Jews or Christians? : The Followers of Jesus in Search of Their Own Identity (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament)

GIORGIO JOSSA

Jews or Christians?

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 202

Mohr Siebeck

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament Herausgeber / Editor J o r g Frey Mitherausgeber/Associate Editors Friedrich Avemarie • Judith Gundry-Volf Martin Hengel • Otfried Hofius • Hans-Josef Klauck

202

Giorgio Jossa

Jews or Christians ? The Followers of Jesus in Search of their own Identity Translated from the Italian by Molly Rogers

Mohr Siebeck

G I O R G I O J O S S A , b o r n 1 9 3 8 ; s t u d y of L a w and H i s t o r y in N a p l e s ; 1 9 6 6 ; P h . D . ; P r o f e s s o r of H i s t o r y of A n c i e n t C h u r c h and H i s t o r y of Christianity in the U n i v e r s i t y » F e d e r i c o I I « in N a p l e s .

I S B N 3-16-149192-0 I S B N - 1 3 978-3-16-149192-4 I S S N 0 5 1 2 - 1 6 0 4 (Wissenschaftliche U n t e r s u c h u n g e n z u m N e u e n Testament) D i e D e u t s c h e N a t i o n a l b i b l i o t h e k lists this publication in the D e u t s c h e N a t i o n a l b i b l i o graphie; detailed b i b l i o g r a p h i c data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. © 2006 b y M o h r Siebeck, T u b i n g e n , G e r m a n y . A u t h o r i s e d E n g l i s h translation of » G i u d e i o cristiani? I seguaci di G e s u in cerca di u n a p r o p r i a identita« © 2004 b y Paideia Editrice, B r e s c i a T h i s b o o k m a y not be r e p r o d u c e d , in w h o l e or in part, in any f o r m ( b e y o n d that permitted b y c o p y r i g h t law) w i t h o u t the publisher's written p e r m i s s i o n . T h i s applies particularly to r e p r o d u c t i o n s , translations, microfilms and s t o r a g e and p r o c e s s i n g in electronic s y s t e m s . T h e b o o k w a s typeset b y M a r t i n Fischer in T u b i n g e n using Stempel G a r a m o n d typeface, printed b y G u l d e - D r u c k in T u b i n g e n on n o n - a g i n g p a p e r and b o u n d b y B u c h b i n d e r e i Spinner in Ottersweier. Printed in G e r m a n y .

Acknowledgements This book, now being published in the Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, is the translation, with slight modifications in the text and with an enrichment of the notes, which are more numerous and more complete, of Giudei o cristiani ? I seguaci di Gesu in cerca di una pro­ pria identity published in Italy by Paideia publishers of Brescia. I am deeply grateful to Professor Martin Hengel for the generously positive evaluation he has given to my book and for the kind interest he has shown in its trans­ lation into a language that is more accessible than Italian; and to Professor J o r g Frey and the publisher Dr. Georg Siebeck for having welcomed my book in their prestigious series. And I warmly thank Mrs. Molly Rogers for the competence and passion that she put into this rather difficult translation, and Dr. Marco Scarpat for the unselfish readiness with which he approved the proposal of this translation.

Table of Contents Introduction

1

Chapter one: The Jews from 4 BCE to 100 CE

15

1. The image of the Judaism of the first century C E in the most recent research

15

2. Problems and aporias of the new research a. Jewish identity and influence of the Pharisees b. The messianic hopes of the Jews and the emergence of rabbinic Judaism

22 22

Chapter Two: The Christians from 30 CE to 100 CE

45

1. The attitude of Jesus towards Judaism a. The observance of the Law b. The messianic claim

45 46 54

2. Faith in the early community in Jesus as Lord and Messiah

63

3. The Hellenists, the Hebrews and the Mosaic L a w

76

4. The mission of Paul to the Gentiles and Christian proselytism . . .

89

35

5. The gospels of Matthew and of John and the problem of Judaeo-Christianity

102

Chapter Three: Jews and Christians as seen by the Romans

123

1. F r o m Tiberius to Claudius

125

2. The Christian persecution by N e r o (64 C E ) and the Jewish war (66-74)

131

3. The exaction of the Jewish tax and the persecution by Domitian . . 138

VIII

Table of

Contents

Bibliography

145

Indexes

165

Sources Authors Subjects

165 171 174

Introduction When was it that Christianity, born as a particular current within J u d a ­ ism, constituted itself as a religion different and separate from the Jewish religion? The question has been asked, and the problem has therefore been considered, since historical-critical investigation of Christian origins began. At the very beginning of this investigation, F. C . Baur wrote, for example, that »the ultimate, most important point of the primitive history of Christianity« is »how Christianity, instead of remaining a mere form of Judaism [...], asserted itself as a separate, independent principle^ Until a few years ago the answer was, in any case, felt to be rather simple, contained as it was in the books of the N e w Testament themselves. In fact, it seems, although it was in a form that must be clarified, which will be the specific aim of these pages, that the realization of the separation was apparent from the origins, not only in the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, which speak of the Jews as mortal enemies of Jesus, thus taking their distance from them, but already in Paul, when he refers to >Jews and GreeksJudaism< {Gal. 1:13). But when Paul states, »There is neither Jew nor Greek [...] for you are all one in Christ Jesus« {Gal 3:28; cfr. Rom. 10:12; 1 Cor. 12:13; Col. 3:11), does this mean that he is perfectly aware that he now belongs to a new social group that will later be defined as a T p i x o v yevo^, a tertium genus, alongside the traditional ones of the Jews and the Greeks, or does he merely express the position of a person who is still >a radical Jew