Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins: Diversity, Continuity, and Transformation

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Summary: Valuable Summary
Review: The stated goal of Nickelsburg's Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins is to answer two questions: "How have the Dead Sea Scrolls and revolutions in the methodology of biblical scholarship in the past two generations changed our perceptions of Judaism in the Greco-Roman period, and how do-or should-these developments lead us to rethink the origins of Christianity?" (xv). Nickelsburg argues that NT scholars ignore or neglect the rich harvest of early Jewish studies, much to their and their students' detriment. His thesis is that, within a history-of-religions perspective, the insights from the study of early Judaism necessitates a reevaluation of our understanding of earliest Christianity. While it is the case that many groundbreaking discoveries and advances of the last fifty years challenge our understanding of ancient Judaism, the degree of reassessment of early Christianity, and Christian theology in particular, is still an open question.

Each chapter of the work is divided into two main sections: the first outlines the findings of contemporary research in early Judaism while the second considers some of the implications of these findings for the origins of Christianity. In chapter one ("Scripture and Tradition") Nickelsburg takes up the complex field of biblical interpretation and formation. In chapter two ("Torah and the Righteous Life") he considers the contentious issue of the relationship between the law and righteousness in first-century Judaism. This complex of issues bleeds over into Nickelsburg's discussion of "God`s Activity in Behalf of Humanity" and "Agents of God`s Activity" (chapters three and four respectively). The heightened eschatological expectation in all its varieties within postbiblical Judaism forms the content of chapter five ("Eschatology"). And chapter six ("Contexts and Settings") considers the social, ideological, and political situation within which the documents of postbiblical Judaism were written.

Finally chapter seven ("Conclusions and Implications") draws these insights together to argue that there are many more similarities between Judaism and Christianity than more polemic paradigms allow. This is a very important work produced by a eminently respected scholar (see the new two volume Festschrift: George W. E. Nickelsburg in Perspective: An Ongoing Dialogue of Learning [Leiden: Brill, 2003]). And though working from a history-of-religions perspective, it should be read by all serious students of the NT in order to correct an outdated understanding of first-century Judaism and its relationship to early Christianity. The work will benefit upper level university students and postgraduates along with scholars in other fields as an introduction to this complex set of issues. The two major shortcomings of the work are the lack of an extended bibliography for further research and the lack of a subject index.