Table Of ContentStudies in Christianity
and Judaism / Etudes sur le
christianisme et le judaïsme : 2
Studies in Christianity and Judaism /
Etudes sur le christianisme et le judaïsme
Studies in Christianity and Judaism / Etudes sur le christianisme
et le judaïsme presents publications that study Judaism and Chris-
tianity together in an effort to reach an understanding of how the
two religions have related and relate to each other as well as
studies that offer original insight into some central aspect of the
two religions or of one of them. Three groups of studies are
envisaged; studies of doctrine, historical studies, and textual
studies. Whereas there exist similar publications produced in
Canada in a theological context, this Series reflects the specific
nature and orientation of the departments of religious studies in
Canadian centres of learning. In these departments Christianity
and Judaism are studied from the perspective of the history of
religions. Such a perspective is not necessarily aligned with one
of the two traditions. It tries to transcend traditional antagonisms
as well as confessional limitations. After several decades of work
from such a perspective, Canadian scholars are now in a position
to offer studies that put forward less conventional views of the
two religions.
GENERAL EDITOR: Jean Oueîîette Université de Montréal
EDITORIAL BOARD: G.-H. Allard Université de Montréal)
P.-E. Dion University of Toronto
L. Gaston Vancouver School of Theology
J. M. Lightstone Concordia University
A, Mendelson McMaster University
IV. H. Principe University of Toronto
P. Richardson University of Toronto
E. P. Sanders McMaster University
F. Wisse McGill University
G. Va liée McMaster University
STUDIES IN CHRISTIANITY
AND JUDAISM
Number 2
ANTI-JUDAISM
IN EARLY
CHRISTIANITY
Volume 1
PAUL AND THE GOSPELS
edited by
Peter Richardson
with David Granskou
Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in
Religion/Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses
by Wilfrid Laurier University Press
1986
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Anti-Judaism in early Christianity
(Studies in Christianity and Judaism = Ktudes
sur le christianisme et le judaïsme, ISSN 0711-5903 ; 2)
Bibliograph y: v.
Indu des index.
Partial contents: v. 1. Paul and the Gospels ;
edited by Peler Richardson with David Granskou.
ISBN 0-88920-167-6 (v. 1)
1. Christianity and other religions - Judaism.
2. Judaism — Relations — Christianity. 3. Paul,
the Apostle, Saint - Attitude towards Judaism.
4. Christianity ~ Early church, ca. 30-600.
I. Richardson, Peter, 1935- II. Granskou,
David M. III. Series: Studies in Christianity
and Judaism ; 2.
BM 535.A57 1986 261.2'6 C86-093124-2
© 1986 Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses / Canadian
Corporation for Studies in Religion
86 87 88 89 4 3 2 1
No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system, translated or reproduced in any form, by print,
photoprint, micro [dm, microfiche, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
Order from;
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5
Printed in Canada
Contents
Notes on Contributors vii
Introduction ix
1 Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity: The State of the
Question
William Klassen 1
2 Paul Ahead of His Time: 1 Thess. 2:13-16
John C. Hurd 21
3 Paul and the Law in Galatians 2-3
Lloyd Gaston 37
4 On the Absence of "Anti-Judaism" in 1 Corinthians
Peter Richardson 59
5 Paul on the Law, His Opponents, and the Jewish People in
Philippians 3 and 2 Corinthians 11
E.P. Sanders 75
6 The Rhetorical Function of the Jews in Romans
Daniel Fraikin 91
7 The Trial of Jesus as Jewish-Christian Polarization:
Blasphemy and Polemic in Mark's Gospel
Charles P. A nderson 107
8 Anti-Judaism and the Passion Narrative in Luke and Acts
Lloyd Gaston 127
v
via Paul and the Gospels
9 The Jews and the Death of Jesus in Acts
S.(J. Wilson 1 n
10 Anti-Judaic Sentiments in the Passion Narrative According
to Matthew
Erwin Buck — 165
11 The Setting of Matthean Anti-Judaism
Benno Przybylski 1 81
12 Anti-Judaism in the Passion Accounts of the Fourth Gospel
David Granskou 201
Index nominorum 217
Index locorum 221
Notes on Contributors
CHARLES P. ANDERSON is Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Uni-
versity of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. He is the author/editor of
the Guide to Religious Studies in Canada and Past-President of the Cana-
dian Society of Biblical Studies.
ERWIN BUCK is Professor of New Testament Studies in the Lutheran
Theological Seminary, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He is the co-author
of A Complete Cmia)rd<nice to Flainu-sJosephus, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1973).
DANIEI. FRAIKIN is Professor of New Testament at Queen's Theological
College, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. His main publications
have been in French theological and pastoral journals.
LLOYD GASTON is Professor of New Testament at the Vancouver School
of Theology, Vancouver, B.C. His books include No Stone Upon Another
(Leiden: Brill, 1970) and Horae Synopticae Electronicae (Missoula: SBL,
1973).
DAVID GRANSKOU is Professor of Religious Studies at Wilfrid Laurier
University, Waterloo, Ontario. He is presently working on a major
study of Johannine irony.
JOHN c. HURD, JR. is Professor of New Testament in Trinity College,
University of Toronto, and the author of The Origin of 1 Corinthians
(London: SPCK, 1965; and Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press,
1983), together with a number of computer-produced tools in Aramaic
and Greek. With Peter Richardson he has recently edited a Festschrift
for Frank C. Beare, From Jesus to Paul (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier
University Press, 1984).
WILLIAM KLASSEN is Academic Dean of the Inter-Faith Peace Academy
in Jerusalem. His main interest is the relation between the Cynics and
vii
via Paul and the Gospels
Stoics and the New Testament. He edited The New Way of Jesus (New-
ton, Kansas: Faith and Life Press. 1980) and has recently published
Love of Enemies: The Way to Peace (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984),
BENNO PRZYBYLSKI is Professor of New Testament, North American
Baptist Divinity School, Fid mon ton. Alberta, and the author of Righte-
ousness in Mattheiv and his World of Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1980).
PETER RICHARDSON is Professor of Religious Studies and Principal of
University College, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. He is the
author of Israel in the Apostolic Church (Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1969) and Pauls Ethic oj Freedom (Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1979). He has recently edited, with John C. Hurcl, From Jesus to
Paul.
E.P. SANDERS is Professor of Religious Studies, McMaster University,
Hamilton, Ontario, and has recently been appointed the Dean Ire-
land's Professor, Queen's College. Oxford. His works include The
Te nd eue ies of the Sy n o ptu * Ira d it ton ( C a m b r i d ge : C a î n I) r i d ge U n i ve r s i t y
Press, 1969); Paul and Palestinian Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress Press,
1977); and Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People (Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1983).
s. G. WILSON is Professor of Religious Studies, Carleton University,
Ottawa, Ontario, and the author of The Gentiles and Gentile Mission in
Luke-Acts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973); Luke and the
Pastoral Epistles (London: SPCK, 1979); and Luke and the Law (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983).
Introduction
Since the Holocaust the question of Christianity's contribution to anti-
Semitism has given rise to a vast amount of literature, and since the
middle 1960s, with Vatican li s declaration, the issue has become one of
the central questions of ecumenical debate, No doubt the inwardness of
the 1960s and 1970s has given its own special stamp to the contours of
that debate. This period will go down in historv as one of the most
agonizingly introspective, and not least because of the pain of the
re-assessment of Christianity's attitude to Judaism.
The early Christian materials have often been examined to assess
their role in the longstanding negative attitude of Christians to Jews.
Many of these studies are valuable, but even the good ones are often
flawed by being too apologetic, too polemical, or not sufficiently criti-
cal. Generally they have focussed on the theological reasons for, or
implications of, the statements in the New Testament or in other early
Christian literature which might be considered anti-Judaic. The
studies which follow emphasize the context and historv of early Chris-
tianity. While not without presuppositions, they all trv to be rigorously
critical as they present reconsideration of man) of the classic passages
which have contributed to the development of anti-Judaism in Chris-
tianity.
The motivation for the early church's sometimes harsh attitude
was partly theological — it needed to define itself over against its
parent—and partly sociological — it needed to make clear the line
which divided the fledgling group of Christian believers from the
group with which it was most likely to be confused. That polemic was
sometimes fed by historical circumstances, on the one hand mistrust
originating in Judaism, on the other hand societal dislike of a religious
body that remained separate from the rest of society. The growing
separation was also related, both as cause and as effect, to the rapid
gentilizing of the church as it developed in the first century. For these
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