This volume charts the shifting boundaries of Judaism from antiquity to the modern period in order to bring clarity to what scholars mean when they claim that ancient texts or groups are "within Judaism," as well as exploring how rabbinic Jews, Christians, and Muslims have negotiated and renegotiated what Judaism is and is not in order to form their own identities. Belief in Jesus as the Messiah was seen as part of first-century Judaism but by the fourth or fifth century the boundaries had shifted and adherence to Jesus came to be seen as outside of Judaism. Resituating New Testament texts within first- or second-century Judaism is an historical exercise that may broaden our view of what Judaism looked like in the early centuries CE, but normatively these texts remain within Christianity because of their reception history. The historical "within Judaism" perspective, however, has the potential to challenge and reshape the theology of contemporary Christianity while at the same time the long-held consensus that belief in Jesus cannot belong within Judaism is again challenged by the modern Messianic Jewish movement.
Karin Hedner Zetterholm is associate professor of Jewish Studies at Lund University. Anders Runesson is professor of New Testament at the University of Oslo.
Part I. The "Within Judaism" Perspective: What's at Stake? 1. The "Within Judaism" Perspective: Why Does It Matter? Magnus Zetterholm 2. What Does "Within Judaism" Mean? Some Thoughts on Method, History, and Theology Anders Runesson 3. What's in a Label? "Jews," "Judaism," and "Jewish" in the Study of Antiquity Adele Reinhartz 4. What's in a Translation? Mark D. Nanos 5. Gender, Judaism, and the Jesus Movement: What Change Does "Within" Bring? Kathy Ehrensperger 6. Attending to Power: "Within Judaism" Scholarship and the Erasure of History Neil Elliott Part II. The First and Second Centuries: Reading New Testament Texts Within Judaism 7. Paul Within Judaism Paula Fredriksen 8. Mark Within Judaism John Van Maaren 9. Matthew Within Judaism Matthias Konradt 10. Luke Within Judaism Joshua Paul Smith and Matthew Thiessen 11. Acts Within Judaism Isaac W. Oliver 12. John Within Judaism Wally V. Cirafesi 13. Revelation Within Judaism Ralph J. Korner 14. James Within Judaism Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr Part III. From the Third Century to the Rise of Islam: New Boundaries Emerge 15. Jesus Within Third- and Fourth-Century Judaism: The Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions 1.27-71 and the Homilies Karin Hedner Zetterholm 16. 2 Enoch Within Judaism? Erudite Eclecticism in Late Antiquity Grant Macaskill 17. Augustine on Jesus and Paul Within Judaism Paula Fredriksen 18. John Chrysostom Draws a Line Michele Murray 19. Within Israel: A Rabbinic Perspective Adiel Schremer 20. What Falls Within Judaism According to the Quran? Q5 Surat al-Ma?ida 44-47 as Critique of Mishnah Avot 1:1 Holger Zellentin 21. Judaism Within Islam? Jews and Judaism in Early Islamic Sources Mohammed Ahmed Part IV. Present-Day Judaism and Christianity 22. "Within Judaism" in Contemporary Jewish Life Elliot N. Dorff 23. Can Jesus as Messiah Find a Place Within Twenty-First Century Judaism? The Messianic Jewish Challenge Mark S. Kinzer and Jennifer M. Rosner 24. What Does "Within Judaism" Mean for Catholic Christians Today? Philip A. Cunningham 25. What Does the "Within Judaism" Perspective Mean for Protestant Christians Today? William S. Campbell and Kathy Ehrensperger
This is a really quite remarkable book. Even as debates over situating New Testament texts "within Judaism" continue to roil biblical studies, Zetterholm, Runesson, and their outstanding contributors pause to theorize the question itself, to explore what is at stake, and for whom, and to point to promising ways forward. The authors of the twenty-five chapters are expert guides to a difficult but extremely important field of research. This will be a book to come back to again and again. -- Matthew V. Novenson, University of Edinburgh
