Early centers of Christianity: Difference between revisions

The followers of Jesus composed an apocalyptic Jewish sect during the late Second Temple period of the 1st century. Some groups that followed Jesus were strictly Jewish, such as the Ebionites, as were the church leaders in Jerusalem, collectively called Jewish Christians. Paul of Tarsus, however, had better success proselytizing among the Gentiles, and persuaded the leaders of the Jerusalem Church to allow Gentile converts not to follow all Jewish law. Jews who did not convert to Christianity and the growing Christian community gradually became more hostile toward each other. After the Destruction of the Second Temple in 70, Jerusalem ceased to be the center of the Christian church and of Jewish religious life. Christianity established itself as a predominantly Gentile religion that spanned the Roman Empire and beyond.

Appellation

The terms "Nazarene" and "Galilean", were used as polemics by opponents of Christianity. Nazarene is one of the earliest names for followers of Jesus, as evidenced in Acts 24:5 where Tertullus (a lawyer for the Jewish high priest Ananias) called Paul "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes". Jesus was called "the Nazarene", as mentioned in the biblical books of Matthew, John and Luke-Acts. According to Matthew 2:23, this is because of his relation with the town of Nazareth. A common self-reference was simply "the disciples", meaning "the learners" or "the followers of a teaching", for example it is the most common appellation used in the Acts of the Apostles.

According to Philip Esler, the Jewish term Notzrim (Nazarenes) is the subject of considerable debate. Exactly how broadly the appellation applied to followers of Jesus, or when exactly it was adopted, is believed to be unknown. Esler states that it may or may not have referred to all Christians, but certainly referred to Jewish Christians.

The disciples were first called "Christians" (Greek [Χριστιανοί] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) in Antioch. Ignatius of Antioch was the first Christian to use the label in self-reference. The earliest recorded use of the term Christianity (Greek [Χριστιανισμός] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) is also by Ignatius of Antioch, around 100 AD.

The term "Christianoi" was essentially a Greek word with a Latin ending (-ani). This Latin ending was a standard form of appellation used for followers of a particular person (such as Pompeiani and Caesariani). It was this quirk of wording that lead Claudius to blame "Chrestus" for the disputes among Roman Jews that lead to their expulsion from Rome.

As the church spread throughout Greek-speaking Gentile lands, the Greek term Χριστιανοί (Christianoi), took prominence and eventually became the standard reference for followers of the faith. Dr. James Tabor suggests that Christian (in essence meaning a "Messianist") was an attempt to approximate Nazarene in Greek.

Early leaders

St. Paul, by El Greco

The relatives of Jesus lived in Nazareth since the first century. Some of them were prominent early Christians. Among those named in the New Testament are his mother and four of his brothers: James, Simeon, Joseph and Jude. Some of the family were opposed to the mission and religion of Jesus. The relatives of Jesus were accorded a special position within the early church, as displayed by the leadership of James in Jerusalem.

According to 19th century German theologian F. C. Baur early Christianity was dominated by the conflict between Peter who was law observant and Paul who advocated freedom from the law. Later findings contradicted this theory. The allegedly continuous conflict was not supported by the available evidence. However, theological conflict between Paul and Peter is recorded in the New Testament and was widely discussed in the early church. Marcion and his followers stated that the polemic against false apostles in Galatians was aimed at Peter, James and John, the Pillars of the Church, as well as the "false" gospels circulating through the churches at the time. Irenaeus and Tertullian argued against Marcionism's elevation of Paul and stated that Peter and Paul were equals among the apostles. Passages from Galatians were used to show that Paul respected Peter's office and acknowledged a shared faith.

Origin of Christianity as a Jewish sect

Early Christianity was a Jewish eschatological faith. The book of Acts reports that the early followers continued daily Temple attendance and traditional Jewish home prayer. Other passages in the New Testament gospels reflect a similar observance of traditional Jewish piety such as fasting, reverence for the Torah and observance of Jewish holy days. The earliest form of Jesus's religion is best understood in this context. However, there was great diversity in local variations, as each succeeded or failed in different ways. Regardless, Jesus was a pious Jew, worshiping the Jewish God, preaching interpretations of Jewish law and accepted as the Jewish Messiah by his disciples. Nearly all scholars agree that regardless of how one interprets the mission of Jesus, that he must be understood in context as a first century Palestinian Jew.

Relationship with the Essenes

Scholars such as Dr. Tabor state that Essenes and early Christians had a number of similar beliefs. The Essenes practiced baptism, believed in a New Covenant, were messianic and believed themselves a remnant of the faithful preparing the way for the reign of God's glory. They called their group by names that would later be used by Christians, such as the Way and the Saints. Jesus preached a number of doctrines similar to Essene Halacha. They followed a charismatic leader who was opposed and possibly killed at the instigation of the Pharisees. John the Baptist seems to have risen out of this context.

Some scholars, such as Carsten Peter Thiede, dispute this presentation. Early Christian leaders did not have to visit Qumran to have heard of the Essence beliefs and read their texts. The various Jewish groups, including Christians and Essenes, were interconnected and simultaneously adopted some practices and beliefs while rejecting others. While some similarities exist, there are many differences and similar parallels can be also drawn between the early Christians and Pharisees, and other Jewish sects. Many features of Christian faith have no parallels in the texts from Qumran, and some that do are fundamentally distinct from Essence practices and beliefs. Notably, John's act of penitent baptism bears little resemblance to the daily baptismal ritual of the Essenes.

Jewish Christians

Main article: Jewish Christians

See also: History of Christianity § The Earliest Church

Jewish Christians were among the earliest followers of Jesus and an important part of Judean society during the mid to late first century. This movement was centered around Jerusalem and led by James the Just. They held faithfully to the Torah and Jewish law. However, they did accept gentile converts based on a version of the Noachide laws (Acts 15 and Acts 21). In Christian circles, "Nazarene" later came to be used as a label for those faithful to Jewish law, in particular for a certain sect. These Jewish Christians, originally a central group in Christianity, were not at first declared to be unorthodox, but were later excluded and denounced. Some Jewish Christian groups, such as the Ebionites, were considered to have unorthodox beliefs, particularly in relation to their views of Christ and Gentile converts. The Nazarenes, holding to orthodoxy except in their adherence to Jewish law, were not deemed heretical until the dominance of orthodoxy in the fourth century. The Ebionites may have been a splinter group of Nazarenes, with disagreements over Christology and leadership. After the condemnation of the Nazarenes, "Ebionite" was often used as a general pejorative for all related "heresies".

Jewish Christians constituted a separate community from the Pauline Christians, but maintained a similar faith, differing only in practice. There was a post-Nicene "double rejection" of the Jewish Christians by both Gentile Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. It is believed that there was no direct confrontation, or persecution, between Gentile and Judaic Christianity. However, by this time the practice of Judeo-Christianity was diluted, both by internal schisms and external pressures. The true end of Jewish Christianity occurred only in the fifth century. Those remaining fully faithful to Halacha became purely Jews, while those adhering to the Christian faith joined with Pauline Christianity. Gentile Christianity remained the sole strand of orthodoxy and imposed itself on the previously Jewish Christian sanctuaries, taking full control of those houses of worship by the end of the fifth century.

First Gentile converts

The Roman centurion Cornelius is traditionally considered the first Gentile convert. His conversion, as documented in Acts 10, carries great significance. Cornelius was referenced by both Peter and James in arguing for the inclusion of Gentiles in the Jerusalem Council. His conversion is broadly considered to have been the beginning of a broader mission to the Gentiles, who would come to eclipse the Jews among Christians.

The story of Cornelius' conversion is thematically connected with, and parallels, the conversion stories of the Samaritans, Paul of Tarsus and an Ethiopian eunuch in Luke-Acts. The Ethiopian was an outsider and castrated, whose presence in worship assembly would have been prohibited under the Mosaic law. This is consistent with the message of Luke, advocating a "universal" faith and mission. Ethiopia was considered in antiquity to be the southernmost end of the world. Thus, the Ethiopian's conversion can also be interpreted as a partial fulfillment of the mission presented in Acts 1 to bring the Gospel to the "ends of the earth". Some scholars assert that the Ethiopian eunuch was the first Gentile convert, stating that those resisting this conclusion are doing so to preserve the traditional interpretation of Cornelius as the first convert. Regardless of the primacy of either convert, this episode relates Luke's view of how (through Phillip) the Gospel reached the "ends of the earth" and the mission to the Gentiles was initiated.

Circumcision controversy

Main article: Circumcision controversy in early Christianity

See also: Circumcision in the Bible

Disputes over the Mosaic law generated intense controversy in early Christianity. This is particularly notable in the mid-1st century, when the circumcision controversy came to the fore. Many of the Jewish Christians were fully faithful religious Jews, only differing in their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. As such, they believed that circumcision and other requirements of the Mosaic law were required for salvation. The increasing number of Gentile converts came under pressure from Jewish Christians to be circumcised in accordance with Judaic tradition. The issue was addressed at the Council of Jerusalem where Saint Paul made an argument that circumcision was not a necessary practice, as documented in Acts 15. This position received widespread support and was summarized in a letter circulated in Antioch.

While the issue was theoretically resolved, it continued to be a recurring issue among Christians. Four years after the Council of Jerusalem, Paul wrote to the Galatians about the issue, which had become a serious controversy in their region. There was a burgeoning movement of Judaizers in the area that advocated adherence to traditional Judaic laws, including circumcision. Paul identified James the Just as the motivating force behind the movement. Paul considered it a great threat to the doctrine of salvation through faith and addressed the issue with great detail in Galatians 3.

Split with Judaism

See also: Schisms among the Jews and List of events in early Christianity

There was a slowly growing chasm between Christians and Jews, rather than a sudden split. Even though it is commonly thought that Paul established a Gentile church, it took centuries for a complete break to manifest. However, certain events are perceived as pivotal in the growing rift between Christianity and Judaism. The Council of Jamnia circa 85 is often stated to have condemned all who claimed the Messiah had already come, and Christianity in particular. However, the formulated prayer in question (birkat ha-minim) is considered by other scholars to be unremarkable in the history of Jewish and Christian relations. There is a paucity of evidence for Jewish persecution of "heretics" in general, or Christians in particular, in the period between 70 and 135. It is probable that the condemnation of Jamnia included many groups, of which the Christians were but one, and did not necessarily mean excommunication. That some of the later church fathers only recommended against synagogue attendance makes it improbable that an anti-Christian prayer was a common part of the synagogue liturgy. Jewish Christians continued to worship in synagogues for centuries.

Coin of Nerva "The blackmail of the Jewish tax lifted"

During the late first century, Judaism was a legal religion with the protection of Roman law, worked out in compromise with the Roman state over two centuries. Observant Jews had special rights, including the privilege of abstaining from civic pagan rites. Christians were initially identified with the Jewish religion by the Romans, but as they became more distinct, Christianity became a problem for Roman rulers. Circa 98 the emperor Nerva decreed that Christians did not have to pay the annual tax upon the Jews, effectively recognizing them as distinct from Rabbinic Judaism. This opened the way to Christians being persecuted for disobedience to the emperor, as they refused to worship the state pantheon. It is notable that from c. 98 onwards a distinction between Christians and Jews in Roman literature becomes apparent. For example, Pliny the Younger postulates that Christians are not Jews since they do not pay the tax, in his letters to Trajan.

Bar Kokhba Revolt

The Bar Kokhba Revolt created a large rift between Judaism and Jewish Christians. Simon bar Kokhba was recognized as the Jewish Messiah by Rabbi Akiva. The Christians, believing Jesus to be their Messiah, rejected Bar Kokhba and refused to join the revolt. The revolution turned against the Jewish Christians and some were killed. The failure of the revolt had serious consequences. Jews and Jewish Christians were barred entry into Jerusalem, leaving the church in Jerusalem without a Jewish identity. Many historians believe the revolt was the most notable event in the split between Judaism and Christianity.

Allegations of persecution by the Jews

Main article: Persecution of Christians in the New Testament

The New Testament relates the Christian accounts of the Pharisee rejection of Jesus and accusations of the Pharisee responsibility for his crucifixion. The Acts of the Apostles depicts instances of early Christian persecution by the Sanhedrin, the Hebrew religious establishment of the time.

Although Christian doctrine to this day attests to the veracity of these accounts of persecution as documented in the New Testament and the writings of the Church Fathers, modern scholars have questioned the historical accuracy of these accounts. Historians consider this anti-Jewish polemic in the New Testament and Patristic writings to be the basis of the antisemitism associated with Christianity at different periods in its history.

See also

• Christianity and Judaism
• Persecution of Christians in the New Testament
• List of events in early Christianity
• Early Christianity
• Hellenistic Judaism

References

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• Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro & Gargola, Daniel J & Talbert, Richard John Alexander. The Romans: From Village to Empire. Oxford University Press (2004). ISBN 0195118758.
• Dauphin, C. "De l'Église de la circoncision à l'Église de la gentilité – sur une nouvelle voie hors de l'impasse". Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. Liber Annuus XLIII (1993).
• Dunn, James D.G. Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, A.D. 70 to 135. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (1999). ISBN 0802844987.
• Dunn, James D.G. The Cambridge Companion to St. Paul. Cambridge University

Press (2003). ISBN 0521786940.

• Ehrman, Bart D. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. HarperCollins (2005). ISBN 0060738170.
• Elwell, Walter A. & Comfort, Philip Wesley. Tyndale Bible Dictionary. Tyndale House Publishers (2001). ISBN 0842370897.
• Esler, Phillip F. The Early Christian World. Routledge (2004). ISBN 0415333121.
• Freedman, David Noel (Ed). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (2000). ISBN 0802824005.
• Hunt, Emily Jane. Christianity in the Second Century: The Case of Tatian. Routledge (2003). ISBN 0415304059.
• Keck, Leander E. Paul and His Letters. Fortress Press (1988). ISBN 0800623401.
• McGrath, Alister E. Christianity: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing (2006). ISBN 1405108991.
• Mills, Watson E. Acts and Pauline Writings. Mercer University Press (1997). ISBN 086554512X.
• Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan. The Christian Tradition: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600). University of Chicago Press (1975). ISBN 0226653714.
• Tabor, James D. "Ancient Judaism: Nazarenes and Ebionites", The Jewish Roman World of Jesus. Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (1998).
• Taylor, Joan E. Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian Origins. Oxford University Press (1993). ISBN 0198147856.
• Thiede, Carsten Peter. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Origins of Christianity. Palgrabe Macmillan (2003). ISBN 1403961433.
• White, L. Michael. From Jesus to Christianity. HarperCollins (2004). ISBN 0060526556.
• Wright, N.T. The New Testament and the People of God. Fortress Press (1992). ISBN 0800626818.
• Wylen, Stephen M. The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction. Paulist Press (1995). ISBN 0809136104.

External links

• PBS Frontline From Jesus to Christ, The first Christians, wrestling with their Jewish heritage