Early Christian Thought in Its Jewish Context by John M.G. Barclay
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Annoying Academics
I am fortunately well past the point in life where I am obliged to offer cogent rebuttals or endorsements of academic arguments. I can merely find them annoying and say so.
This book is annoying.
Given its title one might feel entitled to presume that it is to some extent the result a joint Christian-Jewish project. Such presumption would be unfounded. It is not in any way a collaborative effort. Of the 19 contributors, exactly none are Jewish. Most are clergymen or women of various Christian sects. All are former students or colleagues of the biblical scholar Morna Hooker, emeritus professor at Cambridge and a Methodist lay preacher.
This is annoying.
Given that the papers presented are scholarly works by the recognised giants in the field of New Testament studies, one might also be entitled to expect that at least some mention would be made of the absence of Jewish contribution to the individual papers and the collection as a whole. There is not. C.F.D. Moule's Introductory Essay alludes to the very recent history of Christian academic slander of ancient Jewish ritual and attitudes as formalistic and legalistic. But he makes not the slightest hint of recognition that less slanderous but equally incorrect views might be contained in the current volume.
This is annoying.
Further, given the stance of 'objectivity' that writers of such eminence pride themselves on, one might expect to find some reference if not discussion of the particularly Christian presumptions which underlie the academic arguments. This includes the presumption of Christian 'novelty' and 'continuity' as things within or outside the range of contemporary Judaic practice and thought. Novelty/continuity is a persistent Christian theological trope. More, it is a permanent Christian neurosis. Unable to define itself except in opposition to Judaism, Christianity also depends on Judaism for its legitimacy. It is this neurosis that is the root cause of Christian anti-Semitism. Yet this goes unrecognised in all of the pieces.
This is annoying.
According to the Synoptic gospels, Jesus was born a Jew, raised as an observant Jew, committed himself to Jewish ritual and to the Torah as the word of God, and died a Jew. At least some of his followers found Jesus's Jewishness objectionable and tried to portray him as something else. The fact that this continues in modern academia suggests that the distortions created in the first century continue unrecognised into the twenty-first.
This is very annoying indeed.
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