Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

early Christianity without resorting to the plural. For all the manifest vari-

ety in Second Temple Judaism, a set of core beliefs and practices character-

ized the piety of most observant Jews. This “common Judaism” centered

on the exclusive and imageless worship of the one God, the notion of cov-

enant election, reverence for the Torah, and devotion to the Jerusalem

Temple; it included practices such as circumcision for males, Sabbath and

festival observance, and kosher diet. To be sure, groups like the Essenes at

Qumran defined election in narrow sectarian terms, and in the Hellenistic

Diaspora Jews had to negotiate their Jewish identity rather differently than

did their compatriots in the homeland. It is also true that in some early

apocalypses neither covenant nor Torah is constitutive of Jewish identity.

But even these caveats do little to erase the impression of a common Juda-

ism, which receives confirmation in archaeology and in the observations

of Greek and Latin authors who wrote about Jews and Judaism. Likewise,

all varieties of early Christianity shared in revering Jesus, even if their do-

ing so took on different forms, from simply remembering him as a miracle

worker or venerating him as a great teacher to worshiping him as the in-

carnate Son of God. Further, although “Judaism” and “Christianity” were

never airtight categories, the initially Jewish Jesus movement did eventu-

ally become a non-Jewish religion, not least in the sense that most of its

adherents were Gentiles who did not observe Torah.

In order to highlight some of the major areas of continuity and dis-

continuity between Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity, it will

be useful to examine Jesus in his Jewish context, the Jewish character of the

early Jesus movement, and the relation of Paul to Judaism. From there the

discussion will proceed to the range of perspectives on Jews and Judaism

reflected elsewhere in the New Testament, and conclude with some reflec-

tions on the “parting of the ways” between Judaism and Christianity.

Jesus within Judaism

Even after a critical sifting of the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and

Luke, our principal sources, Jesus fits securely within Second Temple Juda-

ism. He was an apocalyptic prophet who proclaimed and symbolically en-

acted the imminent arrival of God’s kingdom on earth. In his prophetic

role, he bears some resemblance to Jesus ben Hananiah, Theudas, and

other popular prophets in first-century Palestine mentioned by Josephus.

In his reputation for performing healings and exorcisms, he shows certain

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Early Judaism and Early Christianity

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