Paula Fredriksen (born January 6, 1951,

Kingston, Rhode Island Kingston is a village and a census-designated place within the town of South Kingstown in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and the site of the main campus of the University of Rhode Island. The population was 6,974 at the 201 ...

) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

. She held the position of William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Scripture at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

from 1990 to 2010. Now emerita, she has been distinguished visiting professor in the Department of Comparative Religion at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

, since 2009. Fredriksen specializes in the

history of Christianity The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish te ...

in that developmental arc from its stirrings in an apocalyptic messianic sect within

Second Temple Judaism Second Temple Judaism refers to the Jewish religion as it developed during the Second Temple period, which began with the construction of the Second Temple around 516 BCE and ended with the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The Second Temple ...

to its transformation into an arm of

Late Roman Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effe ...

imperial government and its empowerment in the post-Roman West (

1st First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

through 7th centuries). She works to reconstruct the many ways that various ancient Mediterranean peoples –

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...

– interacted with the many special social agents ( high gods, cosmic forces, stars and planets,

godling A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...

s, spirits, and divine humans) that populated the ancient geo-centric universe. Fredriksen served as an historical consultant and featured speaker in many media, including for the BBC production ''The Lives of Jesus'' (1996) and for '' U.S. News & World Report''s "The Life and Times of Jesus". Fredriksen's book ''From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the Early Images of Jesus'' served as a template for the ''

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

'' documentary ''From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians.'' Fredriksen was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 2013.

Education

Fredriksen studied for a double B.A. in Religion and History at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial ...

, from which she graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

in 1973. After a year of formal theological study at St. Hilda's College, she received a diploma in theology from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1974. Fredriksen earned her Ph.D. in the History of Religion from Princeton University in 1979. From 1979 to 1980, she was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Religion Department at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. Both Wellesley College (in 1989) and Princeton University (in 2000) deemed Fredriksen a “distinguished alumna.”

Career

Fredriksen began her career as a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

at the Department of Religion of Princeton University in 1978. From 1979 to 1980, she was a faculty member at the department of religious studies at Stanford University. She relocated to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

where, from 1980 to 1986, she was an assistant professor in the department of history and, from 1986 to 1989, worked as an associate professor in the department of religious studies of the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

. From 1990 to 2010, Fredriksen was the William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Scripture at

. Fredriksen was named distinguished visiting professor in the Department of Comparative Religion at

in 2009. In April 2013, she was elected a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

(AAAS). She holds honorary doctorates from Iona College (2008),

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion and the

(2018).

Scholarship

Jesus

Fredriksen views

ancient Christianity The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish teach ...

from two vantage points: that of late

(roughly 200 BCE to 70 CE) and that of the late Latin West (especially from the late fourth to the mid-fifth century CE). For the entire spread of these centuries, Fredriksen says, the vast majority of people worshiped their own particular gods—a great variety of cults and customs lumped together by scholarly convention as "

paganism Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

." Fredriksen emphasizes that different forms of Judaism developed within the larger matrix of Graeco-Roman paganism; and that different forms of Christianity developed within different types of Judaism and of paganism. Context affects content: all these cultures mutually influenced each other. Late Second Temple Judaism, whether in the Jewish homeland or in the Diaspora, provided the cradle of the early Christ-movements. Two figures dominate their development and thus Fredriksen's research of the period: that of

Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

, and that of his apostle,

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

. Despite the many cultural and social differences distinguishing Jesus and Paul—language (

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

), location (Jewish territories and

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

) and audiences (Jews/pagans)—these two men stood united in a single conviction. Both taught that the God of Israel would overwhelm evil, raise the dead, and establish his reign of eternal peace and justice, within their own lifetimes. In short, in line with the work of

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schweit ...

(for Jesus and for Paul) and of

Krister Stendahl Krister Olofson Stendahl (21 April 1921 – 15 April 2008) was a Swedish theologian, New Testament scholar, and Church of Sweden Bishop of Stockholm. He also served as dean, professor, and professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School. Life ...

(for Paul), Fredriksen holds that both Jesus and Paul were apocalyptic thinkers. In ''From Jesus to Christ'', Fredriksen explored the images of Jesus presented in Paul's letters and in the four gospels as these altered and adjusted once the movement spread abroad in the Diaspora and outgrew its own foundational prophecy: “The Kingdom of God is at hand!” (Mark 1.15). In ''Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews'', she concentrated instead on reconstructing the historical figure himself. Turning to the chronology of John's gospel (wherein Jesus has a three-year mission, centered in Jerusalem) rather than that of Mark, Matthew and Luke (which locate Jesus primarily in Galilee, with a single, and fatal, trip to Jerusalem), Fredriksen answered the question why Jesus was crucified but his followers were not.

Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...

and the chief priests were familiar with Jesus' apocalyptic message—God, not human armies, would establish his Kingdom—and so knew that Jesus was, in every practical way, politically and militarily harmless. But on what proved to be his final trip to the city for Passover, crowds in the pilgrim-swollen city began proclaiming Jesus as messiah. This was cause for alarm for, as Josephus wrote, it was "on these festive occasions that sedition is most apt to break out." Working in concert with the temple police (John 18.3), Pilate arrested Jesus and crucified him as "King of the Jews," disabusing the crowds of their enthusiasm. It was the crowds, not Jesus himself, Fredriksen concludes, who threatened the city's stability. This theory explains as well why the original community could resettle permanently in Jerusalem, largely without incident, for the remaining four decades of the city's lifetime.

Paul

Fredriksen's many articles on Paul and his cameo appearances in her books on Jesus and on Augustine come together in her book ''Paul: The Pagans' Apostle.'' Fredriksen explains there that Paul lived in a world full of gods. As Christ's apostle, Paul taught that pagans did not have to become Jews (for men, meaning circumcision). But they did have to commit to worshiping Israel's god alone, he insisted, and to live according to some—not all—Jewish law. Following especially the broad lines of interpretation laid down by

and by

, Fredriksen asserts that Paul believed that he lived and worked in history's final hour. Paul was convinced that he knew the time on God's clock because of his experience of the

Risen Christ The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord. ...

: resurrection itself, according to apocalyptic Jewish convictions, would signal the time of the End. In the brief meanwhile, between Christ's first and final advents, Paul worked to turn pagans from their gods to his god. Paul's seven undisputed letters date to the 50s of the first century. They are the only evidence of the Christ movement that predates the Roman destruction of Jerusalem's temple (in 70 CE). But Jesus died around the year 30 CE. This passage of time after the death of Jesus, according to Fredriksen, means that, by the time that the earliest stratum of tradition appears—namely, in Paul's letters—the Kingdom of God was already late. In the Diaspora, the movement fractured into competing missions over the question of how to integrate ex-pagan gentiles into its communities. Some apostles taught that ex-pagan males needed to enter Israel's covenant with God through circumcision, that is, full conversion to Judaism. Paul furiously disagreed, Fredriksen emphasizes. Against his circumcising competitors, he argued that the presence of Christ's spirit or of holy spirit within these gentile communities attested to their "adoption" into God's family: Christ-following ex-pagans, insists Paul, are now Israel's brothers" (''

adelphoi The brothers of Jesus or the adelphoi ( grc-gre, ἀδελφοί, adelphoí, of the same womb)Greek singular noun ''adelphos'', from a- ("same", equivalent to homo-) and delphys ("womb," equivalent to splanchna). are named in the New Testament a ...

''), adopted via Christ into the family of Abraham. Paul thought not that gentiles ''should'' not become Jews, but that they ''could'' not become Jews: covenantal circumcision, he insisted, occurs only on the eighth day of the male infant's life (

Philippians The Epistle to the Philippians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and Timothy is named with him as co-author or co-sender. The letter is addressed to the Christian ...

3.5). Jewish circumcision for adult gentile males, in view of Jewish law, was thus "nothing" (

1 Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-au ...

7.19). His letters, all addressed to gentile communities, argue vehemently against his circumcising competitors. By the late first- early second century, this generation long dead, Paul's ''intra''-Jewish arguments will be interpreted by gentile readers as ''anti''-Jewish arguments. In this way, Fredriksen shows, Paul's letters became a wellspring for nineteen centuries of Christian

anti-Judaism Anti-Judaism is the "total or partial opposition to Judaism as a religion—and the total or partial opposition to Jews as adherents of it—by persons who accept a competing system of beliefs and practices and consider certain genuine Judai ...

and

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. Fredriksen thus contributes to a new school of

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

scholarship, "Paul within Judaism." Believing that the Kingdom would arrive in his own lifetime, Paul had no intention of starting a new religion—much less an anti-Jewish religion. But Paul does acknowledge the existence "of many gods and many lords" (1 Corinthians 8.5: "lord" is a common designation for a Mediterranean god): they are Christ's cosmic opposition. Paul, thus, should be understood not only within Judaism, urges Fredriksen. As a late Second Temple Diaspora Jew, the apocalyptic Paul also stands "within paganism." It was these pagan superhuman powers, taught Paul, whom Christ will defeat when he returns in glory as God's Davidic champion.

Augustine

Through

’s classic article, “Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West,” Fredriksen first made the acquaintance of the mid-first century Paul and of Paul's greatest western interpreter,

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

. Augustine's Paul, in late Latin translation, was the source of Augustine's signature teachings on human will,

divine grace Divine grace is a theological term present in many religions. It has been defined as the divine influence which operates in humans to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to endure trial and resist temptat ...

original sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 ...

, and

predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby ...

. As he struggled particularly with Paul's letter to the Romans, Augustine redefined "free will." Human moral agency, he now argued, was in a state of diminished capacity, which was the just penalty of Adam's sin, inherited across generations. In ''Augustine on Romans'' (1982), the first English translation of two of his early works on Paul's epistle, Fredriksen charted Augustine's evolving struggles with this nexus of issues. These commentaries on Romans were the prelude to Augustine's master work, the '' Confessions.'' Fredriksen continued to consider and to contrast the first-century Jewish Paul and the late fourth-century Augustinian Paul together. She compared scholarly assessments of their respective "conversions." She analyzed both men's ideas on flesh and resurrection. She measured the distance between their respective ideas on the destiny of Israel. She traced Augustine's weaponization of Paul against

Pelagius Pelagius (; c. 354–418) was a British theologian known for promoting a system of doctrines (termed Pelagianism by his opponents) which emphasized human choice in salvation and denied original sin. Pelagius and his followers abhorred the moral ...

. She explored the similarities and differences between them on such issues as sin,

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...

, and God. Fredriksen also brought Augustine into conversation with other ancient theologians: with

Tyconius Ticonius, also spelled Tyconius or Tychonius (active 370–390 AD) was one of the most important theologians of 4th-century North African Latin Christianity. He was a Donatist writer whose conception of the City of God influenced St. Augustine of Hi ...

(on Christian

millenarianism Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenarian ...

); with

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and the ...

(on Paul and

Jewish Law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...

; on sin and salvation); and with

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...

(on Jews). Augustine surprised Fredriksen, however, once she began to investigate how the idea of "Jews" shaped his theology. By Augustine's lifetime (354-430 CE), Jews had long figured as the negative contrast to gentile Christianity. Indeed, Augustine himself deployed standard anti-Jewish rhetoric against his Christian rivals, the

Donatists Donatism was a Christian sect leading to a schism in the Church, in the region of the Church of Carthage, from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and t ...

: Jews might be "bad," but the Donatists, he observed, were even worse. But against the anti-Judaism of his old heretical church, the Manichees, Augustine thought outside the box. He taught that Jesus, the original apostles, and Paul himself, even after Damascus, had all continued to live according to the Jewish interpretation of Jewish law. The Jews' continuing existence, he insisted, was of benefit to the church, because through them, the texts of the Bible had penetrated the known world. Most dramatically, Augustine urged that the Jews had no less a protector than God himself, who would punish any ruler, whether pagan or Christian, who tried to inhibit them from living Jewish lives. In advocating for an historical understanding of Christianity, in other words, Augustine framed, as well, a principled Christian theological defense of Jews and of Judaism. Dismally negative as his traditional anti-Jewish rhetoric was, his positive ideology, Fredriksen concludes, was original, daring, and unique. Augustine's singular teaching would survive the collapse of the

western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

, ultimately saving Jewish lives in the course of medieval

crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

Publications

In 1982, Fredriksen published ''Augustine on Romans'', a Latin edition with facing translation of Augustine's two early efforts with Paul's epistle to the Romans. These two exercises in biblical interpretation prepared Augustine, within four years, to frame his signature masterpiece, the '' Confessions.'' In 1988, Fredriksen published ''From Jesus to Christ,'' which traces the first-century growth of various images of Jesus. The book won the 1988 Yale University Press Governors’ Award for Best Book. In 1999, Fredriksen published ''Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews'' on the

historical Jesus The term "historical Jesus" refers to the reconstruction of the life and teachings of Jesus by critical historical methods, in contrast to religious interpretations. It also considers the historical and cultural contexts in which Jesus lived. ...

. The book won a National Jewish Book Award. In 2000, Boston University named it a best faculty book. In 2008, Fredriksen published ''Augustine and the Jews'' (second edition Yale 2010), which situates

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

’s teachings about Jews and Judaism within their contemporary context of Christian

and the imperial church’s exercise of coercive force against religious minorities. In 2012, Fredriksen published ''Sin: The Early History of an Idea'', which explored how views about humanity and about God changed in the centuries between

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

and

. The book was based on Fredriksen’s 2007 Spencer Trask lectures at Princeton. In 2017, Fredriksen published ''Paul: The Pagan’s Apostle'', which situates Paul within, not against, his native Judaism. In 2018, the book won the Prose Award for best book in religion from the American Publisher’s Association. In 2018, Fredriksen published ''When Christians Were Jews'', in which she argued for the Jewish, apocalyptic convictions of the original Christ-community in Jerusalem, the founding generation – which was convinced that it was history’s final generation. Christian antisemitism in both its academic forms and in its popular ones led to two of Fredriksen’s anthologies, ''Jesus, Judaism, and Christian Anti-Judaism: Reading the New Testament After the Holocaust'' (with

Adele Reinhartz Adele Reinhartz (born 1953) is a Canadian academic and a specialist in the history and literature of Christianity and Judaism in the Greco-Roman period, the Gospel of John, early Jewish–Christian relations, literary criticism including femini ...

; 2002) and ''On ‘The Passion of the Christ’'' (2004; 2005, on Mel Gibson’s film), as well as to her appreciation of

David Nirenberg David Nirenberg is a medievalist and intellectual historian. He is the Director and Leon Levy Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. He previously taught at the University of Chicago, where he was Dean of the Divinity Sc ...

’s foundational work on the same theme. Her 2020 Shaffer Lectures at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, "Paul's Letters, Christian Identity, and Thinking with Jews," explored the way that anti-Judaism, in various modalities, continues to inflect the work of contemporary scholars of New Testament Studies. Together with Jesper Svartvik'','' she organized and edited ''Krister Among the Jews and Gentiles. Essays in Appreciation of the Life and Work of

'' (2018), to whom she also dedicated her book on Paul.

References

External links

Introduction
to Fredriksen's book ''From Jesus to Christ''.
Your Questions to Paula Fredriksen
fro
Beliefnet.com

Jesus, Paul and the Origins of Christianity
video of lecture at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

Paul, Pagans and the Redemption of Israel
video of lecture at

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

When Does Christianity Begin?
video of lecture at the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Are You a Virgin? Biblical Exegesis and the Invention of Tradition
video lecture at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

When Jesus Celebrated Passover
op-ed in Wall Street Journal
Symposium on "Paul: The Pagan's Apostle"
in Syndicate
Symposium on Synergistic Pneumata
in Syndicate {{DEFAULTSORT:Fredriksen, Paula 1951 births 21st-century American historians 21st-century American women writers Alumni of the University of Oxford American historians of religion American women historians Boston University faculty Converts to Judaism Historians of antiquity Historians of Christianity Historians of Jews and Judaism Jewish American historians Living people Princeton University alumni Scholars of antisemitism Stanford University alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty University of Pittsburgh faculty Writers from Rhode Island Historians from California 21st-century American Jews