Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins (2003 Nickelsburg), book

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Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins (2003) is a book by George W.E. Nickelsburg.

Abstract

"In the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century, Christian scholars portrayed Judaism as the dark religious backdrop to the liberating events of Jesus' life and the rise of the early church. Since the 1950s, however, a dramatic shift has occurred in the study of Judaism, driven by new manuscript and archaeological discoveries and new methods and tools for analyzing sources. George Nickelsburg here provides a broad and synthesizing picture of the results of the past fifty years of scholarship on early Judaism and Christianity. He organizes his discussion around a number of traditional topics: scripture and tradition, Torah and the righteous life, God's activity on humanity's behalf, agents of God's activity, eschatology, historical circumstances, and social settings. Each of the chapters discusses the findings of contemporary research on early Judaism, and then sketches the implications of this research for a possible reinter-pretation of Christianity. Still, in the author's view, there remains a major Jewish-Christian agenda yet to be developed and implemented."--Publisher description.

Editions

Published in Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003.

Translations

Contents

  • Introduction
    • The renewed study of early Judaism
    • Implications for the study of Christian origins
    • The task and scope of this book
  • 1. Scripture and Tradition
    • The situation in early Judaism
    • Scripture in the early church
    • Biblical interpretation in the early church
    • Jewish precedents for the rise and development of the Jesus tradition
  • 2. Torah and the Righteous Life
    • A theological problem for the church
    • Torah in the Hebrew scriptures
    • Torah and the righteous life in early Judaism
    • The development of Halakah and the rise of sectarianism
    • Torah and grace in Judaism
    • Torah and the righteous life in early Christianity
  • 3. God's Activity in Behalf of Humanity
    • Models in Jewish texts
    • Two major developments
    • Salvation from sin and its consequences
    • Salvation from one's enemies
    • The scope of divine blessing and salvation
    • God's interaction with humanity according to early Christianity
  • 4. Agents of God's Activity
    • God's agents in early Judaism
    • Early Christian speculation about Jesus
  • 5. Eschatology
    • The Bible's developing eschatological tendency
    • Jewish writings of the Greco-Roman period
    • The eschatological orientation of early Christianity
    • Resurrection, immortality, and eternal life
    • The locus of final salvation
    • Jewish responses to the gospel: a noneschatological horizon
  • 6. Contexts and Settings
    • Ancient texts as historical artifacts
    • Responses to troubled times
    • Geographic location
    • Judaism and Hellenism
    • Temple, cult, and priesthood
    • The synagogue
    • Religious groups
    • Summary
  • 7. Conclusions and Implications
    • Diversity within early Judaism and early Christianity: a comparison **Judaism and early Christianity: where they differed and why they parted
    • The consequences of these events
    • Looking to the future: some possibilities

External links

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