Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Otto
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Philo Of Alexandria ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Ways Of Life ◽  
Frequent Reference

Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings investigates portrayals of one particular Jew, the first-century philosopher and allegorical interpreter of the Bible, Philo of Alexandria, in the works of three prominent early Christian thinkers, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius. It argues that early Christian invocations of Philo are best understood not as attempts to claim an illustrious Jew for the Christian fold, but as examples of ongoing efforts to define the continuities and distinctive features of Christian beliefs and practices in relation to those of the Jews. This study takes as its starting point the curious fact that none of the first three Christians to mention Philo refer to him unambiguously as a Jew. Clement refers to him twice as a Pythagorean. Origen, who mentions Philo by name only three times, makes far more frequent reference to him in the guise of an anonymous “someone who came before us.” Eusebius, who invokes Philo on many more occasions, most often refers to Philo as a Hebrew. These epithets construct Philo as a “near-other” to both Jews and Christians, through whom ideas and practices may be imported from the former to the latter, all the while establishing boundaries between the “Christian” and “Jewish” ways of life. The portraits of Philo offered by each author reveal ongoing processes of difference-making and difference-effacing that constituted not only the construction of the Jewish “other,” but also the Christian “self.”

The first century of English protestantism and the growth of national identity

1982 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 309-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
First Century ◽  
English Reformation ◽  
John Foxe ◽  
Religious Attitudes ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Religious Zeal

Their sense of national identity is not something that men have been in the habit of directly recording. Its strength or weakness, in relation to commitment to international causes or to localist sentiment, can often only be inferred by examining political and religious attitudes and personal behaviour. So far as the early modern period is concerned, the subject is hazardous because groups and individuals must have varied enormously in the extent to which national identity meant something to them or influenced their lives. The temptation to generalise must be resisted. It is all too easy to suppose that national identity became well established in England in the Tudor century, when a national culture, based on widespread literacy among gentry, yeomen and townsmen, flowered as it had never done before, when the bible was first generally available in English, when John Foxe produced his celebrated Acts and Monuments, better known as the Book of Martyrs. Recent work reassessing the significance of Foxe’s account of the English reformation and other Elizabethan polemical writings provdes a convenient starting point for this brief investigation of some of the connections between religious zeal and national consciousness between 1558 and 1642.

Clement of Alexandria

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Philo Of Alexandria ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Greek Drama ◽  
Cultural Legacy ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Jewish Scriptures ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Christian Thought

Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens) was one of the most erudite Christian writers of the 2nd century. As little is known of Clement’s life, the dates of his birth and death are approximate. Among scholars, they are usually appointed as 150–215 ce. His place of birth is unknown; some ancient sources suggest Athens, while others propose Alexandria (Epiphanius, Refutation, 32.6.1). Equally unknown is the place of his death after he left Alexandria during the persecution under Septimius Severus in 202. However, in the light of the epistle written by Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem around 215 (Eusebius, HE, 6.11.6), we may conclude that by that time Clement was dead. Clement’s intellectual interests were open to the whole spectrum of the Greco-Roman cultural legacy. As an intellectual he was well acquainted with Greek drama and poetry. Apart from literature, his reflection was in an open dialogue with the richness of Greco-Roman philosophies; some doctrines such as Stoicism and Middle Platonism were closer to his own stance. As Alexandria was a lively center for different trends in Jewish literature, Clement was also familiar with the Jewish Scriptures, and he valued particularly highly the exegetical legacy of Philo of Alexandria (c. 15 bce–after 41 ce). In addition, Clement was an intelligent apologist of his tradition (school) of Christianity. Thanks to his discussion with Basilides, Valentinus, Marcion, Carpocrates, and Epiphanes, we have some exclusive insights into the affluence of Christian thought of his time. Eusebius of Caesarea provides us with the list of Clement’s works (HE. 6.13.1–3). Clement’s main extant writings are usually introduced as his “trilogy”: 1: The Exhortation to the Greeks (Protrepticus); 2: The Instructor (Paedagogus), and 3: The Miscellanies (Stromateis). We have access to his homily “Who Is the Rich Man That Is Being Saved” (under its Latin title Quis Dives Salvetur); fragments with commentaries on the teaching of a Valentinian disciple, Theodotus (Excerpta ex Theodoto); and a selection from the Prophetic Sayings (Eclogae Propheticae). Eusebius’s note adds “Outlines” (Hypotyposeis). The work is lost except for some passages found in later authors (e.g., Photius’s Bibliotheca). Other lost works are On the Pascha, On Fasting, On Slander, and the Ecclesiastical Canon. The enormous spectrum of Clement’s legacy is explored in this article through the specific lens of his valuable contributions (a) to the biblical interpretation and (b) in the context of Early Christian history. This focus omits other important aspects of Clement’s legacy such as his Logos theology, ecclesiology, dealing with various philosophical ideas, and his polemic against other Christian doctrines. Nonetheless, even within this prism we can recognize Clement’s unique place among his contemporary thinkers and exegetes.

WHAT IF PAUL HAD TRAVELLED EAST RATHER THAN WEST?

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 171-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bauckham
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
First Century ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Geographical Scope ◽  
North And South

AbstractFor first-century Jews the eastern disapora was at least as important as the western. When Paul returned from Arabia (Nabatea) to Damascus, his intention was to travel east from Damascus to Mesopotamia, where the synagogue communities, descendants of the original exiles of both northern and southern tribes of Israel, would have been his starting point for mission to the Gentiles of the area. But when he escaped arrest by the Nabatean ethnarc, Nabatean control of the trade routes south and east of Damascus left him no choice but to travel to Jerusalem, where he re-thought the geographical scope of his mission. Had Paul travelled east, the Christian communities of both north and south Mesopotamia might have flourished already in the first century and Paul's writings might have had more influence on Syriac theology. Considering how Christianity in the Roman Empire would have developed without Paul entails rejecting such exaggerated views of Paul's significance as that Paul invented Christianity or that without Paul Christianity would have remained a Jewish sect. The Gentile mission began without Paul and took place in areas, such as Rome and Egypt, which were not evangelized by Paul. Without Paul much would have been different about the way the early Christian movement would have spread across the Roman Empire, but it would still have spread, with much the same long-term effects.

EIN UNERKANNTER QUAESTIONESKOMMENTAR (EXC.THEOD. 4F) UND DIE DEUTUNG DER VERKLÄRUNG CHRISTI IN FRÜHCHRISTLICHEN TEXTEN

2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Scholten
Keyword(s):  
Acts Of The Apostles ◽  
Christian Schools ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Specific Interest ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Apocryphal Acts ◽  
Biblical Texts

AbstractThere are traces of attempts at a methodical explanation of biblical texts before the appearance of full-scale commentaries on Holy Scripture. The use of exegetical technical forms arose in Christian schools from the necessity to understand the contents of the Bible as coherent. In Clement of Alexandria, exc. Theod. 4f, a hitherto overlooked fragment of an early Christian Quaestiones-commentary has been preserved. The specific interest in Christ's transfiguration concerns his identity with God and the comprehension of his disciples. The differences between heretical and orthodox exegesis do not depend on the choice of methods, as Marc the Magician and Clement demonstrate. The narrative of the transfiguration in the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles testifies to exegetical expertise. Origen considers his own scholarly exegesis as basically debatable.

The Origins of the Noahide Laws

2011 ◽  
pp. 11-35
Author(s):  
David Novak
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Moral Standard ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Social Demographic

This chapter traces the origins of the Noahide laws in the history of Judaism. Earlier scholars located its origins variously: in the Bible, among Hittite legal scholars, and during the Maccabean era. The chapter maintains, contrary to prior scholarship, that the concept of the Noahide is absent until the first century CE; that is, it is a rabbinic creation. While theology can discover the beginnings of the Noahide laws in the Torah, their historical starting point can only be established following the social, demographic, and religious dislocations of the Second Temple's destruction in 70 CE. For the rabbis, these laws originated prior to the Sinaitic revelation; they were the moral standard for the entire gentile world, and that world of course included the ancestors of those who would later accept the covenant at Sinai. Israelites before Sinai, then, were Noahides. The Noahide laws were also considered obligatory for all time, and would be the measure by which gentiles would be judged.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dates from the Jewish Catacombs of Rome

Radiocarbon ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 541-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard V Rutgers ◽  
Arie F M De Jong ◽  
Klaas van der Borg
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
First Century ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Ancient Rome ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Ams Dating

This paper reports on the first chronological assessment of the Jewish Catacombs of the ancient Rome performed by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating of small-size charcoal fragments scattered in the mortar used for sealing off the graves in the Villa Torlonia Catacomb complex. The significance of the obtained 14C readings has been carefully evaluated by taking into consideration the known technologies of quicklime production during Roman and recent times. The new data are of great concern for providing evidence that the Jewish catacombs were used for burial since the first century AD, thus some two centuries prior to the period traditionally believed to be the starting point of burial in the Jewish catacombs of ancient Rome. Such a significant aging of the Jewish catacombs could result in a deep re-examination of the current understanding of the beginning and the evolution of the custom of catacomb burial in both Jewish and early Christian communities in Rome.

Clement of Alexandria and the Beginnings of Christian Platonism

1925 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Casey
Keyword(s):  
Accurate Estimate ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Foreign Material ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
Christian Platonism ◽  
Contemporary School

One of the most fruitful branches of recent patristic study has been the effort to determine the relation between early Christian theology and Greek philosophy. Starting from the assumption that the affinities between the two were many and close, scholars have found themselves able to draw detailed inferences of literary and intellectual dependence, and in the case of many Christian authors to discover the exact sources from which they drew their philosophic ideas, or at least to assign these to some contemporary school. Without such work an accurate estimate of the fathers' views and ways of thinking is impossible, but it must be remembered that an author is not explained, or even fairly represented, by showing how much he may have derived from others, for in the last analysis his finished thought is his own, however extensive the foreign material employed in its construction. It is not, therefore, at the end but at the beginning of his work that the historian of thought can expect most help from the investigation of sources, since even an author who differs from his contemporaries in his answers to current problems must usually begin by seeing them as they do. The background of an author's thought must have supplied the starting point for many of his ideas.

Key Issues in Biblical Studies and Their Bearing on Mission Studies

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-109
Author(s):  
Marion L. Soards
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
First Century ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Christian Missions ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
New Testament Studies ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Life Work

This paper seeks to present and to summarize the importance of four areas of current New Testament studies for the work of missiologists: the beliefs and practices of first-century Judaism, the life of Jesus, Pauline studies (life, work, and theology), and the character of the early church. Contemporary New Testament studies have dramatic implications for interfaith dialogue and for the self-understanding of Christianity. Moreover, the article suggests that mission studies also remind biblical scholars that the documents they study originated in and addressed the work of early Christian missions.

Chapter Summaries

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Matthew Lagrone
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Moral Standard ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Demographic

This chapter begins with reflections on some previously proposed historical timeframes for the formation of Noahide law. Earlier scholars located its origins variously: in the Bible, among Hittite legal scholars and during the Maccabean era. This chapter maintains, contrary to prior scholarship, that the concept of the Noahide is absent until the first century CE; that is, it is a rabbinic creation. While theology can discover the beginnings of the Noahide laws in the Torah, their historical starting point can only be established following the social, demographic and religious dislocations of the Second Temple’s destruction in 70 CE. For the rabbis, these laws originated prior to the Sinaitic revelation; they were the moral standard for the entire gentile world, and that world of course included the ancestors of those who would later accept the covenant at Sinai. Israelites before Sinai, then, were Noahides....

The Process of Jesus’ Deification and Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Numen ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 119-152
Author(s):  
Fernando Bermejo-Rubio
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
First Century ◽  
Cognitive Dissonance Theory ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Core Group ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Complete Survey ◽  
Dissonance Theory

The starting point of this article is the paradox that the first-century Jew, Jesus the Galilean, came to be considered divine by a sect belonging to a religion which is often deemed to be monotheistic, to the extent that many scholars refer to this phenomenon as “striking” and “puzzling.” Although a complete survey of the cultural and religious (Jewish, Greco-Roman) contexts in which the sect of the Nazoreans — the original core group from which Christianity grew — developed its beliefs and practices is of paramount importance for understanding this phenomenon, my contention is that a historical approach should be supplemented by social science theories. In this article, I argue that cognitive dissonance theory, after having been enriched and modified by quite a few criticisms in the last several decades, contributes to making the psychological and social processes which led to Jesus’ exaltation and deification more intelligible.

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