The Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism (1999 Newman/Davila/Lewis), edited volume

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The Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism (1999) is a volume edited by Carey C. Newman, James R. Davila, and Gladys S. Lewis.

Abstract

Proceedings of the St. Andrews Conference on the Historical Origins of the Worship of Jesus (1998: St. Mary's College, Scotland).

"Although there are many studies of second Temple Judaism (in general) and of Christianity's relationship with Judaism (in particular), there has not been a sustained and comprehensive investigation of the way in which Christ-devotion in the first two centuries of the common era represents a manifestation of Jewish monotheism. This volume fills this gap in four distinctive ways: (1) by re-examining the theological force of "monotheism" during the Second Temple period; (2) by retracing the historical steps of Christianity's adaptation / mutation / re-definition of Jewish monotheism; (3) by exploring and debating the influence of non-Jewish traditions on this process; and (4) by mapping the ways in which Christianity's unique appropriation of Jewish monotheism helps explain the intriguing relationships among emerging Christian, Jewish and Gnostic communities. In particular, the eighteen essays demonstrate how the creation mythic of narratives, the revelatory power of mystical experiences, and the sociology of community formation capitalized on the Jewish meditoral tradition to encourage and legitimate the Christian praxis of Christ-devotion."--Publisher's description.

As the title to this work suggests, in this edited volume the underlining concern of all the contributing authors is to better understand how the man Jesus came to be venerated as a divine being within communities that ascribed to Jewish monotheism. Though the contributors do not always agree with one another, some consistent patterns or themes do emerge. In one way or another, all of the papers explore whether the various divine intermediary figures that were popular within Second Temple Period Jewish literature, whose role was to mediate between God and humanity, somehow prefigure or anticipate Jesus' mediatorial role. Some authors investigate this question from the perceptive of a particular text, or particular mediatorial figure, while some employ several. Some authors explore the Jewish matrix of Jesus' veneration, while other investigate potential precursors from the Greco-Roman period. Some employ texts from the Hebrew Bible, while others investigate later Christian texts. Most assume that monotheism defined Jewish belief and praxis during this time period, though a few question the usefulness of this term for describing the complex religious milieu of Second Temple Period Judaism. Each in their own way strives to understand how belief in a divine Jesus arose out of Judaism in the Graeco-Roman world. A thought-provoking compilation of essays for anyone interested in the origins of Christology, the work has the potential to challenge and stimulate both the specialist and non-specialist alike.--Deborah Forger, University of Michigan.

Editions

Published in Leiden: Brill, 1999 (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 63).

Contents

Introduction.

  • Of methodology, monotheism and metatron: introductory reflections on divine mediators and the origins of the worship of Jesus / James R. Davila

Monotheism

Mediation.

  • The high priest and the worship of Jesus / Margaret Barker
  • The worship of divine humanity as God's image and the worship of Jesus / Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis
  • Melchizedek and Jesus: 11Q Melchizedek and the Epistle to the Hebrews / Anders Aschim
  • Astonishment in the firmament: the worship of Jesus and soteriology in Ignatius and the Ascension of Isaiah / Robert G. Hall
  • The grammar of exorcism in the ancient Mediterranean world: some cosmological, semantic, and pragmatic reflections on how exorcistic prowess contributed to the worship of Jesus / Todd E. Klutz
  • Identification with the Savior in Coptic texts from Nag Hammadi / Pheme Perkins

Veneration.

  • The binitarian shape of early Christian worship / Larry W. Hurtado
  • Monotheism, worship and christological developments in the Pauline churches / P.M. Casey
  • The worship of Jesus and the imperial cult / Adela Yarbro Collins
  • Paul's "Soma Pneumatikon" and the worship of Jesus / Alan F. Segal
  • Singing hymns to Christ as to a god (cf. Pliny Ep. X, 96) / Margaret Daly-Denton
  • Imitatio Christi and the early worship of Jesus / David Capes
  • Heavenly temple traditions and Valentinian worship: a case for first-century christology in the second century / April D. De Conick

External links

  • [ Google Books]
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