Parting of the Ways: Early Christian History

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.

Tesis de Doctorado / PhD Thesis.
Since J. Parkes invented it in 1934, the expression “Parting of the Ways” has deeply rooted in the scholarship to study the distance between Jews and Christians during Antiquity. Indeed, issued from the same common background, which was the Second Temple Judaism, Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism became two opposing orthodoxies which excluded each other and, largely, based their own identity in opposition to the other one, in a process started by the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in the year 70. This doctoral thesis analyses how this parting of the ways happened throughout the first three centuries of the Common Era in the different regional realities of the Roman Empire, taking as a main source the literature of the Church Fathers, though also other ones, as the rabbinic literature, the so-called “cycle of the Talmud”. So, despite their rivalries, Judaism and Christianity form a large spectrum where, in an extreme, we find the Rabbinic Judaism, for which Jesus represents nothing, and, in the other, different forms of Gnostic Christianity, which fully denied the identification between the Jewish Jahveh and the God Father preached by Jesus Christ and, because of that, refused all the Jewish heritage of Christianity. Between both extremes became established the self-proclaimed Orthodox Christianity, over the basis of the anti-legalistic thought of the Apostle Paul. This form of Christianity also felt obliged to harmonize Hebrew Scriptures as a part of the history of salvation with the idea that the Mosaic Law had been abrogated with the coming of the Messiah. This proto-Orthodox Christianity found in the method of allegory applied to the interpretation of the Old Testament the legitimation of its doctrine and its universalistic and uniformist wishes. On the other hand, the rabbis, with the Patriarch as their leader, got the decisive support of the Roman authorities in their purpose to proclaim themselves as the leaders of Judaism, which was decapitated after the disappearance of the Temple. This Judaism found its way of expression in the so-called Talmudic literature, where the Rabbis systematized an orthodoxy that excluded from the people of Israel all those who did not share their doctrines, as we can see, for example, in the Birkat ha minim, imprecation which, included in the liturgy of the synagogue worship, was pronounced against the Followers of Jesus of Nazareth.

The article systematically examines the twenty four occurrences of the title 'Lord' in the Didache, and argues that the majority refer to the Lord Jesus. It then focusses on Didache 16.1-8 and argues that the 'coming of the Lord' referred to there is the return of Jesus.

"This may be the most important book on Justin Martyr’s work in a century." - Daniel Boyarin, University of California Berkeley, USA. <br><br>

"Matthijs den Dulk’s outstanding Between Jews and Heretics sheds new light on the central questions of Christianity in the second century: mutual self-definition among rival groups, the development of heresiological discourse, literary images of Jews and Judaism, and appropriations of the Septuagint and of traditional philosophy. Its innovative reading of Dialogue with Trypho persuasively shows how all these themes converge in Justin Martyr’s project of inventing what he considered true Christianity. This is essential reading for all historians of early Christianity."
- David Brakke, The Ohio State University, USA

"Taking the title Dialogue with utmost seriousness, Den Dulk has written a truly innovative book on Justin’s work while grounding his arguments in both meticulous historical philology and in critical theory. This important book situates the Dialogue in the vibrant milieu of religious diversity, inside and between Christianities and Judaisms of the second century CE, and significantly contributes to our understanding of these religious identities."
- Galit Hasan-Rokem, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

"[den Dulk] advances scholarship on several core issues of second-century CE Christianity, including heresiology, the relationship between Judaism(s) and Christianities, and Christian identity articulation ... This is a masterful work that is sure to influence scholarship on early Christianity for years to come."
- Religious Studies Review 2019

"Den Dulk skillfully examines Justin’s contemporary social, historical, and religious contexts and offers a rich and close reading of the Dialogue based on its focus on heresiology. Given that Justin belonged to a complex social context that required negotiation between various contemporary cultures and religions, Den Dulk rightly points out that the Dialogue must be read not as a monotonous evangelical text for Jews but as a multifaceted text pursuing a variety of purposes. Den Dulk’s refreshing interpretation shows modern readers Justin’s cultural intersection with Judaism and his contemporary Christians and redefines him as the expert of heresiology." - Chang Seon An, Boston University -  Review of Biblical Literature 2019

"There is much to applaud in his book: the courage to risk the promotion and defense of new labels for early Christian groups, away from the non-native label of “Gnosticism” is just one reason... Den Dulk does an excellent job at conveying the second-century fluidity of Christian identity, and the ever-negotiated role of Jewishness without Jews, and of the Septuagint without its Jews in early Christian literature." - Edward Iricinschi, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany – Vigiliae Christianae 2019

"[A] measured step forward in “refiguring the second century”—hat relatively under-researched age in which the foundations of both Judaism and Christianity in their extant forms were laid... [The book] is a sustained, disciplined balancing act of close literary analysis of the complex and seemingly contradictory features of the Dialogue with a keen eye on its literary and historical setting, without giving in to the temptation of assigning it to one of the settled positions in the crucially important late second century CE." - Peter J. Tomson, KU Leuven, Belgium - Journal for the Study of Judaism 2019

Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho is the oldest preserved literary dialogue between a Jew and a Christian and a key text for understanding the development of early Judaism and Christianity. In Between Jews and Heretics, Matthijs den Dulk argues that whereas scholarship has routinely cast this important text in terms of "Christianity vs. Judaism," its rhetorical aims and discursive strategies are considerably more complex, because Justin is advocating his particular form of Christianity in constant negotiation with rival forms of Christianity. The striking new interpretation proposed in this study explains many of the Dialogue’s puzzling features and sheds new light on key passages. Because the Dialogue is a critical document for the early history of Jews and Christians, this book contributes to a range of important questions, including the emergence of the notion of heresy and the "parting of the ways" between Jews and Christians.

The book is available in OA format and can be downloaded in full.

This article proposes an analysis of the work which the American scholar Daniel Boyarin devoted to relations between Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity. According to Boyarin's hypothesis, before the Christianization of the Roman Empire, Judaism and Christianity were not autonomous entities with distinct characters and defined identity, but part of a single system of circulation. Inside this system discursive elements moved from one group to another, crossing borders. In this article, the author endeavours not only to present Boyarin's thinking and its effects, but also to place them in their historical, cultural and academic context.

Conférence présentée au 80e congrès de l’Acfas dans le cadre de l’atelier-colloque « Les mondes grecs et romains : des lieux de rencontres religieuses. Définitions, frontières et représentations dans le « judaïsme », le « christianisme » et le « paganisme », 7 mai 2012, UQAM, Montréal, Canada.

The article analyzes the possible traditions of reading Holy Scriptures in the early Church and their origin. Was the tradition of reading Scripture inherited by Christians from the synagogue? Could the Christian tradition of reading Scriptures be related to the Greek symposium, where the readings took place after the meal? The latter does not seem likely for a number of reasons. The question is considered, whether Holy Scripture was studied in the Сhurch as at school?

В статье анализируются возможные традиции чтения Священного Писания в ранней Церкви и их происхождение. Была ли традиция чтения Писания унаследована христианами от синагоги? Могла ли быть связана христианская традиция чтения Писания с греческим симпозиумом, на котором чтения происходили после трапезы? Последнее не представляется вероятным по ряду причин. Рассматривается вопрос, изучалось ли Священное Писание в церкви по типу школы?