Introduction
Introduction
This introductory chapter provides a background of the concept of Jewish Christianity. Developed alongside critical New Testament scholarship, the idea of an early Jewish Christianity has long been imagined as the historical site where Christianity and Judaism had once touched each other most profoundly. From the point of view of the Parting of the Ways model, it represented not only the transitional phase between a Jewish Jesus and the full flowering of Christianity as its own religion, but in some cases evidence for an ongoing relationship between Christianity and Judaism even after their split. More recently, with the breakdown of the Parting of the Ways model, the notion of an early Jewish Christianity has taken on a new significance, precisely as a “way that never parted.” At the same time, the breakdown of the Parting of the Ways model has quite exacerbated the definitional and taxonomic confusion that has always surrounded the concept of an early Jewish Christianity. The chapter then presents the central problem of Jewish Christianity: Can the category “Jewish Christianity” be useful for reconceptualizing the origins of Christianity and the Christianity–Judaism divide beyond the parameters of Christian apologetic historiography and the Parting of the Ways paradigm?
Keywords: Jewish Christianity, New Testament scholarship, Christianity, Judaism, Parting of the Ways, Jewish Jesus, Christian apologetic historiography, Christianity–Judaism divide
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