The Christians Who Became Jews

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Stroup
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Acts Of The Apostles ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Religious Difference ◽  
Identity And Difference ◽  
Previous Scholarship ◽  
Acts 2 ◽  
Jerusalem Council

When considering Jewish identity in Acts of the Apostles, scholars have often emphasized Jewish and Christian religious difference, an emphasis that masks the intersections of civic, ethnic, and religious identifications in antiquity. This book explores the depiction of Jewish and Christian identity by analyzing ethnicity within a broader material and epigraphic context. Examining Acts through a new lens, the book shows that the text presents Jews and Jewish identity in multiple, complex ways, in order to legitimate the Jewishness of Christians. The book begins with an overview of the importance of ethnicity and ethnic rhetoric to the formation of ancient Christian identity. It then situates Acts of the Apostles historically and examines previous scholarship on Jewish identity and Acts before moving on to focus on the production of Jewish identity and difference in Acts 2:5–13. The book assesses how Acts of the Apostles uses the image of Jewishness constructed in Acts 2:5–13 to depict the Jewishness of Christian non-Jews in the Jerusalem council (15:1–21), and explores how Acts of the Apostles and the Salutaris Foundation inscription each uses ethnic reasoning together with civic and imperial space to produce unified identities. The book concludes that Acts of the Apostles' rhetoric of Jewish and Christian identity should be situated within the context of Roman-era cities, in which ethnic, civic, and religious identities were inseparable. Placing Acts within this broader ethnic discourse emphasizes the Jewishness of Christians, even in Acts.

Recontextualizing Acts

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-40
Author(s):  
Christopher Stroup
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Acts Of The Apostles ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Religious Rhetoric ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Ancient Christianity ◽  
Previous Scholarship

This chapter situates Acts of the Apostles historically and examines previous scholarship on Jewish identity and Acts. It argues that Lukan ethnic reasoning—as mediated by the cultural context of Greek cities under Roman rule—sought to create an alternate construal of Jewish and Christian identity. This alternate identity integrated Christian non-Jews into the civic hierarchy. The chapter then surveys the scholarship on Jews and Judaism in Acts and looks at recent developments in interpretation that have emphasized the author's rhetoric rather than “attitude.” It also discusses four texts that highlight the value of ethnic reasoning and, scholar of ancient Christianity, Denise Kimber Buell's discussion of four uses of religious rhetoric in ethnic reasoning. Ultimately, Acts leverages the connection between gods, people, and places in its depiction of Jewish identity. It employs ethnic rhetoric in order to present all Christians as Jews and to privilege Christians as an ideal embodiment of Jewishness for the Roman-era polis.

Christian Non-Jews and the Polis

2020 ◽  
pp. 128-134
Author(s):  
Christopher Stroup
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Acts Of The Apostles ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Static Group

This concluding chapter summarizes the findings of this book. It argues that Acts of the Apostles' rhetoric of Jewish and Christian identity should be situated within the context of Roman-era cities, in which ethnic, civic, and religious identities were inseparable. Placing Acts within this broader ethnic discourse emphasizes the Jewishness of Christians, even in Acts. When one reads Acts with an eye to the writer's ethnic reasoning, it becomes clear that Luke did not represent Jews as a static group but instead presented Jewish identity in multiple, hybrid, and complex ways that allowed for the identification of Christian non-Jews as Jews. Luke also employs the ethnic, religious, and civic aspects of Jewish identity to privilege those Jews (and non-Jewish Jews) who follow Jesus. If Acts marks all Christians as Jews and Christian communities as Jewish communities, then the concept of “Christian universalism” should be understood as a particular form of “Jewish universalism.” The chapter then reflects on the use of ethnic reasoning and the challenge of anti-Judaism in the interpretation of Acts today.

Moving Through the Polis, Asserting Christian Jewishness

2020 ◽  
pp. 96-127
Author(s):  
Christopher Stroup
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Jewish Community ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Acts Of The Apostles ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Literary Representation ◽  
Civic Associations ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Civic Space ◽  
Jewish Christians

This chapter explores how Acts of the Apostles and the Salutaris Foundation inscription each uses ethnic reasoning together with civic and imperial space to produce unified identities. Focusing on Paul's visits to Jewish civic associations in Acts 15:30–18:23, it shows how the repeated representation of civic space constructs a Jewish identity that includes proselyte non-Jews and at the same time makes an internal distinction between two Jewish identities: Christians and other Jews. Thus, the difference between Christians and non-Christians is one internal to Jewish identity. The chapter then compares this to how the Salutaris Foundation regulates movement through the Ephesian cityscape in ways that both reimagine Ephesian identity and distinguish between “true” and other Ephesians. While Acts seeks to incorporate non-Jewish Christians into the Jewish community, the Salutaris Foundation seeks to marginalize those Ephesians who do not conform to the benefactor's desired construal of Ephesian identity. Finally, the chapter studies how the literary representation in Acts of Paul's journeys throughout the Roman Empire also constructed a unified Christian identity that could be contrasted with the purported disunity of other Jewish civic associations.

Collecting Ethnē in Aphrodisias and Acts 2:5–13

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-69
Author(s):  
Christopher Stroup
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Civic Identity ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
Single Passage ◽  
Temple Complex ◽  
Religious Imagery ◽  
Identity And Difference ◽  
Ways Of Being ◽  
Acts 2

This chapter focuses on the production of Jewish identity and difference in Acts 2:5–13. Acts 2:5–13 strategically combines multiple ways of being Jewish in a single passage, thereby emphasizing that Luke understood Jewish identity to be flexible. From Luke's perspective, Jewish identity could be inherited, or it could be achieved through proper ancestral customs as a proselyte. Comparing this passage with civic identity produced by the sculptures of ethnē collected in the Sebasteion (imperial temple complex) at Aphrodisias in Caria, the chapter further suggests that Acts 2:5–13 and the Sebasteion both “collect” ethnē in ways that leveraged Roman imperial rhetoric, religious imagery, and ethnic lists to produce identity in ways that were rhetorically useful for their respective contexts. By juxtaposing Acts 2:5–13 and the Sebasteion, it highlights how Roman-styled population lists “fix” ethnic identities—producing identity and marking difference—in order to legitimate the identity of contested populations.

scholarly journals Appropriation and Differentiation: Jewish Identity in Medieval Ashkenaz

AJS Review ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-63
Author(s):  
Elisheva Baumgarten
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
High Middle Ages ◽  
Christian Thought

This article discusses the ways scholars have outlined the process of Jewish adaptation (or lack of it) from their Christian surroundings in northern Europe during the High Middle Ages. Using the example of penitential fasting, the first two sections of the article describe medieval Jewish practices and some of the approaches that have been used to explain the similarity between medieval Jewish and contemporary Christian customs. The last two sections of the article suggest that in addition to looking for texts that connect between Jewish and Christian thought and beliefs behind these customs, it is useful to examine what medieval Jews and Christians saw of each other's customs living in close urban quarters. Finally, the article suggests that when shaping medieval Jewish and Christian identity, the differences emphasized in shared everyday actions and visible practice were no less important than theological distinctions. As part of the discussion throughout the article, the terminology used by scholars to describe the process of Jewish appropriation from the local surroundings is described, focusing on terms such as “influence” and “inward acculturation,” as well as “appropriation.”

Sexual and Religious Regimes of the Self in Dutch Discourses about Homosexuality: A Queer Theological Analysis and Alternative

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 353-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Derks
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Identity ◽  
The Self ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Sexual Diversity ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Conservative Protestant ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Late Modern

Abstract This article discusses two major ways in which sexual and religious identities are conceptualized in Dutch public discourses about homosexuality. In a secular discourse that stresses that LGBTs should be able to ‘be themselves’, certain religious identities are often ignored, subordinated or attacked, while the self that needs to be realized is rendered primarily a sexual self. A conservative Protestant (counter-)discourse on ‘being in Christ’ subordinates (homo)sexual identity to Christian identity—or even rejects it. To move beyond such (Late) Modern oppositional constructions of religion and homosexuality in terms of (religious/sexual) “identity”, this article explores the (queer) Catholic concept of sacramental characters—as an anti-identity—and suggests that it has the potential to unsettle some of the deadlocks in public discourses about homosexuality and sexual diversity.

Prinsip Pertumbuhan Gereja Mula-Mula Ditinjau Dari Kisah Para Rasul 2:1-47 Dan Aplikasinya Bagi Gereja Masa Kini

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-111
Author(s):  
Ferderika Pertiwi Ndiy ◽  
S Susanto
Keyword(s):  
Church Growth ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Acts Of The Apostles ◽  
Church History ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Church ◽  
Acts 2

Church growth is an important study in church history. The Bible has important principles in church growth, therefore these principles need to be analyzed so that they can contribute to the study of church growth. The Acts of the Apostles is a book that has a history and principles of church growth, therefore the author conducted research on church growth based on Acts 2: 1-47. The author uses a qualitative approach to literature study to find the principles of church growth based on Acts 2: 1-47. The results showed that there were three principles for the growth of the early church. The first principle based on the fourth verse is to depend on the Holy Spirit, the second principle based on verses 14-36, 42 is to preach the Word of God, the third principle based on verses 42-46 is to live in fellowship. For the growth of the church today the church must depend on the power of the Holy Spirit, teaching based on the word of God, and the church lives in fellowship.

Silk Road Christians and the Translation of Culture in Tang China

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 15-38
Author(s):  
Scott Fitzgerald Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Silk Road ◽  
Cultural Translation ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
The World ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Silk Road ◽  
Previous Scholarship

This article attempts to analyse the famous ‘Nestorian Monument’ from Xi'an, set up in 781 by Syriac Christians, as a document of cultural translation and integration. Previous scholarship on the monument has tended to privilege either the Syriac or the Chinese sections of the inscription. By combining the two, and by making use of recent advances in the study of Syriac Christians along the Silk Road, this article argues that the Syriac Christians who set up the monument were using their long history, extending from Persia to China, as a means of establishing their community publicly in new political circumstances of China in the 780s. The role of Syriac on this monument was twofold: it signalled to the local Syriac-speaking community their fundamental ties to the world of Persian and central Asian Christianity, while it also allowed, through ideological and linguistic interaction with Chinese, the maintenance of a Syriac Christian identity through the process of translation. The language of Syriac therefore provides the background of a community looking both backward and forward in a foreign, changing cultural environment.

Goddess Religion, Postmodern Jewish Feminism, and the Complexity of Alternative Religious Identities

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Raphael
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Feminist Discourse ◽  
Ideological Perspective

ABSTRACT: This paper argues that Jewish Goddess feminism illustrates the complexity of alternative religious identities and their fluid, ambiguous, and sometimes intimate historical, cultural, and religious connections to mainstream religious identities.1 While Jewish Goddess feminists find contemporary Judaism theologically and politically problematic, thealogy (feminist discourse on the Goddess and the divinity of femaleness) can offer them precisely the sacralization of female generativity that mainstream Judaism cannot. And yet the distinctions between present/former, alternative/mainstream religious identities are surely ambiguous where the celebration of the Goddess can at once reconstruct Jewish identity and deconstruct the notion of religious identity as a single or successive affiliation. It would seem that Jewish Goddess feminism epitomizes how late or postmodern religious identity may be plural and inclusive, shifting according to the subject's context and mood and according to the ideological perspective of the observer.

American Jews and the Construction of Israel’s Jewish Identity

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-201
Author(s):  
Yossi Shain
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
American Jews ◽  
Jewish Family ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Public Campaign

In 1999, on the eve of the Jewish New Year, members of the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements funded a public campaign on Israel’s city billboards and in the Israeli media, calling on secular Israelis to experience their religious identity afresh. In a backlash against the monopoly and coercion exercised by religious orthodoxy—which has led many Israelis to shed their religious identities to an extent that goes beyond what their socialization by secular Zionism urged—the campaign called upon Israelis to embrace religious pluralism under the slogan “there is more than one way to be a Jew.” Financed by a grant from a Jewish family foundation in San Francisco, this campaign met with a harsh and somewhat violent response from the Israeli ultra-Orthodox sector. A leading ultra-Orthodox figure stated, “Ifthis situation continues, we will have a cultural war here, the likes of which we have not seen in a hundred years” (Sontag).

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