chapterone
Although the volume as a whole creates a new overall picture of the
early Jewish Christians and their gospels, it is still possible to take the
four main sections of the book—Chapters , , and —as independent
studies. One does not have to accept my characterization of the Ebionites
and the Nazarenes in Chapter in order to accept the new reconstruction
of theGospel of the Hebrewsin Chapter —or vice versa. Furthermore,
the two thematic chapters, Chapters and , are written so that their basic
arguments do not necessarily presuppose the reconstructions presented
in the earlier chapters, even though I have updated these sections in order
to show how they fit the overall theory.
The contents of the present volume link up with my earlier articles
and conference papers as follows. The study ofindicators of early Jewish
Christianity, described in Chapter ., has been introduced in two earlier
articles in and : “Where Did Another Rich Man Come From?:
The Jewish-Christian Profile of the Story About a Rich Man in the ‘Gospel
of the Hebrews’ (Origen, Comm. in Matth. .).”Vigiliae Christianae
, –; and “Ebionites and Nazarenes.”Jewish Christianity Recon-
sidered: Rethinking Ancient Groups and Texts.Ed.MattJackson-McCabe.
Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, –. However, the first version
of the approach was already drafted in , in a Finnish article I wrote
jointly with Matti Myllykoski: “Varhaisen juutalaiskristillisyyden jäljillä.”
Teologinen Aikakauskirja(“On the Trail of Early Jewish Christianity”;
Finnish Journal of Theology) , –.
Chapters . and . combine and elaborate two earlier articles: the
article that was published in the volume edited by Matt Jackson-McCabe
(see above) and “Nazarenes.”A Companion to Second-Century Christian
“Heretics”. Ed. Antti Marjanen & Petri Luomanen. Supplements to Vig-
iliae Christianae . Leiden: Brill, –.
Chapter .. is an elaboration of “On the Fringes of Canon: Eusebius’
View of the ‘Gospel of the Hebrews’.”The Formation of the Early Church.
Ed. Jostein Ådna. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testa-
ment . Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, –. Other parts of Chapter
combine arguments presented in several earlier articles and also include
some previously unpublished sections.
Chapter . is based on “Sacrifices Abolished: The Last Supper in
Luke (Codex Bezae) and in theGospel of the Ebionites.”Lux Humana,
Lux Aeterna: Essays on Biblical and Related Themes in Honour of Lars
Aejmelaeus. Ed. Antti Mustakallio in collaboration with Heikki Leppä
and Heikki Räisänen. Publications of Finnish Exegetical Society
. Helsinki/Göttingen: Finnish Exegetical Society/Vandenhoeck &