Split Of Early Christianity And Judaism
The split of early Christianity from Judaism was a slowly growing chasm between early Christianity and mainstream Judaism in the first centuries of the Christian Era. It is commonly attributed to a number of events said to be pivotal: the antithesis of the law and rejection of Jesus c. 30, the Council of Jerusalem c. 50, the destruction of the Second Temple and institution of the Jewish tax in 70, the postulated Council of Jamnia c. 90, or the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–135. On the one hand, while it is commonly thought that Paul established a Gentile church within his lifetime, it took centuries for a complete break to manifest, and the relationship of Paul of Tarsus and Judaism is still disputed, as are many events of the nascent common era; on the other, this is one of best documented and fertile epochs of history, archaeology and the formative years of the Christian tradition that is claimed as "Western" thought.
The traditional view has been that Judaism existed before Christianity and that Christianity separated from Judaism some time after the destruction of the Second Temple. Recently, some scholars have argued that there were many competing Jewish sects in Judea during Second Temple period and that what became Rabbinic Judaism and Proto-orthodox Christianity were but two of these. Some of these scholars have proposed a model which envisions a twin birth of Proto-Orthodox Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism rather than a separation of the former from the latter. For example, Robert Goldenberg asserts that it is increasingly accepted among scholars that "at the end of the 1st century CE there were not yet two separate religions called 'Judaism' and 'Christianity'".
Daniel Boyarin proposes a revised understanding of the interactions between nascent Christianity and Judaism in late antiquity which views the two "new" religions as intensely and complexly intertwined throughout this period. Boyarin writes: "for at least the first three centuries of their common lives, Judaism in all of its forms and Christianity in all of its forms were part of one complex religious family, twins in a womb, contending with each other for identity and precedence, but sharing with each other the same spiritual food, as well".
| “ | Without the power of the orthodox Church and the Rabbis to declare people heretics and outside the system it remained impossible to declare phenomenologically who was a Jew and who was a Christian. At least as interesting and significant, it seems more and more clear that it is frequently impossible to tell a Jewish text from a Christian text. The borders are fuzzy, and this has consequences. Religious ideas and innovations can cross borders in both directions. | ” |
Read more about Split Of Early Christianity And Judaism: Framing The Debate, Conversion of Paul, Possible Conversion of Gamaliel, Christian Abandonment of Jewish Practices, Council of Jerusalem, Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity, Council of Jamnia, Status Under Roman Law, Marcion of Sinope, Timeline of Events, See Also
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