Jews or Christians?
The Followers of Jesus in Search of their own Identity
by Giorgio Jossa, translated by Molly Rogers
When was Christianity born? When was it that Christianity, born as a particular current within Judaism, 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 the historical-critical investigation of Christian origins began. However the problem has become acute only in the last few decades, because of the occurrence of a whole series of circumstances and of reflections that have deeply changed the historiographic understanding regarding Judaism in the first century, and thus the origins of Christianity as well. Traditional opinion considered the founders of Christianity to be Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus. Recent studies however affirm that a Christian religion as distinct from the Jewish religion can be spoken of only much later, and that for the entire first century, and for at least a part of the second century, Christianity was nothing more than a sect within Judaism. Dealing with the problem from an historical point of view, and thus considering not only Christianity of Jewish origin but also that of gentile origin, Giorgio Jossa demonstrates that the birth of a Christian identity as distinct from Jewish identity must actually be dated back to the first period of life of the community of Jesus.
- By (author) Giorgio Jossa
- Translated by Molly Rogers
Other Titles in this Series
Theologie des Lebens bei Paulus und Johannes
Ein theologisch-konzeptioneller Vergleich des Zusammenhangs von Glaube und Leben auf dem Hintergrund ihrer Glaubenssummarien
Volume 389
Paradise Lost in Transmission
The Return to Eden in the Apocalypse of Peter within Its Ethiopic and Early Christian Contexts
Between Canonical and Apocryphal Texts
Processes of Reception, Rewriting, and Interpretation in Early Judaism and Early Christianity
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Sixth International East-West Symposium of New Testament Scholars, Belgrade, August 25 to 31, 2013
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Leiblich vermitteltes Leben
Vorstellungen vom Uberwinden des Todes und vom Auferstehen im fruhen Christentum
Volume 501
Der Ratschluss Gottes
Erzählanalytische Untersuchungen zu einem theologischen Zentralmotiv des lukanischen Doppelwerks
Volume 527
Reading the First Century
On Reading Josephus and Studying Jewish History of the First Century
Volume 300
Der eine Gott, der durch alle ist
Epheser 4,6 im Kontext antiker Diskurse uber Gott und die Welt
Volume 445
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