril of Alexandria's Exegesis and Theology (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971) 9–38.Google Scholar

35 m. Yad. 4.8 (see Albeck, Hanokh, Shishah Sidrei Mishnah [Tel Aviv: Devir, 1958] 486–87Google Scholar for versions reading “Sadducee.” In addition, the text states that the Pharisees “said,” but not that they “said to them”; thus it lacks the usual terminology indicating direct dialogue); t. Šabbat 13.5 (and b. Šabbat 116a); t. ḥul. 2.22–23 (and y. ˓Aboda Zar. 40d-41a and b. ˓Aboda Zar. 27b); and t. ḥul. 2.24 (and b. ˓Aboda Zar. 16b-17a and Eccl. R. 1.8).

36 See also Shaye J. D. Cohen, “Judaism to the Mishnah: 135–220 C.E.,” in Shanks, Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, 215–16, 352 n. 56. Compare tannaitic accounts of disputes between sages and Sadducees. See, for example, m. Yad. 4.6; t. Para 3.8; and b. Menaḥ. 65a-b.

37 y. Sanh. 25d (R. Eliezer, R. Yehoshua, and R. Akiba); Gen. R. 14.7 (R. Yosi); b. Ber. 10a (Beruria); b. Šabbat 116a-b (R. Gamliel); b. ˓Erubin 101a (R. Yehoshua); b. ḥag. 5b (R. Yehoshua ben ḥananya); b. Yebamot 102b (R. Gamliel); b. Sanh. 43a (see Rabbinowicz, Dikdukei Soferim, n. alef); b. Sanh. 90b (R. Gamliel). See also b. Sanh. 91a (Gebiha ben Pasisa).

38 Generally, some form of the verb tanah.

39 Compare, for example, Lachs, Samuel Tobias, “Rabbi Abahu and the Minim,” JQR 60 (1970) 197–98Google Scholar; Wilken, Judaism and the Early Christian Mind, 9–38; and Isaiah M. Gafni, “The World of the Talmud: From the Mishnah to the Arab Conquest,” in Shanks, Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, 232–33, 416 n. 49. On New Testament disputes between Jesus and a variety of different Jewish groups, see Hultgren, Arland J., Jesus and His Adversaries: The Form and Function of the Conflict Stories in the Synoptic Tradition (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1979)Google Scholar; and Mack, Burton L., A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988) 172–207.Google Scholar For disputes between Jews and Christians reported from a Christian perspective, see Justin Martyr Dialogue (ca. 165 CE) and the later Dialogue of Athanasius and Zaccheus and Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila. With regard to the situation in Sasanian Persia, see Koltun, Naomi, “Jewish-Christian Polemics in Fourth-Century Persian Mesopotamia: A Reconstructed Conversation” (Ph.D. diss., Stanford University, 1993) 35–40, 68–99.Google Scholar

40 b. ḥul. 13b. The anonymous editors of this passage, however, qualify the statement.

41 ˓b. Aboda Zar. 4a.

42 See, for example, b. Ber. 56b and y. Ma˓aser Š. 4.6; and Kimelman, “Birkat ha-Minim” 230–31.

43 See also Moore, George Foot, “Christian Writers on Judaism,” HTR 14 (1921) 200Google Scholar; and Parkes, James, The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue: A Study in the Origins of Antisemitism (1923; reprinted New York: Atheneum, 1974) 95–115.Google Scholar

44 See Cohen, Shaye J. D., “The Place of the Rabbi in Jewish Society of the Second Century,” in Levine, Lee I., ed., The Galilee in Late Antiquity (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1992) 165–67Google Scholar; and Kalmin, Richard, Sages, Stories, Authors, and Editors in Rabbinic Babylonia (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994) 97–109.Google Scholar

45 See also Fraade, Steven D., From Tradition to Commentary: Torah and Its Interpretation in the Midrash Sifre to Deuteronomy (Albany: SUNY Press, 1991) 51–53 and 214–18Google Scholar; and Hezser, Catherine, Form, Function, and Historical Significance of the Rabbinic Story in Yerushalmi Neziqin (Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1993) 15–24.Google Scholar

46 Concerning this phrase, see Lieberman, Saul, Tosefta ki-Feshutah (10 vols.; New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1962) 4. 766.Google Scholar See also m. Para 3.3; and Lieberman, Saul, Tosefet Rishonim (4 vols.; Jerusalem: Bamberger & Wahrmann, 1939) 3. 216.Google Scholar Compare Albeck, Shisha Sidrei Mishnah, 6. 263.

47 See also b. Tamid 31b; and Zussman, Yaakov, “ḥeker Toldot ha-Halakhah u-Megilot Midbar-Yehudah: Hirhurim Talmudiyim Rishonim le-Or Megilat ‘Miktzat Ma˓asei ha-Torah,’” Tarbiẓ 59 (1989) 53–54 n. 176.Google Scholar

48 These figures exclude, of course, cases in which the reference is to Jesus himself.

49 See also the parallels at y. ˓Aboda Zar. 40d-41a; b. ˓Aboda Zar. 27b; and Eccl. R. 1.8.

50 See also the parallels at b. ˓Aboda Zar. 16b-17a and Eccl. R. 1.8.

51 See Rabbinowicz, Dikdukei Soferim, n. alef.

52 The source is a composite, since the opening sentence, which lists the names of Jesus' five disciples, is in Hebrew, and the scriptural puns which follow are in Aramaic. The opening sentence, however, most likely never stood on its own, since it is unlikely that the ancient rabbis preserved and transmitted a source that supplied nothing more than the names of Jesus' five disciples. Very likely, therefore, the Aramaic material is a later reworking of an earlier version that is no longer extant. It is difficult to evaluate the impact of this passage on the present argument.

53 Ps 100:1.

54 Ps 50:23.

55 See also Miller, “Further Thoughts on the Minim of Sepphoris,” 386–92. Compare Simon, Verus Israel, 184–96; and Segal, Alan F., Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports About Christianity and Gnosticism (Leiden: Brill, 1977).Google Scholar