When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation

By Paula Fredriksen
(New Haven: Yale, 2018), 272 pp., 3 maps, 2 b/w images, $27.50 (hardcover), $20.00 (paperback)
Reviewed by Zeba Crook

If history is not the past itself, but the creative narratives scholars weave about the past, then in this book Paula Fredriksen has certainly produced history.

Fredriksen combines evidence from Josephus, the canonical gospels, Acts, and the Pauline letters in an attempt to reconstruct what happened in the years between (and including) the execution of Jesus of Nazareth and the destruction of Jerusalem. Her driving question? How did a thoroughly Jewish millenarian “kingdom” movement become a Gentile movement planning for a future what was never supposed to have come? The result is as readable and accessible as a novel, with something for everyone: provocative reevaluations of traditional scholarly paradigms for the academic readers and generous (for some, perhaps, overly generous) assumptions about the historical reliability of the Gospels and Acts for those so inclined.

Acknowledging the Jewishness of Jesus and his followers means, among other things, recognizing that criticism of the Temple is not tantamount to a rejection of Judaism. This applies as much to Paul of Tarsus as it does to Jesus of Nazareth. Fredriksen offers many examples of people whose Jewishness is never questioned, and yet who were critical—even hostile—toward the Temple and Jewish elite society. Indeed, the Temple remains the focus of the followers of Jesus until the very end in Fredriksen’s telling of the story. It warrants stressing that even for post-Holocaust, modern-day Christians, this is a point that cannot be made often enough. Though open hostility from mainstream Christians toward Jews is currently very low, too often supersessionism thrives, even if subtly: namely, the belief that because Jesus came to fix something broken, lacking, or missing in Judaism, he somehow sits just outside of it.

In addition, acknowledging that Jesus’s Jewish message was one meant for—and, presumably, understandable only to—Jews means that we need to explain how it came to be that the Jesus movement grew most strongly among non-Jews. It is not as simple as postulating that Paul took it upon himself to proselytize Gentiles. Fredriksen’s provocative hypothesis is that including non-Jews in the movement was an after-thought, almost accidental. The inclusion of Gentiles then came to be theologized—as a sign of the approaching kingdom of God, which they believed Jesus had prophesied. This is one of Fredriksen’s strongest points.

Another very strong point in her book relates to Fredriksen’s treatment of the Gospel of John. She makes a case that John’s three-year mission for Jesus is much preferable to the synoptic one-year mission. Though the case is made early in the book, Fredriksen returns to it at numerous places throughout the narrative, which adds to its strength. It is a convincing case and has forced me to reconsider my own position on the matter.

Despite these (and many other) strengths to the book, there is something about it that feels dated. While there are a few small nods to recent scholarship (e.g., the second-century date suggested for the composition of Acts), the broader theoretical frameworks that drive the narrative of this book are those that represent the best of 1970–80s biblical scholarship, such as sectarianism, millenarian movements, cognitive dissonance, and referring to the Pauline groups as “assemblies.” At many paper writings places, Fredriksen’s observations would have gained nuance, theoretical richness, and even confirmation with the incorporation of recent thinking on social identity and collective memory. Indeed, her very subject matter begs for these, for she is writing about how a community forged an identity for itself while pressed to construct memories of its past. Such considerations might have given the book a more contemporary feel. Of course, no book can do everything, and this book already does much.

Zeba Crook is Professor of Religion at Carleton University, Ottawa. His research and teaching focus on Christian origins and the historical Jesus in the context of the ancient Mediterranean social world.

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2,000-year-old Galilee farm with ritual bath (lower right). Photo: Abd Ibrahim, IAA

An archaeological salvage dig found the remains of a Jewish farmstead from the Second Temple period, around the time of Jesus. Researchers are confident the farmstead was built by Jews because it includes a Mikveh, a bath used for ritual immersion in Jewish tradition.

Abd Elghani Ibrahim and Dr. Walid Atrash, Directors of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, explains, “the discovery of the mikveh in the farmstead changes what we knew about the lifestyle of the Jews in the Second Temple period. Until now we hadn’t discovered Jewish farms in the Galilee. It was considered that the Jews in the Roman period didn’t live in farms outside the villages or towns.

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The dig was undertaken because a highway interchange is being built at the Hamovil junction in the Lower Galilee. Led by Ibrahim and Atrash from the IAA, workers included residents of Kfar Manda and residents of the Hannaton Kibbutz. The 57-ton Mikveh is being moved to another location for eventual display. Read the press release.

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Machaerus: A Palace-Fortress with Multiple Mikva’ot by Győző Vörös.  Several mikva’ot (Jewish ritual baths) have been uncovered at Machaerus, the palace-fortress on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea where Salome danced and John the Baptist was beheaded. Archaeologist Győző Vörös takes readers on a journey through past and current archaeological excavations that have resulted in the discovery of these ritual baths.

Social Conflict in Ancient Galilee by Sarah E. Rollens.  Tiberius reigned as Roman emperor from 14 to 37 C.E., and as far as Tacitus was concerned, nothing remarkable happened in the land inhabited by the Jews during this period. Yet when some biblical scholars describe this period—that is, the period that saw the rise of the public teaching of Jesus of Nazareth—they depict a rural population simmering with hostility and resentment directed at local and imperial political rulers of the region. This instability among the predominantly peasant population eventually led to a series of rebellions and other political protests. Thus the backdrop of the Jesus movement was persistent conflict, stemming from the inherent social and economic inequality that characterized the Roman Empire as a whole, carrying over into the rural space of ancient Galilee that was situated on the empire’s eastern edge.

How Jewish Was Jesus’ Galilee by Mark Chancey.  The pendulum is beginning to swing back again. Before 20th-century archaeologists began uncovering it, Jesus’ Galilee was generally considered rural Jewish terrain. Then archaeologists made some astounding finds. Excavations at Sepphoris, less than 4 miles from Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, revealed inscriptions in Greek, Roman architecture and some breathtaking Greco-Roman art, including the famous mosaic dubbed by excavator Carol Meyers the “Mona Lisa of the Galilee.” The “Mona Lisa” was part of a larger mosaic depicting a symposium (a dinner with ample alcohol) with the mythological hero Hercules and the god of wine, Dionysus, as guests.

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The late Second Temple period (second century BCE onward) was an era of spiritual and religious ferment that manifested itself in a variety of Jewish groups such as the Sadducees, Essenes, Pharisees, Zealots, Nazarenes, and Boethusians. Each sect had its own approach to Jewish Law, religious and national identity, and social constructs.

The competition between these groups eventually helped to bring about the Great Revolt against Rome (66-73 CE) and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. In the aftermath of the destruction, a consensus eventually emerged around rabbinic Judaism that would sustain the Jewish people for two millennia.

Based on both textual sources and archaeological discoveries, this presentation reconstructs the nature and trajectory of this process and its testimony to the vitality of the Jewish tradition.

Lawrence Schiffman is the Judge Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and Director of the Global Institute for Advanced Research in Jewish Studies.

This event will be held at 7:30 pm at B’nai Israel Congregation: 6301 Montrose Road / Rockville / MD / 20852

This event does not require a reservation. Cash or check at the door.

More Upcoming Basonova Lectures:

Sunday, March 15, 2020
Discoveries At Nefertiti’s Sun Temple
Jacquelyn Williamson

Sunday, April 26, 2020
Destination: Holy Of Holies
An Archaeological Walk Through The Jerusalem Temple
Joan Branham

Sunday, May 31, 2020
The Brilliance of Aegean Bronze Age Wall Paintings
Emily Egan

The post BASONOVA: From Sectarianism to Consensus: The Rise of Rabbinic Judaism appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.