Q. How to we really come to terms with these sorts of tensions?   A. In this case, it seemed to me that the most promising way of coming to terms with the tension was to recognize the element of “God’s unfinished business” in the early Christian claims. That is, claims about the significance of Christ were qualified by the expectation that his accomplishments will be brought to completion only with his “coming” in the future. In Luke’s words,... Read more

Q. On p. 417 you point out that Justin seems to have been the first Christian who consistently used the term ethne to refer to Gentile Christians, even to the point of seeing the use of that term in the Greek OT as prophecies about Gentile Christians, not about possible adherents to the Jewish faith from the Gentile world. This could be seen as part of the takeover by Christians of Jewish Scriptures as meant ultimately for Christians and predicting... Read more

Q.  Any suggestions as to how to help the church think more helpfully about these matters? A. Yes– the suggestion: that gentile Christians, as a process of self-discovery, adopt a (suitably revised) form of the other pattern of reading that was present in the proto-orthodox church—that is, a deliberate strategy of reading scripture—both Israel’s scripture and the New Testament—from the perspective of the nations/gentiles. Israel’s scripture presents us with a narrative involving God’s dealings with Israel, a people chosen from... Read more

Q. Any further thoughts along those lines?   A.  At the same time, however, the model mentioned in the previous blog post is not the only model that is present in the NT. On many of the significant questions that the early church had to wrestle with, we find a diverse set of answers—a diversity limited by their core convictions, but diversity nonetheless. So in Acts, for example, Luke’s view of the church seems to involve a community of Jewish... Read more

Q. At the end of this stimulating book you suggest that Gentile Christians today should perhaps read themselves in light not of the Hebrews or the Jews in Scripture but rather by identifying with the Gentiles in the narrative. The problem with this suggestion is that Paul, our earliest NT witness encourages us to see ourselves, along with believing Jews as the children of Abraham. While I certainly agree that anti-Semitism is a grotesque sin that must be avoided, nor... Read more

Q. I was a bit surprised that you don’t really deal in this book anyway with the use of the term christianos (meaning something like partisans of Christ or perhaps belonging to Christ on a par with Herodianos) which is depicted as outsider language used to describe the Jewish and Gentile followers of Christ in Antioch in the book of Acts. How come you don’t, especially in the light of the later use of similar language in the late second... Read more

Q. Let’s talk about the threefold way you have broken down the earliest Jewish followers of Christ and their approach to the issue of Gentile inclusion. P. 315 provides us with a good summary of what was previously argued with the three main views being: 1) the view that Christ is the messiah of Israel, and gentiles being brought into his following are being brought into Israel and into the keeping of the Mosaic covenant, even including circumcision and all... Read more

Q. At various points in the book you point out how Jews accepted Gentiles as God-fearers and as proselytes. True, but as Scot McKnight showed long ago, the real evidence of Jews having some sort of mission to actually go out and recruit Gentiles to Judaism is lacking. This, it seems to me, is a fundamental difference in modus operandi with Paul and his co-workers, and in general with the attitude of the earliest followers of Christ who believed in... Read more

Q. Much of the focus of this book is on the varied and changing use of specific terms like ethne and what it might reveal about the changing perspectives not only on Gentiles but also on non-Christ following Jews. If I’m reading you right, while there is a spectrum of belief about these things in the earliest period in the NT era itself and perhaps on into the beginning of the second century clear supersessionism or replacement theology (the church... Read more

Q. How were these various challenges met? A.  In order to address this set of challenges, Christian apologists such as Justin made several moves. One was to claim ethnē as an identity term and to identify themselves with “the nations” that were frequently referred to in Israel’s scriptures. This enabled them to claim a kind of antiquity; as Christ-believing ethnē, they were the ones whom the ancient prophets had foreseen. It also enabled them to position themselves favorably with respect... Read more