  WYB 5032 H S EARLY CHRISTIAN SELF-DEFINITION AND THE SEPARATION FROM JUDAISM Syllabus Wycliffe College Winter 2004 
Instructor:
Terry Donaldson
416-946-3537 terry.donaldson@utoronto.ca http://individual.utoronto.ca/tldonaldson/index.html Description
A study of the developing
self-understanding of early Christianity,
seen in the context of the process by which the Christian movement
separated from its Jewish matrix and developed into a distinct, largely
Gentile religion. The major portion of the course will consist of a
study of selected Christian literature with attention to specific
issues of self-definition. (This year: (Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho
the Jew, Matthew, Luke-Acts, John).
Texts Thomas B. Falls and Thomas P.
Halton (trans. & ed.), St.
Justin
Martyr: Dialogue with Trypho (Washington DC: Catholic University
of
America Press, 2003)
Stephen G. Wilson, Related Strangers. Jews and Christians 70 - 170 C.E. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995) Aims The aims of this course are that
students:
• develop critical awareness of the process by which the early Christian movement developed into a distinct religion, separate from Judaism (30 – 150 CE); • become familiar with the nature and content of the adversus Judaeos tradition in general, along with the contextual factors influencing its development; • become familiar with the nature and content of one piece of adversus Judaeos material in particular; • develop critical awareness of pertinent aspects of Christian self-definition (relationship with scriptural Israel; Jew and Gentile in the church; attitudes towards continuing Judaism); • gain
deeper insight into
selected NT writings as seen in the context of this process of
separation and self-definition;
• develop critical awareness of
the hermeneutical issues raised by this
process and its historical consequences.
Procedure and Outlines Class time will be used in three
different ways:
(1) Lectures: For at least part of each class prior to reading week, I will provide a framework for the course in a series of lectures. The outline for the lectures will be given below. (2) Justin’s Dialogue: Also prior to reading week, we will spend four hour-long sessions in discussion arising from assigned readings in Justin’s Dialogue. While there is no written assignment, students should come to class prepared to contribute to a discussion of the reading from the perspective of the four class questions described below (see the section on “Seminar paper” under “Requirements.”) (3) New Testament material: Classes after reading week will be devoted to a study of particular pieces of NT literature. This year we will concentrate on NT narrative— specifically, Matthew, Luke-Acts and John. The basis of our study will be short papers prepared by members of the class. These papers will not be delivered orally; instead, they are to be distributed a week ahead of time, read by the other members of the class and then discussed in class. (Depending on class size, there may be more topics than papers; if so, I will attempt to fill in some of the gaps in my concluding comments.) The introductory lectures will follow this outline: 1. Raising the Questions 1.1 Introduction: Early Christian self-definition in recent discussion 1.2 Factor: The Holocaust and the search for causes 1.3 Factor: The Dead Sea Scrolls and revised models of Judaism 1.4 Questions: The process of separation; Christian self-definition vis-à-vis Judaism 2. Separation and Self-definition 2.1 The adversus Judaeos tradition in context 2.2 Earliest Jewish Christianity: social placement and self-understanding 2.3 The process of separation: factors; stages; outcome 2.4 Self-definition: models and typologies A tentative outline of classes is as follows: Jan 8
Lecture
Jan 15 Lecture (Read Justin Dial. 1-10 before class; we will touch on it briefly) Jan 22 Discussion: Justin Dial. 11-30 Lecture Jan 29 Discussion: Justin Dial. 31-47 Lecture Feb 5 Discussion: Justin Dial. 110-125 Lecture Feb 12 Discussion: Justin Dial. 130-142 Lecture Feb 19 READING WEEK Feb 26 Matthew: Student papers Mar 4 Matthew: Concluding comments Mar 11 Luke: Student papers Mar 18 Acts: Student papers Mar 25 Luke-Acts: Concluding comments April 1 John: Student papers April 8 John: Concluding comments Requirements
The final mark for the course
will be based on evaluations in four
areas:
(1) Preparation, presence and
participation (15%)
(2) Book review (15%) – Each student is to write a review of Stephen Wilson’s Related Strangers. The review should conform to the pattern of scholarly reviews that appear in journals such as the Journal of Biblical Literature or the Toronto Journal of Theology. It should be somewhere between 1000 and 1200 words in length; lower grades will be assigned for reviews that exceed 1200 words. Scholarly reviews contain a combination of analytical description and critical assessment; for our purposes the proportion should be approximately two-to-one (i.e., two-thirds description, one-third assessment). The review will be due the first class after reading week (i.e., Feb. 27); students who are preparing seminar papers on Matthew, however, may choose to submit their reviews later (on or before March 4). (3) Seminar paper (25%) – For each piece of NT literature (Matthew, Luke, Acts and John) we will be asking four sets of questions. These questions will be developed in the lectures, but they can be described here in brief; the first three are literary and theological, while the fourth is historical and sociological: 1. Scripture and Israel: the way
in which the “Old Testament” is
claimed as a Christian book; the presumed relationship between
scriptural Israel and the church.
Each student is to select one of the four pieces of NT literature and
to write a short paper (8 - 10 pages / 2400 - 3000 words) dealing with
the selected piece from the perspective of one of these four sets of
questions. The paper is to be made available to other students in the
class no later than the Monday before the class in which the topic is
to be discussed. The paper can be distributed either in hard copy (but
then it would need to be ready the previous Thursday) or electronically
(send it to me, and I will distribute it to the class). A sign-up sheet
will be distributed the second week of class.2. Jew and Gentile in the church: the terms on which the Gentiles are included in the church; the status of Jewish Christians; relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians. 3. Continuing Judaism: attitude towards Jews and Judaism; the nature and purpose of anti-Judaic polemic; theological status of Judaism in the present and in the eschatological future. 4. Socio-historical location: location of the author and his intended readers with respect to Judaism; placement within the process of separation. (4) Final seminar paper (45%) – The final requirement is a scholarly paper (25 pages / 7500 words) on a topic to be chosen by the student and confirmed with the professor. It is quite appropriate for the paper to deal with the same piece of NT material as was dealt with in the seminar paper, and even to build on the work done for that paper. However, it should be a fresh composition; that is, it should not incorporate significant chunks of material from the first paper. A paper proposal (including a working bibliography) is to be submitted on or before the last day of class. The paper is due by the end of May 2004; extensions can be arranged. Bibliography 1.
General
BAUM, Gregory 1965 Is the New Testament Anti-Semitic? Green Rock, NJ: Paulist. DAVIES, Alan T. 1979 Anti-Semitism and the Foundations of Christianity. New York/Toronto: Paulist. DUNN, James D. G. 1991 The Partings of the Ways: Between Christianity and Judaism and their Significance for the Character of Christianity.
London: SCM; Philadelphia: Trinity Press
International.
EVANS, Craig A. and Donald A. HAGNER (eds.). 1993 Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity: Issues of Polemic and Faith. Minneapolis: Fortress. FARMER, William R. (ed.) 1999 Anti-Judaism and the Gospels. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International GAGER, John G. 1983 The Origins of Anti-Semitism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISAAC, Jules 1971 Jesus and Israel. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. JOHNSON, Luke Timothy 1989 “The New Testament’s Anti-Jewish Slander and the Conventions of Ancient Polemic,” Journal of Biblical Literature
108: 419-41.
KATZ, Steven T. 1984 “Issues in the Separation of Judaism and Christianity after 70 CE: A Reconsideration.” Journal of Biblical Literature
103: 43-76.
KOENIG, John. 1979 Jews and Christians in Dialogue: New Testament Foundations. Philadelphia: Westminster. LIEU, Judith. 1994 “’The Parting of the Ways’: Theological Construct or Historical Reality?” Journal for the Study of the New Testament
56:
101-19.
1996 Image and
Reality: The Jews in the World of the Christians in the Second Century.
Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.MARKUS, R. A. 1980 “The Problem of Self-Definition: From Sect to Church.” In Sanders 1980: 1-15. MEEKS, Wayne A. 1985 “Breaking Away: Three New Testament Pictures of Christianity’s Separation from the Jewish Communities.” In Neusner and Frerichs
(eds.) 1985: 93-115.
NEUSNER, Jacob and Ernest S. Frerichs (eds.).1985 ‘To See Ourselves as Others See Us’: Christians, Jews, ‘Others’ in Late Antiquity. Chico, CA: Scholars Press.
PARKES, James1961 [1936] The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue. New York: Meridian. RICHARDSON, Peter (ed.) 1986 Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity. Vol. 1: Paul and the Gospels. ESCJ 2. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
ROBINSON, Thomas A. et al.1993 The Early Church: An Annotated Bibliography of Literature in English, 229-46. Metuchen, NJ & London: American Theological
Library Association and
Scarecrow Press.
RUETHER, Rosemary R.1974 Faith and Fratricide: The Theological Roots of Anti-Semitism. New York: Seabury. SANDERS, E. P. (ed.) 1980 Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, vol. 1: The Shaping of Christianity in the Second and Third Centuries. Philadelphia: Fortress.
SANDMEL, Samuel1978 Anti-Semitism in the New Testament? Philadelphia: Fortress Press. SEGAL, Alan F. 1986 Rebecca’s Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. SIKER, Jeffrey S. 1991 Disinheriting the Jews: Abraham in Early Christian Controversy. Louisville: Westminster John Knox. SIMON, Marcel 1986 Verus Israel: A Study of the Relations between Christians and Jews in the Roman Empire (135-425). Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
SMIGA, George1992 Pain and Polemic: Anti-Judaism in the Gospels. New York and Mahweh, NJ: Paulist. TAYLOR, Miriam S. 1995 Anti-Judaism and Early Christian Identity: A Critique of the Scholarly Consensus. Leiden: Brill. WILKEN, Robert L. 1967 “Judaism in Roman and Christian Society.” Journal of Religion 47: 313-30. 1984 The Christians as the Romans Saw Them. New Haven: Yale University Press. WILSON, Stephen G. (ed.) 1986 Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity. Vol. 2: Separation and Polemic. ESCJ 2. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
1995 Related
Strangers. Jews and Christians 70 - 170 C.E. Minneapolis:
Fortress.2. Readings Related to Seminar Papers For each piece of NT literature, consult the general treatments (details above) by Baum, Davies, Evans and Hagner, Farmer, Koenig, Richardson, Ruether, Sandmel, Smiga and Wilson (1986). In addition: Matthew CLARK, K. W. 1947 “The Gentile Bias in Matthew,” Journal of Biblical Literature 66: 154-172 FREYNE, Sean 1985 “Vilifying the Other and Defining the Self: Matthew’s and John’s Anti-Jewish Polemic in Focus.” In Neusner and Frerichs 1985: 117-43.
GASTON, Lloyd1975 “The Messiah of Israel as Teacher of the Gentiles: The Setting of Matthew’s Christology,” Interpretation 29: 24-40
Luke-Acts JERVELL, Jacob 1972 Luke and the People of God. Minneapolis: Augsburg TANNEHILL, Robert C. 1985 “Israel in Luke-Acts: A Tragic Story,” Journal of Biblical Literature 104: 69-85 TIEDE, David L. 1980 Prophecy and History in Luke-Acts, 1-55, 127-32. Philadelphia: Fortress. TYSON, Joseph B (ed.) 1988 Luke-Acts and the Jewish People: Eight Critical Perspectives. Minneapolis: Augsburg. John BIERINGER, Riemund et al. (eds.) 2000 Anti-Judaism and the Fourth Gospel: Papers from the Leuven Colloquim, January 2000. Assen: Van Gorcum; Louisville:
Westminster John Knox
FREYNE, Sean1985 “Vilifying the Other and Defining the Self: Matthew’s and John’s Anti-Jewish Polemic in Focus.” In Neusner and Frerichs 1985: 117-43.
MEEKS, Wayne A.1985 “ ‘Am I a Jew?’ Johannine Christianity and Judaism.” In Neusner and Frerichs 1985: 163-86. REINHARTZ, Adele 2001 Befriending the Beloved Disciple: A Jewish Reading of the Gospel of John. New York: Continuum. SMITH, D. Moody 1990 “Judaism and the Gospel of John.” In James H. Charlesworth (ed.), Jews and Christians: Exploring the Past, Present
and Future, 76-99. New York: Crossroad.
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