Authors: Oskar Skarsaune
ISBN-13: 9780830828449, ISBN-10: 0830828443
Format: Paperback
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Date Published: October 2008
Edition: (Non-applicable)
The widespread perception of a decisive "parting of the ways" between Christianity and Judaism after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 has distorted our understanding of the following decades and centuries of Jewish and Christian history. We are left with the impression that hostile polemic or mutual avoidance between Christians and Jews was the order of the day. To be sure, there were points of bitterness and strife between these two groups, but the story of their relationship is better told as the relationship between a younger and an older sibling. In and between the lines of our historical data, there is abundant evidence of interaction between the early church and the ancient synagogue. This took place at both the level of leadership and laypeople, and it left its imprint on the emerging shape of the church. But this story has not yet been fully told.
In the Shadow of the Temple offers a new perspective on the development of the early church in its practice (e.g., worship, baptism and Eucharist) and doctrine (e.g., Scripture, Christology, pneumatology). Oskar Skarsaune begins by tracing the story of second temple Judaism from the crisis of the Jewish encounter with Hellenism in the second century B.C. through the diverse Judaisms of the first century A.D. Then, from the time of Jesus and the origins of the church up to the Constantinian revolution of the early fourth century A.D., Skarsaune offers us fascinating snapshots and analyses of the interactions, the arguments and the shaping influences of Judaism on the life, creed and practices of the church. This is a book that will both fascinate and inform its readers. It embraces a historical period that transcends the ordinary divisions of labor between scholars of Christian origins and early church history. And it offers insights into that history that challenge the prevailing notions of the way it was -- and the way it must be between Christians and Jews.
Introduction | 13 | |
A Note on Abbreviations and References | ||
Pt. 1 | The Mother Soil: Judaism from the Maccabees to the Rabbis | |
1 | The Cultural Dimension: Judaism & Hellenism | 23 |
2 | The Political Dimension: Jews & the Roman Empire | 47 |
3 | The Geographical Dimension: The Land of Israel & the Diaspora | 67 |
4 | Jerusalem: The City of the Temple | 87 |
5 | How Many "Judaisms"? | 103 |
Pt. 2 | Christian Beginnings: From Jewish Party to Gentile Church | |
6 | Jesus Within Judaism | 135 |
7 | The Early Jerusalem Community of Believers in Jesus | 147 |
8 | The Mission to the Gentiles & the Question of the Torah | 165 |
9 | The Land of Israel: The Church of Jewish Believers | 179 |
10 | The Diaspora: The Church of Jews & Gentiles | 209 |
11 | Encounter with Paganism - & the Jewish Heritage | 225 |
12 | Orthodoxy & Heresy: The Challenge from Gnosticism & Marcion | 243 |
13 | Elder & Younger Brothers: The Second-Century Debate with Judaism | 259 |
Pt. 3 | The Persistence of the Jewish Heritage: Faith & Order in the Early Church | |
14 | Which Books Belong in the Bible? The Question of Canon | 279 |
15 | Christology in the Making (I): The Messiah | 301 |
16 | Christology in the Making (II): The Incarnate Word | 319 |
17 | The Creative Spirit | 339 |
18 | Conversion, Baptism & New Life | 353 |
19 | Worship & Calendar: The Christian Week and Year | 377 |
20 | Passover & Eucharist | 399 |
Pt. 4 | Epilogue | |
21 | The Church Facing a New Era | 425 |
Index of Modern Authors | 447 | |
Index of Subjects | 449 | |
Index of Ancient Writings | 451 |