In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity

Rating:
Summary: Unique Resource for Christianity's Jewish Context
Review: Skarsaune, a Professor of Church History at Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology in Oslo, Norway, begins with the premise that the Jewish influence on Christianity lasted much longer than traditional studies have credited and that the Jewish influence was more important than we have credited. Indeed, he traces the dialogue with Judaism (and with Jewish Christianity) far beyond the Jewish revolts through the entire pre-Constantinian period.

The book begins with the Maccabees and launches a broad exploration of the Jewish roots of Christianity. This survey takes nearly one-fourth of the entire work. It explores the cultural, political, and geographical dimensions of the Jewish background along with sections on the significance of the Temple and on the various groups within Judaism.

One group within Judaism in the first century was the Jesus movement and the nascent Christian church. In a fascinating chapter called "The Land of Israel: The Church of Jewish Believers," Skarsaune explores what he calls "the archaeology of holy places" (the Holy Sepulchre, Mount Zion, the house of Peter in Capernaum, and Nazareth) and then the questions of Jewish believers in Jesus in the land of Israel. After a look at the Apostolic Fathers (wherein he argues that Jewish-Christians were the theological teachers of Gentile Christianity), the encounter with paganism and what evangelism meant in both Jewish and Christian contexts, and a look at the Gnostics and Marcion, he concludes this section with an examination of the second-century debate between Judaism and Christianity.

Part 3 of the book deals with faith and order in the developing church. Here, Skarsaune explores the influence of the Jewish heritage on the developing canon, the beginnings of Christology, the questions of conversion and baptism, worship, the liturgical calendar, Passover, and Eucharist. He points out how these topics developed in Christian theology from Jewish roots and in continued dialogue with the church's Jewish heritage. In the section on baptism, for example, he focuses on the differences between Christian baptism, Jewish proselyte baptism, and the baptism of John. But he also lists with great care the parallels in the [End Page 109] Jewish and Christian rituals and argues that the ritual in Gentile Christianity developed out of the ritual for Jewish proselyte baptism.

An epilogue deals with the church's handling of the great persecutions and with the radical new world brought about by Constantine.

One unusual feature of the book is what Skarsaune calls "Temple Square." This is a sidebar found at or near the end of each chapter. Each one deals with fascinating tidbits of history that relate to the chapter but do not quite fit in the body of the text. Each also relates back to the Jewish context for Christianity.

For the scholar, most of the material in this book is not new-we have read it again and again. What is new about the book? First, the depth with which Skarsaune treats the Jewish background in a variety of contexts. Second is the perspective of the book itself. Skarsaune relates the development of the church, even the Gentile church, to its Jewish roots and to an on-going dialogue with the Jewish heritage. He ascribes far more importance to the Jewish heritage (and, by inference, to Jewish-Christianity) than any other author this reviewer has read. This perspective is the greatest strength of the work inasmuch as it draws the reader into the dialogue and into the exploration of Jewish roots. At the same time, the author's perspective limits the usefulness of the book as a general introduction to the early church because of what it does not include. For example, Irenaeus and Tertullian are ignored since they do not fit within the author's framework.

Because of the book's perspective, its use in the classroom would be limited to supplementary reading which provides a new perspective on the early church. The length of the study (440+ pages) also makes it awkward for use as a secondary resource for students, but it is a work that needs to be read and taken seriously by teachers. It is easy to read, challenging to think about, and contains a wealth of information that is not found in one place anywhere else. Personal, college, and seminary libraries would do well to include it on their shelves.

John O. Gooch

Rating:
Summary: Refreshing and insightful scholarship
Review: Skarsuane provides the reader with insights into the Jewish background of early Christianity, even Gentile Christianity. It is not an overstatement to call his work exhaustive, as he covers all the bases in this 455 page work.

There are 21 chapters divided into 4 parts.
1.judaism and hellensim 2.Politics: jews and the roman empire
3. geography: the land of israel and the diaspora 4. jerusalem: teh city of the temple 5.how many "judaisms"? 6.jesus with judaism 7. the early jerusalem community of Christians 8.mission to the gentiles and the torah etc........
Skarsaune is very thorough!

I would also highly recommend Jean Danielou's "Theology of Jewish Christianity". It is out of print, but possible to find and it is worth the hunt!

The price is also very cheap for such a work. You will be hard-pressed to find a book more detailed and readable than this one. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to the Jewishness of Christianity
Review: This book, by veteran early-church historian Oskar Skarsaune, presents a wealth of information on early Judaism, the New Testament, and the Early Church. It's easy to read and each chapter comes with a list of suggestions for further reading. Most surprising to some readers will be that so much of what some consider "Gentile" about Christianity is at heart Jewish - including even the doctrine of the Incarnation, often held to be a pagan import. This is a must read for anyone interested in Jews, Judaism, or Christianity.