Thank you - lots to like and think through here. One worrying shortcoming, I suggest, is that you seem to go along with the kind of supercessionism or "Christian" demoting and would-be replacement of Judaism (and so something too close to antisemitism) that Kendall Soulen calls economic supersessionism, or supersessionism that interprets Christ's fulfilment of the Torah as predominantly cancellation of the ritual dimension of the Torah rather than preominantly the confirmation of Judaism and of the Lordship of the God of Israel. Soulen's most recent book "Irrevocable" (see on Amazon) explains this in helpful detail. In the New Terstament "LORD" goes together with Jesus' and his followers' strong commitment to indirect reference to the LORD of the Shema, honouring his presence and activity ("hallowed by thy name") by frequent us of the "Divine passive" etc, etc. This demotes the history of religions school as the primary authority on how to interpret "LORD" and its near synomyms in the New Testament and the earliest Christianity. Soulen's (and similar NT) work is like a gripping detective story tracking down the hidden centre of gravity in the NT.
Ooh, double cliffhanger. This series has been very helpful, as I just happened to be teaching about the origins of Christianity to my 9th graders this week, and I worked in some of your insights in my lesson on the historical Jesus. Even when I don't agree, it's been an exciting and informative read.
Thank you - lots to like and think through here. One worrying shortcoming, I suggest, is that you seem to go along with the kind of supercessionism or "Christian" demoting and would-be replacement of Judaism (and so something too close to antisemitism) that Kendall Soulen calls economic supersessionism, or supersessionism that interprets Christ's fulfilment of the Torah as predominantly cancellation of the ritual dimension of the Torah rather than preominantly the confirmation of Judaism and of the Lordship of the God of Israel. Soulen's most recent book "Irrevocable" (see on Amazon) explains this in helpful detail. In the New Terstament "LORD" goes together with Jesus' and his followers' strong commitment to indirect reference to the LORD of the Shema, honouring his presence and activity ("hallowed by thy name") by frequent us of the "Divine passive" etc, etc. This demotes the history of religions school as the primary authority on how to interpret "LORD" and its near synomyms in the New Testament and the earliest Christianity. Soulen's (and similar NT) work is like a gripping detective story tracking down the hidden centre of gravity in the NT.
Ooh, double cliffhanger. This series has been very helpful, as I just happened to be teaching about the origins of Christianity to my 9th graders this week, and I worked in some of your insights in my lesson on the historical Jesus. Even when I don't agree, it's been an exciting and informative read.