116 Jesus, Prophet ofIslam
who had turned to Christianity, (the incident of Anti
och, 49 AD). 'For Paul, the circumcision, Sabbath, and
form of worship practised in the Temple were hence
forth old fashioned, even for the Jews. Christianity was
to free itself from its political-cum-religious adherence
to Iudaism and open itself to the Gentiles.'
For those [udeo-Christianswho remained 'loyal Jews',
Paul was a traitor: [udeo-Christian documents call him
an 'enemy', and accuse him of 'tactical double-dealing'
.. , 'Until 70 AD, [udeo-Christianity represents the ma
jority of the Church' and 'Paul remains an isolated case',
The head of the community at that time was James, a
relation of Jesus. With him were Peter (at the beginning)
and John. 'James may be considered to represent the
[udeo-Christian camp, which deliberately clung to Juda
ism as opposed to Pauline Christianity.' [esus's family
has a very important place in the [udeo-Christian
Church of [erusalern, 'Iames's successor was Simeon,
son of Cleopas, a cousin of the lord'.
Cardinal Daniélou here quotes Judeo-Christian writ
ings which express the views on Jesus of this commu
nity which initially formed around the apostles: the
Gospel of the Hebrews (coming from a [udeo-Christian
community in Egypt), the writings of Clement: Homilies
andRecognitions, 'Hypotyposeis', the Second Apocalypse of
James, the Gospel of Thomas. (One could note here that
all these writings were later to be classed as Apocrypha,
i.e. they had to be concealed by the victorious Church
which was to be born of Paul's success. It was to make
obviousexcisions in theGospelliterature andretain only
the four Canonic Gospels.) 'It is to the [udeo-Christians
that one must ascribe the oldest writings of Christian
literature.' Cardinal Daniélou mentions them in detail.
'It wasnot just in Jerusalem andPalestinethat[udeo
Christianity predominated during the first hundred
years of the Church. The Judeo-Christian mission seems
everywhere to have developed before the Pauline mis
sion. This is certainly the explanation of the fact that the
letters of Paul allude to a conflict.' They were the same
adversaries he was to meet everywhere: inGalatia, Cor
inth, Colossae, Rome and Antioch.http://www.islamicbulletin.com