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

201 Pages·1986·22.8 MB·English

by  Stephen G. Wilson

Studies in Christianity
and Judaism / Etudes sur le
christianisme et le judaïsme : 2
Studies in Christianity and Judaism /
Etudes sur Je christianisme et le judaïsme
Studies in Christianity and Judaism / Etudes sur le christianisme
et le judaïsme presents publications that study Judaism and Chris-
tianity together in an effort to reach an understanding of how the
two religions have related and relate to each other as well as
studies that offer original insight into some central aspect of the
two religions or of one of them. Three groups of studies are
envisaged: studies of doctrine, historical studies, and textual
studies. Whereas there exist similar publications produced in
Canada in a theological context, this Series reflects the specific
nature and orientation of the departments of religious studies in
Canadian centres of learning. In these departments Christianity
and Judaism are studied from the perspective of the history of
religions. Such a perspective is not necessarily aligned with one
of the two traditions. It tries to transcend traditional antagonisms
as well as confessional limitations. After several decades of work
from such a perspective, Canadian scholars are now in a position
to offer studies that put forward less conventional views of the
two religions.
GENERAL EDITOR: Jean OuelJette Université de Montréal
EDITORIAL BOARD: G.-H. AJJard Université de Montréal
P.-E. Dion University of Toronto
L. Gaston Vancouver School of Theology
J. Ν. Lightstone Concordia University
A. MendeJson McMaster University
W. H. Principe University of Toronto
P. Richardson University of Toronto
E. P. Sanders McMaster University
F. Wisse McGill University
G. Vallée McMaster University
STUDIES IN CHRISTIANITY
AND JUDAISM
Number 2
ANTI-JUDAISM
IN EARLY
CHRISTIANITY
Volume 2
SEPARATION AND POLEMIC
edited by
Stephen G. Wilson
Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in
Religion/Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses
by Wilfrid Laurier University Press
1986
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Anti-Judaism in early Christianity
(Studies in Christianity and Judaism = Etudes sur
le christianisme et le judaïsme, ISSN 0711-5903 ; 2-3)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Partial contents: v. 1. Paul and the gospels /
edited by Peter Richardson with David Granskou —
v. 2. Separation and polemic / edited by Stephen G.
Wilson.
ISBN 0-88920-167-6 (v. 1). - ISBN 0-88920-196-X (v. 2).
1. Christianity and other religions - Judaism.
2. Judaism — Relations — Christianity. 3. Chris-
tianity - Early church, ca. 30-600. 4. Paul,
the Apostle, Saint - Attitude towards Judaism.
I. Richardson, Peter, 1935- II. Granskou,
David M. III. Wilson, Stephen G. IV. Series:
Studies in Christianity and Judaism ; 2-3.
BM535.A57 1986 261.2'6 C86-093124-2
© 1986 Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses / Canadian
Corporation for Studies in Religion
86 87 88 89 4 3 2 1
No part of this book may be stored in a retrieva / system, tra minted or reproduced in anyform, by print,
photoprint, microfilm, microfiche, or any other means. ivithout written permission from the publisher.
Order from:
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5
Printed in Canada
Contents
Notes on Contributors vii
Introduction ix
1 To the Hebrews or Against the Hebrews? Anti-Judaism
and the Epistle to the Hebrews
William Klassen .. 1
2 Temple and Bet Ha-midrash in the Epistle of Barnabas
Martin B. Shukster and Peter Richardson 17
3 Judaism of the Uncircumcised in Ignatius and
Related Writers
Lloyd Gaston 33
4 Marcion and the Jews
Stephen G. Wilson 45
5 Justin Martyr's Argument with Judaism
Harold Remus 59
6 Meli to and Israel
Stephen G. Wilson 81
7 Christian Anti-Judaism in its Judaic Mirror: The Judaic
Context of Early Christianity Revised
Jack Lightstone 103
8 Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism
Alan F. Segal 133
ν
VU] Separation and Polemic
9 Retrospect
Lloyd Gaston . ..... 163
Index nominorum 175
Index locorum 179
Notes on Contributors
LLOYD GASTON is Professor of New Testament in the Vancouver School
of Theology, Vancouver, British Columbia. His main interest currently
is Paul's view of Judaism. He is the author of No Stone Upon Another
(Leiden: Brill, 1970), Home Synoplicae Electronicae (Missoula: Scholars
Press, 1973), and numerous articles.
WILLIAM KLASSEN is currently Academic Dean at the I η ter faith Peace
Academy in Jerusalem. His main interest is the relation between the
Stoics and Cynics and the New Testament, an interest that he has
explored in a number of articles. His most recent book is Love of
Enemies: The Way of Peace (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984).
JACK LIGHTSTONE IS Professor of Religion at Concordia University,
Montreal, Quebec. His current interests are in the interaction of
Judaism and Christianity with each other and with the Graeco-Roman
world. He is the author of Yose the Galilean: Traditions in Mishna and
Tosefta (Leiden: Brill, 1979) and The Commerce of the Sacred: Mediation of
the Divine among Jews in the Graeco-Roman Diaspora (Chico: Scholars
Press, 1984).
HAROLD REMUS is Professor of Religious Studies at Wilfrid Laurier
University, Waterloo, Ontario. He was for a number of years Director
of Wilfrid Laurier University Press. He is the author of Pagan-Chnstian
Conflict over Miracle in the Second Century (Cambridge, Mass.: Philadel-
phia Patristic Foundation, 1983).
PETER RICHARDSON is Principal of University College and Professor of
Religious Studies in the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. He is
the author of Israel in the Apostolic Church (Cambridge: Cambridge
vii
VU] Separation and Polemic
University Press, 1969), Paul's Ethic of Freedom (Philadelphia: Westmin-
ster Press, 1979), and the editor of the companion (vol, 1) to this
volume.
ALAN F. SEGAL is Professor in the Department of Religion, Barnard
College, New York. His book Two Papers in Heaven (Leiden: Brill, 1977)
explores the relationship between Judaism, Gnosticism, and Chris-
tianity.
MARTIN B. SHUKSTER is a graduate student at the Centre for Religious
Studies in the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, where he is
writing a dissertation on "The Church of God" in Paul.
STEPHEN G. WILSON is Professor of Religion at Carle ton University,
Ottawa, Ontario. He is the author of The Gentiles and the Gentile Mission
in Luke-Acts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), Luke and
the Pastoral Epistles (London: SPCK, 1979), and Luke and the Law (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983). His current research is on
Jewish-Christian relations 70-170 C.E.
Introduction
The essays in this volume represent the final two years of a five-year
seminar held at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Biblical
Studies (Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1981; Ottawa, Ontario in 1982). They
extend into the late first and second centuries the work begun in earlier
years of the seminar, a selection of which appears in the companion
volume edited by Peter Richardson (Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity
3
Volume 1: Paul and the Gospels).
Most of the papers in this volume were completed by 1982, though
some were revised in 1983. Some significant work has appeared since,
which, unfortunately, could not be referred to. It has, on the whole,
however, supported and extended some of the suggestions made here:
for example, R.J. Hoffman in Marcion: On the Restitution of Christianity
(Chico: Scholars Press, 1984) has a not dissimilar assessment of Mar-
cion s view of Judaism, even though he emphasizes different causal
factors; and J. Gager's The Origins of Anti-Semitism (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1984) expands L. Gaston's thesis about the signifi-
cance of Gentile judaizers into a major causal factor of Christian anti-
Judaism in the early centuries.
As with the first volume, not all of the papers presented to the
seminar could be included. There are, moreover, topics which could
have been considered but for the constraints of time and personnel.
Many of these papers do, however, take a fresh look at issues central to
Jewish-Christian relations in the obscure and somewhat neglected
period between 70 and 200 C.E. Viewed as a whole, they point to aLleast
three important conclusions. T he first is that no simple hypothesis is
adequate to explain the complex and varied evidence of this period. To
argue, for example, as does R.R. Ruether in Faith and Fratricide (New
York: Paulist, 1974), that christology is at the root of Christian anti-
Judaism—its so called "left-hand"—would be to lly in the (ace of much
of the evidence considered in these essays. It is an important element,
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