Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries - Paperback

by Oskar Skarsaune (Author), Reidar Hvalvik (Author)

Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries examines the formative first five centuries of Christian history as experienced by individuals who were ethnically Jewish but who professed faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Offering the work of an impressive international team of scholars, this unique study examines the first five centuries of texts thought to have been authored or edited by Jewish Christians, including the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, the New Testament Apocrypha, and some patristic works. Also considered are statements within patristic literature about Jewish believers and uses of oral traditions from Jewish Christians. Furthermore, the evidence in Jewish, mainly rabbinic, literature is examined, and room is made for a judicious sifting of the archaeological evidence. The final two chapters are devoted to an enlightening synthesis of the material with subsequent conclusions regarding Jewish believers in antiquity.

Contributors
Philip S. Alexander
Richard Bauckham
James Carleton Paget
Anders Ekenberg
Torleif Elgvin
Craig A. Evans
Donald A. Hagner
Gunnar af Hällström
Sten Hidal
Peter Hirschberg
Reidar Hvalvik
Wolfram Kinzig
Lawrence Lahey
Oskar Skarsaune
Graham Stanton
James F. Strange

Back Jacket

An impressive international team of scholars examines the formative first five centuries of Christian history as experienced by individuals who were ethnically Jewish but professed faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

Contributors
Philip S. Alexander
Richard Bauckham
James Carleton Paget
Anders Ekenberg
Torleif Elgvin
Craig A. Evans
Donald A. Hagner
Gunnar af Hällström
Sten Hidal
Peter Hirschberg
Reidar Hvalvik
Wolfram Kinzig
Lawrence Lahey
Oskar Skarsaune
Graham Stanton
James F. Strange

"The fullest treatment of the evidence and issues concerning early Jewish believers in Jesus. . . . This volume features a galaxy of respected scholars known for their expertise and measured approach. . . . . Those who want serious, in-depth, and patient handling of all the evidence on 'Jewish believers' can find no better one-volume resource than this one."
--Larry Hurtado, blog (larryhurtado.wordpress.com)

"For a long time, the accepted view on the early Jewish Christian community has been that after the Jewish war against the Romans that ended in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jewish Christian community became a marginal phenomenon and soon disappeared in the Gentile Christian church. The contributions to the present book on Jewish believers in Jesus result in a fundamental revision of this picture. It shows that more or less close relations between Jewish believers in Jesus Christ and Judaism continued at least into the Constantinian period (4th century) in spite of the endeavors of leaders on both sides to get their view of a fundamental opposition between Judaism and Christianity generally accepted. I consider the accumulated evidence for the revision of this picture very persuasive. It amounts to a strong suggestion that for a long period the disagreements concerning the person of Jesus did not prevent a continuing awareness of the fact that Jewish believers in Jesus and even Christians from the Gentiles could feel they believe in the same God as the Jews did. This view of the relationship should also have an impact on contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue."
--Wolfhart Pannenberg, University of Munich

"The comprehensiveness and generally high quality of the individual chapters will ensure that for the foreseeable future this volume will be a work of reference for all those who are seriously interested in ancient Jewish Christianity."
--Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Author Biography

Oskar Skarsaune, Dr theol, is professor emeritus of church history at MF Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo, Norway. His many publications include The Proof from Prophecy: A Study in Justin Martyr's Proof-text Tradition, Incarnation--Myth or Fact?, and In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity.

Reidar Hvalvik, Dr theol, is professor of New Testament at MF Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo, Norway. His publications include The Struggle for Scripture and Covenant: The Epistle of Barnabas and Jewish-Christian Competition in the Second Century, an introduction to the theology of Acts, and an introduction to the New Testament (both in Norwegian).