Brothers Estranged: Heresy, Christianity, and Jewish Identity in Late Antiquity (2010 Schremer), book

Brothers Estranged: Heresy, Christianity, and Jewish Identity in Late Antiquity (2010) is a book by Adiel Schremer.

Abstract

"The emergence of formative Judaism traditionally has been examined as a result of a competition between "Christianity" and "Judaism" in the first centuries of the Common Era. Adiel Schremer attempts to shift the scholarly consensus, instead privileging the rabbinic attitude toward Rome over their concern with the nascent Christian movement. In the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE and the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt, the category of heresy took on a new urgency as Palestinian rabbinic society sought to reaffirm and preserve its values and distinct Jewish identity. The rabbis reestablished religions boundaries by labeling some Jews as minim, and thus placing them beyond the pale. Relying on the recent scholarly acceptance of the slow and measured growth of Christianity in the empire up to and even after Constantine's conversion, Schremer minimizes the attention that the rabbis paid to the Christian presence. Throughout late antiquity, he contends, the Roman Empire was the real "significant other" for Palestinian rabbis. The religious challenge with which they were most occupied was the Empire's power and the threat it posed to the belief in God's power and divinity."--BOOK JACKET.

Editions and translations

Published in Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Contents

"Where is their God?" : destruction, defeat, and identity crisis -- Conceptualizing minut : the denial of God and the renunciation of his people -- Laws of minim -- Becoming minut : labeling the early Christians as minim -- Christian belief and rabbinic faith -- Significant brothers -- Conclusion: A different perspective

External links

• [ Google Books]