Jewish Christianity
Jewish Christians were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Judea during the late Second Temple period (first century AD). These Jews believed that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah and they continued their adherence to Jewish law. Jewish Christianity is the foundation of Early Christianity, which later developed into Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Christianity started with Jewish eschatological expectations, and it developed into the worship of Jesus as the result of his earthly ministry, his crucifixion, and the post-crucifixion experiences of his followers. Modern scholars are engaged in an ongoing debate about the proper designation of Jesus' first followers. Many modern scholars believe that the term Jewish Christians is anachronistic given the fact that there is no consensus about the date of the birth of Christianity. Some modern scholars have suggested that the designations "Jewish believers in Jesus" and "Jewish followers of Jesus" better reflect the original context.
This article is about the historical concept. For a comparison of the two religions as they exist today, see Christianity and Judaism. For the modern-day religious movement, see Messianic Judaism.
Jewish Christians drifted apart from mainstream Judaism, their form of Judaism eventually became a minority strand within Judaism and by the fifth century, it almost disappeared. Jewish–Christian gospels are lost except for fragments of them, so there is a considerable amount of uncertainty about the scriptures which were used by this group of Christians.
The split of Christianity and Judaism took place during the first century AD.[1][2] While the First Jewish–Roman War and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD were main events, the separation was a long-term process, in which the boundaries were not clear-cut.[1][2]
Etymology[edit]
Early Jewish Christians (i.e. the Jewish followers of Jesus) referred to themselves as followers of "The Way" (ἡ ὁδός: hė hodós), probably coming from John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."[3][4][note 1] According to Acts 11:26, the term "Christian" (Greek: Χριστιανός) was first used in reference to Jesus's disciples in the city of Antioch, meaning "followers of Christ", by the non-Jewish inhabitants of Antioch.[10] The earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity" (Greek: Χριστιανισμός) was by Ignatius of Antioch, around 100 AD.[11]
The term "Jewish Christian" appears in modern historical texts contrasting Christians of Jewish origin with gentile Christians, both in discussion of the New Testament church[12][1][2][13][14][15] and the second and following centuries.[16]
In Islamic origins[edit]
In the field of Quranic studies, it has long been argued that Jewish Christianity played an important role in the formation of Quranic conceptions of Christians in Muhammad's Arabia.[171][172] The first major author to assert that Jewish Christianity played an important role in the formation of Quranic tradition was Aloys Sprenger in his 1861 book Das Leben und die Lehre des Moḥammad. Since then, numerous other authors have followed this argument, including Adolf von Harnack, Hans-Joachim Schoeps, M. P. Roncaglia, and others.[173] The most recent notable defenders of this thesis have been Francois de Blois[174] and Holger Zellentin, the latter in the context of his research into the historical context of the legal discourses present in the Quran especially as it resembles the Syriac recension of the Didascalia Apostolorum and the Clementine literature.[175] In turn, several critics of this thesis have appeared, most notably Sidney Griffith.[176][177] De Blois provides three arguments for the importance of Jewish Christianity: the use of the term naṣārā in the Quran (usually taken as a reference to Christians, as in Griffith's work) which resembles the Syriac term used for Nazoreans, the resemblance between the description of Mary as part of the Trinity with traditions attributed to the Gospel of the Hebrews, and dietary restrictions associated with the Christian community. In turn, Shaddel argued that naṣārā merely may have etymologically originated as such because Nazoreans were the first to interact with the Arabic community in which this term came into use. Alternative sources as well as hyperbole may explain the reference to Mary in the Trinity. However, Shaddel does admit the ritual laws as evidence for the relevance of Jewish Christians.[178] In the last few years, the thesis for the specific role played by Jewish Christians has been resisted by Gabriel Said Reynolds,[179][180] Stephen Shoemaker,[181] and Guillaume Dye.[182]
Contemporary movements[edit]
In modern times, the term "Jewish Christian" or "Christian Jew" is generally used in reference to ethnic Jews who have either converted to or been raised in Christianity. They are mostly members of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christian congregations, and they are generally assimilated into the Christian mainstream, but they may also retain a strong sense of attachment to their Jewish identity. Some Jewish Christians also refer to themselves as "Hebrew Christians".
The Hebrew Christian movement of the 19th century was an initiative which was largely led and integrated by Anglicans, and they included figures such as Michael Solomon Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem 1842–1845; some figures, such as Joseph Frey, the founder of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, were more assertive of their Jewish identity and independence.
The 19th century saw at least 250,000 Jews convert to Christianity according to existing records of various societies.[183] According to data which was provided by the Pew Research Center, as of 2013, about 1.6 million adult American Jews identify themselves as Christians, and most of them identify themselves as Protestants.[184][185][186] According to the same data, most of the Jews who identify themselves as some sort of Christian (1.6 million) were either raised as Jews or are Jews by ancestry.[185] According to a 2012 study, 17% of Jews in Russia identify themselves as Christians.[187][188]
Messianic Judaism is a religious movement which incorporates elements of Judaism with the tenets of Christianity. Its adherents, many of whom are ethnically Jewish, worship in congregations which recite Hebrew prayers. They also baptize messianic believers who are of the age of accountability (able to accept Jesus as the Messiah), often observe kosher
dietary laws and keep Saturday as the Sabbath. Additionally, they recognize the Christian New Testament as holy scripture, though most of them do not use the label "Christian" to describe themselves.
The two groups are not completely distinct; some adherents, for example, favor Messianic congregations but they freely choose to live in both worlds, such as the theologian Arnold Fruchtenbaum, the founder of Ariel Ministries.[189]
The Hebrew Catholics are a movement of Jews who converted to Catholicism and Catholics of non-Jewish origin who choose to keep Jewish customs and traditions in light of Catholic doctrine.