Jewish Law in Gentile Churches: Halakhah and the Beginning of Christian Public Ethics
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Why did the Gentile church keep Old Testament commandments about sex and idolatry, but disregard many others, like those about food or ritual purity? If there were any binding norms, what made them so, and on what basis were they articulated?In this important study, Markus Bockmuehl approaches such questions by examining the halakhic (Jewish legal) rationale behind the ethics of Jesus, Paul and the early Christians. He offers fresh and often unexpected answers based on careful biblical and historical study. His arguments have far-reaching implications not only for the study of the New Testament, but more broadly for the relationship between Christianity and Judaism.
- Examines the halakhic rationale behind the ethics of Jesus, Paul and the early Christians.
- Offers fresh and often unexpected answers based on careful biblical and historical study.
- Presents arguments that have implications for the relationship between Christianity and Judaism.
- Part One: Christianity in the Land of Israel
- 1. Halakhah and Ethics in the Jesus Tradition
- 2. Matthew’s Divorce Texts in the Light of Pre-Rabbinic Jewish Law
- 3. ‘Let the Dead Bury Their Dead’: Jesus and the Law Revisited
- 4. James the Just and Antioch
- Part Two: Jewish and Christian Ethics for Gentiles
- 5. Natural Law in Second Temple Judaism
- 6. Natural Law in the New Testament
- 7. The Noachide Commandments and New Testament Ethics
- Part Three: The Development of Public Ethics
- 8. The Beginning of Public Ethics
- 9. Jewish and Christian Public Ethics in the Early Roman Empire
Markus Bockmuehl has written a very important book. He shows with great learning in Christian and Jewish primary sources and the vast secondary literature how much the issue of law lies at the heart of Early Christian thought. He persuasively argues that Early Christianity remained much closer to ancient Jewish nomianism than many have believed. A contemporary benefit of this book is that it can be an excellent resource in making the issue of law itself the commonality needed for a new and positive Jewish-Christian relationship in the present.
—Professor David Novak, University of Toronto
Here is a bold argument: that Christianity staked its claim within Graeco-Roman culture on the basis of the Torah’s address of Gentiles as Gentiles. In order to make his case, Dr. Bockmuehl deftly draws on his expertise in both Judaic and Christian literature. By moving beyond the tight circle of the canonical New Testament alone, he invites us into the genuine world of early Christianity, where ethics and purity were not abstract concerns, but daily issues.
—Professor Bruce Chilton, Bard College
This is an outstanding study of a neglected topic. Dr Bockmuehl encourages his readers to consider from new perspectives major ethical issues and familiar New Testament passages. This lively book will spark off keen discussion among a wide readership. I shall continue to learn a great deal from it.
—Professor Graham Stanton, University of Cambridge