The Jewish Background of the New Testment

Transcription

1 The Jewish Background of the New Testment Course Description: The course covers a number of key thematic topics under the broad umbrella of the encounter between Jewish and Christian Studies. It considers relevant historical, theological, literary and archeological data, enabling the students to read the New Testament in its original context. Over the span of 30 lectures the course adopts a variety of critical, literary but sympathetic, approaches to the NT collection and the ancient literature that will be referred to during the course. The course will challenge the students to appreciate the significance of ancient Judaism/s and how it relates to the early Christian context focusing on NT as a Jewish literary work. Special attention is given to the Anti-Judaism of John s Gospel and its Samaritan-Jewish backgrounds as a test case study. This will be a specific area of focus and the course will consider a variety of interpretive options that may help the student read the Gospel of John in a new way. The course explores the New Testament in light of some early rabbinic texts, pre-rabbinic traditions, apocalyptic writings, histories, accounts of era contemporaries and Greco-Roman writings. As an introduction to a variety of Jewish Studies-related themes relevant to the New Testament interpretation, the course will relate to both ancient and modern post- Holocaust Jewish contexts. As such, this course is not simply a course on Jewish backgrounds of the New Testament; it focuses on the encounter between the New Testament Studies and Jewish Studies. With its practical emphasis in the area of Jewish- Christian understanding, relations and dialogue, the course provides a firm foundation for students who wish to continue their studies in this field. Teaching Objectives and Outcomes: By the end of this course, students will: 1) Develop a firm grasp of the main historical and theological issues that connect the New Testament and Jewish Studies. 2) Survey some of the Jewish background literature most relevant and useful for New Testament interpretation. 3) Become familiar with the tools that are available for further study of the New Testament in the Jewish context. 4) Be exposed to Jewish, Historical and Archaeological approaches to New Testament interpretation through selected readings and lectures. 5) Achieve a greater personal appreciation of Jewish thought, culture and history and be able to clearly articulate the main ways in which they are helpful, can and must be used in interpreting the New Testament. 1

2 Additional Outcomes: 1. Develop a skill of looking at the New Testament texts within a framework of Jewish literature. 2. Identify the common ground points of reference for academic dialogue in the fields of Jewish and Christian studies and relations. Course Outline: Lecture 01: Introduction: Traditional Paradigms Reconsidered Lecture 02: Dead Sea Scrolls and New Testament Studies Lecture 03: Samarians and Samaritans: Rethinking the Samaritan Woman Lecture 04: John, Jews and Judaism: Rethinking the Story of Lazarus Lecture 05: Josephus Flavius and New Testament Studies Lecture 06: Jewish Movements According to Josephus Lecture 07: Jewish Logos Theology and Two Powers in Heaven Lecture 08: Jews and Hellenism: Rethinking the Bethesda Healing Lecture 09: Early Jewish Followers of Jesus and Torah Lecture 10: Jesus Among the Rabbis: Exploring Shared Ideas Lecture 11: The Jewishness of All Four Gospels Lecture 12: Hebraisms in the New Testament Lecture 13: New Testament Dejudiazed: Illusion or Reality? Lecture 14: Rabbinic Judaism: History, Texts, Traditions Lecture 15: Hillel, Shammai and the Teachings of Jesus Lecture 16: Merkavah Mysticism: Anomalies in Rabbinic Judaism. Lecture 17: Ruth and Naaman: Two Paths to Israel s God Lecture 18: John s Revelation: A Jewish Apocalypse Lecture 19: Jews, Pagans and gods: Understanding Ancient Monotheism Lecture 20: Israel s Holy Days: Insights in the Jewish Calendar Lecture 21: Israel in the Roman World Lecture 22: Jewish Gospel in Roman Cities Lecture 23: Eating with Gentiles: Tensions Over Defilement Lecture 24: Rediscovering Jewish Paul in New Testament Lecture 25: Paul s Shema and the Nations Lecture 26: Romans and Galatians in Context Lecture 27: The Stigma of Circumcision Lecture 28: Law, Promise and Paul s Allegory Lecture 29: Jews, The Nations and Those in Between Lecture 30: One New Man and Identity Confusion 2

3 Select Bibliography: Anderson, Jeff S. The Internal Diversification of Second Temple Judaism: An Introduction to the Second Temple Period. Lenham, MA: University Press of America Alexander, Philip, The Parting of the Ways From the Perspective of Rabbinic Judaism, in: Dunn, J.D.G. ed. Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways A.D. 70 to 135 (Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 1999) Barnett, Paul. Jesus & the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, Bauckham, Richard. The Origin of the Ebionites in The Image of the Judaeo-Christians in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature. Peter J. Tomson, Doris Lambers-Petry eds.tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, Boyarin, Daniel, Semantic Differences; or, Judaism / Christianity, in: Becker, Adam, and Annette Reed (eds.), The Ways that Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003) Boyarin, Daniel. Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Broadhead, Edwin Keith. Jewish Ways of Following Jesus: Redrawing the Religious Map of Antiquity. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, Collins, John Joseph. Beyond the Qumran Community: The Sectarian Movement of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Carter, Warren. The Roman Empire and the New Testament: An Essential Guide, Nashville: Abingdon Press, Freidenreich, David M. Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law, Berkley: University of California Press, Fredriksen, Paula, What Parting of the Ways? Jews, Gentiles, and the Ancient Mediterranean City, in: Becker, Adam, and Annette Reed (eds.), The Ways that Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003) Gager, John, The Origins of Anti-Semitism: Attitudes Toward Judaism in Pagan and Christian Antiquity, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985). Goodman, Martin. Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations, New York: Random House,

4 Goodman, Martin, Modeling the Parting of the Ways, in: Becker, Adam, and Annette Reed (eds.), The Ways that Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003) Gunther, John J. St. Paul's Opponents and Their Backgrounds: A Study of Apocalyptic and Jewish Sectarians Teachings. Leiden: Brill, Hadas-Lebel, Mireille. Jerusalem Against Rome. Leuven: Peeters Publishers, Helyer, Larry, R. Exploring Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period: A Guide for New Testament Students, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, Hidal, Sten, The Jews as the Roman Authors Saw Them pp in: Birger Olsson et al., (eds.), The Synagogue of Ancient Ostia and the Jews of Rome: Interdisciplinary Studies, (Stockholm: ActaRom-4o, 57, 2001) Himmelfarb, Martha. A Kingdom of Priests: Ancestry and Merit in Ancient Judaism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Horbury, William, Jewish-Christian Relations in Barnabas and Justin Martyr, in: Dunn, J.D.G. (ed.) Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways A.D. 70 to 135 (Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 1999) Horsley, Richard A. Revolt of the Scribes: Resistance and Apocalyptic Origins. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, Horst, Pieter van der, Jews and Christians in Antioch at the End of the Fourth Century, in: Porter, Stanley and Brooke W.R. Pearson (eds.) Christian-Jewish Relations Through the Centuries (London: T&T Clark, 2004) Irshai, Oded, Confronting a Christian Empire: Jewish Culture in the World of Byzantium, in: Biale, David (ed.), Cultures of the Jews: A New History (New York: Schocken Books, 2002) Katz, Steven T. Rabbinic Response to Christianity in The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period. New York: Cambridge University Press, Kinzig, Wolfram. The Nazoraeans in Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries, Oskar Skarsaune and Reidar Hvalvik eds., Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Klauck, Hans-Josef, The Religious Context of Early Christianity: A Guide to Graeco- Roman Religions (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003). 4

5 Levine, Lee I. The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years. New Haven: Yale University Press, Lieu, Judith, Neither Jew Nor Greek? Constructing Early Christianity (London: T&T Clark, 2002). Linder, Amnon, The Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1987). Magness, Jodi. Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, McEvedy, Collin. Cities of the Classical World: An Atlas and Gazetteer of 120 Centres of Ancient Civilization. New York: Penguin Press, Mendels, Doron. The Rise and Fall of Jewish Nationalism: Jewish and Christian Ethnicity in Ancient Palestine. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Mokhtar, G. Ancient Civilizations of Africa. Oakland: University of California Press, Nanos, Mark, The Inter- and Intra-Jewish Political Context of Paul s Letter to the Galatians, in: Nanos, Mark (ed.), The Galatians Debate: Contemporary Issues in Rhetorical and Historical Interpretation (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2002) Nickelsburg, George W. E. and Michael E. Stone, Early Judaism: Texts and Documents on Faith and Piety. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, Paget, J.C., Jewish Proselytism at the Time of Christian Origins, JSNT 62 (1996) Paget, J.C., Jewish Christianity, in: Horbury, William et al (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol. 3: The Early Roman Period (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) Pritz, Ray. Nazarene Jewish Christianity: From the End of the New Testament Period Until Its Disappearance in the Fourth Century. Leiden: Brill, Reed, Yoshiko Annette and Adam H. Becker. eds. The Ways That Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, Reisner, Rainer. Synagogues in Jerusalem in The Book of Acts in its Palestinian Setting. Richard Bauckham ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Rosenblum, Jordan. Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism, New York: Cambridge University Press,

6 Runesson, Anders. Inventing Christian Identity: Paul, Ignatius, and Theodotius I. Pages in Exploring Early Christian Identity. Edited by Bengt Holmberg. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, Runesson, Anders. Architecture, Conflict, and Identity Formation: Jews and Christians in Capernaum From the 1st to the 6th Century. Pages in Religion, Ethnicity, and Identity in Ancient Galilee: A Region in Transition. Edited by Jürgen Zangenberg, Harold W. Attridge, and Dale Martin. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, Runesson, Anders, Donald D. Binder, and Birger Olsson. The Ancient Synagogue: From its Origins to 200 CE, A Source Book. Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity Series 72. Leiden: Brill, Rutgers, Leonard V., Archaeological Evidence for the Interaction of Jews and Non-Jews in Late Antiquity, AJA 96 (1992) Sandmel, Samuel. Judaism and Christian Beginnings. New York: Oxford Press, Saldarini, Anthony J. Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian Society. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Sartre, Maurice. Histoires Grecques: Snapshots from Antiquity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Schäfer, Peter. History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World: The Jews of Palestine from Alexander the Great to the Arab Conquest. New York: Rutledge, Schremer, Adiel, The Christianization of the Roman Empire and Rabbinic Literature. Pages in Jewish Identities in Antiquity: Studies in Memory of Menahem Stern. Edited by Lee I. Levine and Daniel R. Schwartz. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, Segal, Alan, Rebecca s Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1986). Setzer, Claudia, Jewish Responses to Early Christians: History and Polemics, C.E. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994). Skarsaune, Oskar. The Ebionites in Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries. Oskar Skarsaune and Reidar Hvalvik eds. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz, The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, Tomson, Peter, The Wars Against Rome, The Rise of Rabbinic Judaism and of Apostolic Gentile Christianity, and the Judaeo-Christians: Elements for a Synthesis, in: The Image of the Judaeo-Christians in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003),

7 Vermes, Geza. Christian Beginnings: From Nazareth to Nicea. Connecticut: Yale University Press, Wilken, Robert, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984). Wilson, Stephen. Related Strangers: Jews and Christians C E. Minneapolis: Fortress, Wilson, Stephen, Leaving the Fold: Apostates and Defectors in Antiquity (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2004). Wilson, Stephen Jew and Related Terms in the Ancient World, Studies in Religion 33:2 (2004) Zitterholm, Magnus. Formation of Christianity in Antioch. New York: Routledge,