Jewish Christians were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Roman Judea during the late

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

, under the Herodian tetrarchy (1st century AD). These Jews believed that

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

was the prophesied Messiah and they continued their adherence to

Jewish law ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

. Jewish Christianity is the historical foundation of

Early Christianity Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christian ...

, which later developed into

Nicene Christianity Nicene Christianity includes those Christian denominations that adhere to the teaching of the Nicene Creed, which was formulated at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 and amended at the First Council of Constantinople in AD 381. It encompas ...

(which comprises the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

Oriental Orthodox The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysitism, Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian ...

, and

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

traditions) and other

Christian denominations A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

. Christianity started with Jewish eschatological expectations, and it developed into the worship of

as the result of his earthly ministry in

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, his

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

, and the post-resurrection experiences of his followers. Jewish Christians drifted apart from

Second Temple Judaism Second Temple Judaism is the Judaism, 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 Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE), destruction of Jerusalem in ...

, and their form of Judaism eventually became a minority strand within mainstream Judaism, as it had almost disappeared by the 5th century AD.

Jewish–Christian gospels The Jewish–Christian Gospels were gospels of a Jewish Christian character quoted by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, Epiphanius of Salamis, Epiphanius, Jerome and probably Didymus the Blind. All five call the gospel they know the "Gospe ...

are lost except for fragments, so there is a considerable amount of uncertainty about the scriptures which were used by this group of Christians. While previous scholarship viewed the

First Jewish–Roman War The First Jewish–Roman War (66–74 CE), also known as the Great Jewish Revolt, the First Jewish Revolt, the War of Destruction, or the Jewish War, was the first of three major Jewish rebellions against the Roman Empire. Fought in the prov ...

and the destruction of the Second Temple (70 AD) as the main events, more recent scholarship tends to argue that the

Bar Kochba revolt The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 AD) was a major uprising by the Jews of Judaea against the Roman Empire, marking the final and most devastating of the Jewish–Roman wars. Led by Simon bar Kokhba, the rebels succeeded in establishing an ind ...

(132–136 AD) was the main factor in the separation of Christianity from Judaism. The split was a long-term process, in which the boundaries were not clear-cut.

Etymology

Early Jewish Christians (i.e., the Jewish followers of

) referred to themselves as followers of "The Way" (: hė hodós), probably coming from , "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." According to , the term ''

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

'' () was first used in reference to the disciples of Jesus in the city of

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

, meaning "followers of Christ", by the non-Jewish inhabitants of Antioch. The earliest recorded use of the term ''

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

'' () is attested by the ante-Nicene Father and theologian

Ignatius of Antioch Ignatius of Antioch (; ; died 108/140), also known as Ignatius Theophorus (), was an early Christian writer and Patriarch of Antioch. While en route to Rome, where he met his Christian martyrs, martyrdom, Ignatius wrote a series of letters. This ...

(). The term ''Jewish Christian'' is used in the academic fields of

Biblical studies Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...

and historiography of early Christianity in order to distinguish the early Christians of Jewish origins from those of Gentile origins, both in discussion of the New Testament church and the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.

Origins

Jewish-Hellenistic background

Hellenism

Christianity arose as a separate movement within the syncretist Hellenistic world of the first century AD, dominated by Roman law and Greek culture. Hellenistic culture had a profound impact on the customs and practices of Jews, both in the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...

and in the

Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

. The inroads into Judaism gave rise to Hellenistic Judaism in the Jewish diaspora, which sought to establish a Hebraic-Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism. Hellenistic Judaism spread to

Ptolemaic Egypt Ptolemaic is the adjective formed from the name Ptolemy, and may refer to: Pertaining to the Ptolemaic dynasty * Ptolemaic dynasty, the Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter *Ptolemaic Kingdom Pertaining ...

from the 3rd century BC and became a notable '' religio licita'' after the

Roman conquest of Greece Greece in the Roman era (, ) describes the Roman conquest of ancient Greece (roughly, the territory of the modern nation-state of Greece) as well as that of the Greeks, Greek people and the areas they inhabited and ruled historically. It covers ...

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Judea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the pres ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, until its decline in the 3rd century parallel to the rise of

Gnosticism Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: , Romanization of Ancient Greek, romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: Help:IPA/Greek, �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced ...

and

. According to Burton Mack and a minority of commentators, the Christian vision of Jesus's death for the redemption of humankind was only possible in a Hellenised milieu.

Jewish sects

During the early first century AD, there were many competing Jewish sects in the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

, and those that became

Rabbinic Judaism Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...

and Proto-orthodox Christianity were but two of these. There were

Pharisees The Pharisees (; ) were a Jews, Jewish social movement and school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. Following the Siege of Jerusalem (AD 70), destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Pharisaic beliefs became ...

Sadducees The Sadducees (; ) were a sect of Jews active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Sadducees are described in contemporary literary sources in contrast to ...

, and

Zealots The Zealots were members of a Jewish political movements, Jewish political movement during the Second Temple period who sought to incite the people of Judaea (Roman province), Judaea to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Land ...

, but also other less influential sects, including the

Essenes The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''ʾĪssīyīm''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') or Essenians were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd cent ...

. The first century BC and first century AD saw a growing number of charismatic religious leaders contributing to what would become the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

; the

ministry of Jesus The ministry of Jesus, in the canonical gospels, begins with Baptism of Jesus, his baptism near the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and ends in Jerusalem in Christianity, Jerusalem in Judea, following the Last Supper with his Disciple (Chri ...

would lead to the emergence of the first Jewish Christian community. The Gospels contain strong condemnations of the Pharisees, though there is a clear influence of Hillel's interpretation of the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

in the Gospel sayings. However, certain laws followed the more stringent views of Shammai, such as regarding divorce. Belief in the resurrection of the dead in the

Messianic age In Abrahamic religions, the Messianic Age () is the future eternal period of time on Earth in which the messiah will reign and bring universal peace and brotherhood, without any evil (through mankind's own terms). Many believe that there will be s ...

was a core Pharisaic doctrine.

Jewish and Christian messianism

Most of Jesus's teachings were intelligible and acceptable in terms of

; what set early Christians apart from Jews was their belief that Jesus was the

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

. While Christianity acknowledges only one ultimate Messiah, Judaism can be said to hold to a concept of multiple messiahs. The two most frequently mentioned are the Messiah ben Joseph and the Messiah ben David. Some scholars have argued that the idea of two messiahs—one "suffering" and the other fulfilling the traditionally conceived messianic role—was normative to ancient Judaism, predating Jesus, as can be seen from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many would have viewed Jesus as one or both.

Jewish messianism The Messiah in Judaism () is a savior and liberator figure in Jewish eschatology who is believed to be the future redeemer of the Jews. The concept of messianism originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible a messiah is a king or High Pries ...

has its root in the

apocalyptic literature Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post- Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians. '' Apocalypse'' () is a Greek word meaning "revelation", "an unveiling or unfolding o ...

of the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD, promising a future "anointed" leader or

to resurrect the Israelite "

Kingdom of God The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" ...

", in place of the foreign rulers of the time. According to Shaye J.D. Cohen, the fact that Jesus did not establish an independent Israel, combined with his death at the hands of the Romans, caused many Jews to reject him as the Messiah. Jews at that time were expecting a military leader as a Messiah, such as

Bar Kokhba Simon bar Kokhba ( ) or Simon bar Koseba ( ), commonly referred to simply as Bar Kokhba, was a Jewish military leader in Judaea (Roman province), Judea. He lent his name to the Bar Kokhba revolt, which he initiated against the Roman Empire in 1 ...

. was another source of Jewish messianism, which was prompted by

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

's conquest of Jerusalem in 63 BC. Early Christians cited this chapter to claim that Jesus was the Messiah and the son of god and negate

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

's claim to the latter.

Early Jewish Christianity

Most historians agree that Jesus or his followers established a new Jewish sect, one that attracted both Jewish and gentile converts. The self-perception, beliefs, customs, and traditions of the Jewish followers of Jesus, Jesus's disciples and first followers, were grounded in first-century Judaism. According to New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman, a number of early Christianities existed in the first century AD, from which developed various Christian traditions and denominations, including proto-orthodoxy, Marcionites, Gnostics and the Jewish followers of Jesus. According to

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

James D. G. Dunn, four types of early Christianity can be discerned: Jewish Christianity, Hellenistic Christianity, Apocalyptic Christianity, and early Catholicism. The first followers of Jesus were essentially all ethnically Jewish or Jewish proselytes. Jesus was Jewish, preached to the Jewish people, and called from them his first followers. According to McGrath, Jewish Christians, as faithful religious Jews, "regarded their movement as an affirmation of every aspect of contemporary Judaism, with the addition of one extra belief – that Jesus was the Messiah." Conversely, Margaret Barker argues that early Christianity has roots in pre- Babylonian exile Israelite religion. The Expositor's Greek Testament interprets as being critical of Judaism and

Samaritanism Samaritanism (; ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic ethnic religion. It comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Samaritan people, who originate from the Hebrews and Israelites and began to emerge as a relative ...

. John Elliott also characterizes early Christianity as an 'Israelite sect' or a 'renewal movement within Israel', where followers were called 'Galileans', 'Nazarenes' or members of 'the Way' by the native inhabitants of 1st century Judea.

Paul the Apostle Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

's criticism of the contemporary Jewish community most likely derive from Hebrew Bible theology rather than internalized antisemitism. Jewish Christians were the original members of the Jewish movement that later became

. In the earliest stage the community was made up of all those Jews who believed that Jesus was the Jewish messiah. As Christianity grew and developed, Jewish Christians became only one strand of the early Christian community, characterised by combining the confession of Jesus as Christ with continued observance of the Torah and adherence to Jewish traditions such as Sabbath observance,

Jewish calendar The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as ''yahrzeits ...

, Jewish laws and customs,

circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...

, kosher diet and

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

attendance, and by a direct genetic relationship to the earliest followers of Jesus.

Jerusalem ''ekklēsia''

The Jerusalem Church was an early Christian community located in Jerusalem, of which James the Just, the brother of Jesus, and

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

were leaders. Paul was in contact with this community. Legitimised by Jesus' appearance, Peter was the first leader of the Jerusalem ''ekklēsia''. He was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord," which may explain why the early texts contain scarce information about Peter. According to Lüdemann, in the discussions about the strictness of adherence to the Jewish Law, the more conservative view of James the Just became more widely accepted than the more liberal position of Peter, who soon lost influence. According to Dunn, this was not an "usurpation of power," but a consequence of Peter's involvement in missionary activities. According to

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

' '' Church History'' 4.5.3–4: the first 15 Christian Bishops of Jerusalem were "of the circumcision". The Romans destroyed the Jewish leadership in

in year 135 during the

Bar Kokhba revolt The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 AD) was a major uprising by the Jews of Judaea (Roman province), Judaea against the Roman Empire, marking the final and most devastating of the Jewish–Roman wars. Led by Simon bar Kokhba, the rebels succeeded ...

, but it is traditionally believed the Jerusalem Christians waited out the

Jewish–Roman wars The Jewish–Roman wars were a series of large-scale revolts by the Jews of Judaea against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE. The conflict was driven by Jewish aspirations to restore the political independence lost when Rome conquer ...

Pella Pella () is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It served as the capital of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. Currently, it is located 1 km outside the modern town of Pella ...

in the Decapolis.

Beliefs

The

Pauline epistles The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ext ...

incorporate

creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...

s, or confessions of faith, of a belief in an exalted Christ that predate Paul, and give essential information on the faith of the early Jerusalem Church around

James, brother of Jesus James the Just, or a variation of James, brother of the Lord ( from , and , , can also be Anglicized as "Jacob"), was, according to the New Testament, a brother of Jesus. He was the first Jewish bishop of Jerusalem. Traditionally, it is bel ...

. This group venerated the risen Christ, who had appeared to several persons, as in Philippians 2:6–11, the Christ hymn, which portrays Jesus as an incarnated and subsequently exalted heavenly being.

Messiah/Christ

Early Christians regarded Jesus to be the Messiah, the promised king who would restore the Jewish kingdom and independence. Jewish messianism has its root in the

of the 2nd century BC to 1st century BC, promising a future "anointed" leader or

messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

to restore the Israelite "

", in place of the foreign rulers of the time. This corresponded with the

Maccabean Revolt The Maccabean Revolt () was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167 to 160 BCE and ended with the Seleucids in control of ...

directed against the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...

. Following the fall of the Hasmonean kingdom, it was directed against the Roman administration of Judea Province, which, according to

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

, began with the formation of the

and

Sicarii The Sicarii were a group of Jewish assassins who were active throughout Judaea in the years leading up to and during the First Jewish–Roman War, which took place at the end of the Second Temple period. Often associated with the Zealots (altho ...

during the

Census of Quirinius The Census of Quirinius was a census of the Roman Empire, Roman province of Judaea (Roman province), Judaea taken in 6 Common Era, CE, upon its formation, by the governor of Roman Syria, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius. The census triggered a r ...

(6 AD), although full-scale open revolt did not occur until the

in 66 AD.

Resurrection

According to the New Testament, people reported that they encountered Jesus after his crucifixion. They believed that he had been resurrected (belief in the resurrection of the dead in the

Messianic Age In Abrahamic religions, the Messianic Age () is the future eternal period of time on Earth in which the messiah will reign and bring universal peace and brotherhood, without any evil (through mankind's own terms). Many believe that there will be s ...

was a core Pharisaic doctrine), and his resurrection provided the belief that he would soon return and fulfill the rest of Messianic prophecy such as the

resurrection of the dead General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief in a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead ( Koine: , ''anastasis onnekron''; literally: "standing up again of the dead") by which most or all people who have died ...

and the

Last Judgment The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

. 1 Corinthians 15:3-9 gives an early testimony, which was delivered to Paul, of the atonement of Jesus and the appearances of the risen Christ to "Cephas and the twelve", and to "James ..and all the apostles", possibly reflecting a fusion of two early Christian groups: The later

canonical gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

provide more detailed narratives about the resurrection of Jesus. The New Testament accounts do not describe the resurrection itself, but rather accounts of appearances of Jesus. Jesus is described as the " firstborn from the dead", , the first to be raised from the dead, thereby acquiring the "special status of the firstborn as the preeminent son and heir". Justin S. Holcomb
"What Does It Mean that Jesus Is 'The Firstborn from the Dead?
/ref> Scholars debate on the historicity of specific details of these narratives such as the

empty tomb The empty tomb is the Christian tradition that the tomb of Jesus was found empty after his crucifixion. The canonical gospels each describe the visit of women to Jesus' tomb. Although Jesus' body had been laid out in the tomb after crucifixi ...

and burial of Jesus along with the resurrection itself. While Conservative Christian scholars argue in favor of a real, concrete, material resurrection of a transformed body,Habermas (2005)
''Research from 1975 to the Present: What are Critical Scholars Saying?''
/ref> secular and Liberal Christian scholars typically argue in favor of more naturalistic explanations, such as the vision theory. Other scholars such as Craig L. Blomberg argue that there are sufficient arguments for the historicity of the resurrection. According to

Géza Vermes Géza Vermes, (; 22 June 1924 – 8 May 2013) was a British academic, Biblical scholar, and Judaist of Jewish–Hungarian descent—one who also served as a Roman Catholic priest in his youth—and scholar specialized in the field of the ...

, the concept of resurrection formed "the initial stage of the belief in his exaltation", which is "the apogee of the triumphant Christ". The focal concern of the early communities is the expected return of Jesus, and the entry of the believers into the kingdom of God with a transformed body. Proponents of the vision theory argue that cognitive dissonance influenced the inspiration for resurrection belief. According to Bart Ehrman, the resurrection appearances were a denial response to his disciples' sudden disillusionment following Jesus' death. According to Ehrman, some of his followers claimed to have seen him alive again, resulting in a multitude of stories which convinced others that Jesus had risen from death and was exalted to Heaven. According to Paula Fredriksen, Jesus's impact on his followers was so great that they could not accept the failure implicit in his death. According to Fredriksen, before his death Jesus created amongst his believers such certainty that the Kingdom of God and the resurrection of the dead was at hand, that with few exceptions (John 20: 24–29) when they saw him shortly after his execution, they had no doubt that he had been resurrected, and the general resurrection of the dead was at hand. These specific beliefs were compatible with Second Temple Judaism. According to

N.T. Wright Nicholas Thomas Wright (born 1 December 1948), known as N. T. Wright or Tom Wright, is an English New Testament scholar, Paul the Apostle, Pauline theologian and Anglican bishop. He was the bishop of Durham and Lord Spiritual in the UK Pa ...

, "there is substantial unanimity among the early Christian writers (first and second century) that Jesus had been bodily raised from the dead," "with (as the early Christians in their different ways affirmed) a 'transphysical' body, both the same and yet in some mysterious way transformed," reasoning that as a matter of "inference" both a bodily resurrection and later bodily appearances of Jesus are far better explanations for the empty tomb and the 'meetings' and the rise of Christianity than are any other theories. Rejecting the visionary theories, Wright notes that visions of the dead were always associated with spirits and ghosts, and never with bodily resurrection. Thus, Wright argues, a mere vision of Jesus would never lead to the unprecedented belief that Jesus was a physically resurrected corpse; at most, he would be perceived as an exalted martyr standing at the right hand of God. According to Johan Leman, the resurrection must be understood as a sense of presence of Jesus even after his death, especially during the ritual meals which were continued after his death. His early followers regarded him as a righteous man and prophet, who was therefore resurrected and exalted. In time, Messianistic,

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

ic, apocalyptic and eschatological expectations were blended in the experience and understanding of Jesus, who came to be expected to return to earth.

=Bodily resurrection

= A point of debate is how Christians came to believe in a bodily resurrection, which was "a comparatively recent development within Judaism." According to Dag Øistein Endsjø, "The notion of the resurrection of the flesh was, as we have seen, not unknown to certain parts of Judaism in antiquity", but Paul rejected the idea of bodily resurrection, and it also can't be found within the strands of Jewish thought in which he was formed. According to Porter, Hayes and Tombs, the Jewish tradition emphasizes a continued spiritual existence rather than a bodily resurrection.Stanley E. Porter, Michael A. Hayes and David Tombs (1999), ''Foreword'', p.18. In: ''Resurrection'', edited by Stanley E. Porter, Michael A. Hayes and David Tombs, Sheffield Academic Press Nevertheless, the origin of this idea is commonly traced to Jewish beliefs, a view against which Stanley E. Porter objected. According to Porter, Jewish and subsequent Christian thought were influenced by Greek thoughts, where "assumptions regarding resurrection" can be found, which were probably adopted by Paul. According to Ehrman, most of the alleged parallels between Jesus and the pagan savior-gods only exist in the modern imagination, and there are no "accounts of others who were born to virgin mothers and who died as an atonement for sin and then were raised from the dead."

Exaltation and deification

According to Ehrman, a central question in the research on Jesus and early Christianity is how a human came to be deified in a relatively short time. Jewish Christians like the Ebionites had an Adoptionist

Christology In Christianity, Christology is a branch of Christian theology, theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would b ...

and regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his

divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...

, while other strands of Christian thought regard Jesus to be a "fully divine figure", a "high Christology". How soon the earthly Jesus was regarded to be the incarnation of God is a matter of scholarly debate. Philippians 2: 5–11 contains the Christ hymn, which portrays Jesus as an incarnated and subsequently exalted heavenly being: According to Dunn, the background of this hymn has been strongly debated. Some see it as influenced by a Greek worldview while others have argued for Jewish influences. According to Dunn, the hymn contains a contrast with the sins of Adam and his disobedience. Dunn further notes that the hymn may be seen as a three-stage Christology, starting with "an earlier stage of mythic pre-history or pre-existence," but regards the humility-exaltation contrast to be the main theme. This belief in the incarnated and exalted Christ was part of Christian tradition a few years after his death and over a decade before the writing of the Pauline epistles. According to Burton L. Mack the early Christian communities started with "Jesus movements", new religious movements centering on a human teacher called Jesus. A number of these "Jesus movements" can be discerned in early Christian writings. According to Mack, within these Jesus-movements developed within 25 years the belief that Jesus was the Messiah, and had risen from death. According to Erhman, the gospels show a development from a "low Christology" towards a "high Christology". Yet, a "high Christology" seems to have been part of Christian traditions a few years after his death, and over a decade before the writing of the Pauline epistles, which are the oldest Christian writings. According to Martin Hengel, as summarized by Jeremy Bouma, the letters of Paul already contain a fully developed Christology, shortly after the death of Jesus, including references to his pre-existence. According to Hengel, the Gospel of John shows a development which builds on this early high Christology, fusing it with Jewish wisdom traditions, in which Wisdom was personified and descended into the world. While this "Logos Christology" is recognizable for Greek metaphysics, it is nevertheless not derived from pagan sources, and Hengel rejects the idea of influence from "Hellenistic mystery cults or a Gnostic redeemer myth". According to Margaret Baker, Christian trinitarian theology derived from pre-Christian Palestinian beliefs about angels. These beliefs revolved around the idea that there was a High God and several

Sons of God Sons of God (, literally: "the sons of Elohim") is a phrase used in the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh or Old Testament and in apocrypha, Christian Apocrypha. The phrase is also used in Kabbalah where ''bene elohim'' are part of different Jewish angelic ...

, one of which was

Yahweh Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...

. Yahweh was believed to manifest as an angel, human being or a Davidic king, which led some 1st century Palestinians to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, Messiah and Lord.

Jewish practices and identity

The

Book of Acts The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

reports that the early followers continued daily

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

attendance and traditional Jewish home prayer. Other passages in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

gospels reflect a similar observance of traditional Jewish piety such as

fasting Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...

, reverence for the

and observance of Jewish holy days.

Paul and the inclusion of gentiles

Saul of Tarsus (Paul the Apostle)

According to Larry Hurtado, "the christology and devotional stance that Paul affirmed (and shared with others in the early Jesus-movement) was… a distinctive expression within a variegated body of Jewish messianic hopes." According to Dunn, Paul presents, in his

epistles An epistle (; ) is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The ...

, a Hellenised Christianity. According to Ehrman, "Paul's message, in a nutshell, was a Jewish apocalyptic proclamation with a seriously Christian twist."Ehrman, ''The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden religion swept the World''. Paul was in contact with the early Christian community in

, led by James the Just. Fragments of their beliefs in an exalted and deified Jesus, what Mack called the "Christ cult," can be found in the writings of Paul. According to the New Testament, Saul of Tarsus first persecuted the early Jewish Christians, but then converted. He adopted the name Paul and started

proselytizing Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Carrying out attempts to instill beliefs can be called proselytization. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between Chris ...

among the gentiles, adopting the title "Apostle to the Gentiles". Saint Peter, Paul and other Jewish Christians told the Jerusalem council that Gentiles were receiving the Holy Spirit, and so convinced the leaders of the Jerusalem Church to allow gentile converts exemption from most Jewish commandments at the

Council of Jerusalem The Council of Jerusalem or Apostolic Council is a council described in chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles, held in Jerusalem . The council decided that Gentiles who converted to Christianity were not obligated to keep most of the rule ...

, which opened the way for a much larger Christian Church, extending far beyond the Jewish community. While Paul was inspired by the early Christian apostles, his writings elaborate on their teachings, and also give interpretations which are different from other teachings as documented in the

, early Acts and the rest of the New Testament, such as the

Epistle of James The Epistle of James is a Catholic epistles, general epistle and one of the 21 epistles (didactic letters) in the New Testament. It was written originally in Koine Greek. The epistle aims to reach a wide Jewish audience. It survives in manusc ...

Inclusion of gentiles

Some early Jewish Christians believed that non-Jews must convert to Judaism and adopt Jewish customs in order to be saved. Paul criticized Peter for himself declining to eat with

gentile ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

s during a visit by some of these Christians and therefore presenting a poor example to non-Jews joining the Christians. Paul's close coworker

Barnabas Barnabas (; ; ), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christians, Christian, one of the prominent Disciple (Christianity), Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jews, Cyprio ...

sided with Peter in this dispute. Those that taught that gentile converts to Christianity ought to adopt more Jewish practices to be saved, however, were called "

Judaizers The Judaizers were a faction of the Jewish Christians, both of Jewish and non-Jewish origins, who regarded the Levitical laws of the Old Testament as still binding on all Christians. They tried to enforce Jewish circumcision upon the Gentile ...

". Though the Apostle Peter was initially sympathetic, the

Apostle Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

opposed the teaching at the Incident at Antioch () and at the

(). Nevertheless, Judaizing continued to be encouraged for several centuries, particularly by Jewish Christians. Paul opposed the strict applications of Jewish customs for gentile converts, and argued with the leaders of the Jerusalem Church to allow gentile converts exemption from most Jewish commandments at the

, where Paul met with the "pillars of Jerusalem Church" (whom Paul identifies as Peter, Jesus's brother James, and John) over whether gentile Christians need to keep the Jewish Law and be circumcised. According to Acts, James played a prominent role in the formulation of the council's decision ( NRSV) that circumcision was not a requirement. In Galatians, Paul says that James, Peter and John will minister to the "circumcised" (in general

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s and Jewish proselytes) in Jerusalem, while Paul and his fellows will minister to the "uncircumcised" (in general, gentiles)
Galatians 2:9
. The ''

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

'' claims: "St. Paul's account of the incident leaves no doubt that St. Peter saw the justice of the rebuke." However, L. Michael White's ''From Jesus to Christianity'' claims: "The blowup with Peter was a total failure of political bravado, and Paul soon left Antioch as ''persona non grata'', never again to return." Scholar James D. G. Dunn, who coined the phrase " New Perspective on Paul", has proposed that Peter was the "bridge-man" (i.e., the ''pontifex maximus'') between the two other "prominent leading figures" of early Christianity: Paul and James, the brother of Jesus.

Hellenistic influences

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

scholar Daniel Boyarin has argued that Paul's theology of the spirit is more deeply rooted in Hellenistic Judaism than generally believed. In ''A Radical Jew,'' Boyarin argues that the Apostle Paul combined the life of Jesus with

Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC. Philosophy was used to make sense of the world using reason. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysic ...

to reinterpret the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Platonic opposition between the ideal (which is real) and the

material A material is a matter, substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an Physical object, object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical property, physical ...

(which is false). Judaism is a material religion, in which membership is based not on

belief A belief is a subjective Attitude (psychology), attitude that something is truth, true or a State of affairs (philosophy), state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some Life stance, stance, take, or opinion ...

but rather descent from

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

, physically marked by

, and focusing on how to live this life properly. Paul saw in the symbol of a resurrected Jesus the possibility of a spiritual rather than corporeal Messiah. He used this notion of Messiah to argue for a religion through which all people—not just descendants of Abraham—could worship the God of Abraham. Unlike Judaism, which holds that it is the proper religion only of the Jews, Pauline Christianity claimed to be the proper religion for all people. (?) By appealing to the Platonic distinction between the material and the ideal, Paul showed how the spirit of Christ could provide ''all'' people a way to worship the God who had previously been worshipped only by Jews, Jewish proselytes and God-fearers, although Jews claimed that he was the one and only God of all. Boyarin roots Paul's work in Hellenistic Judaism and insists that Paul was thoroughly Jewish, but argues that Pauline theology made his version of Christianity appealing to gentiles. Boyarin also sees this Platonic reworking of both Jesus's teachings and Pharisaic Judaism as essential to the emergence of Christianity as a distinct religion, because it justified a Judaism without Jewish law.

Split of early Christianity and Judaism

Emergence as separate religious communities

As Christianity grew throughout the gentile world, the developing Christian tradition diverged from its Jewish and Jerusalem roots. Historians continue to debate the precise moment when early Christianity established itself as a new religion, apart and distinct from Judaism. It is difficult to trace the process by which the two separated or to know exactly when this began. Jewish Christians continued to worship in

s together with contemporary Jews for centuries. Some scholars have found evidence of continuous interactions between Jewish-Christian and Rabbinic movements from the mid-to late second century CE to the fourth century CE. Philip S. Alexander characterizes the question of when Christianity and Judaism parted company and went their separate ways as "one of those deceptively simple questions which should be approached with great care". The first centuries of belief in Jesus were characterized by great uncertainty and religious creativity. "Groups of believers coalesced into proto-factions of like-minded individuals, and then into factions. ��The degree of doctrinal cohesion of these groups is unknown. As attested by the extant texts, confusion and chaos were rampant." At first, early belief in Jesus was very much a local phenomenon with some degree of coordination among communities on a regional basis. Both

and Early Rabbinic Judaism were far less orthodox and less theologically homogeneous than in modern day. Both religions were significantly influenced by

Hellenistic religion The concept of Hellenistic religion as the late form of Ancient Greek religion covers any of the various systems of beliefs and practices of the people who lived under the influence of ancient Greek culture during the Hellenistic period and the ...

and borrowed allegories and concepts from Classical

Hellenistic philosophy Hellenistic philosophy is Ancient Greek philosophy corresponding to the Hellenistic period in Ancient Greece, from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC to the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The dominant schools of this period were the Stoics, the ...

and the works of the Greek-speaking Jewish authors of the end of the

. The two schools of thought eventually firmed up their respective "norms" and doctrines, notably by increasingly diverging on key issues such as the status of "purity laws", the validity of

Judeo-Christian The term ''Judeo-Christian'' is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's recognition of Jewish scripture to constitute the Old Testament of the Christian Bibl ...

messianic beliefs, and, more importantly, the use of

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

as sacerdotal languages replacing

Biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew ( or ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite languages, Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Isra ...

Trajectory

Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was a German exegete and one of the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (no ...

postulated a Council of Jamnia in 90 that excluded Christians from the

synagogues A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, but this is disputed. Jewish Christians continued to worship in synagogues for centuries. According to historian Shaye J. D. Cohen, "the separation of Christianity from Judaism was a process, not an event", in which the church became "more and more gentile, and less and less Jewish". According to Cohen, early Christianity ceased to be a Jewish sect when it ceased to observe Jewish practices, such as circumcision. According to Cohen, this process ended in 70 AD, after the great revolt, when various Jewish sects disappeared and Pharisaic Judaism evolved into

, and Christianity emerged as a distinct religion. Talmudist and professor of Jewish studies Daniel Boyarin proposes a revised understanding of the interactions between nascent Christianity and Judaism in late antiquity, viewing the two "new" religions as intensely and complexly intertwined throughout this period. According to Boyarin, Judaism and Christianity "were part of one complex religious family, twins in a womb", for at least three centuries. Alan Segal also states that "one can speak of a 'twin birth' of two new Judaisms, both markedly different from the religious systems that preceded them". According to Robert Goldenberg, it is increasingly accepted among scholars that "at the end of the 1st century AD there were not yet two separate religions called 'Judaism' and 'Christianity. Jewish Christianity fell into decline during the

(66–135) and the growing

anti-Judaism Anti-Judaism denotes a spectrum of historical and contemporary ideologies that are fundamentally or partially rooted in opposition to Judaism. It encompasses the rejection or abrogation of the Mosaic covenant and advocates for the superse ...

perhaps best personified by Marcion of Sinope (c. 150). With persecution by the Nicene Christians from the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, Jewish Christians sought refuge outside the boundaries of the Empire, in

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

and further afield. Within the Empire and later elsewhere it was dominated by the gentile-based Christianity which became the

State church of the Roman Empire In the year before the First Council of Constantinople in 381, Nicene Christianity, Nicean Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire when Theodosius I, emperor of the East, Gratian, emperor of the West, and Gratian's junior co-r ...

and which took control of sites in the

such as the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchat ...

and the Cenacle and appointed subsequent Bishops of Jerusalem.

First Jewish–Roman War and the destruction of the Temple

Full-scale, open revolt against the Romans occurred with the

in 66 AD. In 70 AD, Jerusalem was besieged and the Second Temple was destroyed. This event was a profoundly traumatic experience for the Jews, who were now confronted with difficult and far-reaching questions.Jacob Neusner 1984 ''Toah From our Sages'' Rossell Books. p. 175 After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, sectarianism largely came to an end. The

, and

disappeared, while the Early Christians and the

survived, the latter transforming into

, today known simply as "Judaism". The term "Pharisee" was no longer used, perhaps because it was a term more often used by non-Pharisees, but also because the term was explicitly sectarian, and the rabbis claimed leadership over all Jews. Many historians argue that the gospels took their final form after the Great Revolt and the destruction of the Temple, although some scholars put the authorship of Mark in the 60s. Strack theorizes that the growth of a Christian canon (the New Testament) was a factor that influenced the rabbis to record the oral law in writing. A significant contributing factor to the split was the two groups' differing theological interpretations of the Temple's destruction. Rabbinic Judaism saw the destruction as a chastisement for neglecting the Torah. The early Christians, however, saw it as God's punishment for the Jewish rejection of Jesus, leading to the claim that the 'true' Israel was now the Church. Jews believed this claim was scandalous. According to Fredriksen, since early Christians believed that Jesus had already replaced the Temple as the expression of a

new covenant The New Covenant () is a biblical interpretation which was originally derived from a Book of Jeremiah#Sections of the Book, phrase which is contained in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31–34), in the Hebrew Bible (or the Old Testament of the ...

, they were relatively unconcerned with the destruction of the Temple during the First Jewish-Roman War.

Controversies over Passover and the Eucharist

Rejection of Jewish Christianity

In Christian circles, the term " Nazarene" later came to be used as a label for those Christians who were faithful to

; in particular, it was used as a label for a certain sect of Christians. At first, these Jewish Christians, originally the central group in Christianity, were not declared unorthodox but they were later excluded from the Jewish community and denounced. Some Jewish Christian groups, such as the Ebionites, were accused of having unorthodox beliefs, particularly in relation to their views of Christ and gentile converts. The Nazarenes, who held to orthodoxy but adhered to Jewish law, were not deemed heretical until the dominance of

orthodoxy Orthodoxy () is adherence to a purported "correct" or otherwise mainstream- or classically-accepted creed, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical co ...

in the 4th century. The Ebionites may have been a splinter group of Nazarenes, with disagreements over Christology and leadership. After the condemnation of the Nazarenes, the term "Ebionite" was often used as a general pejorative for all related "heresies". Jewish Christians constituted a community which was separate from the Pauline Christians. There was a post-Nicene "double rejection" of the Jewish Christians by adherents of gentile Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. It is believed that no direct confrontation occurred between the adherents of gentile Christianity and the adherents of Judaic Christianity. However, by this time, the practice of Judeo-Christianity was diluted by internal schisms and external pressures. Gentile Christianity remained the sole strand of orthodoxy and it imposed itself on the previously Jewish Christian sanctuaries, taking full control of those houses of worship by the end of the 5th century.

Growing anti-Jewish sentiment in Christian writings

Growing anti-Jewish sentiment among early Christians is evidenced by the Epistle of Barnabas, a late-1st/early-2nd century letter attributed to

, the companion of Paul mentioned in the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

, although it could be by Barnabas of Alexandria, or an anonymous author using the name Barnabas. In no other writing of that early time is the separation of the gentile Christians from observant Jews so clearly insisted upon. Christians, according to Barnabas, are the only true covenant people, and the Jewish people are no longer in covenant with God.

Circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...

and the entire Jewish sacrificial and ceremonial system have been abolished in favor of "the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ". Barnabas claims that Jewish scriptures, rightly understood, serve as a foretelling of Christ and its laws often contain allegorical meanings. While 2nd-century Marcionism rejected all Jewish influence on Christianity, Proto-orthodox Christianity instead retained some of the doctrines and practices of 1st-century Judaism while rejecting others. They held the Jewish scriptures to be authoritative and sacred, employing mostly the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

Targum A targum (, ''interpretation'', ''translation'', ''version''; plural: targumim) was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ) that a professional translator ( ''mǝṯurgǝmān'') would give in the common language o ...

translations, and adding other texts as the New Testament canon developed. Christian

baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

was another continuation of a Judaic practice.

Later Jewish Christianity

Antiquity

Ebionites

The Ebionites were a Jewish Christian movement that existed during the early centuries of the Christian Era. They show strong similarities with the earliest form of Jewish Christianity, and their specific theology may have been a "reaction to the law-free Gentile mission." They regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his

and his virgin birth, and insisted on the necessity of following Jewish law and rites. They used the Gospel of the Ebionites, one of the

; the Hebrew Book of Matthew starting at chapter 3; revered James the brother of Jesus (James the Just); and rejected

as an apostate from the Law. Their name ( ''Ebionaioi'', derived from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

''ebyonim'', ''ebionim'', meaning "the poor" or "poor ones") suggests that they placed a special value on voluntary poverty. Distinctive features of the ''Gospel of the Ebionites'' include the absence of the virgin birth and of the

genealogy of Jesus The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew starts with Abraham and works forwards, while Luke works back in time from Jesus to Adam. The lists of na ...

; an Adoptionist

, in which Jesus is chosen to be God's Son at the time of his

Baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

; the abolition of the Jewish sacrifices by Jesus; and an advocacy of

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

Nazarenes

The Nazarenes originated as a

sect A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...

of first-century Judaism. The first use of the term "sect of the Nazarenes" is in the

in the New Testament, where Paul is accused of being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes ("πρωτοστάτην τε τῆς τῶν Ναζωραίων αἱρέσεως"). The term then simply designated followers of "Yeshua Natzri" (

Jesus the Nazarene Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religi ...

), but in the first to fourth centuries the term was used for a sect of followers of Jesus who were closer to Judaism than most Christians. They are described by

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis (; – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the Christianity in the 4th century, 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Churche ...

and are mentioned later by

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

and

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

, who made a distinction between the Nazarenes of their time and the "Nazarenes" mentioned in Acts 24:5. The Nazarenes were similar to the

Ebionites Ebionites (, derived from Hebrew , , meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') as a term refers to a Jewish Christian sect that existed during the early centuries of the Common Era. Since historical records by the Ebionites are scarce, fragmentary and ...

, in that they considered themselves

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, maintained an adherence to the

Law of Moses The Law of Moses ( ), also called the Mosaic Law, is the law said to have been revealed to Moses by God. The term primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Terminology The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Heb ...

, and used only the

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

'' Gospel of the Hebrews'', rejecting all the

Canonical gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

. However, unlike half of the Ebionites, they accepted the Virgin Birth. The ''Gospel of the Hebrews'' was a

syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus ...

Jewish–Christian gospel, the text of which is lost; only fragments of it survive as brief quotations by the early

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...

and in apocryphal writings. The fragments contain traditions of Jesus' pre-existence,

incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It is the Conception (biology), conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used t ...

, and probable

temptation Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...

, along with some of his sayings. Distinctive features include a

characterized by the belief that the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

is Jesus' Divine Mother; and a first resurrection appearance to James, the brother of Jesus, showing a high regard for James as the leader of the Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem. It was probably composed in

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

in the first decades of the 2nd century, and is believed to have been used by Greek-speaking Jewish Christians in

during that century. The Gospel of the Nazarenes is the title given to fragments of one of the lost Jewish-Christian Gospels of Matthew partially reconstructed from the writings of

. Elcesaites The Elcesaites (also spelled Elkesaites or Elchasaites) were a Jewish-Christian sect that emerged in the early 2nd century CE, primarily in the region of Syria or Mesopotamia. The group is named after its founder, Elchasai (or Elxai), a prophet who claimed to have received a revelation from a heavenly book delivered by an angel of enormous size. The teachings of the Elcesaites are known mostly through the writings of early Church Fathers, particularly Hippolytus of Rome, Origen, and Epiphanius of Salamis. The Elcesaites combined elements of Jewish law, early Christianity, Gnosticism, and apocalyptic thought. They emphasized strict observance of the Mosaic Law, including circumcision, ritual purity, and sabbath keeping, while also promoting baptism as a means of forgiveness and spiritual cleansing. The sect believed in repeated baptisms for the remission of sins and rejected certain parts of Pauline Christianity, particularly doctrines about the divinity of Christ and the abolition of the Law. One of the distinctive aspects of Elcesaite belief was their rejection of animal sacrifice and their focus on angelic intermediaries. They also held to a unique cosmology, including a belief in giant angelic beings and a dualistic view of the cosmos. Their sacred book was said to have originated during the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan (98–117 CE). The Elcesaites had an influence on later sects such as the Ebionites and possibly on early Islamic thought. By the 4th century, references to the Elcesaites become increasingly rare, suggesting that the movement had either declined or merged with other religious groups. Cerinthians The Cerinthians were a Christian sect in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries CE, associated with the teachings of Cerinthus, a Jewish-Christian teacher who lived in Asia Minor, possibly in Ephesus. Most of what is known about Cerinthus and his followers comes from early Church Fathers such as Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius, as well as from critical remarks attributed to the Apostle John. Cerinthus taught a form of Christian Gnosticism that emphasized a strict adherence to Jewish law while introducing speculative theological concepts. He distinguished between Jesus the man and the divine "Christ," asserting that the Christ descended upon Jesus at his baptism and departed before the crucifixion. This belief implied a denial of the full incarnation and suffering of Christ, which led to sharp opposition from proto-orthodox Christians. According to Irenaeus, Cerinthus believed in a materialistic view of the Kingdom of God, teaching that after the resurrection, there would be a thousand-year reign of Christ on Earth filled with physical pleasures, such as eating, drinking, and marriage. This millenarian doctrine was controversial and rejected by many early Church leaders. Cerinthus also rejected the idea that the supreme God had created the world, teaching instead that the world was made by a lesser, ignorant power (a common theme in Gnostic cosmology). His views placed him at odds with both orthodox Christians and more developed Gnostic sects. While the Cerinthians did not become a lasting or widely influential movement, their teachings reflect the diversity and theological debates present in early Christianity. The opposition to Cerinthus by figures such as John the Apostle—who, according to tradition, once fled a bathhouse upon learning Cerinthus was inside—highlights the intensity of early doctrinal disputes.

Knanaya

The Knanaya of India descend from Syriac Christians of Jewish origin who migrated to India from Mesopotamia between the 4th and 9th century under the leadership of the merchant Knai Thoma. In the modern age, they are a minority community found among the St. Thomas Christians. The culture of the Knanaya has been analyzed by a number of Jewish scholars who have noted that the community maintains striking correlations to Jewish communities, in particular the

Cochin Jews Cochin Jews (also known as Malabar Jews or Kochinim from ) are one of the oldest groups of History of the Jews in India, Jews in India, with roots that are claimed to date back to the time of King Solomon. The Cochin Jews settled in the King ...

of Kerala. The culture of the Knanaya is a blend of Jewish-Christian, Syriac, and Hindu customs reflecting both the foreign origin of the community and the centuries that they have lived as a minority community in India.

Surviving Byzantine and 'Syriac' communities in the Middle East

The unique combination of

ethnocultural An ethnographic group or ethnocultural group is a group that has cultural traits that make it stand out from the larger ethnic group it is a part of. In other words, members of an ethnographic group will also consider themselves to be members of a ...

traits inhered from the fusion of a

- Macedonian cultural base,

Hellenistic Judaism Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Hellenistic culture and religion. Until the early Muslim conquests of the eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellen ...

and Roman civilization gave birth to the distinctly Antiochian "Middle Eastern-Roman" Christian traditions of Cilicia (Southeastern Turkey) and Syria/Lebanon: Members of these communities still call themselves Rûm which literally means " Eastern Roman", "

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

" or "Asian Greek" in Turkish, Persian and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. The term "Rûm" is used in preference to ''"Ionani"'' or ''"Yāvāni"'' which means "European Greek" or " Ionian" in

Classical Arabic Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic () is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notably in Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid literary texts such as poetry, e ...

and Ancient Hebrew. Most

Middle-East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

ern " Melkites" or " Rûms", can trace their

heritage to the Southern Anatolian ('Cilician') and Syrian Hellenized Greek-speaking

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

communities of the past and

and Macedonian

settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

s ('Greco-Syrians'), founders of the original "Antiochian Greek" communities of

Cilicia Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...

, Northwestern Syria and Lebanon. Counting members of the surviving minorities in the

Hatay Province Hatay Province (, ) is the southernmost province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey. Its area is , and its population is 1,686,043 (2022). It is situated mostly outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province ...

of Turkey, in Syria, Lebanon, Northern Israel and their relatives in the diaspora, there are more than 1.8 million Greco-Melkite Christians residing in the Northern-MENA, the US, Canada and Latin America today, i.e.,

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

and

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

Christians under the ancient jurisdictional authority of the

patriarchate Patriarchate (, ; , ''patriarcheîon'') is an ecclesiological term in Christianity, referring to the office and jurisdiction of a patriarch. According to Christian tradition, three patriarchates—Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria—were establi ...

s of Antioch and Jerusalem ("Orthodox" in the narrow sense) or their Uniat offshoots ("Catholic" or "united" with Rome). Today, certain families are associated with descent from the early Jewish Christians of Antioch, Damascus,

, and

. Some of those families carry surnames such as Youhanna (John), Hanania (Ananias), Sahyoun (Zion), Eliyya/Elias (Elijah), Chamoun/Shamoun (Simeon/Simon), Semaan/Simaan (Simeon/Simon), Menassa (Manasseh), Salamoun/ Suleiman (Solomon), Yowakim (Joachim), Zakariya (Zacharias), Kolath and others.

In Islamic origins

In the field of

Quranic studies Quranic studies is the academic study of the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. Like in biblical studies, the field uses and applies a diverse set of Academic discipline, disciplines and methods, such as philology, textual criticism, lex ...

, it has long been argued that Jewish Christianity played an important role in the formation of Quranic conceptions of Christians in Muhammad's Arabia. The first major author to assert that Jewish Christianity played an important role in the formation of Quranic tradition was Aloys Sprenger in his 1861 book ''Das Leben und die Lehre des Moḥammad''. Since then, numerous other authors have followed this argument, including Adolf von Harnack, Hans-Joachim Schoeps, M. P. Roncaglia, and others. The most recent notable defenders of this thesis have been Francois de Blois and Holger Zellentin, the latter in the context of his research into the historical context of the legal discourses present in the Quran especially as it resembles the Syriac recension of the Didascalia Apostolorum and the Clementine literature. In turn, several critics of this thesis have appeared, most notably Sidney Griffith. De Blois provides three arguments for the importance of Jewish Christianity: the use of the term ''naṣārā'' in the Quran (usually taken as a reference to Christians, as in Griffith's work) which resembles the Syriac term used for Nazoreans, the resemblance between the description of Mary as part of the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

with traditions attributed to the Gospel of the Hebrews, and dietary restrictions associated with the Christian community. In turn, Shaddel argued that ''naṣārā'' merely may have etymologically originated as such because Nazoreans were the first to interact with the Arabic community in which this term came into use. Alternative sources as well as hyperbole may explain the reference to Mary in the Trinity. However, Shaddel does admit the ritual laws as evidence for the relevance of Jewish Christians. In the last few years, the thesis for the specific role played by Jewish Christians has been resisted by Gabriel Said Reynolds, Stephen Shoemaker, and Guillaume Dye.

Contemporary movements

In modern times, the term "Jewish Christian" or "Christian Jew" is generally used in reference to ethnic Jews who have either converted to or been raised in Christianity. They are mostly members of

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and Orthodox Christian congregations, and they are generally assimilated into the Christian mainstream, but they may also retain a strong sense of attachment to their

Jewish identity Jewish identity is the objective or subjective sense of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. It encompasses elements of nationhood, "The Jews are a nation and were so before there was a Jewish state of Israel" "Jews are ...

. Some Jewish Christians also refer to themselves as " Hebrew Christians". The Hebrew Christian movement of the 19th century was an initiative which was largely led and integrated by

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

s, and they included figures such as Michael Solomon Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem 1842–1845; some figures, such as Joseph Frey, the founder of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, were more assertive of their Jewish identity and independence. The 19th century saw at least 250,000 Jews convert to Christianity according to existing records of various societies. According to data which was provided by the

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It ...

, as of 2013, about 1.6 million adult

American Jews American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% id ...

identify themselves as

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, and most of them identify themselves as

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

. According to the same data, most of the Jews who identify themselves as some sort of Christian (1.6 million) were either raised as Jews or are Jews by ancestry. According to a 2012 study, 17% of Jews in Russia identify themselves as

.Arena – Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia
. Sreda.org2012 Survey Maps
. "Ogonek", No. 34 (5243), 27/08/2012. Retrieved 24-09-2012.

Messianic Judaism Messianic Judaism is a syncretic Abrahamic religious sect that combines Christian theology with select elements of Judaism. It considers itself to be a form of Judaism but is generally considered to be a form of Christianity, including by ...

is a religious movement which incorporates elements of Judaism with the tenets of Christianity. Its adherents, many of whom are ethnically Jewish, worship in congregations which recite Hebrew prayers. They also baptize messianic believers who are of the

age of accountability In Christian theology, the age of accountability (also called the age of discretion) is the age at which children are deemed to be accountable for their beliefs and actions. Specific ages Some Christian denominations set a specific age with respe ...

(able to accept Jesus as the Messiah), often observe kosher dietary laws and keep Saturday as the Sabbath. Additionally, they recognize the Christian

as holy scripture, though most of them do not use the label "Christian" to describe themselves. The two groups are not completely distinct; some adherents, for example, favor Messianic congregations but they freely choose to live in both worlds, such as the theologian Arnold Fruchtenbaum, the founder of Ariel Ministries. The Hebrew Catholics are a movement of Jews who converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and Catholics of non-Jewish origin who choose to keep Jewish customs and traditions in light of Catholic doctrine.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Novakovic, Lidija (2014), Raised from the Dead According to Scripture: The Role of the Old Testament in the Early Christian Interpretations of Jesus' Resurrection, A&C Black * * * * * * * * * * * * * * . * (6th German ed.) * * * *

External links

Origins of Christianity

Encyclopaedia Britannica: The History of Christianity

Patheos.com: The Beginnings and Origins of Christianity
*

Jewish Christianity

Jewish Encyclopedia: Christianity in its Relation to JudaismNazarene Israel: the Original Faith of the ApostlesNetzari Emunah: What is Netzarim?Jewish Studies for Christians
{{Authority control 1st-century Christianity Ancient Christian controversies Christian terminology Christianity in Jerusalem Christianity and Judaism related controversies Early Christianity Early Christianity and Judaism Hellenistic philosophy and religion, Christianity Mosaic law in Christian theology Theological controversies

Etymology

Origins

Jewish-Hellenistic background

Hellenism

Jewish sects

Jewish and Christian messianism

Early Jewish Christianity

Jerusalem ''ekklēsia''

Beliefs

Messiah/Christ

Resurrection

=Bodily resurrection

Exaltation and deification

Jewish practices and identity

Paul and the inclusion of gentiles

Saul of Tarsus (Paul the Apostle)

Inclusion of gentiles

Hellenistic influences

Split of early Christianity and Judaism

Emergence as separate religious communities

Trajectory

First Jewish–Roman War and the destruction of the Temple

Controversies over Passover and the Eucharist

Rejection of Jewish Christianity

Growing anti-Jewish sentiment in Christian writings

Later Jewish Christianity

Antiquity

Ebionites

Nazarenes

Knanaya

Surviving Byzantine and 'Syriac' communities in the Middle East

In Islamic origins

Contemporary movements

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Origins of Christianity

Jewish Christianity