The NT Within Judaism - My Brief Notes

“The New Testament Within Judaism” – an Online Conference hosted by the Enoch Seminar – January 7th, 2025

This was an outstanding event featuring a world-class lineup of scholars. One of the excellent features of this event was the diversity of perspectives on a hotly debated topic.

Kudos to Gabrielle Boccaccinni and Joshua Scott for their dedicated and smooth event management.

Further below, I will share a few bullet points* from some of the presenters. There was a lot to consume at this event - and the notes below represent my largely unedited, quick notes that were taken during the presentations.

If you don't care to read some of the finer points further below, here are three observations/takeaways for me from the event.

1. Scholars are more willing to consider or even place certain New Testament books "within Judaism." However, there is less willingness to broadly categorize the New Testament as a whole as "within Judaism." For example, "Paul within Judaism" has gained significant traction in recent decades. "John within Judaism," though it has its defenders, seems to receive a cooler reception.

2. Maintaining the distinction between a text's "inception" and "reception" is critical. A given New Testament text's inception may have been "within Judaism." But its reception must largely be evaluated outside of it (and within Christianity).

3. There are diverse opinions among scholars regarding the implications of understanding the NT within Judaism. Some argue that the question should only impact our historical understanding of these texts. Others see theological and other implications that can reach all the way to people in today's pews.

*I did not have access to papers or notes from the presenters. Thus, the points below are not exact quotations but represent my efforts to capture what the speaker communicated.

The recording will be posted on the YouTube channel of the Enoch Seminar.

Intro Comments/Essay from Gabriele Boccaccini – “Today Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity are two autonomous and separate religions, but not even centuries of hostility have been able to silence the call of the bond that forever unites the two estranged siblings, and erase the memory of the time when Christians were Jews among other Jews and their writings were Jewish writings.”

Session 1 – What does Judaism Mean? Why does it matter?

Paula Fredriksen

• Paul nowhere tells Jews to stop circumcising. He tells Gentiles not to start.

• To interpret Paul within Judaism…means imagining Paul himself continuing to live according to Jewish law.

• Did Paul eat shrimp? No. But he ate with people who did.

Karin Zetterholm

• Paul’s writings are not within modern Judaism or Rabbinic Judaism…Paul’s writings were within 1st-century Judaism.

• Distinguishing between a text’s inception and reception is critical.

•  Can a text with a non-Jewish author be considered Jewish?

Magnus Zetterholm

• The “within Judaism” question is not ideological. It is an academic question for scholars.

• Had Christianity never developed into a world religion, nobody would have questioned whether the early Jesus movement was a Jewish movement.

• Can a text be both Jewish and Christian?

John Barclay

• Ever since this movement started, there has been perceptual “unclarity” about what “within Judaism” means…without clarity, we will continue to go around in circles.

• The “within” in “within Judaism” means nothing if there is no boundary around Judaism.

• Is there some “content” that minimally defines what it means to be “within Judaism”?

• For the first few centuries of the common era, “Jewish” and “Christian” were not binary.

• In the first few centuries, being “Christo-centric” could be expressed both inside and outside a Jewish orbit.

Kathy Ehrensperger

• Belonging to “this God” – the God of Israel – is a central feature of who belonged to Judaism…though this belonging could be expressed differently.

• The New Testament is a Christian book…but the texts within the NT are Jewish.

• Considering the implications of “within Judaism” insights for theology is important.

• Within Judaism insights should impact normative theology.

Pamela Eisenbaum

• Boundaries can be blurry…but still coherent.

• The diversity of 2nd Temple Judaism perhaps has been overstated.

Session 2 – What are the implications of the Within Judaism Perspective for the study of the New Testament? And what are the implications of the study of the New Testament for the Within Judaism perspective?

Amy-Jill Levine

• Books within the New Testament can be considered within Judaism…but “within Judaism” is not a label that can apply to the entire New Testament.

Adele Reinhartz

•  Does “within Judaism” lead to insights not available in other methodological categories?

• The Gospel of John sees the Jesus way as the new and only way to properly relate to God, Temple, etc. This was “something other” than Judaism…though it was not yet Christianity.

• The “within Judaism” category has helped advance Pauline studies. However, it may not work as well for other NT books.

Matthew Thiessen

• The New Testament is a collection created by Christians - but the writings first came into existence when Jesus-faith was not separate from Jewish-ness.

• The New Testament books reflect different "dialects" of Jewish thinking.

• Paul had his own "dialect" - which is hotly debated today.

• "Christianity" and "Rabbinic Judaism" became two distinct "languages" - with dialects within them.

• Though the NT has different dialects, they are united around the idea that Jesus is the Messiah.

• The NT texts are Jewish texts that "diachronically" became Christian texts.

Isaac Oliver

• Perhaps we should assume that NT texts are Jewish until proven Christian...similar to how Isaac approached his work with Luke-Acts (that "Luke is Jewish until proven Gentile").

Craig Morrison

• How does the "within Judaism" perspective move from the academy...to seminaries...to pews?

Deborah Forger

• Certain passages from the Christian canon have been weaponized against Jews throughout history (Matthew 27:25).

• The phrase "the Jews" in the gospel of John has also been weaponized.

• Perhaps it's better to speak of texts being within "First Century Jewishness" rather than "within Judaism."

• From a chronological perspective, we don't have a "Christianity" at the end of the first century that we can "place" NT texts within.

*there was a third part of this conference that I could not take notes on. Part 3 was "What are the implications for the Within Judaism Perspective for the study of Second Temple Judaism? And what are the implications of the study of Second Temple Judaism for the Within Judaism Perspective." Again, you can access the entire conference on the Enoch Seminar YouTube page.