Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Essays on the Relationship between Christianity and Judaism

by Gerald McDermott (Editor)

Overview

2022 Christianity Today Book Award Finalist for Biblical Studies

2022 Academy of Parish Clergy (APC) Top 10 Books of the Year

How Jewish is Christianity? In this volume, a variety of leading scholars and theologians explore the relationship of Judaism and Christianity through biblical, historical, theological, and ecclesiological angles. This cutting-edge scholarship will enrich readers' understanding of this centuries-old debate.

The question of how Jesus' followers relate to Judaism has been a matter of debate since Jesus first sparred with the Pharisees. The controversy has not abated, taking many forms over the centuries. In the decades following the Holocaust, scholars and theologians reconsidered the Jewish origins and character of Christianity, finding points of continuity.

Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity advances this discussion by freshly reassessing the issues. Did Jesus intend to form a new religion? Did Paul abrogate the Jewish law? Does the New Testament condemn Judaism? How and when did Christianity split from Judaism? How should Jewish believers in Jesus relate to a largely gentile church? What meaning do the Jewish origins of Christianity have for theology and practice today?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683594611
Publisher:	Lexham Press
Publication date:	03/17/2021
Series:	Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gerald R. McDermott is Anglican Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author or editor of over twenty books, including Everyday Glory, Israel Matters, and The New Christian Zionism. His research primarily focuses on Jonathan Edwards, Christian understandings of other religions, and the meaning of Israel.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Abbreviations xiii

1 Introduction Gerald R. McDermott 1

2 Old Testament: How Did the New Testament Authors Use Tanak? Mark S. Gignilliat 5

3 Did Jesus Plan to Start a New Religion? Matthew Thiessen 18

4 Was Paul Championing a New Freedom from-or End to-Jewish Law? David Rudolph 33

5 Jesus' Sacrifice and the Mosaic Logic of Hebrews' New-Covenant Theology David M. Moffitt 51

6 Missed and Misunderstood Jewish Roots of Christian Worship Matthew S. C. Olver 69

7 The Parting of the Ways When and How Did the Ekklesia Split from the Synagogue? Isaac W. Oliver 104

8 From Constantine to the Holocaust The Church and the Jews Eugene Korn 128

9 Post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian Relations Challenging Boundaries and Rethinking Theology Jennifer M. Rosner 148

10 Anglicans and Israel The (Largely) Untold Story Sarah Lebhar Hall 169

11 Messianic Judaism Recovering the Jewish Character of the Ekklesia Mark S. Kinzer 184

12 Christian Churches What Difference Does the Jewishness of Jesus Make? Archbishop Foley Beach 201

13 Christian Theology What Difference Does This Make? Gerald R. McDermott 213

Bibliography 223

List of Contributors 253

Subject Index 257

Scripture and Other Ancient Sources Index 265

Editorial Reviews

This remarkable collection adds its own distinctive contribution to the rapidly emerging picture that places early Christians into their full Jewish context. From there, biblical and historical issues begin to look very different. The collection raises profound and difficult questions about the stereotypes Christians have entertained for so long. —Gavin D'Costa, professor of Catholic theology, University of Bristol I am so glad that this book exists. It is the best one-volume overview of Christianity's relation to its Jewish roots that I know of, in any language. —R. Kendall Soulen, professor of systematic theology, Emory University and author of The God of Israel and Christian Theology

From the Publisher