The Origins of Christianity in the Calendar Wars of the Second Century BCE
By (author) Alfred Osborne
This clearly-argued work uses the 364-day liturgical calendar and its followers the Notsrim to link together Jesus and the earliest Christians, the Jewish civil war prompted by calendrical change in the mid second century BCE, the Maccabees and Hasmonaean kings, the revolt against Rome in 66-70 CE, and the curse on the no?rim in the
In the Gospels Jesus is called a ‘Nazarene’ or ‘Nazoraean’. Does this mean he came from Nazareth? Basing himself on Lidzbarski’s analysis of the Hebrew/Aramaic origins of the Greek terms Nazarenos and Nazoraios Dr Osborne proposes that these epithets indicate that Jesus was a nosri, a ‘(Strict) Keeper/Guardian (of the Law)’. This meant he was a follower of the 364-day liturgical calendar known to us from 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and Qumran. An examination of the passages where these terms appear shows that this hypothesis leads to a deeper understanding of the circumstances in which the first Christian communities arose and clarifies greatly the background of Jesus’ crucifixion as Yesu ha-Nosri. The book then traces the influence of the nosrim on the history of Israel from their origin in the ‘calendar wars’ that tore apart the Jewish nation from 172-163 BCE. These broke out after the lunisolar calendar was introduced into the temple liturgy by Menelaus the high priest, and only came to an end when the 364-day calendar was reintroduced under his successor, Alcimus. In 151 BCE, however, Jonathan Maccabaeus was appointed high priest and reintroduced the lunisolar calendar. The nosrim were suppressed and forced to emigrate or go underground. They reappear as leaders of Jewish resistance to Roman occupation after Pompey incorporated Judaea into the empire in 63 BCE. Eventually they became the chief instigators of the revolt against Rome that led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Osborne argues that the no?rim thought to have been included in the Twelfth Benediction of the Amidah at Yavneh around 90 CE are these same ‘(Strict) Keepers/Guardians (of the Law)’.
- By (author) Alfred Osborne
Other Titles in this Series
Healing not Punishment. Penitentials in the Insular Church
Historical and Pastoral Networking of the Penitentials between the Sixth and the Eighth Centuries
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Agents in Liturgy, Charity and Communication
The Tasks of Female Deacons in the Apostolic Constitutions
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Computus and its Cultural Context in the Latin West, AD 300-1200
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The Christology of Theodore of Tarsus
The Laterculus Malalianus and the Person and Work of Christ
Volume 6
‘Lest She Pollute the Sanctuary’
The Influence of the Protevangelium Iacobi on Women's Status in Christianity
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Bonds and Boundaries among the Early Churches
Community Maintenance in the Letter of James and the Didache
Volume 29
The Discovery of the Individual
Post-Chalcedonian Christological Debates and the Dawn of Scholasticism in Early-Byzantine Thought
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Late Antique Calendrical Thought and its Reception in the Early Middle Ages
Proceedings from the Third International Conference on the Science of Computus in Ireland and Europe, Galway, 16-18 July, 2010
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Ephrem, a ‘Jewish’ Sage
A Comparison of the Exegetical Writings of St. Ephrem the Syrian and Jewish Traditions
Volume 7
The Anthropology of St Gregory Palamas
The Image of God, the Spiritual Senses, and the Human Body
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From Topography to Text
The Image of Jerusalem in the Writings of Eucherius, Adomnan and Bede
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Early Medieval Ireland and Europe: Chronology, Contacts, Scholarship
Festschrift for Daibhi O Croinin
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Tabernacle, Table, Ark, and Text
Richard of Saint Victor on the Interpretation of Scripture
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Meditations of the Heart: The Psalms in Early Christian Thought and Practice
Essays in Honour of Andrew Louth
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‘Vigilemus et Oremus’
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Cyril of Alexandria’s Christological Exegesis
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