Reflections on Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity

Cover
Copyright Information
Table of Contents
List of Contributors
About the Editors
Preface
Introduction
Typological Figures for Jesus
	1 The ‘Christian’ Message of John the Baptist in the Synoptic Gospels (Rivka Nir)
		The Christian Message of John the Baptist
		Baptism and Repentance (Mark 1:4; Matthew 3:2, 11; Luke 3:3)
		What Is This Kingdom of Heaven?
		John’s Baptism Is a Christian Baptism
		‘The One Who Is More Powerful than I Is Coming After Me’ – about Whom Does John Prophesy?
		‘I Have Baptized You with Water, But He Will Baptize You with the Holy Spirit’ (Mark 1:8)
		The Call to ‘Bear Fruit Worthy of Repentance’ – John’s Speeches in Matthew (3:7–10) and Luke (3:7–9, 16–17)
		The ‘Coming Wrath’?
		How, According to John, Is One to Flee from ‘the Wrath to Come’?
		Against Who Is the Wrath Targeted?
		The Fire of the Last Judgment
		Baptism in Fire
		Ethics and Society (Luke 3:10–14)
		Concluding Comments
	2 The New Jeremiah in the New Testament: Concerning Some Narrative Strategies in Luke (David (Dmitry) Kopeli)
	3 Moses and Jesus as Bearers of God’s Logos in the Prologue of John and the Question of John’s Christology (Serge Ruzer)
		Excursus
		Conclusion
Jewish and Christian Identity
	4 Would the Christian Paul Consider Himself a Jew? (Daniel R. Schwartz)
	5 The Fiscus Judaicus: A Touchstone of Jewish (-Christian) Identity (Jonathan Bourgel)
		The Fiscus Judaicus under the Reigns of Vespasian and Titus
		The Administration of the Fiscus Judaicus under Domitian
		Nerva’s Reform of the Fiscus Judaicus
The Interaction between Christianity and the Rabbis
	6 Extra Ecclesiam nulla Salus Birkat ha-minim Reconsidered – Text and Context (Dan Jaffé)
		State of Research
		Rabbinic Sources
		Is the Birkat ha-minim of Yavneh Origin?
		The Question of minim
	7 ‘Like Snake Venom’? The Rabbis and Christian Charity (Yael Wilfa)
		Introduction
		Texts and Methodology
		Urbach’s Theory: Early Rabbinic Charity as a Response to Christian Charity
		The Evidence
		Tosefta Soṭah
		Pesiqta de Rab Kahana
		The Babylonian Talmud
		Conclusion
	8 Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa and his Hasidic Image in Light of Talmudic Tradition (Yerushalmi v. Bavli) (Menachem Ben Shalom)
		Introduction and General Background to Research
		Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa and His Hasidic Character
		Sayings
		• Halakhot and Deeds in the Social Realm
			Fear of Sin
		Prayer
			A. yBerachot 5:1, 9a28
			B. mBerakhot 5:5
			C. bYebamot 121b50
		Tithing
			yDemai 1:3; 22a
			bTa’anit 24b
			Kohelet Rabbah 1:1
			Sabbath Laws
		Summary
		Appendix
	9 The Trial of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus and the Parting of the Ways (Yaakov Teppler)
		The Roman Concept of Political and Religious disturbances
		The Messianic Challenge – Jesus and Christianity
		Jews and Judaism in Roman Eyes after the Great Revolt
		Jewish Sages in Rome
		Rabban Gamaliel the 2nd and Rome
		Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus
			The Trial
			Eliezer ben Hyrcanus vs. the Yavneh Leadership
			The Trial from a Roman Perspective
			The Function of the Trial’s Story within a Broader Framework
		Conclusion
Early Christian Communities
	10 Dating Anti-Christian Sources in the Babylonian Talmud (Barak S. Cohen)
		Introduction
		Late Babylonian Halakhic Traditions?
		Analysis of Sugyot
		Summary and Conclusions
		Appendix
	11 The Christian Community in Syria (110–180 CE): The Creation of ‘Syrian Christianity’ (Ben Zion Rosenfeld, Arie Levene)
		Syrian Christians in Turmoil (110–150 CE): Historical Background
		On the Edge of a Turning Point: 150–180 CE
		A Turning Point
		Conclusion
	12 Were the Early Christians Sectarians?: Searching for Sectarianism in the New Testament (Eyal Regev)
		The Sect Model in New Testament Scholarship: A Critical Appraisal
			The Absence of a Social-Scientific Model (Free/Common Use of the Term ‘sect’)
			Troeltsch’s Church-Sect Model
			Scroggs’ Use of Werner Stark
			Wilson’s Sect Model(s)
			Stark & Bainbridge’s Model
		The Lack of Sectarian Characteristics in Early Christianity
			Social Separation
				General Observations
				Matthew63
				John
				James
				Paul’s Letters
				Early Rabbinic Literature
				Prerequisites, Discipline and Sanctions
				Social Organization: Name, Leaders, Institutions
		Comparisons with the Qumran Sects and the Essenes
		Conclusions
Series Index