Jewish and Christian Self-definition, Vol. 2: Aspects of Judaism in the Graeco-Roman Period

This is the second volume of three concerned with exploring why Judaism and Christianity parted company in the second and third centuries and involving leading authorities in its field. Whereas the first concentrated on Christianity and showed how it grew from a sect into a church, this volume looks at Judaism and in examining the course of its development also asks why Judaism rejected Christianity so vehemently. Some readers will be surprised to find how much this rejection was connected with matters of life-style rather than doctrine. It was because Christians departed so radically from the Jewish pattern of conduct, the halakah, that they could not be regarded as one more Jewish sect, and not just because of their beliefs about Jesus. Among the fascinating questions discussed in this connection are: What was it that put the Samaritans beyond the sphere of Jewish tolerance? Why did Christians modify books of the Pseudepigrapha, but not the Apocrypha? By what criteria were some books excluded from the Old Testament canon? Most of the contributors are Jewish, though some are Christian. Between them they challenge many accepted opinions in a way which should lead to much rethinking about Jewish-Christian relations. A third volume in the series will deal with the background to Judaism and Christianity in the classical world. Contributors are: Albert I. Baumgarten, Joseph Blenkinsopp, James H. Charlesworth, Ferdinand Dexinger, Jonathan A. Goldstein, David Weiss Halivni, Bernard S. Jackson, Reuven Kimelman, Sid. Z. Leiman, Lawrence H. Schiffman, Alan F. Segal and Ephraim E. Urbach.