Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

Galilee; they witness to the beliefs and practices of various Jewish groups;

and they supply evidence for Jewish institutions like Temple and syna-

gogue, Jewish rituals like hand washing and kosher table fellowship, Jewish

festivals such as Passover, and Jewish theological ideas like angelology, es-

chatology, and messianism. The Gospels also offer examples of Jewish

modes of scriptural interpretation and of early Jewish exegetical tradi-

tions. The Gospel of Luke and its sequel, the book of Acts, are especially

rich in details of Jewish tradition. The third gospel gives the earliest narra-

tive portrait of pilgrimage to Jerusalem and of synagogue worship in the

land of Israel. For its part, Acts mentions Gamaliel, Theudas and “the

Egyptian,” Judas the Galilean, and Agrippa I, figures known from Josephus

and rabbinic sources, and describes a communal organization for the Jeru-

salem congregation of Jesus’ followers which has some points of similarity

with that of the Qumran sect. It also distinguishes the Pharisees and Sad-

ducees in their beliefs concerning angels and resurrection, and affords in-

sight into synagogues in the Jewish Diaspora, including the presence there

of God-fearing Gentiles. Of course, this material has to be evaluated criti-

cally, but it remains nonetheless important.

Any attempt to discuss the relation between early Christianity and

early Judaism must confront two main difficulties. The first is the sheer va-

riety that characterized both of them, a variety so pronounced that some

scholars prefer to speak of “Judaisms” and “Christianities.” Nothing like an

official or normative Judaism existed in the earliest centuries of the Com-

mon Era; it was probably not until the fourth century or later that the rab-

binic movement could lay serious claim to be the dominant form of Juda-

ism. The same is true,mutatis mutandis,of early Christianity. Although

the New Testament writings do not fully reflect the range of diversity that

characterized Christianity in the first century, they still reveal considerable

variety and tension.

The second difficulty lies in the recognition that in some settings the

boundaries between “Judaism” and “Christianity” were fluid even after the

latter had become overwhelmingly non-Jewish in its ethnic composition.

Among Jews and Christians, there was considerable overlap in areas of

theological identity owing in part to their common scriptural heritage,

and to the Christian preservation and transmission of most of the extant

literature of Second Temple Judaism. There is also some evidence that Jews

and Christians interacted with one another in social and even liturgical

contexts into late antiquity and beyond.

Despite these difficulties, it is still proper to speak of early Judaism and

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daniel c. harlow

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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