Tertullian, "On Idolatry" and Mishnah "Avodah Zarah": Questioning the Parting of the Ways between Christians and Jews

269 Pages·2012·2.716 MB·English

by  Stéphanie E. Binder

Tertullian, On Idolatry and Mishnah Avodah Zarah
Jewish and Christian
Perspectives Series
Editorial Board
David Golinkin – Alberdina Houtman
Marcel Poorthuis – Joshua Schwartz
Freek van der Steen
Advisory Board
Yehoyada Amir – David Berger – Shaye Cohen
Judith Frishman – Martin Goodman
Clemens Leonhard – Tobias Nicklas – Eyal Regev
Gerard Rouwhorst – Seth Schwartz – Yossi Turner
VoLuME 22
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/jcp
Tertullian, On Idolatry and Mishnah
Avodah Zarah
Questioning the Parting of the Ways
between Christians and Jews
By
Stéphanie E. Binder
LEiDEN • BoSToN
2012
Bar-Ilan University, Israel
University of Tilburg: Faculty of Catholic Theology,
The Netherlands
Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Israel
IBnagre-biloarng u Rneinvenresritty C aeftnetre rth feo ri nJegreubsoarlge mRe Sntnuedrtie Cs,e Instreare flor Jerusalem
Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Studies

Bar-Ilan University, Israel
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Binder, Stephanie E.
1. Judaism--Relations--Christianity—History. 2. Christianity and other religions—
 TTheisr tbuolloiakn i,s o pnr iidnoteladt royn a ancdi dM-firsehen apha p‘Aevro.dah zarah : questioning the parting of the ways between
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Christians and Jews in late antiquity / by Stephanie E. Binder.
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CoNTENTS
Acknowledgments  .......................................................................................... ix
introduction  ..................................................................................................... 1
PART oNE
GENERAL BACKGRouND
1. Christians in Carthage  ............................................................................. 7
2. Jews in Carthage: Between Palestine and the Diaspora  ............... 11
3. The “Parting of the Ways”  ....................................................................... 21
Making the Borderlines Clearer Following the Destruction
 of the Temple  ................................................................................... 22
obvious Separation between Judaism and Christianity
 Does Not Prevent ongoing Contacts  ........................................ 26
Judaism and Christianity Remain intertwined  ........................... 29
The Failure  ............................................................................................. 35
The Comparison of Tertullian’s De Idolatria with Massekhet
Avodah Zarah as a Case Study  ................................................... 37
4. Scholarship on the Possible Jewish influence on Tertullian’s
Texts  ......................................................................................................... 39
Claiming a Jewish influence on Tertullian  ................................... 39
Denying Jewish influence on Tertullian  ........................................ 44
PART TWo
DiRECT CoNTExT
5. Tertullian’s Heresies  ................................................................................. 49
A Jewish Experience?  .......................................................................... 49
A Particular Case in a Particular Environment  ........................... 52
Montanist Schism?  .............................................................................. 53
What Kind of Montanism Did Tertullian Know?  ...................... 57
vi contents
6. Tertullian’s Place among other Christian Authors:
Views on idolatry in Comparison  ................................................... 61
A Short Survey of the Different Ways the Pagans Envisaged
Their idols  ......................................................................................... 61
 Logical Explanations  ...................................................................... 61
 Critics of Religion ............................................................................ 63
 The Symbolists  ................................................................................. 64
Generalities  ............................................................................................ 67
The Character of the Speech on idols  ........................................... 68
other Common Themes  .................................................................... 75
 Miscellaneous  ................................................................................... 75
 immorality in idolatry  ................................................................... 81
 on the Jews’ observances and on Meats offered to idols  82
7. Tertullian in a Graeco-Roman World  ................................................. 89
The Nature of Philosophy from the First to the Third
Century ce  ........................................................................................ 89
Tertullian and Stoicism  ...................................................................... 90
Direct Cultural influences on Tertullian  ...................................... 92
8. The issue of the Jews’ involvement within the Wider
Graeco-Roman World  ...................................................................... 104
The Jews and the Graeco-Roman World  ...................................... 104
Final Remarks about the Background of the Comparison  ...... 106
 The Maccabees and Figurative Representations  ................... 106
openness and Withdrawal  ................................................................ 107
PART THREE
TERTuLLiAN AND THE JEWS oN iDoLATRY
introduction to Part Three  ........................................................................... 113
9. Comparison  ................................................................................................. 117
Social Relationships  ............................................................................ 117
 Public Festivals  ................................................................................ 117
 Private Festivals  ............................................................................... 122
Commensality  ................................................................................ 127
immorality in idolatry  ................................................................. 130
contents vii
other Entertainments  .................................................................. 134
Bathhouses  ................................................................................. 134
Shows and Games  .................................................................... 136
Garments  ..................................................................................... 140
Commercial Relationships  ............................................................... 142
The Name of the idols  ................................................................. 142
“The Alleged Ban on Greek Wisdom” ................................. 142
Practical Applications When Living among the
 Pagans  ..................................................................................... 144
Trading Products ............................................................................ 152
outsmarting the Law?  ............................................................. 152
Working with the Pagans  ....................................................... 159
Neutral Space  ....................................................................................... 167
The Lure of idolatry  ...................................................................... 167
Dedication to idolatry  .................................................................. 177
Coexistence  ..................................................................................... 182
Finding the Neutral Space  ...................................................... 183
Justifying the Neutral Space  .................................................. 189
10. Contribution of the Comparison: Jews and
   Christians in Contact  ......................................................................... 195
Did Jewish and Christian Communities Meet in Carthage?  197
Tertullian’s Feelings towards the Jews  ......................................... 201
Does Tertullian Refer to Real Jews?  .............................................. 203
Do the Results of the Comparison Challenge Common
opinions about “Jewish Proselytism”?  .................................... 207
Jews and Christians Allied against the Pagans  .......................... 214
Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 217
APPENDiCES
Appendix one identification of the Festivals Quoted in Mishnah
Avodah Zarah i, 3  ..................................................................................... 221
Appendix Two Genousia and other Celebrations  ............................ 224
Appendix Three intermarriage .................................................................. 226
Appendix Four תואיסומיב  ....................................................................... 228
Appendix Five Mandell vs. Lieberman  ................................................. 230
Appendix Six Clothing  ............................................................................... 233
viii contents
Bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 235
index of Sources  .............................................................................................. 247
General index  ................................................................................................... 253
ACKNoWLEDGMENTS
This book is a slightly revised version of my Ph.D. dissertation (2009), which
was written under the supervision of Prof. Ranon Katzoff, from my home
Department of Classical Studies in Bar-ilan university, and Prof. Albert
Baumgarten, from the Department of Jewish History (Bar-ilan university).
i would like to acknowledge their very patient and helpful support from
my very first reflections on the subject up to its present shape. in addition,
i wish to thank Prof. David Schaps, former chairman of the Department of
Classical Studies, for his good advice in a number of different fields and
Dr. Gabriel Danzig, current head of the department, for his help in the last
stages of the revision of the present work. i would like to thank my edi-
tors, especially Dr. Susan Weingarten, for the tireless and invaluable work
they provided to make this work pleasurable reading. i am also indebted
to numerous scholars whom i contacted to discuss issues in which they
specialise, or whose works i consulted to enrich my knowledge in differ-
ent areas. Though i do not always quote their remarks or mention them
personally in the final version of this work, i want to express my gratitude
for their attention and desire to help. A special thanks is dedicated to the
rabbis of the institute for Advanced Torah Studies of Bar-ilan university for
their teaching and encouragement throughout my studies. Moreover, my
thoughts go to the relatives and friends who supported the elaboration of
my work in varied ways. i am grateful to the editors of the Brill series Jewish
and Christian perspectives for their various comments, and particularly to
Prof. Joshua Schwartz, who was appointed as one of the judges of my doc-
toral dissertation and, trusting it could become a book intended for a wide
audience, urged me to revise it. Finally, special thanks are dedicated to the
Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and to the Center for Research in
Jewish History of the Ben Zvi institute of Jerusalem for the financial support
that enabled me to revise my dissertation for publication.