The Origins of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism

Paper exposes and details the usage of rhetoric & propaganda. Knowing this also exposes the purposes and motives involved in the creation of such texts. Which, in turn, leads us to information about the true authorship of these texts. Emphasis is upon the importance of recognizing literary devices.

This is a study regarding traits that are found in clinical psychopaths and the same traits as found displayed by the ancient author known as 'Flavius Josephus'. This paper presents the need to make such information a necessary part of the study of ancient literature.

INHALT EINLEITUNG: Vom Verlust der Selbstverständlichkeiten. I. GRUNDLAGEN IN DER HEBRÄISCHEN BIBEL:. .. . 19 1. Israel als hvhy Mi 2. Der Ursprung Israels und die Selbstoffenbarung Gottes. .. a) Kl) Kl (Gen 12,1)-Aufbruch und Verheißung. .. . b) Erwählung, Befreiung und tyrb (Bund). .. .. . c) Die exiltaugliche hrvt (Thora) als Offenbarung, Norm und Tradition. .. .. .. .. .. .

We do not have to conjecture about what the early Israelite religion consisted of, and we need not depend upon the tendentious descriptions of the bible. It is described in documents (A E Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century BC) from the Jewish colony at Elephantine, an island in the Nile below the First Cataract—now submerged by the Aswan Dam—dated towards the end of the fifth century BC, just at the time the Persians were setting up their temple state in Yehud. What was Jesus's Judaism?

This a brace of chapters on Paul's situation in the first Christian generation. Breaking with the prevailing scholarly assumption that 'to euangelion' (usually 'the gospel') was shared among early Christians, who differed only about its content, I argue that this language was distinctively Paul's and understood by both him and his many detractors as such. That is why it is programmatically featured only by the Paul-like 'Mark' but then scrubbed by 'Matthew', 'Luke', and 'John', though the first two depend heavily on Mark.
The second essay, on Paul's defence of his Euangelion in Romans, first appeared in a FS for Richard Longenecker,  Gospel in Paul, ed. by Ann Jervis and Peter Richardson (1994). I reprinted it with slight updates for Josephus, Judea, and Christian Origins: Methods and Categories (Hendrickson 2009). Hendrickson handed the book off to Baker, and Baker returned the rights to me.
The essay that precedes it I wrote for the 2009 volume. It is a kind of biography of To Euangelion (I prefer: 'The Announcement') through the first three Christian generations, which should help to contextualise the Romans study.

A Chronology for events leading to the creation of Christianity with Historical Background: The Long War: Beginning with the Jewish changeover from the Seleucid leadership to the Hasmonean leadership (circa 135 BCE). The War Between The Hasmonean Leadership & The Pharisees (to circa 50 BCE, Julius Caesar). The Sadducees, Herodians & The Caesars (circa 30 BCE-6 BCE). The Roman Committee To Create A New Religion (Under Tiberius, circa 14-37 CE).

There are so many areas which need to be studied when it comes to the First and Second Centuries of the Common Era, and so much more to learn about that time in history. If you read this paper and still wonder about various parts of it, it may mean that you need to do some reading to get caught up to where some of us already are.

Many within academia, for instance, still do not realize that when they are talking about the Jews of the time, they need to know exactly which 'Jews' they need to identify according to time, place and sect. This is important to better know what was being said by those recording both the Jewish historic material (i.e., the Talmud; 'Flavius Josephus' was not an actual 'Jew', but a Roman of Jewish descent).

This paper was written from the larger overview of an actual war going on at the time, instead of the view of isolated or sporadic Jewish "revolts". For more information about it being an actual long-standing war, read my other papers that cover the issue. A lot of material that that is necessary in order to uncover the fact of a genuine all-out war between the Romans and Jews can be deduced from items in the works of Flavius Josephus, various Roman authors, the Talmud, and the work of scholars such as Sir Ronald Syme, Joseph Neusner, and Abelard Reuchlin.

But, of course, you would have to read be at a level of study-ability that would allow you to know just what it is that you are reading. It is preferred that you know how to read the ancient texts involved in the original languages, using primary source documents and/or materials. When it comes to Classical material, the Loeb Classical Library edition is highly recommended. What must be known to reveal the truth about this long all-out war is that it did not begin with a disagreement between the Romans and Jews; it began with a split between the Jewish sects.

Abstract : Justin Marty’s Dialogue with Trypho contains many allusions to Jewish religious authorities, which are then presented with various titles. A detailed analysis of these titles shows that they are always anonymous and interchangeable, sometimes anachronistic, and very often influenced by Scriptural sources. Because of this indifferenciation and the role they are given to play in the Dialogue, these Jewish authorities seem closely similar to New Testament  « Doctors of the Law ». A list of Jewish « sects » appears in Dial. 80, 4. It is the most ancient list we find in Christian literature of the first centuries, and some later ones seem inspired by it. Once again, from a detailed analysis questions more than certainties arise, and this passage is in various ways interpreted by scholars. Perhaps Justin gives us here a Christian lecture of Jewish realities. In both cases, polemical or apologetical intentions seem to have prevailed over historical concern. This is not strange in a work which is the expression of an almost entirely theological perception of reality

Résumé : Le Dialogue avec Tryphon de Justin Martyr comporte de nombreuses références à des autorités religieuses juives alors désignées par divers vocables. L’étude de détail montre que ces désignations sont toujours anonymes, imprécises et interchangeables, parfois anachroniques, et le plus souvent inspirées de sources scripturaires. Par leur indifférenciation et par le rôle qui leur est assigné dans le Dialogue, ces autorités juives rappellent étrangement les « Docteurs de la Loi » du Nouveau Testament. La liste de « sectes » juives qui apparaît en Dial. 80, 4 est la plus ancienne de celles qu’on trouve dans la littérature chrétienne des premiers siècles, et qui s’en inspirent parfois. Là encore, l’analyse du passage suscite plus d’interrogations que de certitudes, et chez ses commentateurs, l’interprétation en est encore discutée : il n’est pas impossible qu’en ce domaine Justin nous présente une lecture chrétienne de la réalité juive. Dans les deux cas, il semble bien que l’intention polémique ou apologétique ait pris le pas sur les préoccupations historiques, ce qui n’a rien de surprenant pour une œuvre presque entièrement inspirée par une perception théologique du réel.

Dans son Dialogue avec Tryphon, Justin mentionne de nombreuses exégèses, croyances et pratiques juives explicitement présentées comme contemporaines. L’hypothèse généralement admise selon laquelle il aurait tiré ces informations d’un ou plusieurs écrit(s) antérieur(s) ne résiste pas à l’examen : la comparaison systématique avec différentes sources anciennes — littérature judéo-hellénistique, écrits intertestamentaires et écrits de Qumrân, Nouveau Testament et littérature chrétienne des premiers siècles —  fait ressortir la spécificité de Justin en ce domaine. Les rapprochements avec la littérature rabbinique montrent par ailleurs que ce que Justin rapporte est presque toujours attribué, dans le Talmud et le Midrash, à des rabbins palestiniens des IIe et IIIe siècles. Il y a donc tout lieu de croire que l’information de l’apologiste est (au moins en grande partie) de première main.

The Pharisee Yoḥanan b. Zakkai (aka Ribaz) was present in Galilee for the first eighteen years of his career, in the city of 'Arav, which is about twenty miles from Bethsaida. His time in Galilee overlaps the years traditionally ascribed to the historical Jesus. Ribaz's career in the Galilee is ridiculously truncated by many to three decisions recorded in Shabbat 16:7. From passages vetted by Jacob Neusner, much about Ribaz can be surmised. 1) He was consistently concerned with capital punishment. 2) He defeated opponents with artifice and calculation. 3) On several occasions Ribaz employed Talmudic reasoning to extend the parameters of punishment for sexual transgression. 4) In an especially significant passage, Ribaz is recorded as explaining a double execution to a prince significantly misnamed as "Antigonus the Hegemon", who is probably Philip the Tetrarch, whose territory included Bethsaida. 4) Ribaz explains the demand to destroy everything and every person connected with the sexual transgression of "high places." 5) He also explains the execution of a woman and the "cow" she approached for sex.
As noted, the official record of Yoḥanan b. Zakkai’s tenure in the Galilee is curiously truncated, and often reduced to three Shabbat provisions regarding covering threats with a dish. Using Talmudic reasoning, it is possible to extrapolate an overarching doctrine of how the Torah may be applied to a virtually unlimited range of transgressions and crimes. The only concept specifically attributed to Ribaz in Shabbat 16:7 regards the inevitability of transgression in law enforcement, and because of the curious phrasing of the passage, the case Ribaz commented on may have been his own.
Despite their disjointed appearance in Talmud, all the elements of Yoḥanan b. Zakkai's attempted prosecution of gay and lesbian gentiles before Philip the Tetrarch are present. Rabbi Yoḥanan justifies a double execution to Philip the Tetrarch (who had jurisdiction over Bethsaida), with the tetrarch’s Talmudic misidentification as "Antigonus the Hegemon". He also justifies the execution of a woman and the "cow" she approached for sex, which supports the prosecution case argued before Philip. Ribaz’s lifelong concern with capital crime is congruent with this case. His use of Talmudic reasoning to explain the grounds for extending Torah to additional varieties of sexual transgression is relevant to such a prosecution. Among these extensions is the justification for destroying everything and every person connected with the sexual transgression. Yohanan’s record of deception is congruent with the standard use of entrapment by law enforcement.

Jesus was a Jewish rabbi with practices rooted in the traditions and practices of Second Temple Judaism. His educational process was mentoring associated with the rabbinic method of His day. His educational praxis was effective in the holistic development of adult leaders for His Kingdom community and mission. I argue that His methodology is in integrally linked to His outcomes, and is relevant today for the development of adult leaders in the Christian ethos. Using a grounded theory approach, my dissertation proposes a core construct of the identity, capacity, and destiny as a view of human holism, and through which we can understand the rabbinic mentoring process of Jesus and its effect on the person being mentored. Applying the Jesus way of mentoring to the holistic core construct highlights the role of the Kingdom community in the formative process of individuals. As a result of the research and analysis, I present seven transferable core principles which can be utilized in the contemporary application of the Jesus way, with these I include observations on the implications for higher education to embrace the Jesus model, as well as, insights for possible further research in areas highlighted in this work.

JUSTIN MARTYR : Apologie pour les chrétiens : traduction complète, avec introduction et commentaires, par Philippe Bobichon, dans : Bibliothèque de la Pléiade : Premiers écrits chrétiens? Paris, Gallimard, 2016, pp. 325-399 (traduction), 1266-1268 (introduction), 1268-1282 (notes).
Traduction entièrement nouvelle de l'Apologie, tenant compte des dernières éditions ainsi que des enseignements tirés de l'édition-traduction du Dialogue avec Tryphon publiée en 2003, avec les articles qui l'accompagnent. Bien que les destinataires ne soient pas les mêmes, le mode de composition de l'Apologie présente, dans le détail, d'évidentes analogies avec celui du Dialogue (démarche rigoureusement argumentée et solidement structurée, au sein de laquelle le passage d'un thème à un autre se fait souvent, de manière implicite, par glissements successifs). Dans l'Apologie comme dans le Dialogue, Justin raisonne à la fois de manière discursive (plan apparent)  et analogique (démarche sous-jacente).  L'ensemble des commentaires qui ne pouvaient pas trouver place dans cette édition Pléiade se retrouveront dans une prochaine monographie sur Justin de Naplouse tenant compte de l'ensemble des données révérées par l'analyse des textes qui lui sont attribués.

This essay proposes a plausible interpretation of how Paul deals with the dietary and purity matters in Romans 14 against a Jewish backdrop, particularly based on rabbinic sources. Through the reading of rabbinic texts, this study will suggest that Paul’s notion of ‘nothing is unclean’ is not a novel notion but is in keeping with certain streams of rabbinic thought. Paul, however, suggests a modified view in which food is of less importance to the kingdom of God than the unity of the religious community. In this regard, Paul does not subvert or dismiss Judaism, but against his Jewish, Pharisaic backdrop, Paul proposes a new moral standard for the Christian community in Rome that values the unity of their religious community.

The Vedic Roots of Judaism are explored in the context of Exodus and first kings. Please first view the earlier presentation -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3SQPN3bR0U&t=689s

Joshua 24.2 explains the origins of the Patriarchs from "Beyond the Euphrates" or the Nahar. The Mitanni were an Indo-Aryan people from Balikha who came to the area around Nahar and Balikh and Khabur to form cities like Harran and Vasukhanni.  Hence the religion of Judaism was shaped by its Creators to have a Purano-Vedic Root. Not knowing this, many current day scholars struggle to understand Judaism and its sister religions like Christianity and Islam that fully absorb and expand Judaism.

The present note contains a number of observations about the OT’s conception of a ransom.  The OT does not, as far as I am aware, contain any exact and comprehensive foreshadows of how Christ died as our ransom.  But its discussion of ransoms (particularly in its legal corpus) elucidates a number of important principles of divine justice, which can be pieced together to form a helpful backdrop against which to view Christ’s death.

Identity Politics in the First Christian Communities

The main thesis of this work is that the emergence and social-historical formation of Christian identity in the first two centuries CE was inherently linked to ethnic, religious and political antagonisms. This conflict was manifested at several different levels of the relationship between early Christian communities and the coeval religious and political actors in a divergent social-historical landscape of the Roman Empire. The conflicts existed from the very outset: firstly, within the young Jesus movement (nascent Christianity) during its formative process; then in this movement’s relationship with formative Judaism; finally, with the political establishment of the Roman Empire that treated Christianity as an extremely heterodox, adversary religion, exposed to occasional systematic persecutions. It is apparent that the social and ethnic identities are constructed and transformed both within communities themselves and in relation to their external social environments. Within that complex network of antagonisms and loosely defined initial boundaries, an entirely novel, transnational and multiethnic, Christian identity had been developed, becoming eventually a major and dominant world religion. In this paper, special attention has been devoted to the conflict between the nascent Christianity and the two major Jewish religious-political parties of the first century CE – Sadducees and Pharisees, the second paving the way to Rabbinic Judaism in the post-70 CE period. This new form of Judaism has survived, up to date, as a leading, official Jewish tradition.

Key words: Early Christianity, Judaism, politics, identity, conflict