This book aims to contextualize early Christian rhetoric about foul language by asking such questions as: Where was foul language encountered? What were the conventional arguments for avoiding (or for using) obscene words? How would the avoidance of such speech have been interpreted by others? A careful examination of the ancient uses of and discourse about foul language illuminates the moral logic implicit in various Jewish and Christian texts (e.g. Sirach, Colossians, Ephesians, the Didache, and the writings of Clement of Alexandria). Although the Christians of the first two centuries were consistently opposed to foul language, they had a variety of reasons for their moral stance, and they held different views about what role speech should play in forming their identity as a "holy people."

The Ethics of Obscene Speech in Early Christianity and Its Environment

The New Testament is witness to disagreement in the early church about whether Gentile converts to the good news needed to abide by the ritualistic aspects of the Jewish Torah One view, advocated by Paul, was that Gentiles did not need to adhere to these aspects of the Law Another view, promoted by James and Peter in the Jerusalem Church, held that the Torah had not been moved aside with Jesus’ ministry As such, there were different views in the early church about what an appropriate Gentile mission should entail, and this tension is seen at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-21; Gal 2:1-10), the Incident at Antioch (Gal 2:11-14), the Crisis at Galatia (Gal 1:1-24), as well as at other times in Paul’s missionary career (Phil 3:2-6) The premise of this study is that this early church disagreement was not resolved during Paul’s lifetime but continued into the late first century and is reflected in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew


Mark’s advocacy for a Law-free Gentile mission is seen in the Markan Jesus’ active efforts to take the gospel to Gentiles (Mark 4:35-5:20; 6:45-52; 7:24-8:9; 8:13-9:29), in his stories that promote such an undertaking (Mark 7:24-30; 8:1-9), and in his liberal attitude towards the Torah (Mark 2:23-3:6; 7:15, 19b) Matthew, while using Mark’s Law-free Gospel, promotes a Law-abiding Gospel This is seen in his insistence that the Torah is eternally binding (Matt 5:17-19), in his final commission where Gentiles are welcomed into this Law-abiding gospel (Matt 28:16-20), and in the changes he makes to some Markan stories (Matt 15:1-20 cf Mark 7:1-23)


These evangelists’ different positions can also be seen in how they represent the leaders of the Law-abiding movement, namely the disciples and family of Jesus Mark portrays the disciples as steadily becoming more and more foolish as the Gospel goes on, and culminates in their betrayal, desertion, and denial of him (Mark 14:43-72) His portrayal of the family of Jesus is particularly poor, where he writes that Jesus rejects them (Mark 3:31-35), cannot work around them (Mark 6:16), and implies that they are guilty of the unforgivable sin (Mark 3:19b-30) Matthew keeps the basic narrative structure of the disciples’ portrayal in Mark, but tones down the criticism they are given, explicitly gives them responsibility in the future church (Matt 16:17-19; 18:18; 19:28; 28:19-20), and adds a resurrection narrative where they are reconciled with the risen Jesus (Matt 28:16-20) He also considerably refines the portrait of Jesus’ family, adding an infancy narrative where they are portrayed very positively (Matt 1:18-2:23) These different portrayals, viewed through the context of the early church, likely reflect each author’s different views of these figures’ promotion of a Law-abiding Gentile mission


The final part of this study looks at recent questions about the relationship between these Gospels and Paul In addressing the idea that Mark was influenced by Paul, it is seen that while Mark and Paul share a few key controversial points in common – namely promotion of a Law-free gospel and tension with the Jerusalem Church – there is no indication that Mark received these ideas from Paul Instead, it is more likely that Mark and Paul were two independently Law-free Christian movements On the question of whether Matthew was consciously criticising Paul, it is seen that while Matthew at places can be said to criticise a general Law-free theology (Matt 5:17-19; 7:21-23) there is nothing specifically Pauline in his critique In both cases then, it is seen that the Law-free movement was bigger than Paul, and that both Gospels could have been reacting to different Law-free movements in the first century church While in retrospect Mark can be said to align more closely to Paul, and Matthew can be said to stand in tension with him, there is no evidence that either evangelist was consciously doing so


Mark and Matthew then, can be seen to strongly reflect different sides of the continuing debates in the early church about the relevance of the ritualistic aspects of the Torah for Gentiles, and studying both Gospels together in this context demonstrates how pervasive this debate was in the first Christian century

The Gospels of Mark and Matthew in the context of the early church

Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABBREVIATIONS 1. ASSESSING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN GOSPEL GENRE AND AUDIENCE 2. PROPOSING A NEW TYPOLOGY FOR GRAECO-ROMAN BIOGRAPHY: GENRE, SUB-GENRE AND QUESTIONS OF AUDIENCE 3. CRAFTING AUTHORITY IN THE PATRISTIC REFERENCES TO GOSPEL ORIGINS: AUTHORITATIVE PEOPLE, AUTHORITATIVE PLACES AND AUTHORITATIVE GOSPELS 4. AVOIDING CROSS-GENERIC COMPARISONS: THE ROLE OF GENRE IN ASSESSING AUDIENCE IN NON-CANONICAL AND CANONICAL GOSPELS 5. DEFINING GOSPEL AUDIENCES: GOSPEL COMMUNITIES, GOSPEL AUDIENCES AND 'FOCUSED' B??? 6. ENVISAGING GOSPEL AUDIENCES IN SPACE AND TIME: 'CONTEMPORARY' B??? AND THE GOSPELS FOR 'ALL NATIONS' 7. CONCLUSION APPENDICES: INTRODUCTION BIBLIOGRAPHY

Why βίοϛ? : on the relationship between gospel genre and implied audience

The investigation evaluates the nature of the Johannine community by using sociological research on new religious movements today and by comparing John with Philo and the Dead Sea Scrolls. This novel procedure in Johannine research generates several alternative characteristics of John.

Johannine Sectarianism in Perspective: A Sociological, Historical, and Comparative Analysis of Temple and Social Relationships in the Gospel of John, Philo and Qumran

I. Periodicals Journal of Ecumenical Studies (Temple University [http://dialogueinstitute. org/journal-of-ecumenical-studies/]; University of Pennsylvania Press [http://jes.pennpress.org/home/]) Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations (http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ scjr) II. Helpful Websites http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/ (Center for Christian-Jewish Learning) www.ccjr.us (Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations) http://international.huji.ac.il/en/programs/post-docs/the-center-for-the-study-of-christianity (Center for the Study of Christianity at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) http://www.jcrelations.net/Home.112.0.html?L International Council of Christians and Jews) www.woolfinstitute.cam.ac.uk (Woolf Institute, Cambridge, U.K.) http://www.shu.edu/catholic-mission/judaeo-christian-institute/ (Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies, Seton Hall University, So. Orange, NJ) III. Select Bibliography A. Antisemitism Almog, Shmuel. Antisemitism through the Ages. Oxford, U.K.: Pergamon Press, 1988. Flannery, Edward M. The Anguish of the Jews, rev. ed. New York and Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Stimulus, 1985. Gager, John. The Origins of Anti-Semitism: Attitudes toward Judaism in Pagan and Late Antiquity. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Goldstein, Phyllis. A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism. Brookline, MA: Facing History and Ourselves, 2012. Hay, Malcolm. The Roots of Christian Anti-Semitism. New York: Freedom Library Press, 1981. Heschel, Susannah. "Anti-Judaism in Christian Feminist Theology," Tikkun 5 (May/June, 1990): 25-29. Idinopulos, Thomas A. A Betrayal of Spirit: Jew Hatred, the Holocaust, and Christianity. Aurora, CO: Davies Group, 2007. Isaac, Jules. Has Anti-Semitism Roots in Christianity ? New York: National Conference of Christians and Jews, 1961. --. The Teaching of Contempt. New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1964. --. Jesus and Israel. New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1971. Langmuir, Gavin. Toward a Definition of Antisemitism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990. Lipton, Sarah. Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Jewish Iconography. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2014. Modras, Ronald. "Christian Antisemitism and Auschwitz: Some Reflections on Responsibility," New Theology Review, vol. 10, no. 3 (1997), pp. 58-72. Parkes, James. Antisemitism. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1964. Poliakov, Leon. The History of Anti-Semitism. New York: Schocken, 1981. Pontifical Commission Iustitia et Pax. "The Church and Racism," Origins 18 (February 23, 1989): 614-626. Stowe, Kenneth. Jewish Dogs, an Image, and Its Interpreters: Continuity in the Jewish-Catholic Encounter. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006. Trachtenberg, Joshua. The Devil and the Jews: The Medieval Conception of the Jew and Its Relation to Modern Anti-Semitism. New York: Meridian, 1961. von Kellenbach, Katherina. Anti-Judaism in Feminist Christian Writings. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1994. B. Ethics/Moral Theology Banki, Judith H., and John T. Pawlikowski, eds. Ethics in the Shadow of the Holocaust: Christian and Jewish Perspectives. Franklin, WI, and Chicago: Sheed & Ward, 2002. Bemporad, Jack, John Pawlikowski, and Joseph Sievers. Good and Evil after Auschwitz: Ethical Implications for Today. Hoboken, NJ: Ktav, 2001. Daum, Annette, and Eugene Fisher. The Challenge of Shalom for Catholics and Jews: A Dialogical Discussion Guide to the Catholic Bishops' Pastoral on Peace and War. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregation in cooperation with the Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1985. Fisher, Eugene, and Daniel Polish, eds. …

Sources for the Study of Catholic-Jewish Relations

Few passages in the New Testament Gospels can compete with Mk 7:1-23 when it comes to the history of influence in biblical scholarship. Generations of scholars have turned to this pericope in order to find the message of the historical Jesus, the theology of early Christianity or even the essence of Christianity. In this thesis it is argued that the mainstream interpretation of the cardinal saying (Mk 7:15/Mt 15:11) can no longer be maintained. Whereas Mk 7:1-23 has played an important role both in the quest for the historical Jesus and in literary critical studies on Mk, few scholars have studied the interaction between the two. This investigation is a combination of both text-internal and text-external methods (biblical exegesis, rabbinics, patristics and belles lettres), and seeks to further a better understanding of both the literary and historical contexts of the pericope. The four main sections of the book survey respectively (1) the interpretation of the pericope in New Testament scholarship during the last century (with focus on narrative criticism and the third quest), (2) the effect the pericope had on life in early Christianity (from earliest times to John Chrysostom), (3) the role that the pericope plays in Mk (being the first known narrative presentation of Jesus of Nazareth), and (4) the place of food laws in first-century Judaism and the emergence of a distinct metaphor in Jewish paraenetic literature which, it is argued, is instrumental in interpreting the cardinal saying in Mk 7:15/Mt 15:11.

Mark and Mission: Mk 7:1-23 in Its Narrative and Historical Contexts

Religion can heal, but it can hurt as well. This collection of essays addresses some key issues of religious stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination, and considers a wide range of important topics which haunt our societies today. When stereotyping becomes the oxygen we inhale, when it is so important to us that we cannot see how we can survive without it - what can and should we do? Twenty-two scholars from Australia, Europe, the Middle East and North America explore the anatomy of various forms of stereotyping and ways to oppose them.

Religious Stereotyping and Interreligious Relations

This book explores the historical, biblical, christological, trinitarian, and ecclesiological dimensions of soteriology in Jewish-Christian relations.

Christ Jesus and the Jewish People Today: New Explorations of Theological Interrelationships

This article develops ideas presented in a volume to be published by T&T Clark/Continuum, i.e., it traces the extraordinary reception history of Hebrews 8:13, from its original apocalyptical setting to how it is currently used in apologetical contexts.

Stumbling Block or Stepping Stone? On the Reception History of Hebrews 8:13

The Epistle to the Hebrews has been an exceptionally significant text in Christian-Jewish relations. In particular, certain passages have been interpreted in ways that assume that Christianity supersedes Judaism. In this article it is argued that reading the epistle without presupposing supersessionism, Heb. will be acknowledged as one of those subject matters which, in the words of Nostra Aetate, “human beings have in common and which tend to bring them together” (… quae hominibus sunt communia et ad mutuum consortium ducunt).

Jesper Svartvik

Papers

Mark and Mission: Mk 7:1-23 in Its Narrative and Historical Contexts

Religious Stereotyping and Interreligious Relations

Christ Jesus and the Jewish People Today: New Explorations of Theological Interrelationships

Stumbling Block or Stepping Stone? On the Reception History of Hebrews 8:13

Reading the Epistle to the Hebrews without Presupposing Supersessionism