Download Lecture notes

Shaye J.D. Cohen
CB 23
[email protected]
5: Historically considered, the Bible is neither Jewish nor Christian

Why and how Judaism and Christianity are not the same as biblical Israel
Historical development: from the Bible to Judaism, from the Bible to Christianity; key
ruptures
Development from Israelite religion → Judaism and Christianity, a process, not an
event
Some key moments in the transition: (dates you should know in bold)

























587 BCE destruction of the first Jerusalem temple by the Babylonians; exile to Babylonia
restoration under the Persians (516 BCE temple rebuilt)
emergence of the Torah book (5th century BCE)
no book in the Hebrew bible explicitly proclaims an origin later than the Persian period
(ca. 400 BCE)
Septuagint, Torah translated into Greek in Egypt (3rd century BCE)
Synagogues appear in Egypt (3rd century BCE)
Judaean revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Greek king of Syria; the institution of the
holiday of Hanukah 167-164 BCE
Arrival of the Romans 63 BCE
[no year zero]
Activity of Jesus c. 30s CE
early and mid 50’s letters and travels of Paul (seven genuine letters of Paul: 1 Thessalonians,
Galatians, Philippians, Romans, Philemon, 1 and 2 Corinthians)
70 CE Destruction of the second Jerusalem temple by the Romans
c. 70 CE Gospel of Mark
80’s CE Gospels of Matthew and Luke
ca. 90-100 CE gospel of John
90’sCE the book of Revelation (Apocalypse of John)
Ca. 100 CE beginnings of Christian literature that will not find its way into the NT (the
“apostolic fathers” like the Epistle to the Corinthians by Clement of Rome or the Didache)
112 CE the Roman government takes notice of the Christians: letter of Pliny the Younger,
governor of Pontus and Bithynia, to the emperor Trajan concerning Christians
ca. 120 CE the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, first appearance of the term “Christianity”
ca. 130 CE Letter of Barnabas, allegory of Torah Law
ca. 160 CE Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, argues that Bible is a Christian book
ca. 160 CE Marcion in Rome, who upholds the God of Love (NT) against the God of Law
(OT)
Ca. 178 Irenaeus of Lyon, Against the Heresies, speaks of a New Testament similar to ours with
our four gospels
Second century CE: emergence of Rabbinic Judaism
Ca. 200 CE: the appearance of the Mishnah, the first rabbinic book
Clear discontinuities between the religion and society of the Bible (pre-587 BCE) and
Judaism and Christianity (post 70 CE)
I am skipping here the second temple period in between
1. Truth claims:
New Jewish and Christian theologies not in the Hebrew Bible
1
Shaye J.D. Cohen

[email protected]
Reward and punishment in the hereafter instead of this world: after death,
end of days, resurrection, messiah
o
o
o

CB 23
Philosophically minded Jews like Philo believed in immortality of the soul rather than
resurrection of the body; this belief too not in the Hebrew Bible
who was Philo? Philo of Alexandria: a Jewish philosopher and scriptural exegete in the
first century CE, wrote in Greek, an important figure in the philosophical interpretation
of the Torah
Not all Jewish texts have a messiah in their end of days scenario; some texts have more
than one messiah, e.g. a priestly messiah and a royal messiah. Christian texts feature a
second coming of Jesus.
Instead of the cosmic monism of the Bible, some apocalypticists (both Jewish
and Christian ) have cosmic dualism
 Cosmic monists posit that the entire cosmos and all that happens
within it can be explained by appeal to a single idea or principle
(e.g. God).
 Cosmic dualists posit the existence of some force (e.g. the Devil)
antagonistic to God which currently and temporarily controls the
world but which will ultimately be overthrown
 Cosmic dualism more characteristic of Christianity than Judaism in
post 70 period.
 Even rabbinic monism is able to accommodate complementary
powers, e.g. angels, arch-angels, spirits, and the like
2. Both Jews and Christians write new books, independent of the Bible that
supplement/replace the Bible, that launch new book cultures:
The Mishnah
(not to be confused with Midrash)
in Hebrew, a book of laws, NOT a book of biblical interpretation
the foundation of a new kind of scholastic Judaism
produced in Roman Palaestina in the second century CE, completed around the year
200 CE
SEE THE COHEN READING
The New Testament
in Greek, a collection of 27 books that were composed in the late first and early second
century CE:
•
4 Gospels, book of Acts, 21 letters (or epistles) (of which 13 are attributed to
Paul), and the Book of Revelation (also called Apocalypse)
2
Shaye J.D. Cohen
CB 23
[email protected]
•
The formation of this collection seems to have begun, or at least have been
hastened, by a need to respond to Marcion and other “heretics”; our precise collection
of 27 books is not securely attested until the middle of the fourth century CE.
•
The Patheos website has a good summary of the four gospels.
3. Discontinuities in social structure and institutions:
Biblical religion and society had 1. king, 2. prophet, 3. temple, 4. sacrifices, 5. land;
Jewish and Christian society and religion (post 70 CE):

1. King replaced by new figures: sages (rabbis); bishops
o during the second temple period priests exercised political leadership in
addition to their sacerdotal roles
o Christian priests not to be confused with biblical and Jewish priests
 2. literary prophecy had ceased already in the fifth century BCE; emergence of
the Torah book and of prophetic books
o in second temple period, growth of biblical interpretation: translations,
commentaries, paraphrases
o cessation of prophecy, beginnings of textual exegesis in second temple
period
o emergence of new books and traditions that will supplement and
overshadow the Torah: the Mishnah and the New Testament (see above)
 3 and 4. no temple and no animal sacrifices; synagogues (churches) and
portable piety instead of the temple
o In Judaism and Christianity, communal prayer and scriptural study
replace the animal sacrifices of the Temple
 5. diaspora and political quietism instead of land and independence
o no national sovereignty; Jews and Christians are from time to time
persecuted by the Romans
o the Christian revolution: when the Roman Empire becomes Christian
(fourth century CE, Emperor Constantine the Great)
Conclusion:
The Hebrew Bible is about Israelites; the theology and society of the Hebrew Bible are,
historically considered, Israelite, not “Jewish” or “Christian”
3