JEWISH CHRISTIANITY: FOCUS ON ANTIOCH IN THE FIRST CENTURY

This article presents new perspectives in research on the apostle Paul in his first-century Jewish context. The article provides a general overview of the history of research in this respect, especially in light of the antisemitic attitudes and perceptions that have played an important role in the formation of the traditional view of Paul and his message. The so-called “New Perspective on Paul“, which was prominent in the late 20th century, is briefly presented and discussed. But the main emphasis of the article is the presentation of a more recent view that is either called “The Radical New Perspective on Paul“ or (more appropri-ately) “Paul within Judaism“. This new approach is gaining more and more support in New Testament scholarship, particularly in the United States and in the Nordic countries. According to this perspective, Paul neither abandoned nor rejected Judaism, but remained a Jew, even as a believer in Christ, and he wrote his letters into a first-century Jewish context. In other words, the context of Paul’s message was not “Christian” in the sense that it was something else than Jewish — Christianity did not exist as such in Paul’s time

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Problems and Prospects: Jewish Christianity and Identity in Contemporary Discussion

Jewish Christianity ◽

10.12987/yale/9780300180138.003.0006 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 122-143

Author(s):

Matt Jackson-Mccabe

Keyword(s):

Cultural Identity ◽

Paradigm Shift ◽

First Century ◽

Christian Theology ◽

Cultural Identities ◽

Contemporary Debate ◽

Jewish Christianity ◽

Twenty First Century ◽

Christian Apologetics ◽

Critical Historiography

This chapter addresses the contemporary debate about the enduring utility of the category “Jewish Christianity” in light of the new historical problem. Questions resulting from the eclipse of Christian apologetics in critical reconstructions of Jewish and Christian antiquity have been raised with increasing insistence in the opening decades of the twenty-first century. In the theoretical void left by the evacuation of Christian theology from critical historiography, scholars are seeking to reconceptualize the nature of Christianity, and the problem of its origins and development in relation to Judaism, in light of the more general human propensity to construct and maintain social and cultural identities. This paradigm shift has led to fundamental changes in the scholarly debates about Jewish Christianity. The question at issue today is no longer merely how to define the category. Among those who continue to use it, the question is whether it should be defined at all given the inevitable fluidity of cultural identity. Even more fundamental is the question of the continued utility of the very notion of Jewish Christianity.

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The Evangelization of Japan Viewed in its Intellectual Aspect

Harvard Theological Review ◽

10.1017/s0017816000003692 ◽

1909 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 186-201

Author(s):

Danjo Ebina

Keyword(s):

First Century ◽

Waste Paper ◽

Western Science ◽

Holy Land ◽

Jewish Christianity ◽

The Revolution

When Protestant missionaries arrived in Japan with the religion of one God and the brotherhood of mankind, the native religions of Japan were in a deplorable condition. Buddhism had received such a fatal blow that there could be no hope of its revival. It was almost destroyed by the revolution of 1868. Many priests and monks had left their professions. Some became Shintoists; others became officers, soldiers, teachers, merchants, or artisans. Temples were deserted, and used for schools, offices, or barracks. Bells were converted into cannon. Sacred books were burned or sold as waste paper. Idols were standing neglected, partly stripped or broken—despised, mocked, and shunned. Compared with Buddhism, Confucianism was in a somewhat better state; but some of its progressive adherents, filled with admiration for western science, lost faith in the sacred books, and turned from the study of them to that of science. Those who still adhered to Confucianism were despised as conservative, bigoted, ignorant, and narrow-minded, unable to go forward in the advancing steps of the nation. At the time of the revolution Shintoism gained the ascendency, and for a time was considered a state religion. The decree of the emperor was given in the name of the heavenly gods. “Return to your origin and be grateful to the beginning” was the motto of the loyal and patriotic. But among the preachers and adherents of this movement there were many who went to extremes, insisting that along with the power of the emperor everything else that was ancient should be restored. Some of these nationalists were narrow-minded, especially in their attitude toward foreigners. They insisted that the holy land of Japan should not be trodden down and defiled by unclean strangers. Meanwhile the tide of the revolution changed its course from restoration to progress, from exclusiveness to open-mindedness. It began to flow directly against the principles of Shintoism then held by many. This decided its destiny. Shintoism met the same fate as Jewish Christianity in the first century of the Christian era. Thus Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shintoism had been, one after another, submerged in the overwhelming tides of the revolution when Christianity appeared in the extra-territorial establishments of foreign residents.

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