Focusing on the Jewish Story of the New Testament

[rug]

November 25, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO — Growing up Jewish in North Dartmouth, Mass., Amy-Jill Levine loved Christianity.

Her neighborhood “was almost entirely Portuguese and Roman Catholic,” Dr. Levine said last Sunday at her book party here during the annual American Academy of Religion conference. “My introduction to Christianity was ethnic Roman Catholicism, and I loved it. I used to practice giving communion to Barbie. Church was like the synagogue: guys in robes speaking languages I didn’t understand. My favorite movie was ‘The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima.’ ”

Christianity might have stayed just a fascination, but for an unfortunate episode in second grade: “When I was 7 years old, one girl said to me on the school bus, ‘You killed our Lord.’ I couldn’t fathom how this religion that was so beautiful was saying such a dreadful thing.”

That encounter with the dark side of her friends’ religion sent Dr. Levine on a quest, one that took her to graduate school in New Testament studies and eventually to Vanderbilt University, where she has taught since 1994. Dr. Levine is still a committed Jew — she attends an Orthodox synagogue in Nashville — but she is a leading New Testament scholar.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/us/a-jewish-edition-of-the-new-testament-beliefs.html

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. Anti-semitism is the basis of Christianity. Without it, there would be no Christianity.

In order to promote Christianity, the promoters (Paul and company), ridiculed and demonized Judaism and the Jewish religion. In the process of promoting the religion as separate from Judaism, it took Jesus and turned him into a God-form, and demonized the very religion Jesus worshipped and believed. Jesus, if real, would've been horrified at the use of his character as either a God form or to know that his much later followers demonized his very own religion. Unfortunately, it didn't end there. The early demonization of Judaism continues to the present day.

[rug]

3. I suspect this author would disagree with you.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

8. She might, but the history of how Christianity was promoted and what was promoted...

indicates only that.

1) The #1 promoter of the new religion was a Roman who had never met Jesus;
2) Jesus was turned into a God, something that is a sin in Jesus' own religion;
3) The creators of the new religion had never met Jesus;
3) Jesus' own religion was Judaism, and yet it was demonized, or, at best, rendered to be inferior and the rites and rituals that were part of Jesus' life were dispensed with asap;
5) Jesus' alleged own words about love were completely ignored in the zeal for promoting a new religion;
6) The 'writings' that became a part of the Christian Bible were picked like vegetables from a cafeteria line, and the books that didn't suit the then-leaders of the new religion, were dispensed with.

I was raised Catholic, in case there's any question.

[rug]

13. Your history is off.

There's more hypothesis than settled scholarship in those six statements.

I was raised Catholic too. I paid attention. Still do.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

14. So do I. The books were selected cafeteria style. The ones that suited the religion

were accepted.

[rug]

15. Here. It's worth the twenty bucks.

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=6299

[Leontius]

21. Just for the record the #1 promoter of Christianity was also born a

Jew as was the #2 promoter, Peter.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

24. Jesus the Jew, after death, had his religion torn to shreds by his followers. How lovely, no?

As for Paul, he wasn't born in Israel. He was a Roman. Sure, he 'converted,' to Judaism, but then later became the most ardent hater of Judaism. So much so, that in his writings and speeches, he recommended NOT following the rites and rituals of Jesus' religion.

Also sooo nice.

[Taverner]

26. Somehwat yes, somewhat no - I would argue Christianity is an amalgam

Of several religions. Of course Judaism, but also Zoroastrianism, Paganism, Cult of Horus, and later the Manicheans.

It's hard to say how much was original and how much was adapted later - it's not like people kept records of these things.

It's also very hard to say whether a man named Jesus lived and died as recorded in the gospels.

In any case, the antisemitism did show up in Christianity pretty early in its history. Pretty much with the death of the Jerusalem Christians (90 AD, sack of Jerusalem) so also died any Hebraic Christianity. After that, it was pretty much a Gentile Religion. No surprise that the Early Church concentrated almost 100% on Pauline Christianity, rather than the Jewish or Gnostic varieties.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Jesus was not a Christian and if the Jews would not have killed

him there would have not been any Christianity..........

[rug]

4. The Romans killed Jesus.

[NMMNG]

5. At the behest of the Jews

[rug]

6. At the behest of a ruling elite. Hardly "the Jews".

[NMMNG]

7. The Sanhedrin

Still Jewish people. A little different than your implication that it was a Roman plot.

[rug]

11. The Sanhedrin

A lot different than your implication that it was the Jewish people.

[Angry Dragon]

17. Is that why Pontius Pilate washed his hands of it??

The temple priests wanted him dead

[rug]

22. He also said he was innocent.

Nevertheless he had him killed because it advanced the Roman aim of keeping Palestine pacified.

[madrchsod]

9. jesus was not the only miracle man in Galilee....

[struggle4progress]

10. Reassessing Jewish-Christian Relations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOobQiRAa8

[rug]

12. Good find, thanks. I wanted to learn more about her work.

Bookmarked.

[struggle4progress]

25. There's a series of one hour talks on the parables here

http://fora.tv/2011/08/15/Amy-Jill_Levine_Hearing_the_Parables

[JDPriestly]

16. Interesting.

I read this book, Jesus and the Zealots by S.G.F. Brandon which points out that Jesus had among his disciples one, maybe two Zealots. The Zealots revolted against Rome. Some blame them for the Fall of Rome which led to the diaspora.

The author of the book, Jesus and the Zealots, points out that Mark, which is the book of the Bible upon which Matthew and Luke were partly based, was written by a Christian probably in Rome and quite possibly at the very time that the Roman emperor was marching through Rome with the curtains form the Jewish temple. Thus, the New Testament, with the exception of the Acts of the Apostles and to some extent maybe, John, was written mostly by Christians trying to avoid offending the Romans or by someone who never knew Jesus.

Brandon thinks that the Acts of the Apostles was the first of the gospels to be written and described the life of the earliest Jewish Christians in Jerusalem who were led by James, the brother of Jesus.

TI am not a Bible scholar, and I would be interested in knowing what Dr. Levine would say to the book, Jesus and the Zealots.

http://books.google.com/books/about/Jesus_And_The_Zealots.html?id=tIC7AAAAIAAJ

[Crunchy Frog]

18. Something I've never understood,

How could anybody alive today be accused of having killed someone who died 2000 years ago? Anyway, wouldn't it make more sense to attack Italians as being the descendents of the people who actually nailed him up? Never let rationality get in the way of naked bigotry though.

The book that she's just edited sounds very interesting. I may have to get a copy.

[laconicsax]

19. It makes as much sense as original sin. n/t

[Crunchy Frog]

20. Original sin is more of an abstract theological concept.

Very different, IMHO, than accusing a little kid of murdering someone who died nearly 2000 years before she was born.

Hey, my ancestors were Vikings, and I've never had anyone get accusatory towards me for having sacked and pillaged their village 1000 years ago.

[rug]

23. Hey ! I've been looking for you.

You owe me two pigs.

:grr: