Editing Jewish Christianity

{{Short description|Proto-Christian breakaway Jewish movement}}
{{About|the historical concept|a comparison of the two religions as they exist today|Christianity and Judaism|the modern-day religious movement|Messianic Judaism}}
{{Jewish Christianity}}
{{Jews and Judaism sidebar|history}}
'''Jewish Christians''' were the followers of a [[Jewish religious movements|Jewish religious sect]] that emerged in [[Roman Judea|Judea]] during the late [[Second Temple period]] (first century AD). These Jews believed that [[Jesus]] was the [[Messiah in Judaism|prophesied Messiah]] and they continued their adherence to [[Halakha|Jewish law]]. Jewish Christianity is the foundation of [[Early Christianity]], which later developed into the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]], [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox]], [[Protestantism|Protestant]] traditions and other traditions. Christianity started with [[Jewish eschatology|Jewish eschatological]] expectations, and it developed into the worship of [[Jesus]] as the result of his earthly [[ministry of Jesus|ministry]], his [[Crucifixion of Jesus|crucifixion]], and the post-crucifixion experiences of his followers.

Jewish Christians drifted apart from mainstream Judaism. Their form of Judaism eventually became a minority strand within Judaism, and it had almost disappeared by the fifth century. [[Jewish–Christian gospels]] 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]] and the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 AD)|destruction of the Second Temple]] in AD 70 as the main events, more recent scholarship tends to argue that the [[Bar Kochba Revolt]] was the main factor in the separation.<ref>{{cite book |last= Kirk |first= Alan |year= 2019 |title= Memory and the Jesus Tradition |publisher= T&T Clark |page= 242 |isbn= 978-0567690036}}</ref> The split was a long-term process, in which the boundaries were not clear-cut.<ref name="Shiffman">{{cite web |url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/how-jewish-christians-became-christians/ |title=How Jewish Christians Became Christians |last=Shiffman |first=Lawrence H. |date=2018 |website=My Jewish Learning |access-date=2018-12-27 |archive-date=2018-12-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217110642/https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/how-jewish-christians-became-christians/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="JVL">{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/christianity-2 |title=Christianity: Severance from Judaism |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2008 |website=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |publisher=[[American–Israeli Cooperative Enterprise|AICE]] |access-date=17 December 2018 |quote=A major difficulty in tracing the growth of Christianity from its beginnings as a [[Jewish messianism|Jewish messianic sect]], and its relations to the various other normative-Jewish, sectarian-Jewish, and Christian-Jewish groups is presented by the fact that what ultimately became normative Christianity was originally but one among various contending Christian trends. Once the "gentile Christian" trend won out, and the [[Pauline theology|teaching]] of [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]] became accepted as expressing the doctrine of the [[Early Christianity|Church]], the Jewish Christian groups were pushed to the margin and ultimately excluded as heretical. Being rejected both by normative Judaism and the Church, they ultimately disappeared. Nevertheless, several Jewish Christian sects (such as the [[Nazarene (sect)|Nazarenes]], [[Ebionites]], [[Elchasaites]], and others) existed for some time, and a few of them seem to have endured for several centuries. Some sects saw in Jesus mainly a [[Prophet#Judaism|prophet]] and not the "Christ", others seem to have believed in him as the Messiah, but did not draw the [[Christology|christological]] and other conclusions that subsequently became fundamental in the teaching of the Church (the divinity of the Christ, [[Trinity|trinitarian conception of the Godhead]], [[Abrogation of Old Covenant laws|abrogation of the Law]]). After the disappearance of the early Jewish Christian sects and the triumph of gentile Christianity, to become a Christian meant, for a Jew, to [[Apostasy in Judaism|apostatize]] and to leave the Jewish community. |archive-date=17 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217062707/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/christianity-2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Etymology==
Early Jewish Christians (i.e. the Jewish followers of Jesus) referred to themselves as followers of "The Way" ({{lang|grc|ἡ ὁδός}}: '''hė hodós'''), probably coming from {{bibleverse|John|14:6|NIV}}, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."{{sfn|Cwiekowski|1988|pp= 79-80}}{{sfn|Pao|2016|p=65}}{{refn|group=note|It appears in the Acts of the Apostles, {{bibleverse|Acts|9:2|NKJV}}, {{bibleverse|Acts|19:9|NKJV}} and {{bibleverse|Acts|19:23|NKJV}}. Some [[English translations of the bible|English translations of the New Testament]] capitalize 'the Way' (e.g. the [[New King James Version]] and the [[English Standard Version]]), indicating that this was how 'the new religion seemed then to be designated'<ref>[[Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary]] on Acts 19, http://biblehub.com/commentaries/jfb//acts/19.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025093118/http://biblehub.com/commentaries/jfb/acts/19.htm |date=2015-10-25}} accessed 8 October 2015</ref> whereas others treat the phrase as indicative—'the way',<ref>Jubilee Bible 2000</ref> 'that way'<ref>[[American King James Version]]</ref> or 'the way of the Lord'.<ref>[[Douai-Rheims Bible]]</ref> The [[Syriac language|Syriac]] version reads, "the way of God" and the [[Vulgate|Vulgate Latin]] version, "the way of the Lord".<ref>Gill, J., ''Gill's Exposition of the Bible'', commentary on Acts 19:23 http://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/acts/19.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025104001/http://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/acts/19.htm |date=2015-10-25 }} accessed 8 October 2015</ref><br />See also [https://biblethingsinbibleways.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/sect-of-the-way-the-nazarenes-christians-names-given-to-the-early-church/ ''Sect of “The Way”, “The Nazarenes” & “Christians” : Names given to the Early Church''].}} According to {{bibleverse|Acts|11:26|NIV}}, the term "Christian" ({{Langx|el|Χριστιανός}}) was first used in reference to Jesus's [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]] in the city of [[Early centers of Christianity#Antioch|Antioch]], meaning "followers of Christ", by the non-Jewish inhabitants of Antioch.<ref>E. Peterson (1959), "Christianus." In: ''Frühkirche, Judentum und Gnosis'', publisher: Herder, Freiburg, pp. 353–72</ref> The earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity" ({{Langx|el|Χριστιανισμός|links=no}}) was by [[Ignatius of Antioch]], around 100&nbsp;AD.{{sfn|Elwell|Comfort|2001|pp=266, 828}}

The term "Jewish Christian" appears in modern historical texts contrasting Christians of [[Jewish]] origin with [[gentile]] Christians, both in discussion of the [[Apostolic Age|New Testament church]]<ref name="Judaeo-Christians"/><ref name= "Shiffman"/><ref name="JVL"/><ref name="Tabor"/><ref>''Theological dictionary of the New Testament'' (1972), p. 568. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey William Bromiley, Gerhard Friedrich: "When the Jewish Christians whom James sent from Jerusalem arrived at Antioch, Cephas withdrew from table-fellowship with the Gentile Christians".</ref><ref>Cynthia White, ''The emergence of Christianity'' (2007), p. 36: "In these early days of the church in Jerusalem there was a growing antagonism between the Greek-speaking Hellenized Jewish Christians and the Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians".</ref> and the [[Ante-Nicene Period|second and following centuries]].<ref>Michele Murray, ''Playing a Jewish game: Gentile Christian Judaizing in the first and Second Centuries AD'', Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion (2004), p. 97: "Justin is obviously frustrated by continued law observance by Gentile Christians; to impede the spread of the phenomenon, he declares that he does not approve of Jewish Christians who attempt to influence Gentile Christians".</ref>

==Origins==
{{See also|Second Temple Period|Origins of Judaism|Hellenistic Judaism|Christianity in the 1st century}}

===Jewish-Hellenistic background===

====Hellenism====
{{Main|Second Temple Judaism|Hellenistic Judaism}}
Christianity arose as a separate movement within the syncretist Hellenistic world of the first century AD, dominated by Roman law and Greek culture.{{sfn|Mack|1995}} [[Hellenistic culture]] had a profound impact on the customs and practices of Jews, both in the [[Land of Israel]] and in the [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]]. The inroads into Judaism gave rise to Hellenistic Judaism in the Jewish diaspora, which sought to establish a [[Judaism|Hebraic-Jewish religious tradition]] within the culture and language of [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenism]].

Hellenistic Judaism spread to [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] from the 3rd century BC and became a notable ''[[religio licita]]'' after the [[Roman conquest of Greece]], [[Asia (Roman province)|Anatolia]], [[Roman Syria|Syria]], [[Roman Judea|Judea]], and [[Roman Egypt|Egypt]], until its decline in the 3rd century parallel to the rise of [[Gnosticism]] and [[Early Christianity]].

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.{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WgROZMp4zDMC&pg=PA136 136]}}: "Burton Mack argues that Paul’s view of Jesus as a divine figure who gives his life for the salvation of others had to originate in a Hellenistic rather than a Jewish environment. Mack writes, "Such a notion [of vicarious human suffering] cannot be traced to old Jewish and/ or Israelite traditions, for the very notion of a vicarious human sacrifice was anathema in these cultures. But it can be traced to a Strong Greek tradition of extolling a noble death." More specifically, Mack argues that a Greek "myth of martyrdom" and the "noble death" tradition are ultimately responsible for influencing the hellenized Jews of the Christ cults to develop a divinized Jesus."<br />{{harvtxt|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WgROZMp4zDMC&pg=PA93 93]}} further note that "The most sophisticated and influential version of the hellenization thesis was forged within the German ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'' of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—now often referred to as the "old history of religions school." Here, the crowning literary achievement in several ways is Wilhelm Bousset’s 1913 work ''Kyrios Christos''. Bousset envisions two forms of pre-Pauline Christianity: [1. In the early Palestinian community, and 2. In the Hellenistic communities.]"}}

====Jewish sects====
During the early first century AD, there were many competing Jewish sects in the [[Holy Land]], and those that became [[Rabbinic Judaism]] and [[Proto-orthodox Christianity]] were but two of these. There were [[Pharisees]], [[Sadducees]], and [[Zealots (Judea)|Zealots]], but also other less influential sects, including the [[Essenes]].<ref name="Shiffman"/><ref name="JVL"/> The first century BC and first century AD saw a growing number of charismatic religious leaders contributing to what would become the [[Mishnah]] of [[Rabbinic Judaism]]; the [[ministry of Jesus]] would lead to the emergence of the first Jewish Christian community.<ref name="Shiffman"/><ref name="JVL"/>

The Gospels contain strong condemnations of the Pharisees, though there is a clear influence of [[Hillel the Elder|Hillel]]'s interpretation of the [[Torah]] in the Gospel sayings.{{sfn|Leman|2015|pp=145–146}} 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]] was a core Pharisaic doctrine.

====Jewish and Christian messianism====
{{Main|Jewish eschatology|Messiah in Judaism|Messiah ben Joseph|Rejection of Jesus}}
Most of Jesus's teachings were intelligible and acceptable in terms of [[Second Temple Judaism]]; what set early Christians apart from Jews was their belief that Jesus was the [[Messiah in Judaism|Messiah]].{{sfn|Cohen|1987|pp=167–168}} 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 in Judaism|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.<!-- Which one? --><ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IVlZEHVmuw0C&q=The+Jew+Who+Would+Be+God | title = The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ | author = Daniel Boyarin | publisher = New Press | year = 2012 | access-date = 20 January 2014 | isbn = 978-1595584687}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url = https://archive.org/details/messiahbeforejes00isra|url-access = registration|quote = The Messiah before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls.| title = The Messiah Before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls| author= Israel Knohl |publisher = University of California Press| year = 2000 | access-date= 20 January 2014| isbn = 978-0520928749}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=H23hArqmJsQC&q=The+Review+of+Rabbinic+Judaism:+Ancient,+Medieval,+and+Modern| title = The Review of Rabbinic Judaism: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern| pages = 91–112| editor = Alan J. Avery-Peck| publisher = Martinus Nijhoff Publishers| year = 2005| access-date = 20 January 2014| isbn = 9004144846}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=W2YUtEQmbwgC&q=The+Jewish+Jesus:+How+Judaism+and+Christianity+Shaped+Each+Other| title = The Jewish Jesus: How Judaism and Christianity Shaped Each Other| pages = 235–238| author = Peter Schäfer| publisher = Princeton University Press| year = 2012| access-date = 20 January 2014| isbn = 978-1400842285}}</ref>

[[Jewish messianism]] has its root in the [[apocalyptic literature]] of the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD, promising a future "anointed" leader or [[Messiah]] to resurrect the Israelite "[[Kingdom of God]]", 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.{{sfn|Cohen|1987|p=168}}{{refn|group=note|See for comparison: ''[[prophet]]'' and ''[[false prophet]]''.}} Jews at that time were expecting a military leader as a Messiah, such as [[Bar Kokhba]].

{{Bibleverse|Psalm|2}} was another source of Jewish messianism, which was prompted by [[Pompey]]'s [[Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)|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 (title)|Caesar]]'s claim to the latter.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Brettler |first1=Marc Zvi |last2=Levine |first2=Amy-Jill |date=2020 |title=Psalm 2: Is the Messiah the Son of God? |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/psalm-2-is-the-messiah-the-son-of-god |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406103042/https://www.thetorah.com/article/psalm-2-is-the-messiah-the-son-of-god |archive-date=April 6, 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}}</ref>

==Early Jewish Christianity==
Most historians agree that Jesus or his followers established a new [[Jewish religious movements|Jewish sect]], one that attracted both Jewish and [[Conversion to Judaism|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-orthodox Christianity|proto-orthodoxy]], Marcionites, Gnostics and the Jewish followers of Jesus.{{sfnp|Ehrman|2005}} According to [[theologian]] [[James Dunn (theologian)|James D. G. Dunn]], four types of early Christianity can be discerned: Jewish Christianity, Hellenistic Christianity, [[Apocalypticism|Apocalyptic Christianity]], and [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|early Catholicism]].{{sfn|Dunn|2006|pp=253–255}}

The first followers of Jesus were essentially all ethnically Jewish or Jewish [[proselytes]]. [[Cultural and historical background of Jesus|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."<ref>McGrath, Alister E., Christianity: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing (2006). {{ISBN|140510899-1}}. p. 174: "In effect, they [Jewish Christians] seemed to regard Christianity as an affirmation of every aspect of contemporary Judaism, with the addition of one extra belief – that Jesus was the Messiah. Unless males were [[Circumcision controversy in early Christianity|circumcised]], they could not be [[Salvation|saved]] (Acts 15:1)."</ref>

Conversely, Margaret Barker argues that early Christianity has roots in pre-[[Babylonian exile]] [[Yahwism|Israelite religion]].<ref>Collinwood, Dean W. & James W. McConkie. (2006). [https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=3777&context=byusq 'Temple Theology: An Introduction' by Margaret Barker]. Provo, UT: [[BYU Studies Quarterly|BYU Studies]] 45:2 (May 2006).</ref> The Expositor's Greek Testament interprets {{Bibleverse|John|4:23}} as being critical of Judaism and [[Samaritanism]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=John 4: Expositor's Greek Testament |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/egt/john/4.htm |website=Biblehub}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Elliott |first=John |date=2007 |title=Jesus the Israelite Was Neither a 'Jew' Nor a 'Christian': On Correcting Misleading Nomenclature |url=https://www.academia.edu/27314057 |journal=Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=119–154 |doi=10.1177/1476869007079741 |via=Academia}}</ref> [[Paul the Apostle]]'s criticism of the contemporary Jewish community most likely derive from Hebrew Bible theology rather than [[internalized antisemitism]].<ref name="Downey">{{Cite book |last=Downey |first=Amy Karen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15VMAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 |title=Paul's Conundrum: Reconciling 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 and Romans 9:1-5 in Light of His Calling and His Heritage |date=2011-01-01 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-60899-457-1 |language=en}}</ref>

Jewish Christians were the original members of the [[Split of early Christianity and Judaism|Jewish movement]] that later became [[Christianity]].<ref name="Judaeo-Christians">{{cite book |editor1-last=Tomson |editor1-first=Peter J. |editor2-last=Lambers-Petry |editor2-first=Doris |date=2003 |title=The Image of the Judaeo-Christians in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature |location=[[Tübingen]] |publisher=[[Mohr Siebeck]] |page=162 |series=Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament |volume=158 |isbn=3161480945 |quote=Though every definition of ''Jewish Christians'' has problems, the most useful is probably that they were believers in Jesus, of ethnic Jewish origin, who [[Torah|observed the Torah]] and so retained their [[Jewish identity]].}}</ref><ref name="Freedman">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&q=editions:Ue3Yk90iSAoC |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |editor1-last=Freedman |editor1-first=David Noel |editor2-last=Myers |editor2-first=Allen C. |publisher=[[Eerdmans]] |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] |page=709 |year=2000 |isbn=978-9053565032}}</ref><ref name="Shiffman"/><ref name="JVL"/> In the earliest stage the community was made up of all those Jews who believed that Jesus was the [[Messiah in Judaism|Jewish messiah]].<ref name="Shiffman"/><ref name="JVL"/><ref>McGrath, Alister E., ''Christianity: An Introduction''. Blackwell Publishing (2006). {{ISBN|1405108991}}. p. 174: "In effect, they [Jewish Christians] seemed to regard Christianity as an affirmation of every aspect of contemporary Judaism, with the addition of one extra belief – that Jesus was the Messiah. Unless males were [[Circumcision controversy in early Christianity|circumcised]], they could not be [[Salvation|saved]] (Acts 15:1)."</ref> As Christianity grew and developed, Jewish Christians became only one strand of the [[Early centers of Christianity|early Christian community]], characterised by combining the [[Confession of Peter|confession of Jesus as Christ]] with continued [[Torah|observance of the Torah]]<ref name="Judaeo-Christians"/> and adherence to Jewish traditions such as [[Shabbat|Sabbath observance]], [[Jewish calendar]], [[Halakhah|Jewish laws and customs]], [[Brit milah|circumcision]], [[Kosher|kosher diet]] and [[synagogue]] attendance, and by a direct genetic relationship to the earliest followers of Jesus.<ref name="Judaeo-Christians"/><ref name="Freedman"/><ref name="Shiffman"/><ref name="Tabor">{{cite book |last=Tabor |first=James D. |date=2013 |title=Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |page=24 |isbn=978-1439134986 |author-link=James D. Tabor |quote=[...] the original apostolic Christianity that came before Paul, and developed independently of him, by those who had known and spent time with Jesus, was in sharp contrast to [[Pauline Christianity|Paul's version of the new faith]]. This lost Christianity held sway during Paul's lifetime, and only with the [[James, brother of Jesus|death of James]] in 62 AD, followed by the brutal [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 AD)|destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD]], did it begin to lose its influence as the center of Jesus movement. Ironically, it was the [[Development of the New Testament canon|production and final editing of the New Testament itself]] [...] supporting Paul's version of Christianity, that ensured first the marginalization, and subsequently the death of this original form of Christianity.}}</ref>

===Jerusalem ''ekklēsia''===
{{See also|Flight to Pella}}
The [[Early centers of Christianity#Jerusalem|Jerusalem Church]] was an early Christian community located in Jerusalem, of which [[James the Just]], the brother of Jesus, and [[Saint Peter|Peter]] were leaders.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | article=James, St | editor1-last=Cross | editor1-first=Frank Leslie | editor-last2=Livingstone | editor-first2=Elizabeth A. | encyclopedia=The Oxford dictionary of the Christian Church | date=2005 | orig-year=1957 | publisher=Oxford University Press | publication-place=Oxford, UK|isbn=978-0-19-280290-3 | page=862 | edition=3rd revised <!-- That is, a 2005 revision of the 1997 3rd edition --> | article-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA862}}</ref> Paul was in contact with this community.{{Citation needed |date=June 2024}} Legitimised by [[Resurrection of Jesus|Jesus' appearance]], Peter was the first leader of the Jerusalem ''ekklēsia''.{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=45}}{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|p=116}} He was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord,"{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=45-46}}{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|pp=116–117}} which may explain why the early texts contain scarce information about Peter.{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|p=116-117}} According to Lüdemann, in the discussions about the [[Paul and Judaism|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.{{sfn|Lüdemann|Özen|1996|p=116-117}} According to Dunn, this was not an "usurpation of power," but a consequence of Peter's involvement in missionary activities.{{sfn|Bockmuehl|2010|p=52}}

According to [[Eusebius]]' ''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Church History]]'' 4.5.3–4: the first 15 Christian [[Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem#Bishops of Jerusalem|Bishops of Jerusalem]] were "of the circumcision". The Romans destroyed the Jewish leadership in [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]] in year 135 during the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]],<ref>On the Jerusalem Church between the Jewish revolts see: {{cite book | first=Jonathan | last=Bourgel | title=D'une identité à l'autre? : La communauté judéo-chrétienne de Jérusalem (66-135) | trans-title=From One Identity to Another: The Jewish-Christian community of Jerusalem Between the Two Jewish Revolts Against Rome (66-135/6 EC) | publication-place=Paris | publisher=Éditions du Cerf | series=collection Judaïsme ancien et Christianisme primitive | date=2015-06-05 | isbn=978-2-204-10068-7 | language=fr}}</ref> but it is traditionally believed the Jerusalem Christians waited out the [[Jewish–Roman wars]] in [[flight to Pella|Pella]] in the [[Decapolis]].<ref>Eusebius, Church History 3, 5, 3; Epiphanius, Panarion 29,7,7-8; 30, 2, 7; On Weights and Measures 15. On the flight to Pella see: Bourgel, Jonathan, "[https://www.academia.edu/4909339/The_Jewish_Christians_Move_from_Jerusalem_as_a_Pragmatic_Choice The Jewish Christians' Move from Jerusalem as a pragmatic choice] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210919003702/https://www.academia.edu/4909339/The_Jewish_Christians_Move_from_Jerusalem_as_a_Pragmatic_Choice |date=2021-09-19 }}", in: [[Dan Jaffé]] (ed), Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity, (Leyden: Brill, 2010), p. 107-138; P. H. R. van Houwelingen, "Fleeing forward: The departure of Christians from Jerusalem to Pella," Westminster Theological Journal 65 (2003), 181-200</ref>

===Beliefs===
The [[Pauline epistles]] incorporate [[creed]]s, or confessions of faith, of a belief in an exalted Christ that predate Paul,{{sfn|Mack|1995}} and give essential information on the faith of the early Jerusalem Church around [[James, brother of Jesus]].<ref>Colin G. Kruse (2012), ''Paul's Letter to the Romans'' {{ISBN|0802837433}} pp. 41–42</ref><ref>David E. Aune (ed.)(2010), ''The Blackwell Companion to The New Testament'' {{ISBN|1405108258}} p. 424</ref><ref>Ralph P. Martin (1975), ''Worship in the Early Church'', {{ISBN|0802816134}}, pp. 57–58</ref> This group venerated the risen Christ, who had appeared to several persons,{{sfn|Mack|1995}} as in [[Philippians 2]]:6–11, the Christ hymn, which portrays Jesus as an incarnated and subsequently exalted heavenly being.<ref name="books.google.com">{{harvp|Price|2003|loc=§.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=GmlB-KXsX8kC&pg=PA351 Conclusion: The Name of the Lord – The Name Above All Names]|pp=351–355}}</ref>

====Messiah/Christ====
{{Main|Messiah in Judaism|Eschatology}}
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 [[apocalyptic literature]] of the 2nd century BC to 1st century BC, promising a future "anointed" leader or [[messiah]] to restore the Israelite "[[Kingship and kingdom of God|Kingdom of God]]", in place of the foreign rulers of the time. This corresponded with the [[Maccabean Revolt]] directed against the [[Seleucid Empire]]. Following the fall of the [[Hasmonean]] kingdom, it was directed against the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] administration of [[Judea (Roman province)|Judea Province]], which, according to [[Josephus]], began with the formation of the [[Zealots]] and [[Sicarii]] during the [[Census of Quirinius]] (6 AD), although full-scale open revolt did not occur until the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] in 66 AD.

====Resurrection====
According to the New Testament, people reported that they [[Resurrection appearances of Jesus|encountered Jesus after his crucifixion]]. They believed that he had been [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrected]] (belief in the resurrection of the dead in the [[Messianic Age]] was a core [[Pharisees|Pharisaic]] doctrine), and his resurrection provided the belief that he would [[Second Coming|soon return]] and fulfill the rest of [[Messianic prophecy]] such as the [[resurrection of the dead]] and the [[Last Judgment]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2003|p=272}}: "He [Paul] believed himself to be living at a new stage in the eschatological timetable: the 'age to come' had already begun, precisely with the Messiah's resurrection."</ref>

[[s:Bible (American Standard)/1 Corinthians#15:3|1 Corinthians 15:3-9]] gives an early testimony, which was delivered to Paul,<ref>''Creeds of the Churches, Third Edition'' by John H. Leith (1982) {{ISBN|0804205264}} p. 12.</ref> 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:
{{blockquote|3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;<br />
4 and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures;<br />
5 and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve;<br />
6 then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep;<br />
7 then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles;<br />
8 and last of all, as to the [child] untimely born, he appeared to me also.<ref>[[s:Bible (American Standard)/1 Corinthians#15:3|1 Corinthians 15:3-9]]</ref>}}

The later [[canonical gospels]] 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.<ref>Vermes, Geza (2008a), The Resurrection, p.141.</ref> Jesus is described as the "[[Firstborn (Judaism)|firstborn from the dead]]", {{Transliteration|grc|prōtotokos}}, the first to be raised from the dead, thereby acquiring the "special status of the firstborn as the preeminent son and heir".<ref>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, p.152</ref><ref group=web name="Holcomb">[[Justin S. Holcomb]], [https://www.christianity.com/god/jesus-christ/what-does-it-mean-that-jesus-is-the-firstborn-from-the-dead.html "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]] 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,{{sfn|Wright|2003|p=272; cf. 321}}<ref>Vermes, Geza (2008b), ''The Resurrection: History and Myth''</ref><ref group=web name="Habermas.2005">Habermas (2005), [http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/J_Study_Historical_Jesus_3-2_2005/J_Study_Historical_Jesus_3-2_2005.htmResurrection ''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 of Jesus' appearances|vision theory]]. Other scholars such as [[Craig L. Blomberg]] argue that there are sufficient arguments for the historicity of the resurrection.{{sfn|Blomberg|2007}} According to [[Géza Vermes]], the concept of resurrection formed "the initial stage of the belief in his exaltation", which is "the apogee of the triumphant Christ".{{sfn|Vermes|2008|p=138-139}} 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.{{sfn|Vermes|2008|p=139}}

Proponents of the [[vision theory of Jesus' appearances|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.<ref name="Ehrman.1april2018"/>{{refn|group=note|Ehrman: "What started Christianity was the Belief in the Resurrection. It was nothing else. Followers of Jesus came to believe he had been raised. They did not believe it because of “proof” such as the empty tomb. They believed it because some of them said they saw Jesus alive afterward. Others who believed these stories told others who also came to believe them. These others told others who told others – for days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and now millennia. Christianity is all about believing what others have said. It has always been that way and always will be.<br /><br />Easter is the celebration of the first proclamation that Jesus did not remain dead. It is not that his body was resuscitated after a Near Death Experience. God had exalted Jesus to heaven never to die again; he will (soon) return from heaven to rule the earth. This is a statement of faith, not a matter of empirical proof. Christians themselves believe it. Non-Christians recognize it as the very heart of the Christian message. It is a message based on faith in what other people claimed and testified based on what others claimed and testified based on what others claimed and testified – all the way back to the first followers of Jesus who said they saw Jesus alive afterward.<ref name="Ehrman.1april2018">Bart Ehrman (1 April 2018), [https://ehrmanblog.org/an-easter-reflection-2018/ ''An Easter Reflection 2018''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925041145/https://ehrmanblog.org/an-easter-reflection-2018/ |date=2020-09-25 }}</ref>}} According to [[Paula Fredriksen]], Jesus's impact on his followers was so great that they could not accept the failure implicit in his death.{{sfn|Fredriksen|2000}} 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.{{sfn|Fredriksen|2000|pp=133–134}}

According to [[N.T. Wright]], "there is substantial unanimity among the early Christian writers (first and second century) that Jesus had been bodily raised from the dead,"{{sfn|Wright|2003|pp=9–10}} "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.{{sfn|Wright|2003|p=711}} 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.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Wright | first=N. T. | title=Christian origins and the resurrection of Jesus: The resurrection of Jesus as a historical problem | journal=Sewanee Theological Review | date=1998 | volume=41 | number=2 | pages=107–123}}</ref>

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.{{sfn|Leman|2015|p=167-183}} His early followers regarded him as a [[righteousness|righteous]] man and prophet, who was therefore resurrected and exalted.{{sfn|Leman|2015|p=173-174}} In time, Messianistic, [[Isaiah]]ic, apocalyptic and eschatological expectations were blended in the experience and understanding of Jesus, who came to be expected to return to earth.{{sfn|Leman|2015|p=173-174}}

=====Bodily resurrection=====
A point of debate is how Christians came to believe in a bodily resurrection, which was "a comparatively recent development within Judaism."<ref>{{cite book | last1=Porter | first1=Stanley E. | last2=Bedard | first2=Stephen J. | year=2006 | title=Unmasking the pagan Christ: An evangelical response to the cosmic Christ theory | publisher=Clements Publishing | isbn=978-1-894667-71-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NwPvu3r6ZzUC&pg=PA91 | page=91}}</ref> 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.<ref>Dag Øistein Endsjø, ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity'', p.169</ref> According to Porter, Hayes and Tombs, the Jewish tradition emphasizes a continued spiritual existence rather than a bodily resurrection.<ref name="Porter.Hayes.Tombs">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</ref>

Nevertheless, the origin of this idea is commonly traced to Jewish beliefs,<ref>Dag Øistein Endsjø, ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity'', p.12</ref> a view against which Stanley E. Porter objected.{{sfn|Porter|1999}} According to Porter, Jewish and subsequent Christian thought were influenced by Greek thoughts, where "assumptions regarding resurrection" can be found,<ref>Stephen J. Bedard, ''Hellenistic Influence on the Idea of Resurrection in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature'', responds to Porter's thesis, referencing Porter as stating such.</ref> which were probably adopted by Paul.{{refn|group=note|Porter, Hayes and Tombs: "Stanley Porter's paper brings together a body of literature, hitherto largely neglected, which highlights the fact that the Greeks, contrary to much scholarly opinion, did have a significant tradition of bodily resurrection, and that the Jewish tradition emphasizes a continued spiritual existence rather than a bodily resurrection. Thus, Paul in the New Testament probably adopted Graeco-Roman assumptions regarding the resurrection, although he was not blindly derivative in developing his conceptual framework."<ref name="Porter.Hayes.Tombs"/>}} 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."<ref>{{cite magazine | first=Bart | last=Ehrman | date=2012 | url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bart-d-ehrman/did-jesus-exist_b_1349544.html | title=Did Jesus exist?' | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822020811/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bart-d-ehrman/did-jesus-exist_b_1349544.html | archive-date=2018-08-22 | magazine=Huffington Post | ref=none}}</ref>
<!-- To be expanded: ===Atonement=== 
{{expand section|date=June 2018}}
{{See also|Servant songs|Atonement in Christianity}}-->

====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.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} Jewish Christians like the Ebionites had an [[Adoptionist]] [[Christology]]{{sfn|Kloppenborg|1994|pp=435–9|  ps = p. 435, "This belief, known as "adoptionism", held that Jesus was not divine by nature or by birth, but that God chose him to become his son, i.e., adopted him."}} and regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his [[divinity]],<ref name="Ebionites">{{cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177608/Ebionites | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | title = Ebionites | access-date = 2022-06-23 | archive-date = 2010-01-08 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100108083012/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177608/Ebionites | url-status = live }}</ref> while other strands of Christian thought regard Jesus to be a "fully divine figure", a "high Christology".<ref name="Bouma"/> How soon the earthly Jesus was regarded to be the incarnation of God is a matter of scholarly debate.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}<ref name="Bouma"/>

[[Philippians 2]]: 5–11 contains the Christ hymn, which portrays Jesus as an incarnated and subsequently exalted heavenly being:<ref name="books.google.com"/>
{{blockquote|5 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:<br />
6 who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,<br />
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;<br />
8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient [even] unto death, yea, the death of the cross.<br />
9 Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name;<br />
10 that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven and [things] on earth and [things] under the earth,<br />
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Philippians|2:6–11|asv}}</ref>}}

According to Dunn, the background of this hymn has been strongly debated. Some see it as influenced by a Greek worldview {{refn|group=note|Several authors have even argued for influences from a "pre-Christian Gnostic redeemer myth". According to Dunn, this interpretation is dated, and based on "a most questionable historical foundation".}}{{sfn|Dunn|2006|p=146-147}} 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.{{sfn|Dunn|2006|p=146-147}}

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.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}<ref name="Bouma">{{cite web|last=Bouma|first=Jeremy|title=The Early High Christology Club and Bart Ehrman — An Excerpt from "How God Became Jesus"|url=https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/how-god-became-jesus-bart-ehrman-high-christology-excerpt/|website=Zondervan Academic Blog|publisher=[[HarperCollins]] Christian Publishing|access-date=2 May 2018|date=27 March 2014|archive-date=21 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421232807/https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/how-god-became-jesus-bart-ehrman-high-christology-excerpt/|url-status=live}}</ref>

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.{{sfn|Mack|1997}} According to Mack, within these Jesus-movements developed within 25 years the belief that Jesus was the Messiah, and had risen from death.{{sfn|Mack|1995}}

According to Erhman, the gospels show a development from a "low Christology" towards a "high Christology".{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} 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.<ref name="Bouma"/> 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.<ref name="Bouma"/> According to Hengel, the Gospel of John shows a development which builds on this early high Christology, fusing it with [[Wisdom (personification)|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".<ref name="Bouma"/>

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 [[El (deity)|High God]] and several [[Sons of God]], one of which was [[Yahweh]]. 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Margaret |title=The Great Angel: A Study of Israel's Second God |date=1992 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0664253950}}</ref>

===Jewish practices and identity===
The [[Book of Acts]] reports that the early followers continued daily [[Second Temple|Temple]] attendance and traditional Jewish home prayer. Other passages in the [[New Testament]] gospels reflect a similar observance of traditional Jewish piety such as [[fasting]], reverence for the [[Torah]] and observance of [[Jewish holiday|Jewish holy days]].

==Paul and the inclusion of gentiles==
[[File:PaulT.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Valentin de Boulogne]]'s depiction of ''Saint Paul Writing His Epistles'', c. 1618-1620 (Blaffer Foundation Collection, [[Houston]], [[Texas]])]]
{{See also|Paul the Apostle and Judaism|Christian views on the Old Covenant|Incident at Antioch|Pauline Christianity}}

===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."<ref>{{citation | mode=cs1 | first=Larry | last=Hurtado | date=2014 | url=https://larryhurtado.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/pauls-messianic-christology-rome-paper-2014.pdf | title=Paul's messianic Christology | type=Unpublished manuscript}}</ref> According to Dunn, Paul presents, in his [[Pauline epistles|epistles]], a Hellenised Christianity.{{sfn |Dunn|2006}}{{refn|group=note|The term "Pauline Christianity" is generally considered a [[pejorative]] by mainstream Christianity, as it carries the implication that Christianity is a corruption of the original teachings of Jesus, as for example in the belief of a [[Great Apostasy]] as found in [[Restorationism (Christian primitivism)|Restorationism]].{{citation needed |date=May 2018}} Most of [[Orthodoxy|orthodox]] Christianity relies heavily on these teachings and considers them to be amplifications and explanations of the [[Ministry of Jesus|teachings of Jesus]].{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}}} According to Ehrman, "Paul's message, in a nutshell, was a Jewish apocalyptic proclamation with a seriously Christian twist."<ref name= "Ehrman.Triumph">Ehrman, ''The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden religion swept the World''.</ref>{{Page needed|date=March 2022}}

Paul was in contact with the early Christian community in [[Early centers of Christianity#Jerusalem|Jerusalem]], led by [[James the Just]].{{sfn|Mack|1997}}{{refn|group=note|According to Mack, he may have been converted to another early strand of Christianity, with a High Christology.{{sfn|Mack|1997|p=109}}}} Fragments of their beliefs in an exalted and deified Jesus, what Mack called the "Christ cult," can be found in the writings of Paul.{{sfn|Mack|1997}}{{refn|group=note|According to Mack,{{sfn|Mack|1988|p=98}} "Paul was converted to a Hellenized form of some Jesus movement that had already developed into a Christ cult. [...] Thus his letters serve as documentation for the Christ cult as well." {{harvp|Price|2000|p=75|loc=§.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=VJh1H-hf5EwC&pg=PA75 The Christ Cults]}} comments: "By choosing the terminology “Christ cults,” Burton Mack means to differentiate those early movements that revered Jesus as the Christ from those that did not. [...] Mack is perhaps not quite clear about what would constitute a Christ cult. Or at least he seems to me to obscure some important distinctions between what would appear to be significantly different subtypes of Christ movements."}} According to the New Testament, Saul of Tarsus first persecuted the early Jewish Christians, but then [[Conversion of Paul the Apostle|converted]].{{refn|group=note|Galatians 1:13.{{sfn|Dunn|2006|p=294}} According to Dunn, Paul persecuted the "Hellenists"{{sfn|Dunn|2006|p=294}} of Acts 6.{{sfn|Dunn|2006|p=289}} According to Larry Hurtado, there was no theological divide between "Hellenists" (Greek speaking Jews from the diaspora who had returned to Jerusalem) and their fellow Jesus-followers; Paul's persecution was directed against the Jesus-movement in general, because it offended his Pharisaic convictions.<ref>{{cite web | first=Larry | last=Hurtado | type=Blog post | date=November 11, 2014 | url=https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/pauls-persecution-of-jewish-jesus-followers-nature-causes/ | title=Paul's "Persecution" of Jewish Jesus-Followers: Nature & Cause(s) | website=larryhurtado.wordpress.com | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331130009/https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/pauls-persecution-of-jewish-jesus-followers-nature-causes/ | archive-date=2019-03-31 | ref=none}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | first=Larry | last=Hurtado | type=Blog post | date=November 12, 2014 | url=https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/the-hellenists-of-acts-dubious-assumptions-and-an-important-publication/ | title=The "Hellenists" of Acts: Dubious Assumptions and an Important Publication | website=larryhurtado.wordpress.com | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331130012/https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/the-hellenists-of-acts-dubious-assumptions-and-an-important-publication/ | archive-date=2019-03-31 | ref=none}}</ref>}} He adopted the name Paul and started [[Proselytism|proselytizing]] 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 [[Mitzvot|Jewish commandments]] at the [[Council of Jerusalem]], 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 [[canonical gospels]], early [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] and the rest of the New Testament, such as the [[Epistle of James]].{{sfn|Mack|1995}}{{sfn|Maccoby|1986}}

===Inclusion of gentiles===
Some early Jewish Christians believed that non-Jews must [[Conversion to Judaism|convert to Judaism]] and adopt [[Halakha|Jewish customs]] in order to be saved. Paul criticized Peter for himself declining to eat with [[gentile]]s during a visit by some of these Christians and therefore presenting a poor example to non-Jews joining the Christians.<ref>{{bibleverse||Gal|2:11–18|NRSV}}</ref> Paul's close coworker [[Barnabas]] sided with Peter in this dispute.<ref>{{bibleverse||Gal|2:13|NRSV}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Acts|15:39-40|NRSV}}</ref> Those that taught that gentile converts to Christianity ought to adopt more Jewish practices to be saved, however, were called "[[Judaizers]]".<ref name=Damick2011>{{cite book |last1=Damick |first1=Fr. Andrew Stephen |title=Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy |publisher=Ancient Faith Publishing |location=Chesterton, IN |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-936270-13-2 |page=20}}</ref> Though the [[Apostle Peter]] was initially sympathetic, the [[Apostle Paul]] opposed the teaching at the [[Incident at Antioch]] ({{bibleverse|Gal.|2:11-21}}) and at the [[Council of Jerusalem]] ({{bibleverse|Acts|15:6-35}}).<ref name=Damick2011 /><ref name=Bisschops2017>{{cite book |last1=Bisschops |first1=Ralph |date=January 2017 |chapter=Metaphor in Religious Transformation: 'Circumcision of the Heart' in Paul of Tarsus |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312589528 |chapter-format=PDF |editor1-last=Chilton |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=Kopytowska |editor2-first=Monika |title=Language, Religion and the Human Mind |volume=1 |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=1–30 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190636647.003.0012 |isbn=978-0-19-063664-7 |access-date=9 July 2019}}</ref> Nevertheless, Judaizing continued to be encouraged for several centuries, particularly by Jewish Christians.<ref name=Damick2011 />

Paul opposed the strict applications of Jewish customs for gentile converts,<ref name=Bisschops2017 /> and argued with the leaders of the Jerusalem Church to allow gentile converts exemption from most [[613 Mitzvot|Jewish commandments]] at the [[Council of Jerusalem]], where Paul met with the "pillars of Jerusalem Church" (whom Paul identifies as Peter, [[James, brother of Jesus|Jesus's brother James]], and [[John the Apostle|John]]) over whether gentile Christians need to keep the Jewish Law and be [[Circumcision controversy in early Christianity|circumcised]]. According to Acts, James played a prominent role in the formulation of the [[Council of Jerusalem|council's]] decision ({{Bibleverse||Acts|15:19|NRSV}} [[NRSV]]) that circumcision was not a requirement. In Galatians, Paul says that James, Peter and [[John the Apostle|John]]<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.usccb.org/bible/gal/2:9#56002009-1 |title=Galatians 2 from [[New American Bible]] |chapter=Footnote on 2:9 |publisher=USCCB |access-date=2019-03-31 |archive-date=2019-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329230500/http://www.usccb.org/bible/gal/2:9#56002009-1 |url-status=live }}</ref> will minister to the "circumcised" (in general [[Jew]]s and Jewish [[proselyte]]s) in Jerusalem, while Paul and his fellows will minister to the "uncircumcised" (in general, gentiles) ([https://biblehub.com/galatians/2-9.htm Galatians 2:9]).<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.usccb.org/bible/gal/2:9#56002012-1 |title=Galatians 2 from [[New American Bible]] |chapter=Footnote on 2:12 |publisher=USCCB |access-date=2019-03-31 |archive-date=2019-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329230500/http://www.usccb.org/bible/gal/2:9#56002012-1 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{refn|group=note|These terms (circumcised/uncircumcised) are generally interpreted to mean [[Jews]] and [[Greeks]], who were predominant; however, this is an oversimplification, as 1st-century [[Judaea Province]] also had some Jews who no longer circumcised and some Greeks and others such as Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Arabs who did.}}

The ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]''<ref>{{Catholic Encyclopedia | prescript= | last=Bechtel | first=Florentine Stanislaus | wstitle=Judaizers | volume=8}}</ref> 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''<ref>{{cite book|title=From Jesus to Christianity|first=L. Michael |last=White|publisher=Harper San Francisco|year=2004|isbn=0-06-052655-6|page=170}}</ref> 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.<ref>''The Canon Debate'', McDonald & Sanders editors, 2002, chapter 32, page 577, by James D. G. Dunn: "For ''Peter was probably in fact and effect the bridge-man'' (pontifex maximus!) ''who did more than any other to hold together the diversity of first-century Christianity.'' James the brother of Jesus and Paul, the two other most prominent leading figures in first-century Christianity, were too much identified with their respective "brands" of Christianity, at least in the eyes of Christians at the opposite ends of this particular spectrum. But Peter, as shown particularly by the Antioch episode in Gal 2, had both a care to hold firm to his Jewish heritage, which Paul lacked, and an openness to the demands of developing Christianity, which James lacked. John might have served as such a figure of the center holding together the extremes, but if the writings linked with his name are at all indicative of his own stance he was too much of an individualist to provide such a rallying point. Others could link the developing new religion more firmly to its founding events and to Jesus himself. But none of them, including the rest of the twelve, seem to have played any role of continuing significance for the whole sweep of Christianity—though James the brother of John might have proved an exception had he been spared." [Italics original]</ref>

===Hellenistic influences===
[[Talmud]] 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]] to reinterpret the [[Hebrew Bible]] in terms of the [[Platonism|Platonic]] opposition between the [[Theory of Forms|ideal]] (which is real) and the [[Matter|material]] (which is false). Judaism is a material religion, in which membership is based not on [[belief]] but rather descent from [[Abraham]], physically marked by [[Religious male circumcision|circumcision]], and focusing on [[orthopraxy|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 [[Yahweh|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.<ref name="Boyarin 1999 ?">{{harvnb|Boyarin|1999}} (?)</ref>

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-fearer]]s,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kraabel |first=A. T. |author-link=A. Thomas Kraabel |date=1981 |title=The Disappearance of the 'God-Fearers' |jstor=3270014 |journal=[[Numen (journal)|Numen]] |volume=28 |issue=2 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |location=[[Leiden]] |pages=113–126|doi=10.1163/156852781X00160 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Attridge |editor1-first=Harold W. |editor2-last=Hata |editor2-first=Gohei |author=Feldman, Louis H. |author-link=Louis Feldman |date=1992 |title=Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism |chapter="Sympathizers" with Judaism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVyzbHAJ_hAC&pg=PA389 |location=[[Detroit]] |publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]] |pages=389–395 |isbn=0-8143-2361-8 |access-date=2019-07-15 |archive-date=2020-08-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803205127/https://books.google.com/books?id=jVyzbHAJ_hAC&pg=PA389 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Feldman |editor1-first=Louis H. |editor2-last=Reinhold |editor2-first=Meyer |date=1996 |title=Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans |chapter="Sympathizers" (God-fearers) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_kvhzxTf6QoC&pg=PA137 |location=[[Edinburgh]] |publisher=[[T&T Clark]] |pages=137–45 |isbn=0-567-08525-2}}</ref> although Jews claimed that he was the [[Monotheism|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.<ref name="Boyarin 1999 ?"/>

==Split of early Christianity and Judaism==
{{Main|Split of Christianity and Judaism}}

===Emergence as separate religious communities===
As Christianity grew throughout the gentile world, the developing Christian tradition diverged from its Jewish and [[Early centers of Christianity#Jerusalem|Jerusalem roots]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7LfL6E50ZWgC&dq=%22who+were+the+Jewish+christians+%22+%22law+of+moses%22&pg=PA21 Keith Akers, ''The lost religion of Jesus: simple living and nonviolence in early Christianity'', Lantern Books, 2000] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610080550/https://books.google.com/books?id=7LfL6E50ZWgC&pg=PA21&dq=%22who+were+the+Jewish+christians+%22+%22law+of+moses%22&cd=1#v=onepage&q=%22who%20were%20the%20Jewish%20christians%20%22%20%22law%20of%20moses%22&f=false |date=2016-06-10 }} p. 21</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Wylen | first=Stephen M. | title=The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction | publication-place=Mahwah, New Jersey | publisher=Paulist Press | date=1996 | isbn=978-0-8091-3610-0 | oclc=35733749 | pages=190–192}}; Dunn, James D.G., ''Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, 70 to 135 AD'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (1999), {{ISBN|0-8028-4498-7}}, Pp. 33–34.; Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro & Gargola, Daniel J & Talbert, Richard John Alexander, ''The Romans: From Village to Empire'', Oxford University Press (2004), {{ISBN|0-19-511875-8}}, p. 426.</ref> 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 [[synagogue]]s together with [[Second Temple Judaism|contemporary Jews]] for centuries.{{sfn|Wylen|1996|p=190}}<ref>{{cite book | last=Berard | first=Wayne-Daniel | title=When Christians were Jews (that is, now): Recovering the lost Jewishness of Christianity with the Gospel of Mark | publication-place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | publisher=Cowley Publications | year=2006 | isbn=978-1-4616-3610-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7bwaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA112 | pages=112–113}}{{failed verification|date=June 2024}}</ref><ref name="Wright 1992 p 164f">{{cite book | last=Wright | first=N. T. | title=The New Testament and the people of God | series=Christian origins and the question of God | publisher=Fortress Press | year=1992 | isbn=978-0-8006-2681-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ms-xtRQoLUIC&pg=PA164 | pages=164–165}}{{failed verification|date=June 2024}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{multiref|See for instance:|{{cite book | last=Vuong | first=Lily C. | date=2013-11-19 | title=Gender and Purity in the Protevangelium of James | series=Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament | volume=2.358 | publication-place=Tübingen | publisher=Mohr Siebeck | isbn=978-3-16-152337-3 | doi=10.1628/978-3-16-152844-6 | issn=0340-9570 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PWifdAZbuugC&pg=PA210 | pages=210–213}}|{{cite journal | last=Bourgel | first=Jonathan | date=2017 | title=The holders of the 'Word of Truth': The Pharisees in Pseudo-Clementine ''Recognitions'' 1.27–71 | journal=Journal of Early Christian Studies | volume=25 | issue=2 | issn=1086-3184 | doi=10.1353/earl.2017.0018 | pages=171–200}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bobichon |first=Philippe |date=2002 |title=Autorités religieuses juives et " sectes " juives dans l'oeuvre de Justin Martyr |url=https://www.academia.edu/29309756 |journal=Revue d'Études Augustiniennes et Patristiques |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=3–22 |doi=10.1484/J.REA.5.104844 |issn=1768-9260}}</ref> [[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".<ref>Alexander, Philip S. "'The Parting of the Ways' from the Perspective of Rabbinic Judaism". [[James D. G. Dunn]], ed. ''Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways'', Durham-Tübingen Research Symposium on Earliest Christianity and Judaism 1992 (2nd: 1999: Wm. B. Eerdmans). p1 in the 1992 edition.</ref> The first centuries of belief in Jesus were characterized by great uncertainty and religious creativity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Raymond E |date=1983 |title=Not Jewish Christianity and Gentile Christianity but Types of Jewish/Gentile Christianity |journal=Catholic Biblical Quarterly |issue=45 |pages= 74–79}}</ref> "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."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bibliowicz |first=Abel M. |date=2019 |title=Jewish-Christian Relations - The First Centuries (Mascarat, 2019) |url=https://www.academia.edu/29628872 |location=WA |publisher=Mascarat |page=???? |isbn=978-1513616483 |access-date=2020-06-19 |archive-date=2021-11-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211116052803/https://www.academia.edu/29628872 |url-status=live }}</ref> At first, early belief in Jesus was very much a local phenomenon with some degree of coordination among communities on a regional basis.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilson |first= Stephen G. |date=1995 |title= Related Strangers: Jews and Christians|location= Minneapolis, MIN|publisher= Augsburg Fortress Publishers|pages= 9–19|isbn=080063733X}}</ref>

Both [[Early Christianity]] and [[Tannaim|Early Rabbinic Judaism]] were far less [[orthodoxy|orthodox]] and less theologically homogeneous than in modern day. Both religions were significantly influenced by [[Hellenistic religion]] and borrowed allegories and concepts from Classical [[Hellenistic philosophy]]<ref>Philippe Bobichon,"L'enseignement juif, païen, hérétique et chrétien dans l'œuvre de Justin Martyr", ''Revue des Études Augustiniennes'' 45/2 (1999), pp. 233-259 [https://www.academia.edu/7279724/_Lenseignement_juif_pa%C3%AFen_h%C3%A9r%C3%A9tique_et_chr%C3%A9tien_dans_l%C5%93uvre_de_Justin_Martyr_Revue_des_%C3%89tudes_Augustiniennes_45_2_1999_p_233_259 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426211231/https://www.academia.edu/7279724/_Lenseignement_juif_pa%C3%AFen_h%C3%A9r%C3%A9tique_et_chr%C3%A9tien_dans_l%C5%93uvre_de_Justin_Martyr_Revue_des_%C3%89tudes_Augustiniennes_45_2_1999_p_233_259 |date=2021-04-26 }}</ref> and the works of the Greek-speaking Jewish authors of the end of the [[Second Temple period]]. 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]] messianic beliefs, and, more importantly, the use of [[Koine Greek]] and [[Latin]] as [[sacerdotal]] languages replacing [[Biblical Hebrew]].<ref name="Daniel Boyarin 1999 p. 15">{{cite book | first=Daniel | last=Boyarin | title=Dying for God: Martyrdom and the making of Christianity and Judaism | publisher=Stanford University Press | date=1999 | page=15 | ref=none}}{{failed verification|date=June 2024|reason=https://books.google.com/books?id=JD_ep2riNtgC&pg=PA15}}</ref>

===Trajectory===
[[Heinrich Graetz]] postulated a [[Council of Jamnia]] in 90 that excluded Christians from the [[synagogues]], but this is disputed. Jewish Christians continued to worship in synagogues for centuries.{{sfn|Wylen|1996|p=190}}{{sfn|Berard|2006|pp=112–113}}<ref name="Wright 1992 p 164f"/>

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".{{sfn|Cohen|1987|p=228}}{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Cohen|1987|p=228}}: "The separation of Christianity from Judaism was a process, not an event. The essential part of this process was that the church was becoming more and more gentile, and less and less Jewish, but the separation manifested itself in different ways in each local community where Jews and Christians dwelt together. In some places, the Jews expelled the Christians; in other, the Christians left of their own accord."}} According to Cohen, early Christianity ceased to be a Jewish sect when it ceased to observe Jewish practices, such as circumcision.{{sfn|Cohen|1987|p=168}} According to Cohen, this process ended in 70 AD, after the great revolt, when various Jewish sects disappeared and Pharisaic Judaism evolved into [[Rabbinic Judaism]], and Christianity emerged as a distinct religion.<ref>Cohen, Shaye J. D. (1988). ''From the Maccabees to the Mishnah''. {{ISBN|0-664-25017-3}} pp. 224–225</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book | first=Daniel | last=Boyarin | title=Dying for God: Martyrdom and the making of Christianity and Judaism | publisher=Stanford University Press | year=1999 | series=Figurae | isbn=978-0-8047-3704-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JD_ep2riNtgC}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Boyarin|1999}}: "for at least the first three centuries of their common lives, Judaism in all of its forms and Christianity in all of its forms were part of one complex religious family, twins in a womb, contending with each other for identity and precedence, but sharing with each other the same spiritual food."}} 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".<ref>{{cite book | last=Segal | first=Alan F. | title=Rebecca's children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman world | publication-place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | publisher=Harvard University Press | year=1986 | isbn=978-0-674-75076-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=37rMFo0kODYC}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Segal|1986}}: "one can speak of a 'twin birth' of two new Judaisms, both markedly different from the religious systems that preceded them. Not only were Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity religious twins, but, like Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca, they fought in the womb, setting the stage for life after the womb."}}

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{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite journal | first=Robert | last=Goldenberg | title=Dying for God: Martyrdom and the making of Christianity and Judaism | type=Book review | journal=The Jewish Quarterly Review | volume=92 | number=3 | date=January 2002 | issn=1553-0604 | pages=586–588 | jstor=1455460 | doi=10.2307/1455460 }}</ref>{{refn|group=note|{{harvtxt|Boyarin|1999|p=15}} adds that "without the power of the [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|orthodox Church]] and the [[rabbi]]s to declare people [[heretics]] and outside the system it remained impossible to declare phenomenologically who was a Jew and who was a Christian. At least as interesting and significant, it seems more and more clear that it is frequently impossible to tell a Jewish text from a Christian text. The borders are fuzzy, and this has consequences. Religious ideas and innovations can cross the borders in both directions."}}

Jewish Christianity fell into decline during the [[Jewish–Roman wars]] (66–135) and the growing [[anti-Judaism]] perhaps best personified by [[Marcion of Sinope]] (c. 150). With persecution by the [[Nicene Christianity|Nicene Christians]] from the time of the [[Constantine I and Judaism|Roman Emperor Constantine]] in the [[Christianity in the 4th century|4th century]], Jewish Christians sought refuge [[Early centers of Christianity#Outside the Roman Empire|outside the boundaries of the Empire]], in [[Early centers of Christianity#Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]] and further afield.<ref>[[Hans Küng|Küng, Hans]] (2008). "Islam: Past, Present and Future". One World Publications.</ref> Within the Empire and later elsewhere it was dominated by the gentile-based Christianity which became the [[State church of the Roman Empire]] and which took control of sites in the [[Holy Land]] such as the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] and the [[Cenacle]] and appointed subsequent [[Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem|Bishops of Jerusalem]].

===First Jewish–Roman War and the destruction of the Temple===
{{Main|First Jewish–Roman War}}
Full-scale, open revolt against the Romans occurred with the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] in 66 AD. In 70 AD, [[Siege of Jerusalem (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.<ref name="Neusner">Jacob Neusner 1984 ''Toah From our Sages'' Rossell Books. p. 175</ref>{{refn|group=note|Such as:<ref name="Neusner"/>
* How to achieve atonement without the Temple?
* How to explain the disastrous outcome of the rebellion?
* How to live in the post-Temple, Romanized world?
* How to connect present and past traditions?
How people answered these questioned depended largely on their position prior to the revolt.}} After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, sectarianism largely came to an end. The [[Zealots]], [[Sadducees]], and [[Essenes]] disappeared, while the [[Early Christians]] and the [[Pharisees]] survived, the latter transforming into [[Rabbinic Judaism]], 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.<ref>{{cite book | last=Cook | first=Michael J. | date=2008 | title=Modern Jews engage the New Testament | publication-place=Woodstock, Vermont | publisher=Jewish Lights Publishing | isbn=978-1-58023-313-2 | oclc=178213811 | page=19}}</ref><ref>Fredriksen, Paula (1988). ''From Jesus to Christ'' {{ISBN|0-300-04864-5}} p.5</ref>{{sfn|Fredriksen|2000|pp=xvi, 50}}<ref>Meier, John (1991). ''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'', Volume I: "The Roots of the Problem and the Person". Doubleday Press. pp. 43–44</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Sanders | first=E. P. | date=1985 | title=Jesus and Judaism | publication-place=Philadelphia | publisher=Fortress Press | isbn=0-8006-0743-0 | oclc=11345326 | url=https://archive.org/details/e.-p.-sanders-jesus-and-judaism/page/16 | page=16}}</ref> 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.{{refn|group=note|The theory that the destruction of the Temple and subsequent upheaval led to the committing of Oral Law into writing was first explained in the Epistle of [[Sherira Gaon]] and often repeated. See, for example, Grayzel, ''A History of the Jews'', Penguin Books, 1984, p. 193.}}

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 [[Supersessionism|was now the Church]]. Jews believed this claim was scandalous.<ref>{{Cite web|title=OzTorah » Blog Archive » Jewish attitudes to Gentiles in the First Century|url=https://www.oztorah.com/2008/07/jewish-attitudes-to-gentiles-in-the-first-century/|access-date=2020-07-30|archive-date=2020-09-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928094649/https://www.oztorah.com/2008/07/jewish-attitudes-to-gentiles-in-the-first-century/|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Fredriksen, since early Christians believed that Jesus had already replaced the Temple as the expression of a [[New Covenant (theology)|new covenant]], they were relatively unconcerned with the destruction of the Temple during the First Jewish-Roman War.{{sfn|Fredriksen|2000}}

===Controversies over Passover and the Eucharist===
{{main|Easter controversy}}
{{see also|Quartodeciman}}
{{expand section|date=March 2021}}

===Rejection of Jewish Christianity===
In Christian circles, the term "[[Nazarene (sect)|Nazarene]]" later came to be used as a label for those Christians who were faithful to [[Halakha|Jewish law]]; 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 [[Ebionite]]s, 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]] in the [[Christianity in the 4th century|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".{{sfn|Tabor|1998}}{{sfn|Esler|2004|pp=157–159}}

Jewish Christians constituted a community which was separate from the [[Pauline Christianity|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.{{sfn|Dauphin|1993|pp=235, 240–242}}

===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 [[Barnabas]], the companion of [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] mentioned in the [[Acts of the Apostles]], although it could be by [[Epistle of Barnabas|Barnabas of Alexandria]], or an anonymous author using the name Barnabas.<ref>{{cite book | first=Philippe | last=Bobichon | chapter=L’Épître de Barnabé | title=Histoire de la littérature grecque chrétienne, t. II/5 : De Paul apôtre à Irénée de Lyon | editor-first1=B | editor-last1=Pouderon | editor-first2=E. | editor-last2=Norelli | publication-place=Paris | publisher=Cerf | date=2013 | pages=440–454}}</ref> In no other writing of that early time is the [[List of events in early Christianity|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 (Biblical)|covenant with God]]. [[Circumcision controversy in early Christianity|Circumcision]] 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 [[Hebrew Bible|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.{{refn|group=note|See the [[Biblical law in Christianity#Historical background|Historical background to the issue of Biblical law in Christianity]] and [[Early Christianity]].}} They held the [[Tanakh|Jewish scriptures]] to be authoritative and sacred, employing mostly the [[Septuagint]] or [[Targum]] translations, and adding other texts as the [[Development of the New Testament canon|New Testament canon developed]]. Christian [[baptism]] was another continuation of a Judaic practice.<ref>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=222&letter=B&search=Baptism Jewish Encyclopedia: Baptism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612045248/http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=222&letter=B&search=baptism |date=2008-06-12 }}: "According to rabbinical teachings, which dominated even during the existence of the Temple (Pes. viii. 8), Baptism, next to circumcision and sacrifice, was an absolutely necessary condition to be fulfilled by a [[proselyte]] to Judaism (Yeb. 46b, 47b; Ker. 9a; 'Ab. Zarah 57a; Shab. 135a; Yer. Kid. iii. 14, 64d). Circumcision, however, was much more important, and, like baptism, was called a "seal" (Schlatter, ''Die Kirche Jerusalems'', 1898, p. 70).</ref>

==Later Jewish Christianity==
===Antiquity===
====Ebionites====
{{Main|Ebionites}}
The Ebionites were a Jewish Christian movement that existed during the early centuries of the Christian Era.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | article=Ebionites | editor1-last=Cross | editor1-first=Frank Leslie | editor-last2=Livingstone | editor-first2=Elizabeth A. | encyclopedia=The Oxford dictionary of the Christian Church | date=2005 | orig-year=1957 | publisher=Oxford University Press | publication-place=Oxford, UK|isbn=978-0-19-280290-3 | edition=3rd revised <!-- That is, a 2005 revision of the 1997 3rd edition --> | article-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA526 | page=526 | ref=none}}</ref> They show strong similarities with the earliest form of Jewish Christianity, and their specific theology may have been a "reaction to the [[Paul and Judaism|law-free Gentile mission]]."{{sfn |Dunn|2006|p= 282}} They regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his [[divinity]] and his [[Virgin birth of Jesus|virgin birth]],<ref name= "Ebionites" /> and insisted on the necessity of following [[Halakha|Jewish law and rites]].<ref>{{Cite book | first = Kaufmann | last = Kohler | chapter-url = http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=22&letter=E | contribution = Ebionites | editor1-first = Isidore | editor1-last = Singer | editor2-first = Cyrus | editor2-last = Alder | title = Jewish Encyclopedia | date = 1901–1906 | access-date = 2019-03-31 | archive-date = 2011-10-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111016105522/http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=22&letter=E | url-status = live }}</ref> They used the [[Gospel of the Ebionites]], one of the [[Jewish–Christian gospels]]; the Hebrew Book of Matthew starting at chapter 3; revered [[James, brother of Jesus|James the brother of Jesus]] (James the Just); and rejected [[Paul the Apostle]] as an [[Antinomianism#Supporting Pauline passages|apostate from the Law]].<ref name= "Maccoby 1987">{{Cite book | author = [[Hyam Maccoby]] | title = The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity | pages = 172–83 | publisher = HarperCollins | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-06-250585-8 | url = http://ebionite.tripod.com/mac15.htm | via = Tripod | access-date = 2019-03-31 | archive-date = 2018-11-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181120091327/http://ebionite.tripod.com/mac15.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> Their name ({{langx |grc|Ἐβιωναῖοι}} ''Ebionaioi'', derived from [[Hebrew]] {{Script/Hebrew|אביונים}} ''ebyonim'', ''ebionim'', meaning "the poor" or "poor ones") suggests that they placed a special value on [[Vow of poverty|voluntary poverty]].

Distinctive features of the ''Gospel of the Ebionites'' include the absence of the [[virgin birth of Jesus|virgin birth]] and of the [[genealogy of Jesus]]; an [[Adoptionist]] [[Christology]],{{Sfn|Kloppenborg|1994|pp=435–9 | ps = p. 435, "This belief, known as "adoptionism", held that Jesus was not divine by nature or by birth, but that God chose him to become his son, i.e., adopted him."}} in which Jesus is chosen to be [[Son of God|God's Son]] at the time of his [[Baptism of Jesus|Baptism]]; the abolition of the [[Korban|Jewish sacrifices]] by Jesus; and an advocacy of [[vegetarianism]].<ref>{{harvnb|Vielhauer|Strecker|1991|pp=166–171, at p. 168}}: "Jesus' task is to do away with the 'sacrifices'. In this saying (16.4–5), the hostility of the Ebionites against the Temple cult is documented."</ref>

====Nazarenes====
{{Main|Nazarene (sect)|l1=Nazarene}}
The Nazarenes originated as a [[sect]] of first-century Judaism. The first use of the term "sect of the Nazarenes" is in the [[Book of Acts]] in the New Testament, where [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]] is accused of being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes ("πρωτοστάτην τε τῆς τῶν Ναζωραίων αἱρέσεως").{{refn |Acts 24:5 "For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes."}} The term then simply designated followers of "Yeshua Natzri" ([[Jesus the Nazarene]]),{{refn|group=note |As the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] term {{lang|he|נוֹצְרִי}} (''{{transliteration|he|nôṣrî}}'') still does.}} 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.<ref>David C. Sim ''The Gospel of Matthew and Christian Judaism'' 1998 p. 182 "The Nazarenes are first mentioned by Epiphanius who records that they upheld the Torah, including the practice of circumcision and sabbath observance (Panarion 29:5.4; 7:2, 5; 8:1–7), read the Hebrew scriptures in the original Hebrew"</ref> They are described by [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] and are mentioned later by [[Jerome]] and [[Augustine of Hippo]],<ref>Petri Luomanen "Nazarenes" in ''A companion to second-century Christian "heretics"'' pp279</ref><ref>Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley, p. 670 The term Ebionites occurs in Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and Eusebius but none makes any mention of Nazarenes. They must have been even more considerable in the time of these writers...</ref> who made a distinction between the Nazarenes of their time and the "Nazarenes" mentioned in Acts 24:5.<ref>{{cite book | first=Edward | last=Hare | title=The principal doctrines of Christianity defended | date=1837 | page=318 | quote=The Nazarenes of ecclesiastical history adhered to the law of their fathers; whereas when Tertullus accused Paul as 'a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes', he accused him as one who despised the law, and 'had gone about to the temple', Acts xxiv, 5, 6.}}</ref>

The Nazarenes were similar to the [[Ebionites]], in that they considered themselves [[Jews]], maintained an adherence to the [[Law of Moses]], and used only the [[Aramaic]] ''[[Gospel of the Hebrews]]'', rejecting all the [[Canonical gospels]]. However, unlike half of the Ebionites, they accepted the [[Virgin birth of Jesus|Virgin Birth]].<ref name= "Krauss">{{cite encyclopedia| last = Krauss| first = Samuel| author-link = Samuel Krauss| title = Nazarenes| url = http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=140&letter=N&search=nazarenes| access-date = 2007-08-23| encyclopedia = Jewish Encyclopedia| archive-date = 2007-09-30| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930040322/http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=140&letter=N&search=nazarenes| url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="Hegg 2007">{{cite journal | last = Hegg | first = Tim | title = The Virgin Birth – An Inquiry into the Biblical Doctrine | journal = TorahResource | year = 2007 | url = http://www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/VirginBirth.pdf | access-date = 2007-08-13 | archive-date = 2007-08-21 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070821045706/http://www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/VirginBirth.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref>

The ''Gospel of the Hebrews'' was a [[syncretism|syncretic]] [[Jewish–Christian gospels|Jewish–Christian gospel]], the text of which is [[Lost literary work|lost]]; only fragments of it survive as brief quotations by the early [[Church Fathers]] and in apocryphal writings. The fragments contain traditions of [[Pre-existence of Christ|Jesus' pre-existence]], [[incarnation]], [[Baptism of Jesus|baptism]], and probable [[Temptation of Christ|temptation]], along with some of his [[Sayings of Jesus|sayings]].{{sfn|Cameron|1992|pp=105–6}} Distinctive features include a [[Christology]] characterized by the belief that the [[Holy Spirit]] is Jesus' [[Shekhinah|Divine Mother]]; and a first [[Resurrection appearances of Jesus|resurrection appearance]] to [[James the Just|James, the brother of Jesus]], showing a high regard for James as the leader of the [[Early centers of Christianity#Jerusalem|Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem]].{{sfn|Koch|1990|p=364}} It was probably composed in [[Koine Greek|Greek]] in the first decades of the 2nd century, and is believed to have been used by Greek-speaking Jewish Christians in [[Early centers of Christianity#Alexandria|Egypt]] during that century.{{sfn|Lapham|2003|pp=159,163}}

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 [[Jerome]].


'''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====
{{main|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 [[Thomas of Cana|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]] 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.{{sfn|Weil|1982|pp=175–96}}{{sfn |Jussay|2005|pp= 118–28}}{{sfn|Gamliel|2009|p =90}}

===Surviving Byzantine and 'Syriac' communities in the Middle East===
The unique combination of [[ethnocultural]] traits inhered from the fusion of a [[Greeks|Greek]]-[[Ancient Macedonians|Macedonian]] cultural base, [[Hellenistic Judaism]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] civilization gave birth to the distinctly Antiochian "Middle Eastern-Roman" Christian traditions of Cilicia (Southeastern Turkey) and Syria/Lebanon:{{blockquote |The mixture of Roman, Greek, and Jewish elements admirably adapted Antioch for the great part it played in the early history of Christianity. The city was the cradle of the church.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | last=Woodhouse | first=William John | author-link=William John Woodhouse | date=1899 | article=Antioch | editor-last=Cheyne | editor-first=Thomas Kelly | editor-last2=Black | editor-first2=John Sutherland | encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Biblica|Encyclopaedia biblica: A dictionary of the bible]] | volume=1 | publication-place=Toronto | publisher=George N. Morang & Company / [[The Macmillan Company]] | pages=164–186, at p. 186 | article-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabib01cheyuoft/page/n124}}</ref>}}

Members of these communities still call themselves [[Rûm]] which literally means "[[Eastern Roman]]", "[[Byzantine]]" or "Asian Greek" in [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Arabic]]. The term "Rûm" is used in preference to ''"Ionani"'' or ''"Yāvāni"'' which means "European Greek" or "[[wikt:Ionian|Ionian]]" in [[Classical Arabic]] and [[Biblical Hebrew|Ancient Hebrew]].

Most [[Middle-East]]ern "[[Melkite]]s" or "[[Rûm]]s", can trace their [[ethnocultural]] heritage to the Southern Anatolian ('Cilician') and Syrian Hellenized Greek-speaking [[Jewish]] communities of the past and [[Greeks|Greek]] and [[Macedonians (Greeks)|Macedonian]] [[settler]]s ('Greco-Syrians'), founders of the original "Antiochian Greek" communities of [[Cilicia]], Northwestern Syria and Lebanon. Counting members of the surviving minorities in the [[Hatay Province]] of Turkey, in Syria, Lebanon, Northern Israel and their relatives in the diaspora, there are more than 1.8&nbsp;million Greco-Melkite Christians residing in the Northern-MENA, the US, Canada and Latin America today, i.e., [[Greek Orthodox]] and [[Greek Catholic]] Christians under the ancient [[jurisdictional]] authority of the [[patriarchate]]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, [[Judea]], and [[Galilee]].  Some of those families carry surnames such as [[John (surname)|Youhanna]] (John), [[Hananiah|Hanania]] (Ananias), [[Zion|Sahyoun]] (Zion), [[Elijah|Eliyya/Elias]] (Elijah), [[Chamoun]]/Shamoun (Simeon/Simon), [[Semaan|Semaan/Simaan]] (Simeon/Simon), [[Manasseh (disambiguation)|Menassa]] (Manasseh), [[Solomon|Salamoun]]/[[Suleiman]] (Solomon), [[Joachim|Yowakim]] (Joachim), [[Zacharias (surname)|Zakariya]] (Zacharias), Kolath and others.<ref>{{cite book |last= Bar Ilan | first=Y. | title= Judaic Christianity: Extinct or Evolved?| pages= 297–315}}</ref>

== In Islamic origins ==
In the field of [[Quranic studies]], it has long been argued that Jewish Christianity played an important role in the formation of Quranic conceptions of Christians in Muhammad's Arabia.{{Sfn|Strousma|2015|p=138–158}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sánchez |first1=del Río |last2=F |first2=Francisco |date=2021 |title=The Deadlocked Debate about the Role of the Jewish Christians at the Birth of Islam |journal=Religions |language=en |volume=12 |issue=10 |pages=789 |doi=10.3390/rel12100789 |issn=2077-1444 |doi-access=free}}</ref> 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.{{Sfn|Crone|2015|p=227–228}} The most recent notable defenders of this thesis have been Francois de Blois<ref>{{Cite journal |last=de Blois |first=François |date=2002 |title=Naṣrānī (Ναζωραȋος) and ḥanīf (ἐθνικός): Studies on the Religious Vocabulary of Christianity and of Islam |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4145899 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=1–30 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X02000010 |issn=0041-977X |jstor=4145899|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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]].{{Sfn|Zellentin|2013}} In turn, several critics of this thesis have appeared, most notably Sidney Griffith.{{Sfn|Crone|2015|p=228}}{{Sfn|Griffith|2011}} 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]] 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.{{Sfn|Shaddel|2016|p=21–31}} In the last few years, the thesis for the specific role played by Jewish Christians has been resisted by Gabriel Said Reynolds,{{Sfn|Reynolds|2014}}{{Sfn|Reynolds|2019}} Stephen Shoemaker,{{Sfn|Shoemaker|2018}} and Guillaume Dye.{{Sfn|Dye|2021|p=158–162}}

==Contemporary movements==
In modern times, the term "Jewish Christian" or "Christian Jew" is generally used in reference to [[Jewish ethnic divisions|ethnic Jews]] who have either converted to or been raised in Christianity.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} They are mostly members of [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], [[Protestantism|Protestant]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]] congregations,{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} and they are generally [[Jewish assimilation|assimilated]] into the Christian mainstream, but they may also retain a strong sense of attachment to their [[Jewish identity]]. Some Jewish Christians also refer to themselves as "[[Hebrew Christian movement|Hebrew Christians]]".

The [[Hebrew Christian movement]] of the 19th century was an initiative which was largely led and integrated by [[Anglican Church|Anglican]]s, and they included figures such as [[Michael Solomon Alexander]], [[Anglican-German Bishopric in Jerusalem#The bishopric in practice|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.<ref>{{cite book | first1 = Stanley N | last1 = Gundry | first2 = Louis | last2 = Goldberg | title = How Jewish is Christianity?: 2 views on the Messianic movement | year = 2003 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sYfcuBdLqyEC&pg=PA24 | format = Books | page = 24 | publisher = Zondervan | isbn = 9780310244905}}</ref> According to data which was provided by the [[Pew Research Center]], as of 2013, about 1.6&nbsp;million adult [[American Jews]] identify themselves as [[Christians]], and most of them identify themselves as [[Protestantism|Protestants]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/02/how-many-jews-are-there-in-the-united-states/|title=How many Jews are there in the United States?|work=Pew Research Center|date=2 October 2013 |access-date=2016-06-07|archive-date=2021-05-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529104046/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/02/how-many-jews-are-there-in-the-united-states/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="pew: portrait">{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/chapter-1-population-estimates/|title=A PORTRAIT OF JEWISH AMERICANS: Chapter 1: Population Estimates|work=Pew Research Center|date=October 2013 |access-date=2016-06-07|archive-date=2019-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505093610/https://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/chapter-1-population-estimates/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/.premium-1.549713|title=American-Jewish Population Rises to 6.8 Million|work=haaretz|access-date=2016-06-07|archive-date=2017-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171129115904/https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/.premium-1.549713|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the same data, most of the Jews who identify themselves as some sort of Christian (1.6&nbsp;million) were either raised as Jews or are Jews by ancestry.<ref name="pew: portrait" /> According to a 2012 study, 17% of [[History of the Jews in Russia|Jews in Russia]] identify themselves as [[Christianity in Russia|Christians]].<ref name="ArenaAtlas">[http://sreda.org/en/arena Arena – Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719100652/https://sreda.org/en/arena |date=2021-07-19 }}. Sreda.org</ref><ref name="2012maps">[http://c2.kommersant.ru/ISSUES.PHOTO/OGONIOK/2012/034/ogcyhjk2.jpg 2012 Survey Maps] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320090751/http://c2.kommersant.ru/ISSUES.PHOTO/OGONIOK/2012/034/ogcyhjk2.jpg |date=2017-03-20 }}. "Ogonek", No. 34 (5243), 27/08/2012. Retrieved 24-09-2012.</ref>

[[Messianic Judaism]] is a religious movement which incorporates elements of Judaism with the [[Christianity#Beliefs|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]] (able to accept Jesus as the Messiah), often observe kosher
[[Kashrut|dietary laws]] and keep [[Shabbat|Saturday as the Sabbath]]. Additionally, they recognize the Christian [[New Testament]] 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=About us – Brief history|url=http://www.ariel.org/amcom.htm|work=Ariel Ministries|access-date=2011-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412235150/http://www.ariel.org/amcom.htm|archive-date=2015-04-12|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Hebrew Catholics]] are a movement of Jews who converted to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] and Catholics of non-Jewish origin who choose to keep Jewish customs and traditions in light of Catholic doctrine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholic.co.il/?lang=en|title = Catholic.co.il}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity|Judaism|History|Ancient Rome}}
{{Colbegin|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Anti-Judaism]]
* [[Antisemitism in Christianity]], a form of [[religious antisemitism]]
* [[Anti-Zionism]], opposition to [[Zionism]]
* [[Christianity and Hellenistic philosophy]]
* [[Christianity and Judaism]]
* [[Christianity in Israel]]
* [[Christianity in the Middle East]]
* [[Christian–Jewish reconciliation]]
* [[Christian observances of Jewish holidays]]
* [[Christian Torah-submission]]
* [[Christian views on the Old Covenant]]
* [[Christian Zionism]]
* [[Church's Ministry Among Jewish People]]
* [[Church of Zion, Jerusalem]]
* [[Conversion of the Jews (future event)|Conversion of the Jews]]
* [[Adventism]]
* [[Biblical criticism]]
* [[Criticism of the Bible]]
* [[Criticism of Christianity]]
* [[Criticism of Judaism]]
* [[Dispensationalism]]
* [[Hebrew Catholics]]
* [[Hebrew Christian movement]]
* [[Hebrew Roots]] – A religious movement which accepts both the [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament]]s but rejects the [[Talmud]] and many Jewish traditions which are not supported by Scripture.
* [[Hellenistic Judaism]]
* [[Higher criticism]]
* [[Historicity of the Bible]]
* [[History of the Catholic Church]]
* [[History of Christianity]]
* [[Judaism|History of Judaism]]
* [[History of Zionism]]
* [[Jesus in the Talmud]]
* [[Jesuism]]
* [[Jewish history]]
* [[Jewish religious movements]]
* [[Jewish schisms]]
* [[Jews for Jesus]]
* [[Judaism's view of Jesus]]
* [[Judaizers]]
* [[Judeo-Christian]]
* [[Life of Jesus]]
* [[List of converts to Christianity from Judaism]]
* [[Mandaeans]]
* [[Messianic Judaism]]
* [[Nazarene (sect)]]
* [[Noahidism]]
* [[People of the Book]]
* [[Philosemitism|Philo-Semitism]]
* [[Religious perspectives on Jesus]]
* [[Restorationism|Restoration Movement]]
* [[Sabbatarianism]]
* [[Sacred Name Movement]]
* [[Synagogal Judaism]]
* [[Therapeutae]]
* [[Timeline of antisemitism]]
* [[Timeline of anti-Zionism]]
* [[Timeline of the Catholic Church]]
* [[Timeline of Christianity]]
* [[Timeline of Christian missions]]
* [[Timeline of Jewish history]]
{{Colend}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|group=web}}
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
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* {{cite book | last = Bockmuehl | first =Markus N. A. | year = 2010 | title = The Remembered Peter: In Ancient Reception and Modern Debate | publisher = Mohr Siebeck}}
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* {{cite book | last =Cohen | first =Shaye J.D. | year =1987 | title =From the Maccabees to the Mishnah | publisher =The Westminster Press| isbn =0-664-25017-3}}
<!-- D -->
* {{Citation|last=Dauphin|first=C.|chapter=De l'Église de la circoncision à l'Église de la gentilité – sur une nouvelle voie hors de l'impasse|chapter-url=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/SBFla93.html|title=Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. Liber Annuus XLIII|year=1993|archive-date=2013-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309052451/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/SBFla93.html|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book | last=Dunn | first=James D. G. | year=2006 <!-- Some sources say 2005 --> | orig-year=1977 | title=Unity and diversity in the New Testament: An inquiry into the character of earliest Christianity | edition=3rd | publication-place=London | publisher=SCM Press | isbn=978-0-334-02998-4 | oclc=64450678}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dye |first=Guillaume |title=The Study of Islamic Origins: New Perspectives and Contexts |date=2021 |publisher=De Gruyter |editor-last=Mortensen |editor-first=Mette Bjerregaard |chapter=Mapping the Sources of the Qur’anic Jesus |editor-last2=Dye |editor-first2=Guillaume |editor-last3=Oliver |editor-first3=Isaac W. |editor-last4=Tesei |editor-first4=Tommaso}}
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* {{cite book |last1=Eddy |first1= Paul Rhodes |last2= Boyd |first2=Gregory A. |year= 2007 |title= The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition |publisher= Baker Academic |isbn= 978-0-8010-3114-4}}
* {{cite book | last =Ehrman | first =Bart | year =2005 | title =Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew | publisher =Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-19-518249-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |year=2012 |title=Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth |publisher=HarperOne |isbn=978-0-06220644-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hf5Rj8EtsPkC}}
* {{cite book |last= Ehrman |first=Bart | year =2014 | title =How Jesus became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee | publisher =Harper Collins}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ehrman |first1=Bart D. |last2=Evans |first2=Craig A. |last3=Stewart |first3=Robert B. |title=Can we trust the Bible on the Historical Jesus? |date=2020 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-26585-4 }}
* {{cite book | last1 =Elwell | first1 =Walter | last2 = Comfort | first2 =Philip Wesley | year =2001 | title = Tyndale Bible Dictionary | publisher =Tyndale House | isbn = 0-8423-7089-7}}
* {{Citation|last=Esler|first=Philip F.|title=The Early Christian World|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=0-415-33312-1}}
* {{cite journal |first=Craig |last=Evans |title=Life-of-Jesus Research and the Eclipse of Mythology |journal=Theological Studies |volume=54 |year=1993|pages=3–36 |doi=10.1177/004056399305400102 }}
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* {{cite book | last=Fredriksen | first=Paula | year=2000 | orig-year=1988 | title=From Jesus to Christ: The origins of the new testament images of Christ | edition=2nd | publisher=Yale University Press | isbn=978-0-300-08457-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqhkYnE6Wm4C}}
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* {{cite thesis |last= Gamliel |first= Ophira |date= April 2009 |title= Jewish Malayalam Women's Songs |type= PhD |publisher= Hebrew University |url= http://shemer.mslib.huji.ac.il/dissertations/W/JMS/001489509.pdf |access-date= 2 October 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170326052302/http://shemer.mslib.huji.ac.il/dissertations/W/JMS/001489509.pdf |archive-date= 26 March 2017 |url-status= dead }}
*{{Cite book |last=Grant |first= Robert McQueen |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2VQJAQAAIAAJ |title=A Historical Introduction to the New Testament |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1963 |chapter= 10: The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts |isbn=9780006427063 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100621102923/http://religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1116&C=1230 |archive-date=21 June 2010 |chapter-url= http://religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1116&C=1230}}
* {{Cite book |last=Griffith |first=Sidney |title=New Perspectives on the Qur'an: The Qur'an in its Historical Context 2 |date=2011 |publisher=Routledge |editor-last=Reynolds |editor-first=Gabriel Said |pages=301–322 |chapter=Al-Naṣārā in the Qurʾān: A hermeneutical reflection}}
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* {{cite book|last=Jussay|first=P. M.|year=2005|title=The Jews of Kerala|location=Calicut|publisher=Publication division, University of Calicut }}
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* {{cite book | last =Kloppenborg | first =John S. | author-link =John Kloppenborg | year =1994 | orig-year =1992 | chapter =The Gospel of the Ebionites | pages =[https://archive.org/details/completegospels00robe/page/435 435–40] | editor-last =Miller | editor-first =Robert J. | title =The Complete Gospels | publisher =Polebridge Press | isbn =0-06-065587-9 | chapter-url =https://archive.org/details/completegospels00robe/page/435 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | last =Koch | first =Glenn Alan | year =1990 | article =Hebrews, Gospel of the | editor1-last =Mills | editor1-first =Watson E. | editor2-last =Bullard | editor2-first =Roger Aubrey | encyclopedia =Mercer Dictionary of the Bible | page =364 | publisher =Mercer University Press | isbn =978-0-86554-373-7 | article-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&q=Mercer+Dictionary+Hebrews,+Gospel&pg=PA364}}
<!-- L -->
*{{cite book| last     = Lapham| first     = Fred| title     = An Introduction to the New Testament Apocrypha| year     = 2003| publisher     = Continuum| isbn     = 9780826469793| url     = https://books.google.com/books?id=XRvHDfs1vyEC&q=An+introduction+to+the+New+Testament+Apocrypha+Lapham}}
* {{cite book |last=Leiva-Merikakis |first=E. |year=1996 |title=Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word: Chapters 12-18 |volume=2 |publisher=Ignatius Press |isbn=978-0-89870-976-6}}
* {{cite book | last =Leman | first =Johan | year =2015 | orig-year =2014 | edition =second | title =Van totem tot verrezen Heer. Een historisch-antropologisch verhaal | publisher =Pelckmans}}
* {{cite book | last1 =Lüdemann | first1 =Gerd | last2 =Özen | first2 =Alf | title =De opstanding van Jezus. Een historische benadering (Was mit Jesus wirklich geschah. Die Auferstehung historisch betrachtet) | publisher =The Have/Averbode |year = 1996 }}
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* {{cite book | last =Maccoby | first =Hyam | year =1986 | title =The Mythmaker. Paul and the Invention of Christianity | publisher =Barnes & Noble}}
* {{cite book | last =Mack | first =Burton L. | author-link =Burton L. Mack | year =1988 | title =A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins | publisher =Fortress Press | isbn =978-0-8006-2549-8 | chapter =The Congregations of the Christ | chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=fNSbW8hWRzwC&pg=PA98}}
* {{cite book | last =Mack | first =Burton L. | year =1995 | author-link =Burton L. Mack | title =Who wrote the New Testament? The making of the Christian myth | publisher =Harper San Francisco | isbn =978-0-06-065517-4 | url =https://archive.org/details/whowrotenewtesta00mack_0 }}
* {{cite book | last =Mack | first =Burton L. | year =1997 | orig-year=1995 | title =Wie schreven het Nieuwe Testament werkelijk? Feiten, mythen en motieven | publisher =Uitgeverij Ankh-Hermes}}
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* 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
* {{cite book | last =Pagels | first =Elaine | year =2005 | title =De Gnostische Evangelien | trans-title = The Gnostic Gospels | publisher = Servire}}
* {{cite book | last =Pao |first =David W. | year = 2016 | title =Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus | publisher =Wipf and Stock Publishers}}
* {{cite book | last =Porter | first =Stanley E. | year = 1999 | chapter =Resurrection, the Greeks and the New Testament | editor-last1 = Porter | editor-first1 =Stanley E. | editor-last2 =Hayes | editor-first2 =Michael A. | editor-last3 =Tombs | editor-first3 = David | title = Resurrection | publisher = Sheffield Academic Press}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Reynolds |first=Gabriel Said |date=2014 |title=On the Presentation of Christianity in the Qura'n and the Many Aspects of Qur'anic Rhetoric |url=https://almuslih.org/wp-content/uploads/Library/Reynolds,%20G%20-%20On%20the%20Presentation.pdf |journal=Al-Bayan Journal of Qur'an and Hadith Studies |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=42–54|doi=10.1163/22321969-12340003 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Gabriel Said |title=The Qur'an's Reformation of Judaism and Christianity: Return to the Origins |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |chapter=On the Qur’an and Christian heresies}}
* {{cite book | last =Price | first =Robert M. | authorlink =Robert M. Price | year =2000 | title =Deconstructing Jesus | publisher=Prometheus Books | isbn =9781573927581 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=VJh1H-hf5EwC}}
* {{cite book | last =Price | first =Robert M. | authorlink =Robert M. Price | year =2003 |title =The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable Is the Gospel Tradition? | publisher =Prometheus Books | isbn =9781591021216 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=GmlB-KXsX8kC}}
<!-- S -->
* {{cite book | last=Sanders | first=Ed Parish | year=1993 | title=The historical figure of Jesus | publication-place=London | publisher=Allen Lane | isbn=978-0-7139-9059-1}}
* {{Cite book
|last1         = Sanders
|first1        = E. P.
|title         = The Historical Figure of Jesus
|place         = London
|publisher     = Penguin
|year          = 1995
|isbn          = 978-0-14-192822-7
}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Shaddel |first=Mehdy |date=2016 |title=Qurʾānic ummī: Genealogy, Ethnicity, and the Foundation of a New Community |url=https://www.academia.edu/8811286 |journal=Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam |volume=43 |pages=1–60}}
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* {{cite book|last=Stanton|first=Graham|author-link=Graham Stanton|title=The Gospels and Jesus|edition=Second|series=Oxford Bible Series|year=2002|orig-year=1989 | publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-924616-5|url=https://archive.org/details/gospelsjesus0000stan|url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Strousma |first=Guy |title=The Making of the Abrahamic Religions in Late Antiquity |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}

<!-- T -->
* {{cite book | last = Tabor | first = James D. | chapter-url = http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/JDTABOR/ebionites.html | chapter = Ancient Judaism: Nazarenes and Ebionites | title = The Jewish Roman World of Jesus | publisher = Department of Religious Studies; University of North Carolina at Charlotte | year = 1998 | access-date = 2019-03-31 | archive-date = 2010-06-10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100610050859/http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/JDTABOR/ebionites.html | url-status = live }}.
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* {{cite book | last1 =Vielhauer | first1 =Philipp | last2 =Strecker | first2 =Georg | year =1991 | author-link1 =Philipp Vielhauer | author-link2 =:de:Georg Strecker | chapter =Jewish–Christian gospels | pages =134–78 | editor1-last =Schneemelcher | editor1-first =Wilhelm | editor2-last =Wilson | editor2-first =Robert McLachlan | others =translated by George Ogg | title =New Testament Apocrypha: Gospels and Related Writings Volume 1 | edition =2 | publisher =John Knox Press | isbn =0-664-22721-X | chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=TDW0PeFSvGEC&pg=PA166}} (6th German ed.)
* {{cite book | last =Vermes | first =Geza | year =2008 | title =The Resurrection | publisher =Penguin Books}}
<!-- W -->
*{{cite journal |last1= Weil |first1= Shalva |year=1982 |title=Symmetry between Christians and Jews in India: The Cananite Christians and Cochin Jews in Kerala |journal= Contributions to Indian Sociology|volume= 16|issue= 2|pages= 175–96|doi= 10.1177/006996678201600202 |s2cid= 143053857}}
* {{cite book | last=Wright | first=Nicholas Thomas | date=2003 | title=The resurrection of the son of God | series=Christian origins and the question of God | volume=3 | publication-place=Minneapolis | publisher=Fortress Press | isbn=978-0-8006-2679-2 | oclc=52077589 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6b0nRIKjYxMC}}
* {{Cite book |last=Zellentin |first=Holger |title=The Qur ͗ān's legal culture: the "Didascalia Apostolorum" as a point of departure |date=2013 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
===Origins of Christianity===
* [https://www.britannica.com/topic/christianity/the-history-of-christianity Encyclopaedia Britannica: The History of Christianity]
* [http://www.patheos.com/library/christianity/origins/beginnings Patheos.com: The Beginnings and Origins of Christianity]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20141218001855/http://originsofchristianity.net/ Originsofchristianity.net: The Origins of Christianity]}}

===Jewish Christianity===
*[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4366-christianity-in-its-relation-to-judaism Jewish Encyclopedia: Christianity in its Relation to Judaism]
*[https://nazareneisrael.org/ Nazarene Israel: the Original Faith of the Apostles]
*[http://netzarifaith.org/ Netzari Emunah: What is Netzarim?]
*[http://JewishStudies.eteacherbiblical.com/ Jewish Studies for Christians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209024142/http://jewishstudies.eteacherbiblical.com/ |date=2019-12-09 }}
 
{{History of Christianity}}
{{Jewish history}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Jewish Christianity| ]]
[[Category:1st-century Christianity]]
[[Category:Ancient Christian controversies]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Christianity in Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Christianity and Judaism related controversies]]
[[Category:Early Christianity]]
[[Category:Early Christianity and Judaism]]
[[Category:Hellenistic philosophy and religion|Christianity]]
[[Category:Mosaic law in Christian theology]]
[[Category:Theological controversies]]