Jews and Gentiles in the Early Jesus Movement : An Unintended Journey

This volume offers new insights on Jewish-Gentile relations and the evolution of belief in the early Jesus movement, suggesting that the New Testament reflects the early stages of a Gentile challenge to the authority and legitimacy of the descendants of Jesus' disciples and first followers as the exclusive guardians and interpreters of his legacy. Front Matter....Pages i-xxvii The Anti-Jewish Strand in the New Testament....Pages 1-10 The Anti-Jewish Strand—The First Years....Pages 11-20 The Anti-Judaic Strand in Paul....Pages 21-38 The Anti-Judaic Strand in Mark: The Need to Explain....Pages 39-48 The Anti-Judaic Strand in Matthew: The Saga of the Jewish Followers of Jesus....Pages 49-58 The Anti-Judaic Strand in Luke/Acts: Yearning for Respectability....Pages 59-66 The Anti-Judaic Strand in John: Estrangement....Pages 67-85 The Anti-Judaic Strand in Revelation: Judaism within....Pages 87-91 The Anti-Jewish Strand—The Embryonic Stage Summary....Pages 93-101 Supersession....Pages 103-113 The Anti-Jewish Strand in Hebrews....Pages 115-137 The Anti-Jewish Strand in Barnabas....Pages 139-150 The Second-Century Protagonists....Pages 151-165 The Anti-Jewish Strand in Ignatius....Pages 167-171 The Anti-Jewish Strand in Justin: The Dialogue with Trypho the Jew....Pages 173-178 The Anti-Jewish Strand in Melito....Pages 179-184 The Anti-Jewish Strand in Chrysostom....Pages 185-192 Recapitulation....Pages 193-223 Back Matter....Pages 225-286 "Jews and Gentiles in the Early Jesus Movement" casts new light on Jewish-Gentile relations and the evolution of belief in the early Jesus movement. Abel Mordechai Bibliowicz suggests that the New Testament reflects the early stages of a Gentile challenge to the authority and to the legitimacy of the descendants of Jesus' disciples and first followers as the exclusive guardians and interpreters of his legacy. With the passage of time and loss of context, the tensions and trauma produced by this crisis came to be understood by later believers as reflective of a Jewish-Christian conflict. Bibliowicz suggests that the New Testament texts do not reflect a struggle between 'Christians' and 'Jews' nor a conflict between 'Judaism' and 'Christianity' but rather a heated dispute about Judaism and about Torah observance among Jesus' early followers