Jewish Christianity

History of Church and Theology Essay for the second theme Marius Dorobantu, s4714569 Definition The term Jewish Christianity is neologism, introduced by the modern scholarship in its attempt to gather all the known manifestations of this phenomenon that marked the first centuries (especially the first and the second one) of Christianity. A lot of definitions have been proposed since the 19th century when scholars became interested again in the subject until now, but most of them fail to fulfill their goal. The ethnic definition can be rejected from the start, because it would be impossible to gather the variety of opinions and beliefs of the Jews who became Christians under a single umbrella. The praxis-based definition is also problematic, as it is very difficult (if not impossible) to establish the minimum amount (la dose) of Jewish praxis for someone to be able to be categorized as a Jewish Christian based on it. The ideology and doctrine type of definition, although getting closer, also fails to achieve its goal, as it is too narrow to take into account the theological diversity or too broad, describing more a general mentality than a historically identifiable group. (Carleton-Paget: 739). Maybe a definition of Jewish Christianity closer to its purpose should be referring to those Christian elements of the first centuries which, even if sometimes present in the New Testament, are clearly of Jewish origins. (Van Oort: 370) History The history of Jewish Christianity is, in the beginning, the history of Christianity itself, as Jesus and the Apostles were Jews and were observing the Law of Moses and as Christianity, before being regarded as a different religion, was seen in its first decades as a Jewish Messianic sect. However, even from the beginning, the tensions between the Hellenists and the Hebrews could give some clues of a group that could later develop into what we today call Jewish Christianity. In the period of the controversy between the Apostles over the conditions under which gentiles could become Christian (that finally led to the Apostolic Council), the difference in opinion between the Gentile group of Paul and the Jewish group of James becomes obvious. Even if the council is presented as successful in the Acts, by studying the later events, it can be concluded that the group from Jerusalem kept some reserves in applying the agreed resolution. With the death of James and the consequences of the Bar-Kochba revolt, Jerusalem is left without the Christian community, which is said to have moved from there in what is known as the flight to Pella. This could be the place where the Jewish Christianity developed further. The information we now possess about Jewish Christianity is coming mainly from some canonical or apocryphal books and from later orthodox Christian literature.

The pieces of literature analyzed, while being obvious Christian writings, do contain some elements that could be categorized as Jewish Christian: The letter of James: addressed to the twelve tribes of the Diaspora, concerned with wisdom, with the law, crypto-anti-paulism The letter of Jude: Palestinian-Jewish apocalyptic world-view The Gospel of Matthew: Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of the Jewish scriptures, the new Moses, the stress on fulfillment of the law, the mission to the Jewish people only (but, counterbalanced with the proclaiming of the good news for the whole world), the attitude against the Pharisees Some writings, on the other hand (especially 1 and 2 Peter and Hebrews), attest the influence of the Jewish Christianity over the development of the orthodox1 Christian Church. The latter put forth a new theology, a theology of a new covenant, by claiming for itself the heritage of the Israel tradition, which made it more logical to abandon the observance of the Jewish law. The end of the first century and the beginning of the second one found the Jewish Christianity in a very delicate position: excluded from Judaism by the reforms of the Pharisees and considered heretic by the Christian orthodoxy. The main sources of information are: Justin Martyrs Dialogue with Tripho, Irenaeuss Adversus Haereses, Epiphanius Panarion and the Pseudoclementine Homilies. Three groups or sects of Jewish Christians have been partially identified: 1. Ebionites: denied the virgin birth, observed the Jewish law, used the Gospel of Matthew but also their own Gospel, rejected Paul, preoccupied with the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, had a low, adoptionist Chrystology, were vegetarians. 2. Jacobites: James is the most outstanding figure, the gentile mission is accepted, Paul is the hostile man; not much information about them, it is even questionable whether they existed as a separate group 3. Nazarenes: orthodox Christology, acceptance of Paul and of the gentile mission; the only difference between them and Christians is the fact that they still observed Jewish law Neither of these groups has been able to historically survive, neither as Christians, nor as Jews Bibliography CARLETON PAGET, J., Jewish Christianity, in The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol. III: The Roman Period, Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 731-445 FERGUSON, E., Church History. Volume one. From Christ to Pre-Reformation, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2005, pp. 46-50 HORRELL, D., Early Jewish Christianity, in Esler PF (eds), The Early Christian World, London & New York: Routledge 2000, pp. 136-167 VAN OORT, J., Jerusalem and Babylon. A Study into Augustines City of God and the Sources of his Doctrine of the Two Cities, E.J. Brill, Leiden New York Kobenhavn Koln, 1991
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Orthodox with the meaning given by Horrell, as the main Church, the central one, the powerful one, the one giving the guideline and the criteria for what is orthodox and what is not.