Israel's God and Rebecca's Children: Christology and Community in Early Judaism and Christianity. Essays in Honor of Larry W. Hurtado and Alan F. Segal. Edited by DAVID B. CAPES, APRIL D. DECONICK, HELEN K. BOND, and TROY A. MILLER.

Abstract

This ‘double’ Festschrift honours two significant figures within current New Testament scholarship, and the subtitle of the book, indicating the focus here on the themes of Christology and community in early Judaism and Christianity, reflects the particular contributions made by the honorands (cf. L. Hurtado’s magnum opus Lord Jesus Christ, and A. Segal’s Two Powers in Heaven as well as his Rebecca’s Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World). The editors also successfully managed to keep the ‘double’ nature of the Festschrift a secret from each of the honorands, while inviting both to contribute: hence each thought he was writing for a Festschrift for the other and was unaware he was also writing in a book partly honouring himself as well! The volume contains 21 essays, all in English, with the material grouped into three main sections. Part I is entitled ‘Reconceptualizing Christology and Community’, Part II is on ‘Studies in Christology’, and Part III is on ‘Studies in Community’. Inevitably the essays are at times a little disparate, and many of the essays in Part I could belong quite happily in Part II. It is impossible in a short review to consider, or perhaps even mention, all the essays here. However, particularly noteworthy in Part I are the essays by Paula Fredriksen, arguing that a number of popular terms, including ‘conversion’, ‘religio licita’, ‘monotheism’ should be candidates for what she calls ‘mandatory retirement’, and by Adela Yarbro Collins on ‘How on Earth did Jesus become a God?’, engaging directly with the work of Larry Hurtado and arguing strongly for an origin for beliefs about Jesus and Jesus devotion in the conviction that Jesus was a ‘Messiah’ figure. Noteworthy in Part II are Hurtado’s own essay (focusing on the Gospel of John and the themes of ‘Remembering and Revelation’), and also that of James Dunn, arguing for an early origin for the idea of Jesus’ death being seen as a sacrifice in the ideas of the early ‘Hellenists’ (though probably not being traceable back to Jesus himself). In Part III, Segal has an informative essay on ‘Paul’s Religious Experience in the Eyes of Jewish Scholars’; other essays here include an interesting discussion of the Sadducees and the Wisdom of Ben Sira by Jonathan Klawans, and an essay by John Fitzgerald on the themes of ‘reconciliation and friendship’ in Matt. 5:21–6.