First century Judaism and Christianity

Introduction to Messianic Judaism provides a description of what the Messianic Jewish community looks like today at its center and on its margins. The first section of the book traces the ecclesial contours of the community, providing a socio-historical and theological snapshot of the community's origins, where it is presently and where it is heading. Alongside these chapters, the book also includes a number of essays on biblical and theological issues central to the identity of Messianic Judaism. The twelve contributors to the first part of the book are recognized leaders in the Messianic Jewish community. They work with various organizations, including the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council, Tikkun International, Chosen People Ministries, Messianic Jewish Theological Institute, Israel College of the Bible and the New School for Jewish Studies. Fourteen scholars from a wide spectrum of Christian backgrounds have written essays for the second part of the book. Their participation signals a growing academic and ecclesial interest in Messianic Judaism. Since the 1970s, a sea change has taken place in New Testament studies that has far-reaching implications for how the church evaluates Messianic Judaism. A broad reassessment of the New Testament writers’ view of Judaism has occurred since the publication of E. P. Sanders’s seminal work Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977), and this reevaluation continues unabated. The contributors to the second part of Introduction to Messianic Judaism draw from this recent scholarship and demonstrate how post-supersessionist interpretation of the New Testament results in readings of the biblical text that are consistent with Messianic Judaism. The final section of the book is written by Joel Willitts who provides a summary and synthesis of the essays, explaining how they shed light on the ecclesial context and biblical foundations of Messianic Judaism.

The term adelphoi, meaning brothers and sister, is used 271 times in the New Testament and is the foundational image for the gathered church community. To foster sibling bonds the church gathered around meals. In Mark 3:31-35 while gathered around a table in someone’s home, Jesus declared that all who follow God’s ways are brothers and sisters, giving his fellow diners a new identity as siblings.

The New Testament’s emphasis on siblingship is practically ignored in our contemporary understanding of church community. Welcome to the Family Table helps Christians foster sibling identities through the regular practice of discipleship habits.

The meaning of the phrase "Son of God" -especially in connection with the messianic figure -is sometimes considered as a dividing line between Judaism and Christianity and a central factor in the parting of the ways between them during the course of the 1 st or 2 nd century AD.

The term 'Rabbi' is an historically and Scripturally legitimate title for Jesus. This paper examines the claims of three alternative views and evaluates the Gospel record by noting three marks of Jesus’ rabbinical ministry: His personal education, His pedagogy, and His posture in teaching.

The events recorded by the gospel writers from the crucifixion to the resurrection, come with their own time frames.  The Friday afternoon to a Sunday morning scenario is an impossibility if these events are allowed to remain as they are given by the gospels.  If we allow the events to stand as they are recorded, we will see that Jesus meant what He said, and we will not have to use the trickery of Talmudic math to make it work.

This paper, written originally on 04-09-2019, has the power to change the world for the better. This is a major work of the greatest importance and is necessary reading for any and all researchers of ancient history and religion. For the longest time, I've been trying to better educate & inform people to the fact that Humanity was severely mind-f*cked (they committed mind intercourse upon us) by ancient royals, who were the sole rulers of our world for thousands of years. Everyone born into the world who was not royal or a royal relative, was born to live their lives without critical information that was known only to royals, and which was kept from all non-royals by royals. Royals saw themselves as a different 'race'; they were of the Inner-Circle, while everyone else was essentially their chattel to do with whatever they desired. The New Classical Scholarship, is the new forensic study of history, and is necessary to learn in order to know this.

The epistle to the Ephesians is considered one of the finest theological treatises in the New Testament. Its contents reveal the plan of the Father, expressed in a Trinitarian nature, to unite all as His chosen and root them in the knowledge of His love for them and what He has given them. Christ was sent as the enabler of this unification and those who have received His salvation have been granted a seat with Him in the heavenly places. The goal of this paper is to reveal distinctives of Ephesians despite its close association to Colossians. To do this, background of the writing, structure and theological issues will be examined.

Berkaitan dengan konferensi tahunan Gereja Katolik Bebas Swedia dipenghujung bulan September, saya diundang untuk memberikan kuliah yang bertajuk Injil Y’shua = keyakinan Kristen tradisional? Pada diskusi itu saya langsung diminta untuk memberikan informasi rinci tentang pokok pembicaraan yang sedang hangat dibicarakan seperti para imam menikah dan para wanita imam dan para uskup dalam Jemaat Awal...

Tutti e quattro i Vangeli del Nuovo Testamento, compresi i vangeli giudeo-cristiani 1 , pongono l'inizio dell'attività di Gesù in seguito all'incontro con Giovanni detto il baptistês, il Battezzatore. Egli invitava gli ebrei alla conversione, al rinnovamento interiore e presso il fiume Giordano praticava, a coloro che aderivano al suo messaggio, un rito di abluzione 2 tramite l'acqua.

Paul, considéré à bien des égards comme le père de la « théologie de la substitution », demeura-t-il à jamais la « pierre d'achoppement » entre juifs et chrétiens ? À mon sens, la justesse du jugement porté dépend largement de la prise de conscience qu'il y a désormais non plus un mais trois « Paul », et de la vigilance à ne pas les réduire l'un à l'autre. Je ne parle pas ici de distinction faite par la critique moderne entre les diverses Épîtres du Nouveau Testament. 2 La perspective adoptée est résolument théologique :

Pengajaran (taurat) Musa yang dipegang teguh oleh para rabbi Farisi dan imam Saduki mendapatkan tantangan yang hebat dari pengajaran (Taurat) rabbi muda bernama Yeshu (Indonesia: Yesus). Hal ini membuat jemaah Yahudi menjadi terpecah bukan hanya dalam hal meyakini siapa Sang Mesias, namun juga dalam hal pengajaran.
Penulis Kitab Didakhe ini mencoba merangkum perintah-perintah Yeshu ke dalam suatu buku khusus, kemudian terciptalah Kitab Didakhe ini dengan judul panjang: Ajaran Tuan melalui 12 Rasul untuk bangsa-bangsa.
Jadi inilah Taurat Yeshu untuk non Yahudi, untuk kita juga di Indonesia. Inilah pesan-Nya untuk bangsa Indonesia. Pesan yang tidak pernah usang di makan waktu, yang selaras dengan UU manapun termasuk di NKRI ini.

Time and again, scholars who privilege the Synoptics over the Gospel of John preface their remarks by claiming that Synoptic favoritism results from greater certainty as to how to approach the Markan traditions than the Johannine. This is understandable, as a good deal of disunity remains about how to approach many of the Johannine riddles. However, what if a solid and plausible theory of Johannine origin and development should emerge? Might that make a difference in terms of scholarly thinking about how to make use of its material? While the John, Jesus, and History Project cannot hope to answer even the leading Johannine questions, it will undoubtedly be the case that literary theories regarding John's composition, tradition development, and authorship will play important roles in addressing historical and theological issues.

A summary of this essay was first presented at the “Jesus and Archaeology: The Millennium Celebration in the Holy Land” conference at the Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem (August 2000) organized by James Charlesworth. It was then expanded and published as "Aspects of Historicity in John: Implications for Archaeological and Jesus Studies,” in Jesus and Archaeology, ed. by James Charlesworth, ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 587-618. This essay will also be central to a book I am writing for Eerdmans: Jesus in Johannine Perspective: A Fourth Quest for Jesus.

Galilee has received attention far disproportionate to its  size, because both the ministry of Jesus began in Galilee, and post-135 CE Judaism was centered there. This study maps the distribution of bronze coins found at some 250 sites in Galilee in the Hellenistic and Roman periods (c. 300 BCE–260 CE) and uses the pattern as an independent tool in evaluating historical processes in that region. Learning which coins were used as ‘small change’ by the Galilean
population provides insight into the dynamics of its ethnic composition during this time span. Employing spatial analysis of coin finds, related numismatic understandings, and archaeological and historical evidence when available, the boundaries of Jewish Galilee are traced from the
Hasmonean period onward. Drawing on the new ‘archaeology of ethnicity’ and the ‘archaeology of difference’ approaches, this study offers new insights and common sense answers to some of the controversial issues about
first-century Galilee.

This paper presents the raw data for an assessment of the view that the dominant conception of the Spirit in first century Judaism was that the Spirit was the Spirit of prophecy. Instead, we show that this is a misleading generalisation more dependent on choices in historical analysis than the data itself. We counter argue that there was no dominant conception and that we need to recognise the variegated nature of the data.

Todos los derechos reservados. De conformidad con lo dispuesto en la legislación vigente, podrán ser castigados con penas de multa y privación de libertad quienes reproduzcan o plagien, en todo o en parte, una obra literaria, artística o científica fijada en cualquier tipo de soporte, sin la preceptiva autorización.

Paul uses the metaphor of sibling 120 times in the New Testament. This essay looks at first century family dynamics, family metaphors used in contemporary literature concepts of first century honor and shame, and Paul's use of the sibling metaphor in the New Testament.

Bart D. Ehrman is quoted as saying "In the entire first Christian century Jesus is not mentioned by a single Greek or Roman historian, religion scholar, politician, philosopher, or poet, ... (or) in a single inscription ... (or) a single piece of private correspondence." In this response I beg to differ.

This paper by Rabbi Raymond Apple originally appeared as a chapter in “Judaism in transition, 175 BCE-150 CE: Christian and Jewish perspectives”, published by the Council of Christians and Jews Victoria, 2008.

The first century CE was so tense and eventful that even apparently simple terms like “Jew” and “gentile” need considerable attention, explanation and elucidation. Who was a Jew in those days? Who was a gentile?

Nel 1969, un giovane teologo, già perito del Concilio, pubblica un libro dal titolo evocatore Il nuovo popolo di Dio 1 . Nello spiegare le conseguenze dell'approccio conciliare riguardante la relazione tra il clero e i laici, egli non affronta la questione del rapporto tra la Chiesa e Israele. Tuttavia questo titolo faceva emergere il paradosso del Concilio. Proprio mentre il Concilio incoraggiava ad adottare uno sguardo nuovo nei confronti del popolo ebraico e votava la dichiarazione Nostra Aetate, la descrizione della Chiesa come «nuovo popolo di Dio» vi era fortemente presente. Ora questa espressione rischiava di favorire la teologia detta della «sostituzione», secondo cui la Chiesa, «nuovo popolo», subentrava ormai al popolo ebraico, «antico» popolo di Dio.

This article explores the dynamics affecting the phenomenon of prayer in Jewish life of the First Century, as reflected in the early sources of the Second Temple Period.

Publishing Company; all rights reserved. Please visit Eerdmans webpage for the complete book at http://www.eerdmans.com/Products/4883/into-god39s-presence.aspx.

Abstract: It is generally assumed that Christian confessions concerning the person and nature of Jesus Christ represent an irreconcilable divide between Judaism and Christianity. On the surface, a cursory examination of Christian religious language would appear to confirm this assumption. However, given that Christianity arose out of the religious worldview of First Century Judaism, a deeper examination shows that most Christian Christological beliefs have parallels in Judaism and offer an opportunity for greater connection than for division. This paper explores key Christian Christological concepts and analyzes their compatibility or incompatibility with Jewish thought. This exploration reveals two religions that have far more in common, even on questions of Christology, than is generally assumed.

This paper is a 2023 revision of a 2001 original.

Recent analysis has attempted to locate the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT) in a context of developing Christian thought about Jesus’ childhood, and has suggested that the author(s) imitated a popular children’s stories genre of late antiquity. The function of this genre, when applied to the infancy of Jesus, is to embellish the status of Jesus in terms of his power, wisdom, and authority. What appears to be an earlier strand of tradition in IGT, however, suggests an ideological stance that is much less complimentary of Jesus and raises a number of questions about its original context and purpose.

This thesis addresses the topic of movement and mobility in the region of the Galilee during the first century and how that movement is reflected in the New Testament, particularly in the Gospel of Mark. Regarding one of the patterns of movement in Mark, namely the frequent “crossing to the other side” of the Sea of Galilee, the evidence not only indicates that the author believed Jesus and his followers entered
into the region of the Decapolis, but into her cities, and in all likelihood, into Hippos of the Decapolis. The prevalence in the Gospel of Mark of the use of the phrase εις το πέραν is an indicator to of the importance of such a crossing to the Gentile side, and its significance to the message of the Galilean ministry. The analysis of text alongside
artifact will demonstrate that in those instances where Mark refers to a crossing to the other side, and to the Decapolis, he is in all probability referring to Hippos of the Decapolis.

What does it take to do the kind of work with ancient genealogies that I and a few others have? It takes time and dedication, and intense focus. After many years of observation and actual reconstruction of various ancient genealogies, it has now become second-nature to me. I've trained myself to know, almost by instinct, how to get the answers to complete various ancient genealogies that others would have abandoned and simply given up on; and I have completed them in many instances, in only a few hours. I remember when I had no idea where to look or what to look for. So, I have come a very long way indeed. There are several key items that I have learned that are essential to finding out just where an individual had belonged in terms of time, place and family. One of the main things that I had discovered is that all of these were left to be discovered, on purpose. That is, deliberately. They were made difficult, but not impossible. That is because the individuals who left these records, did so purposefully. Now, how and why would they do this, or even be able to? That is what anyone working with these genealogies should know before they even start. Today, we are hearing a lot of talk about 'oligarchy'. And many people today, imagine that it only really applies to certain wealthy families today; but they are not used to thinking of that in terms of our past history; at least not in a universal sense. But that is exactly what the case was. Who were the "us" and "them" of the past? Who were the "haves" and the "have nots"? Well, think about it. It was most certainly the royalty who were the "haves", it was not the common people. It was royalty who were keeping track of not only their own ancestry, but also of their fellow royals. To make the type of world in which ancient royalty needed in order to preserve what they had gained, that 'edge' over non-royals, wealth, privilege, and power, they needed to create an alternate reality for those who were not royal; in order to placate them and keep them in their place. That is, to prevent them from uprising and overthrowing them. So, they made it appear that royals and other leaders of all kinds came from the general populace, that they could rise from the ranks, and that they, the royals, were not perpetually protecting the royal 'right' of their privileged families. And one way of doing that was to make it appear that those who were writing were of all walks of life, that there was not a monopoly on it by royalty; but that is exactly what was happening. Royalty were the only ones who were leaving us written records, while making it appear that this was not so. And, they were not writing about anonymous commoners, but about their own family and their fellow royals. Now, once a researcher such as myself realizes this, we then understand that they also left both answers and clues to unravel just who they were. It was purposeful. They not only wrote the histories of their own families and left accounts of their individual actions, but they also made a point of protecting and preserving them; which is why so many of them have survived to this day. Granted, some were lost along the way, but one way that they got around this was to cross-reference much of their work. That is, they gave more than one account of various family members by making use of alias names for those individuals. Case in point, Arrius Calpurnius Piso. He and his family had created a number of alternate names for him. So many, in fact, that I doubt that even I yet know all of them.

In the present article, the author describes the issue of relation between Synagogue and Church in the context of Johannine writings. The author makes analysis of the Johannine texts in order to show the traces of polemic between Judaism and Christianity. He shows the hostility between Synagogue and Church in the light of terms like aposunagōgos, “Jews” and other polemical expressions which occur in the Gospel of John, in the Letters of John and the Book of Revelation. The author tries to answer on the question, how Sitz im Leben of Johannine writings influences their content. The analysis of Jewish and Christian sources shows the tension and hostility between Rabbinic Judaism and Johannine Community after the destruction of Jerusalem Temple. It leads to gradual separation between Synagogue and Church. In this article there are shown the reasons of the parting of the ways between Judaism and Christianity and its meaning for the contemporary dialogue between Synagogue and Church.

Although the dating of the Pseudoclementines is fraught with difficulty, there is abundant evidence to establish its internal intended chronology. This presentation will go through the Syriac text, assembling all temporal references into a chronology and noting correlations to secular history, followed by a table and timeline to graphically represent the findings.

IVAN PRCHLÕK (Praha) Autorem nÌûe probran˝ch zpr·v o ranÈm k¯esùanstvÌ byl, anebo mohl b˝t Publius Cornelius Tacitus. Proto je tento Ël·nek zamϯen p¯edevöÌm na jejich v˝povÏdnost pr·vÏ vzhledem k p¯ÌpadnÈmu Tacitovu autorstvÌ, zatÌmco pro-blematickÈ okolnosti ud·lostÌ, jichû se t˝kajÌ, interpretovanÈ Ëasto i s vy-uûitÌm neliter·rnÌch Ëi jin˝ch alternativnÌch pramen˘, zde prozatÌm musÌ z˘stat jen naznaËeny.

This is a translation of the Hebrew text of the Josippon concerning the martyrdom of Zekharyahu (Zacharias), who was put to death prior to the Jewish war against Rome and the destruction of Jerusalem. This text evinces many similarities to other extant and missing historical accounts regarding the period, notably including accounts of James the Just, who was the brother of Jesus.

First John is poetry. It follows the poetic conventions of Biblical Hebrew. In order to find the line and stanza breaks, we need a back-translation to Hebrew. The result is satisfying. Staying close to the Greek, adhering strictly to meter, and trying to render the words in John's own voice yielded two very accurate and idiomatic translations. This translation is also available as part of a larger book, "the purge," by the same author.

Updated 3/23/23

A Summary of my paper on the role of teachers in the New Testament Church.  This outline makes the case that "teachers" represent a unique class of worker in the New Testament church, one that is still extant today, separate and apart from elders, evangelists and deacons.  it breaks down their qualifications and responsibilities, and answers key questions as to what their roles might look like today.

In Luke-Acts, Jesus and his Apostles are characterized by language that is reminiscent of the Old Testament prophets, particularly Moses and Elijah. This article attempts to understand the meaning of such characterization in the narrative world of Luke-Acts. This world includes the frameworks of Judaism of the first century as a hierocratic symbolic empire, the perception of the prophet par excellence like Moses in Judaism, and the plot and geographical movement of Luke-Acts. This article argues that the earthly Jesus (Lk. 4:16-30) and the Twelve Apostles after the Pentecost (Acts 2) are characterized in Luke-Acts as prophets par excellence who confront the current hierocratic symbolic empire, participating in the making and renewal of the Covenant, which underlies the identity of God's people.

By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof, that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification.

Atonement has been described as the central doctrine of Christianity and yet, surprisingly, the church has never insisted on a particular understanding of how redemption in Christ was achieved. Instead, a miscellany of metaphors has been employed, each picturing “something” of Christ’s work. Recent debate within Reformed Evangelicalism has been characterized by claims for hegemony to be granted to penal substitution versus counter-arguments for a kaleidoscopic, multi-model understanding. Notably absent in these discussions, however, are two considerations. One is any common nexus to draw atonement thought together. The other is any positive theological contribution deriving from God’s preexisting relationship with Israel (the presumed role of which has rather been to provide a negative contrast of law-versus-grace and works-versus-faith, as the dark background against which the light of Christ may shine more brightly). Recent scholarship, however—particularly the “New Perspective on Paul”—has comprehensively dismantled the old stereotypes concerning first-century Judaism. This book asks how differently we might think about the atonement once it is brought into conversation with the new scholarship. It concludes by proposing a new perspective on atonement in which Christ is central, Israel and Torah are affirmed, and the traditional metaphors continue to find their place.