Thursday, January 17, 2008

Important sources for Jewish Christianity

Joel Marcus (2006:90, n. 13.) usefully lists the important sources for Jewish Christianity.

I. Texts written by Jewish Christians

(a) Matthew
(b) John
(c) James
(d) Jude
(e) Revelation
(f) Didache 6 or the whole
(g) Pseudo-Clementines (Epistle of Peter, Kerygma of Peter & Ascension of James)
(h) Fragments of Jewish Christian gospels (Gospel of the Nazareans, Gospel of Naassenes, Gospel of the Ebionites, & Gospel of the Hebrews )



II. Historiographic accounts

(a) Acts (6—7; 15; 21:17 26)
(b) Josephus (Ant. 18.63; 20.197 203)
(c) Eusebius (HE 1.7.14; 2.23; 3.27.1— 6; 5.8.10, 5.17, etc)


III. Theological description and responses from opponents
(a) Christian

(1) Galatians
(2) Romans (esp. 14:1—15:13)
(3) Philippians 3:2-7
(4) Justin (Dial. 16, 46-47, 110, Apol. 31)
(5) Ireneus (Haer. 1.26.2; 3.11.7; 3.21.1; 5.1.3)
(6) Tertullian (Carn. Chr. 14, 18; Praescr. 32.3-5; 33.11; Virg. 6.1)
(7) Hippolytus (Haer. prol. 7.8; 7.34.1-2; 9.1-17.2; 10.22.1; 29.1-3
(8) Origen (Hom. Luc. 17; Hom. Gen. 3.5; Comm. Mt., sermon 79; C. Cels. 2.1, 3;5.61, 66)
(9) Eusebius (D.E. 3.5; 7.1)
(10) Epiphanius (Pan. esp. bks 19-31, 51)
(11) Jerome (Ep. 112.13, 16; 125.12.1; Comm. Gal. on 1.11-12; 3.13-14; 5.3; Onom. 112; Comm. Habac. on 3.10-13; Comm. Mt. on 12.2; Comm. Am. on 1.11-12; Comm. Isa. on 1.12; 5.18-19; 8.11-15, 19-22; 9.1; 31.6-9; 49.7; 52.4-6; Comm. Ezech on 44.6-8; Comm. Jer. on 3.14-16; Didasc. apost. and Apost. const. passim)

(b) Rabbinic
m. Sanh. 4.5
t. ‘Avot 13(14).5
t. Hul. 2.20-21
t. Yad. 2.13;
b. ‘Abod. Zar. 16b-17a, 26ab; 27b-28a
b. Ber. 28b-29a
t. Avot. 116ab
b. Sanh. 38b, 107ab
b. Sukk. 48b;
b. Git. 45b
b. Ta’an. 27b
Siphre Numbers 143
Genesis Rabbah 8.9; 25.1
Exodus Rabbah 19.4

Works Cited
Marcus, Joel. 2006. Jewish Christianity. In The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 1: Origins to Constantine ed. Margaret M. Mitchell and Frances M. Young:87-102. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

4 comments:

Eric Rowe said...

The Epistle of Barnabas is conspicuously absent from category III.

J. B. Hood said...

Joel,

I'd also love some comment on Hebrews (does it go in list I or IIIa?).

Sean, I think scholars rule Hebrews out since it reinterprets and reappropriates Jewish institutions; thus despite the massive use of Jewish Scriptures it lacks the emphasis on Jewish-Torah-and-institution supposedly on offer in other texts. Of course you get about as radical a redefinition of Temple as you could want in John, with no clear binding requirement of Torah (esp. boundary markers like circumcision, diet, Sabbath observance); cf. Revelation. I guess I'm unclear on how we're arranging the evidence in the early (first 100 or so) years--what counts as Jewish-Christian or no. I understand Romans and the like as response. But what counts and what doesn't? What's the criteria? How does Jude get in and not 2 Peter?

Anonymous said...

Your comments concerning the omissions in the list are appropriate. Many scholars however consider Hebrews a Jewish Christian text(cf. Tomson's "If this be Heaven").

J.B. The questions you raise concerning what criteria constitute a "Jewish Christian" text are important since at one level all the NT docs could be labeled as such. Tomson provides what I think is a good rule of thumb in this regard and it is consistent with my definition of a Jewish Christian:

“A writing is ‘Jewish’ when the author [as perceived from the intention of the text] has a Jewish lifestyle and Jewish affiliation . . . They are Jewish in that their authors speak from a specifically Jewish-Christian milieu and identify themselves observably with it” (Tomson, 335-36)

Interestingly Tomson does not consider the Gospel of John a Jewish Christian text. So while Marcus includes John, but leaves out Hebrews, Tomson includes Hebrews but leaves out John.

I suppose in the end "Jewish" is in the eyes of the beholder.

geoffhudson.blogspot.com said...

The picture is totally different for a more fundamental definition of a 'Christian' such as an anointed one, that is one anointed by or filled with the Spirit of God, like a prophet.