finds him and elicits faith in himself as the Son of Man, the fellow replies,
“ ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshiped him” (9:38). This remarkable passage
seems to telescope a years-long process of conflict in a synagogue commu-
nity. In a narrative palimpsest, the conflict has been inscribed onto the
story of Jesus. Debates over whether Jesus was the messiah had escalated
into heated arguments over claims about his divine status, claims forged in
the fires of the conflict itself. The Fourth Gospel is not anti-Jewish — far
less anti-Semitic — in any ethnic sense, but in it Judaism without Jesus is
no longer a viable path to God.The Parting of the Ways
Without question the Christian movement began as a messianic renewal
movement within Judaism and for several generations retained much of its
Jewish character. Yet the seeds for a gradual distancing and eventual sepa-
ration from Judaism were planted early on with the movement’s high
Christology, which led to veneration of Jesus in a way that infringed on
Jewish monotheism, and in its outreach to Gentiles, which led to a demo-
tion of the Torah and a dismantling of covenant election by descent or
conversion. Both of these developments were underway within a few years
of Jesus’ death and resurrection, though certainly not in every quarter.
In the last two decades, the leading metaphor for Christianity’s separa-
tion from Judaism has been the “parting of the ways.” The metaphor is sal-
utary insofar as it grants Judaism its own integrity, but it is also problem-
atic because it conjures up images of two neat and tidy religious groups
who began as happy siblings but ended completely estranged. When, why,
and how the separation took place remains contested. Some see it occur-
ring, at leastin nuce,as early as Jesus’ own career; others date it to the time
of the First Jewish Revolt in 66-73 or to the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132-135
c.e.More recently some have pushed it as late as the fifth and even sixth
century. Decisive historical moments have been sought in the Apostolic
Council around the year 49, the alleged flight of the Jerusalem congrega-
tion to Pella in Transjordan in the mid 60s, the destruction of Jerusalem
and the Temple in 70, the convening of a rabbinic summit at Yavneh
around 90 and the supposed promulgation there of theBirkat Ha-minim
(a formal curse designed allegedly to expel believers in Jesus from Jewish
synagogues), or the failure of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135. Others have fo-
cused less on historical factors than theological ones, such as the Gentile-414daniel c. harlowEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:19 PM