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| {{About|Christianity in the 1st century ]|Christianity from the ] until the 4th century|Early Christianity}} | |||
| ] appearing to his ] after his resurrection.]] | |||
| ] has its roots in ] and ] of the first century. It started with the ] of the ] rabbi Yeshua, and his deification after his death. | |||
| Early on, a number of related but divergent Christian communities and intepretations developed during the first and early second century CE, which gradually departed from the ] and other ]. From the former eventually arose ], while the latter developed into ]. | |||
| ==Jewish-Hellenistic roots== | |||
| Christianity arose in the syncretistic Hellenistic world of the first century CE, which was dominated by Roman law and Greek culture.{{sfn|Mack|1995}} | |||
| ===Hellenistic Judaism=== | |||
| {{Main|Hellenistic Judaism}} | |||
| ] had a profound impact on the customs and practices of Jews, both in the ] and in the ]. The inroads into Judaism gave rise to Hellenistic Judaism in the Jewish diaspora which sought to establish a ] within the culture and language of ]. | |||
| Hellenistic Judaism spread to ] from the 3rd century BCE, and became a notable '']'' after the ], ], ], ], and ], until its decline in the 3rd century parallel to the rise of ] and ]. | |||
| According to ], the Christian vision of Jesus' death for the redemption of mankind was only possible in a Hellenised milieu.{{refn|group=note|{{harvp|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=}}: "Burton Mack argues that Paul’s view of Jesus as a divine figure who gives his life for the salvation of others had to originate in a Hellenistic rather than a Jewish environment. Mack writes, "Such a notion cannot be traced to old Jewish and/ or Israelite traditions, for the very notion of a vicarious human sacrifice was anathema in these cultures. But it can be traced to a Strong Greek tradition of extolling a noble death." More specifically, Mack argues that a Greek "myth of martyrdom" and the "noble death" tradition are ultimately responsible for influencing the hellenized Jews of the Christ cults to develop a divinized Jesus."<br> {{harvp|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=}}further note that "The most sophisticated and influential version of the hellenization thesis was forged within the German ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'' of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—now often referred to as the “old history of religions school.” Here, the crowning literary achievement in several ways is Wilhelm Bousset’s 1913 work ''Kyrios Christos''. Bousset envisions two forms of pre-Pauline Christianity: "}} According to Price, "Once it reached Hellenistic soil, the story of Jesus attracted to itself a number of mythic motifs that were common to the syncretic religious mood of the era."{{refn|group=note|{{harvp|Price|2000|pp=88, 92, 94, n. 17|loc=§. }}: " banquets held in honor of the gods, e.g., “Pray come dine with me today at the table of the ''Kyrios'' Serapis.” It is no doubt such social events which trouble Paul in 1 Cor. 8–11, where he admits that indeed “there are gods aplenty and ''Kyrioi'' aplenty” (1 Cor. 8:5), but seems to need to remind his Corinthian Christians that “for us there is but one God, the Father, who created all things, and one ''Kyrios'', through whom all things were made” (1 Cor. 8:6). Richard Reitzenstein and Wilhelm Bousset were two scholars who did manage to grasp the relevance of these ancient faiths for the study of early Christianity. Their conclusion was a simple and seemingly inevitable one: Once it reached Hellenistic soil, the story of Jesus attracted to itself a number of mythic motifs that were common to the syncretic religious mood of the era."}} | |||
| ===Jewish messianism=== | |||
| {{Main|Messiah in Judaism}} | |||
| Jewish messianism has its root in the ] of the 2nd century BCE to 1st century BCE, promising a future "anointed" leader or ] to restore the Israelite "]", in place of the foreign rulers of the time. This corresponded with the ] directed against the ]. Following the fall of the ] kingdom, it was directed against the ] administration of ], which, according to ], began with the formation of the ] and ] during the ] (6 CE), although full scale open revolt did not occur till the ] in 66 CE. | |||
| Judaism at this time was divided into antagonistic factions. The main camps were the ], ], and ], but also included other less influential sects, like the ]. The 1st century BCE and 1st century CE saw a number of charismatic religious leaders, contributing to what would become the ] of ], including ] and ]. The ministry of Jesus, according to the account of the ]s, falls into this pattern of sectarian preachers or teachers with devoted ] (students).{{cn|date=May 2018}} | |||
| ===Pharisees=== | |||
| {{Main|Pharisees}} | |||
| Although the gospels contain strong condemnations of the Pharisees, ] claims proudly to be a Pharisee, and there is a clear influence of ]'s interpretation of the ] in the Gospel-sayings.{{sfn|Leman|2015|p=145-146}} Belief in the resurrection of the dead in the ] was a core ] doctrine. | |||
| ==Jesus== | |||
| {{Main|Jesus|Historical Jesus|Portraits of the historical Jesus}} | |||
| {{See also|Historical background of the New Testament}} | |||
| There is widespread disagreement among scholars on the details of the life of Jesus mentioned in the gospel narratives, and on the meaning of his teachings.<ref>''Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee'' by Mark Allan Powell 1998 {{ISBN|0-664-25703-8}} page 181</ref> Scholars often draw a distinction between the ] and the ], and two different accounts can be found in this regard.<ref>], ''The Gospels and Jesus'' (2nd ed.), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) p. xxiii</ref> | |||
| According to Christian denominations the bodily resurrection of Jesus after his death is the pivotal event of Jesus' life and death, as described in the gospels and the epistles. According to the gospels, written decades after the events of his life, Jesus preached for a period of one to three years in the early 1st century. His ministry of teaching, healing the sick and disabled and performing ] culminated in his ] at the hands of the Roman authorities in Jerusalem. After his death, he appeared to his followers, ] from death. After forty days he ascended to Heaven, but his followers believed he would ] to usher in the ] and fulfill the rest of ] such as the ] and the ]. | |||
| Critical scholarship has stripped away most narratives about Jesus as ]ary, and the ] is that while the gospels include many legendary elements, these are religious elaborations added to the accounts of a historical Jesus who was crucified under the Roman prefect ] in the 1st-century Roman province of ].{{Sfnp|Ehrman|2012|ps=none}}{{Sfnp|Stanton|2002|pp=143ff}} According to ], a main proponent of the ], Yeshua was a ] rabbi, who, consistent with Jewish beliefs and practices of the time, as recorded by the rabbis, commonly associated illness with sin and healing with forgiveness.<ref name="Sanders">E.P. Sanders 1993 ''The Historical Figure of Jesus'' 213</ref> His remaining disciples later believed that he was resurrected.<ref name="Porter.p74"/><ref name="Ehrman.Triumph"/> | |||
| According to Ehrman, a central question in the research on Jesus and early Christianity is how a human person came to be deified in a short time.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} While Jewish Christians like the Ebionites had an ] ]{{sfn|Kloppenborg|1994|pp=435–9}} and regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his ],<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177608/Ebionites | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica | title = Ebionites}}</ref> According to Ehrman, it was only after his early followers had visions of Jesus after he died that Jesus came to be regarded as 'the Son of God'.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} But how soon the earthly Jesus was regarded to be the incarnation of God is a matter of scholarly debate. Paul saw Jesus as the incarnation of God on earth who's death atoned humankind.{{sfn|Mack|1995}} According to Erhman the gospels show a development from a "low Christology" towards a "high Christology.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}" Yet, Paul's epistles are the oldest Christian writings, and others have argued that this "high Christology" was in place very soon after Jesus' death.<ref name="Bouma"/> | |||
| Another point of debate is how Christians came to belief in a bodily resurrection, which was "a comparatively recent development within Judaism."<ref>Stanley E. Porter, ''The Pagan Christ'', p.91</ref> According to Dag Øistein Endsjø, "The notion of the resurrection of the flesh was, as we have seen, not unknown to certain parts of Judaism in antiquity," "but Paul rejected the idea of bodily resurrection, and it also can't be found within the strands of Jewish thought in which he was formed."<ref>Dag Øistein Endsjø, ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity'', p.169</ref> According to Porter, Hayes and Tombs, "the Jewish tradition emphasizes a continued spiritual existence rather than a bodily resurrection."<ref name="Porter.Hayes.Tombs">Stanley E. Porter, Michael A. Hayes and David Tombs (1999), ''Foreword'', p.18. In: ''Resurrection'', edited by Stanley E. Porter, Michael A. Hayes and David Tombs, Sheffield Academic Press</ref> Nevertheless, the origin of this idea is commonly traced to Jewish beliefs,<ref>Dag Øistein Endsjø, ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity'', p.12</ref> a view against which Stanley E. Porter objected. According to Porter, Jewish and subsequent Christian thought were influenced by Greek thoughts, and that Paul adopted Greek assumptions about resurrection.<ref>Stephen J. Bedard, ''HELLENISTIC INFLUENCE ON THE IDEA OF RESURRECTION IN JEWISH APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE'', responds to Porter's thesis, referencing Porter as stating such. Original source: Stanley E. Porter (1999), ''Resurrection, the Greeks and the New Testament''. In: ''Resurrection'', edited by Stanley E. Porter, Michael A. Hayes and David Tombs, Sheffield Academic Press</ref>{{refn|group=note|Porter, Hayes and Tombs: "Stanley Porter's paper brings together a body of literature, hitherto largely neglected, which highlights the fact that the Greeks, contrary to much scholarly opinion, did have a significant tradition of bodily resurrection, and that the Jewish tradition emphasizes a continued spiritual existence rather than a bodily resurrection. Thus, Paul in the New Testament probably adopted Graeco-Roman assumptions regarding the resurrection, although he was not blindly derivative in developing his conceptual framework."<ref name="Porter.Hayes.Tombs"/>}} However, Porter also says in ''Resurrection, the Greeks and the New Testament'' that "Bodily resurrection is not part of such cults and their beliefs."<ref>Stanley E. Porter (1999), ''Resurrection, the Greeks and the New Testament''</ref> | |||
| ==Early Christianity== | |||
| {{Main|Proto-orthodox Christianity}} | |||
| According to Ehrman, a number of early Christianities existed in the first century CE, from which developed various Christian traditions and denominations, including proto-orthodoxy.{{sfn|Ehrman|2005}} Those arly communities may have had different views on Jesus' divinity. According to ] the early Christian communities started with so-called "Jesus movements," new religious movements centering on a human teacher called Jesus. A number of these "Jesus movements" can be discerned in early Christian writings.{{sfn|Mack|1997}} According to Mack, within these Jesus-movements developed the belief that Jesus was the Messiah, and had risen from death.{{sfn|Mack|1995}} Yet, the incarnation and extaltation of Jesus seems to have been part of Christian tradition a few years after his death, and over a decade before the writing of the Pauline epistles.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}<ref name="Bouma"/> | |||
| ===Jewish Christianity=== | |||
| ====Beliefs of early Christians==== | |||
| The Pauline letters incorporate creeds, or confessions of faith, of a belief in an exalted Christ that predate Paul,{{sfn|Mack|1995}} and give essential information on the faith of the early Jerusalem community around James, 'the brother of Jesus'.<ref>Colin G. Kruse (2012), ''Paul's Letter to the Romans'' {{ISBN|0802837433}} pp. 41–42</ref><ref>David E. Aune (ed.)(2010), ''The Blackwell Companion to The New Testament'' {{ISBN|1405108258}} p. 424</ref><ref>Ralph P. Martin (1975), ''Worship in the Early Church'', {{ISBN|0802816134}}, pp. 57–58</ref> This "cult" venerated the risen Christ, who had appeared to several persons.{{sfn|Mack|1995}} ] gives an early testimony of the appearance of the risen Christ to "Cephas and the twelve," and to "James and all the apostles," possibly reflecting a fusion of two early Christian groups: | |||
| {{quote|3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;<br> | |||
| 4 and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures;<br> | |||
| 5 and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve;<br> | |||
| 6 then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep;<br> | |||
| 7 then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles;<br> | |||
| 8 and last of all, as to the untimely born, he appeared to me also.<ref>]</ref>}} | |||
| ]:6–11 contains the socalled Christ hymn, which portray Jesus as an incarnated and subsequently extalted hevenly being:<ref>{{harvp|Price|2003|loc=§. |pp=351–355}}</ref> | |||
| {{quote|5 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:<br> | |||
| 6 who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,<br> | |||
| 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;<br> | |||
| 8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross.<br> | |||
| 9 Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name;<br> | |||
| 10 that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of in heaven and on earth and under the earth,<br> | |||
| 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.<ref>]</ref>}} | |||
| These pre-Pauline creeds date to within a few years of Jesus' death and developed within the Christian community in Jerusalem.<ref>''Creeds of the Churches, Third Edition'' by John H. Leith (1982) {{ISBN|0804205264}} p. 12.</ref> Scholars view these as indications that the incarnation and extaltation of Jesus was part of Christian tradition a few years after his death and over a decade before the writing of the Pauline epistles.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}<ref name="Bouma">{{cite web|last=Bouma|first=Jeremy|title=The Early High Christology Club and Bart Ehrman — An Excerpt from "How God Became Jesus"|url=https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/how-god-became-jesus-bart-ehrman-high-christology-excerpt/|website=Zondervan Academic Blog|publisher=] Christian Publishing|accessdate=2 May 2018|date=27 March 2014}}</ref> | |||
| ====Ebionites==== | |||
| {{Main|Ebionites}} | |||
| The Ebionites were a ] movement that existed during the early centuries of the Christian Era.<ref>{{Cite book | editor1-last = Cross | editor1-first = EA | title = The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1989 | contribution = Ebionites | editor2-last = Livingston | editor2-first = FL}}</ref> They regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his ] and his ],<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177608/Ebionites | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica | title = Ebionites}}</ref> and insisted on the necessity of following ].<ref>{{Cite book | first = Kaufmann | last = Kohler | chapter-url = http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=22&letter=E | contribution = Ebionites | editor1-first = Isidore | editor1-last = Singer | editor2-first = Cyrus | editor2-last = Alder | title = Jewish Encyclopedia | year = 1901{{ndash}}1906}}</ref> They used the ], one of the ]; the Hebrew Book of Matthew starting at chapter 3; revered ] (James the Just); and rejected ] as an ].<ref name="Maccoby 1987">{{Cite book| author = ]| title = The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity| pages = 172–183.| publisher = HarperCollins | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-06-250585-8}}, </ref> | |||
| Distinctive features of the ''Gospel of the Ebionites'' include the absence of the ] and of the ]; an ] ],{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Kloppenborg|1994|pp=435–9}}; p. 435 – "This belief, known as "adoptionism", held that Jesus was not divine by nature or by birth, but that God chose him to become his son, i.e., adopted him."}} in which Jesus is chosen to be ] at the time of his ]; the abolition of the ] by Jesus; and an advocacy of ].{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Vielhauer|Strecker|1991|pp=166–71}}; p. 168 – "Jesus' task is to do away with the 'sacrifices'. In this saying (16.4–5), the hostility of the Ebionites against the Temple cult is documented."}} | |||
| ====Nazarenes==== | |||
| {{Main|Nazarene (sect)|l1=Nazarene}} | |||
| The Nazarenes originated as a ] of first-century Judaism. The first use of the term "sect of the Nazarenes" is in the ] in the New Testament, where ] is accused of being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes ("πρωτοστάτην τε τῆς τῶν Ναζωραίων αἱρέσεως").{{refn|group=note|Acts 24:5 "For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes."}} The term then simply designated followers of "Yeshua Natzri" (]),{{refn|group=note|As the ] term {{lang|he|נוֹצְרִי}} (''{{transl|he|nôṣrî}}'') still does}} but in the first to fourth centuries the term was used for a sect of followers of Jesus who were closer to Judaism than most Christians.<ref>David C. Sim ''The Gospel of Matthew and Christian Judaism'' 1998 p182 "The Nazarenes are first mentioned by Epiphanius who records that they upheld the Torah, including the practice of circumcision and sabbath observance (Panarion 29:5.4; 7:2, 5; 8:1-7), read the Hebrew scriptures in the original Hebrew"</ref> They are described by ] and are mentioned later by ] and ],<ref>Petri Luomanen "Nazarenes" in ''A companion to second-century Christian "heretics"'' pp279</ref><ref>Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley - Page 670 The term Ebionites occurs in Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and Eusebius but none makes any mention of Nazarenes. They must have been even more considerable in the time of these writers,</ref> who made a distinction between the Nazarenes of their time and the "Nazarenes" mentioned in Acts 24:5.{{refn|group=note|Edward Hare ''The principal doctrines of Christianity defended'' 1837 p318: "The Nazarenes of ecclesiastical history adhered to the law of their fathers ; whereas when Tertullus accused Paul as "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes," he accused him as one who despised the law, and " had gone about to the temple," Acts xxiv, 5, 6. "}} | |||
| The Nazarenes were similar to the ], in that they considered themselves ], maintained an adherence to the ], and used only the ] '']'', rejecting all the ]. However, unlike half of the Ebionites, they accepted the ].<ref name="Krauss">{{Cite document|last = Krauss | first =Samuel| author-link = Samuel Krauss|title=Nazarenes |url= http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=140&letter=N&search=nazarenes | accessdate =2007-08-23 | publisher = Jewish Encyclopedia}}</ref><ref name="Hegg 2007">{{cite journal | author = Hegg, Tim | title = The Virgin Birth – An Inquiry into the Biblical Doctrine | publisher = TorahResource| year = 2007|url = http://www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/VirginBirth.pdf | accessdate = 2007-08-13 | format = PDF}}</ref> | |||
| The ''Gospel of the Hebrews'' was a ] ], the text of which is ]; only fragments of it survive as brief quotations by the early ] and in apocryphal writings. The fragments contain traditions of ], ], ], and probable ], along with some of his ].{{sfn|Cameron|1992|pp=105–6}} Distinctive features include a ] characterized by the belief that the ] is Jesus' ]; and a first ] to ], showing a high regard for James as the leader of the ].{{sfn|Koch|1990|p=364}} It was probably composed in ] in the first decades of the 2nd century, and is believed to have been used by Greek-speaking ]s in ] during that century.{{sfn|Lapham|2003|pp=159,163}} | |||
| The ] is the title given to fragments of one of the lost ] of Matthew partially reconstructed from the writings of ]. | |||
| ===Pauline Christianity=== | |||
| {{Main|Pauline Christianity|Paul the Apostle and Judaism}} | |||
| ], ])]] | |||
| Pauline Christianity refers to the form of Christianity associated with the beliefs and doctrines espoused by the Apostle Paul in the ].{{refn|group=note|The term "Pauline Christianity" is generally considered a ] by mainstream Christianity, as it carries the implication that Christianity is a corruption of the original teachings of Jesus, as for example in the belief of a ] as found in ].{{source?|date=May 2018}} Most of ] Christianity relies heavily on these teachings and considers them to be amplifications and explanations of the ].{{source?|date=May 2018}}}} According to Ehrman, "Paul's message, in a nutshell, was a Jewish apocalyptic proclamation with a seriously Christian twist."<ref name="Ehrman.Triumph"> Ehrman, ''The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden religion swept the World''</ref> | |||
| The early Christian community in ], led by ], had a strong influence on Paul.{{sfn|Mack|1997}} Fragments of their beliefs in an extalted and deified Jesus, what Mack called the "Christ cult," can be found in the writings of Paul.{{sfn|Mack|1997}}{{refn|group=note|According to Mack{{harvp|Mack|1988|p=98}}, "Paul was converted to a Hellenized form of some Jesus movement that had already developed into a Christ cult. Thus his letters serve as documentation for the Christ cult as well." {{harvp|Price|2000|p=75|loc=§. }} comments: "By choosing the terminology “Christ cults,” Burton Mack means to differentiate those early movements that revered Jesus as the Christ from those that did not. Mack is perhaps not quite clear about what would constitute a Christ cult. Or at least he seems to me to obscure some important distinctions between what would appear to be significantly different subtypes of Christ movements."}} According to the New Testament, Saul of Tarsus first persecuted the early ]s, but then ]. He adopted the name Paul and started ] among the ]s, adopting the title "Apostle to the Gentiles." He persuaded the leaders of the Jerusalem Church to allow Gentile converts exemption from most ] at the ], which opened the way for a much larger Christian Church, extending far beyond the Jewish community. | |||
| While Paul was inspired by the early Christian apostles, his writings elaborate on their teachings, and also give interpretations which are different from other teachings as documented in the ], early ] and the rest of the New Testament, such as the ].{{sfn|Mack 1995}}{{sf|Maccoby|1986}} | |||
| Jewish Christians, including the ] and ], rejected Paul for straying from normative ].{{sfn|Mack|1995}} | |||
| ====Hellenistic influences==== | |||
| ] scholar ] has argued that Paul's theology of the spirit is more deeply rooted in Hellenistic Judaism than generally believed. In ''A Radical Jew,'' Boyarin argues that the Apostle Paul combined the life of Jesus with ] to reinterpret the ] in terms of the ] opposition between the ] (which is real) and the ] (which is false). Judaism is a material religion, in which membership is based not on ] but rather descent from ], physically marked by ], and focusing on ]. Paul saw in the symbol of a resurrected Jesus the possibility of a spiritual rather than corporeal messiah. He used this notion of messiah to argue for a religion through which all people — not just descendants of Abraham — could worship the ]. Unlike Judaism, which holds that it is the proper religion only of the Jews, Pauline Christianity claimed to be the proper religion for all people.<ref>Boyarin 1999 (?)</ref> | |||
| By appealing to the Platonic distinction between the material and the ideal, Paul showed how the spirit of Christ could provide ''all'' people a way to worship the God who had previously been worshipped only by Jews and Jewish ], although Jews claimed that he was the ] of all. Boyarin roots Paul's work in Hellenistic Judaism and insists that Paul was thoroughly Jewish, but argues that Pauline theology made his version of Christianity appealing to Gentiles. Boyarin also sees this Platonic reworking of both Jesus's teachings and Pharisaic Judaism as essential to the emergence of Christianity as a distinct religion, because it justified a Judaism without Jewish law.<ref>Boyarin 1999 (?)</ref> | |||
| ===Proto-Gnosticism - Marcionites=== | |||
| {{Main|Marcionites}} | |||
| Marcionism was an ] ] ] that originated in the teachings of ] at Rome around the year 144.<ref>(115 years and 6 months from the ], according to ]'s reckoning in ''Adversus Marcionem'', xv)</ref> Marcion asserted that Paul was the only ] who had rightly understood the new message of ] as delivered by Christ.{{sfn|Mack|1995}} | |||
| Marcion believed Jesus was the savior sent by ], and Paul the Apostle was his chief apostle, but he rejected the ] and the ]. Marcionists believed that the ] was a separate and lower entity than the ] of the New Testament. This belief was in some ways similar to ]; notably, both are '']'', that is, they posit opposing gods, forces, or principles: one higher, spiritual, and "good", and the other lower, material, and "evil" (compare ]). This dualism stands in contrast to other Christian and Jewish views that "evil" has no independent existence, but is a ] or lack of "good",<ref>], ''Summa Theologiae'' Prima Pars, Q. 14 A. 10; Q. 49 A. 3.; ], ''On the Divine Names'', 4; iv. 31</ref> a view shared by the Jewish theologian ].<ref>''Guide for the Perplexed'' 3,10</ref> | |||
| ==Characterisation of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity== | |||
| ], by Giovanni Paolo Pannini]] | |||
| {{Main|Split of early Christianity and Judaism}} | |||
| Several Jewish sects are known to have existed during the 1st century CE: the Essenes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Christians. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, most of these sects vanished, but Christianity and the Pharisees survived, with Christianity gradually ], and the Pharisees developing into ], or simply ].{{refn|group=note|Segal: "one can speak of a 'twin birth'" of two new Judaisms, both markedly different from the religious systems that preceded them. Not only were Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity religious twins, but, like ] and ], the twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca, they fought in the womb, setting the stage for life after the womb."<ref name="Segal.1986">Alan F. Segal, Rebecca's Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986.Page= ???</ref>}} Rather than a sudden split, there was a slowly growing chasm between Christians and Jews in the 1st centuries, and it took centuries for a complete break to manifest. | |||
| ===Long-term process=== | |||
| {{See also|Origins of Rabbinic Judaism}} | |||
| According to historian ], writing in 1988, the separation of Christianity from Judaism was a process, not an event. The essential part of this process was that the church was becoming more and more gentile, and less and less Jewish, but the separation manifested itself in different ways in each local community where Jews and Christians dwelt together. In some places, the Jews expelled the Christians; in other, the Christians left of their own accord.<ref>Cohen, Shaye J.D. (1988). ''From the Maccabees to the Mishnah'' {{ISBN|0-664-25017-3}} p. 228</ref> | |||
| According to Cohen, this process ended in 70 CE, after the first Jewish-Roam war, when various Jewish sects disappeared and Pharisaic Judaism evolved into Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity emerged as a distinct religion.<ref>Cohen, Shaye J.D. (1988). ''From the Maccabees to the Mishnah'' {{ISBN|0-664-25017-3}} pp. 224-225</ref> Many historians argue that the gospels took their final form after the Great Revolt and the destruction of the Temple, although some scholars put the authorship of Mark in the 60s, and need to be understood in this context.<ref>Michael Cook 2008 ''Modern Jews Engage the New Testament'' Jewish Lights Press {{ISBN|978-1-58023-323-2}} p. 19</ref><ref>Fredriksen, Paula (1988. ''From Jesus to Christ'' {{ISBN|0-300-04864-5}} p.5</ref><ref>Meier, John (1991), ''A Marginal Jew, Rethinking the Historial Jesus Volume I: The Roots of the Problem and the Person,''. Doubleday Press. pp. 43–4</ref><ref>Sanders, E.P. (1987). ''Jesus and Judaism'', Fortress Press {{ISBN|0-8006-2061-5}} p.60</ref> They view Christians as much as Pharisees as being competing movements ''within'' Judaism that decisively broke only after the ], when the successors of the Pharisees claimed hegemony over all Judaism, and – at least from the Jewish perspective – Christianity emerged as a new religion. | |||
| Yet, Robert Goldenberg asserts that it is increasingly accepted among scholars that "at the end of the 1st century CE there were not yet two separate religions called "Judaism" and "Christianity".<ref name="Robert Goldenberg 2002 pp. 586-588">Robert Goldenberg. Review of "Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism" by Daniel Boyarin in The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 92, No. 3/4 (Jan. - Apr., 2002), pp. 586-588</ref> According to Philip Jenkins, as late as the end of the second century, Christianity and Judaism had a lot in common, and Christian denominations were still strongly divided on the meaning and interpretation of their own faith.<ref>Philip Jenkins (2018), </ref> | |||
| According to Daniel Boyarin, "Without the power of the ] and the ] to declare people ] and outside the system it remained impossible to declare phenomenologically who was a Jew and who was a Christian. At least as interesting and significant, it seems more and more clear that it is frequently impossible to tell a Jewish text from a Christian text. The borders are fuzzy, and this has consequences. Religious ideas and innovations can cross borders in both directions".<ref name="Daniel Boyarin 1999 p. 15">Daniel Boyarin. "Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism" [Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999, p. 15.</ref> | |||
| ===Differences=== | |||
| {{See also|Antinomianism|New Covenant}} | |||
| ====Jesus as Messiah==== | |||
| According to Cohen, most of Jesus' teachings were intelligible and acceptable in terms of ]; what set Christians apart from Jews was their faith in Christ as the resurrected messiah.<ref>Shaye J.D. Cohen 1987 ''From the Maccabees to the Mishnah'' Library of Early Christianity, Wayne Meeks, editor. The Westminster Press. 167-168</ref> Belief in a resurrected messiah is unacceptable to Rabbinic Judaism, and Jewish authorities have long used this to explain the break between Judaism and Christianity. Jesus' failure to establish the Kingdom of God and his death at the hands of the Romans invalidated his messianic claims for Hellenistic Jews (see for comparison: '']'' and '']'').<ref name="ReferenceA">Shaye J.D. Cohen 1987 ''From the Maccabees to the Mishnah'' Library of Early Christianity, Wayne Meeks, editor. The Westminster Press. 168</ref> | |||
| Some Christians believed instead that Jesus was the ], rather than being the Jewish messiah, was ], who died for the sins of humanity, and that faith in Jesus Christ offered ] (see ]).<ref>Paula Fredricksen, ''From Jesus to Christ'' Yale university Press. pp. 136-142</ref>{{refn|group=note|], in ''From Jesus to Christ'', has suggested that Jesus' followers could not accept the failure implicit in his death. According to the New Testament, some Christians reported that they ]. They argued that he had been ] (belief in the resurrection of the dead in the ] was a core ] doctrine), and would ] to usher in the ] and fulfill the rest of ] such as the ] and the ].}} | |||
| ====Abandonment of Jewish practices==== | |||
| According to historian Shaye Cohen, "Early Christianity ceased to be a Jewish sect when it ceased to observe Jewish practices.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Among the Jewish practices abandoned by ], ] was rejected as a requirement at the Council of Jerusalem, c. 50. ], perhaps as early as ] ] 9.1.<ref></ref> ] (observation of the ] feast on Nisan 14, the day of preparation for ], linked to ] and thus to ]) was formally rejected at the ]. According to ]' ''Life of Constantine'', ]'s speech at the council included: "Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way."<ref>Eusebius, ''Life of Constantine'' Vol. III Ch. XVIII , Chapter 18: ''He speaks of their Unanimity respecting the Feast of Easter, and against the Practice of the Jews''.</ref> | |||
| ===Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism and early Christian communities=== | |||
| ====First Jewish–Roman War (66-73 CE)==== | |||
| {{Main|Jewish–Roman wars|Siege of Jerusalem (70)}} | |||
| As a result of the ] the city of Jerusalem was sacked and ] was ]. Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews, Jewish worship stopped being centrally organized around the Temple, prayer took the place of sacrifice, and worship was rebuilt around rabbis who acted as teachers and leaders of individual communities in the Jewish diaspora. | |||
| The destruction of the Temple by the Romans not only put an end to the revolt, it marked the end of an era. Revolutionaries like the Zealots had been crushed by the Romans, and had little credibility. The Sadducees, whose teachings were so closely connected to the Temple cult, disappeared. The Essenes also vanished, perhaps because their teachings so diverged from the issues of the times. | |||
| According to fourth-century church fathers ] and ], the Jerusalem Jewish Christians were able to ] before the beginning of the war.<ref>Eusebius, ''Church History'' 3, 5, 3; Epiphanius, ''Panarion'' 29,7,7-8; 30, 2, 7; ''On Weights and Measures'' 15. See: Craig Koester, "The Origin and Significance of the Flight to Pella Tradition", ''Catholic Biblical Quarterly'' 51 (1989), p. 90-106; P. H. R. van Houwelingen, "Fleeing forward: The departure of Christians from Jerusalem to Pella", ''Westminster Theological Journal'' 65 (2003); Jonathan Bourgel, "The Jewish Christians’ Move from Jerusalem as a pragmatic choice", in: Dan Jaffe (ed), ''Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity'', (Leyden: Brill, 2010), p. 107-138 (https://www.academia.edu/4909339/THE_JEWISH_CHRISTIANS_MOVE_FROM_JERUSALEM_AS_A_PRAGMATIC_CHOICE).</ref> | |||
| Two organized groups remained after the war, the Early Christians and the Pharisees. The destruction of the Second Temple was a profoundly traumatic experience for the Jews, who were now confronted with difficult and far-reaching questions.<ref>Jacob Neusner 1984 ''Toah From our Sages'' Rossell Books. p. 175</ref>{{refn|group=note|Such as:< | |||
| * How to achieve atonement without the Temple? | |||
| * How to explain the disastrous outcome of the rebellion? | |||
| * How to live in the post-Temple, Romanized world? | |||
| * How to connect present and past traditions?}} Some scholars, such as ] and ], suggest that it was at this time, when Christians and Pharisees were competing for leadership of the Jewish people, that accounts of debates between Jesus and the apostles, debates with Pharisees and anti-Pharisaic passages were written and incorporated into the New Testament. | |||
| ====Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136 CE)==== | |||
| {{Main|Aelia Capitolina|Bar Kokhba revolt}} | |||
| Following the destruction of the Temple, Rome governed Judea through a ] at ] and a Jewish Patriarch. A former leading Pharisee, ], was appointed the first Patriarch (the Hebrew word, ], also means ]), and reestablished the ] under Pharisee control. Instead of giving ]s to the priests and ], the ]s instructed Jews to give money to charities and study in local ]s, as well as to pay the '']''. | |||
| The Bar Kokhba revolt<ref>for the year 136, see: W. Eck, ''The Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Roman Point of View'', pp. 87–88.</ref> was the third major rebellion by the ]s against the Romans and the last of the Jewish–Roman Wars. ], the commander of the revolt, was acclaimed as a messiah, a heroic figure who could restore Israel, by some of the leading sages of the Sanhedrin such as ]. | |||
| Up until this time a number of Christians were still part of the Jewish community. Although Jewish Christians hailed Jesus as the messiah and did not support Bar Kokhba,<ref>Justin, "Apologia," ii.71, compare "Dial." cx; Eusebius "Hist. Eccl." iv.6,§2; Orosius "Hist." vii.13</ref> they were barred from Jerusalem along with the rest of the Jews.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} Traditionally it is believed the Jerusalem Christians waited out the Jewish–Roman wars in ] in the ]. After the suppression of the revolt the vast majority of Jews were sent into exile; shortly thereafter (around 200), ] edited together judgements and traditions into an authoritative code, the Mishnah. This marks the transformation of Pharisaic Judaism into Rabbinic Judaism. | |||
| Although the rabbis traced their origins to the Pharisees, Rabbinic Judaism nevertheless involved a radical repudiation of certain elements of Phariseeism, elements that were basic to ]. Members of different sects argued with one another over the correctness of their respective interpretations, but after the destruction of the Second Temple these sectarian divisions ended. The term "Pharisee" was no longer used, perhaps because it was a term more often used by non-Pharisees, but also because the term was explicitly sectarian. The rabbis claimed leadership over all Jews, and added to the ] the '']'', a prayer which in part exclaims, "Praised are You O Lord, who breaks enemies and defeats the arrogant". This shift by no means resolved conflicts over the interpretation of the Torah, but relocated debates between sects to debates within Rabbinic Judaism. | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| {{portal|Christianity}} | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ==Notes== | |||
| {{reflist|group=note|35em}} | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{Reflist|2}} | |||
| ==Sources== | |||
| {{refbegin}} | |||
| <!-- B --> | |||
| * {{cite book|ref=harv|last1=Burridge|first1=Richard A.|authorlink1=Richard Burridge (priest)|last2=Gould|first2=Graham|title=Jesus Now and Then|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AB3ciLwoWkQC|year=2004|publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-8028-0977-3}} | |||
| <!-- C --> | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Cameron | first =Ron | year =1992 | chapter =Hebrews, Gospel of the | editor-last =Freedman | editor-first =David Noel | title =The Anchor Bible Dictionary | volume =3 | edition =1 | pages =105–6 | publisher =Doubleday | isbn =978-0-385-42583-4 |ref =harv}} | |||
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| * {{Citation | last1 =Eddy | first1 =Paul Rhodes | last2 =Boyd | first2 =Gregory A. | year = 2007 | title=The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition | publisher =Baker Academic | isbn =978-0-8010-3114-4}} | |||
| * {{Citation | last=Ehrman |first=Bart | year= 2005 |title= Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-518249-1}} | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Ehrman | first =Bart D. | year =2012 | title =Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth | publisher =HarperOne | isbn =9780062206442 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hf5Rj8EtsPkC | ref =harv}} | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Ehrman | first =Bart | year =2014 | title =How Jesus became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee | publisher =Harper Collins}} | |||
| <!-- K --> | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Kloppenborg | first =John S. | authorlink =John Kloppenborg |year =1994 | origyear =1992 | chapter =The Gospel of the Ebionites | pages =435–40 | editor-last =Miller | editor-first =Robert J. | title =The Complete Gospels | publisher =Polebridge Press | isbn =0-06-065587-9}} | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Koch | first =Glenn Alan | year =1990 | chapter =Hebrews, Gospel of the | editor1-last =Mills | editor1-first =Watson E. | editor2-last =Bullard | editor2-first =Roger Aubrey | title =Mercer Dictionary of the Bible | page =364 | publisher =Mercer University Press | isbn =978-0-86554-373-7 | url =https://books.google.com/?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&pg=PA364&lpg=PA364&dq=Mercer+Dictionary+Hebrews,+Gospel}} | |||
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| * {{Citation | last =Lapham | first =Fred | year =2003 | title =An Introduction to the New Testament Apocrypha | publisher =Continuum | isbn =978-0-8264-6979-3 | url =https://books.google.com/?id=XRvHDfs1vyEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=An+introduction+to+the+New+Testament+Apocrypha+Lapham}} | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Leman | first =Johan | year =2015 | orig-year =2014 | edition =second | title =Van totem tot verrezen Heer. Een historisch-antropologisch verhaal | publisher =Pelckmans}} | |||
| <!-- M --> | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Maccoby | first =Hyam | year =1986 | title =The Mythmaker. Paul and the Invention of Christianity | publisher =Barnes & Noble}} | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Mack | first =Burton L. | authorlink =Burton L. Mack | year =1988 | title =A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins | publisher =Fortress Press | isbn =978-0-8006-2549-8 | chapter =The Congregations of the Christ|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNSbW8hWRzwC&pg=PA98}} | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Mack | first =Burton L. | year =1995 | authorlink =Burton L. Mack | title =Who wrote the New Testament? The making of the Christian myth | publisher =HarperSan Francisco | isbn =978-0-06-065517-4 }} | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Mack | first =Burton L. | year =1997 | orig-year=1995 | title =Wie schreven het Nieuwe Testament werkelijk? Feiten, mythen en motieven | publisher =Uitgeverij Ankh-Hermes}} | |||
| <!-- P --> | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Price | first =Robert M. | authorlink =Robert M. Price | year =2000 | title =Deconstructing Jesus | publisher=Prometheus Books | isbn =9781573927581 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=VJh1H-hf5EwC}} | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Price | first =Robert M. | authorlink =Robert M. Price | year =2003 |title =The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable Is the Gospel Tradition? | publisher =Prometheus Books | isbn =9781591021216 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=GmlB-KXsX8kC}} | |||
| <!-- S --> | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Stanton | first =Graham | authorlink =Graham Stanton | year =1989 | title =The Gospels and Jesus | publisher =Oxford University Press | isbn =0192132415}} | |||
| <!-- V --> | |||
| * {{Citation | last1 =Vielhauer | first1 =Philipp | last2 =Strecker | first2 =Georg | year =1991 | authorlink1 =Philipp Vielhauer | authorlink2 =:de:Georg Strecker | chapter =Jewish–Christian gospels | pages =134–78 | editor1-last =Schneemelcher | editor1-first =Wilhelm | editor2-last =Wilson | editor2-first =Robert McLachlan | title =New Testament Apocrypha: Gospels and Related Writings Volume 1 | edition =2 | publisher =John Knox Press | isbn =0-664-22721-X | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=TDW0PeFSvGEC&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166#v=onepage&q&f=false}} (6th German edition, translated by George Ogg) | |||
| * {{cite encyclopedia|ref=harv|last=Van Voorst|first=Robert E.|authorlink=Robert E. Van Voorst|editor-last=Holden|editor-first=James Leslie|encyclopedia=Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=17kzgBusXZIC|volume=2: K–Z|year=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-856-3|title=Nonexistence Hypothesis|pages=658–660}} | |||
| {{refend}} | |||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Mack | first =Burton L. | year =1995 | authorlink =Burton L. Mack | title =Who wrote the New Testament? The making of the Christian myth | publisher =HarperSan Francisco | isbn =978-0-06-065517-4 }} | |||
| * {{Citation | last =Ehrman | first =Bart | year =2014 | title =How Jesus became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee | publisher =Harper Collins}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * , Encyclopedia Britannica | |||
| * , patheos.com | |||
| * | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Origins Of Christianity}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 18:34, 4 November 2024
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