Problems and Prospects: Jewish Christianity and Identity in Contemporary Discussion

Abstract

This chapter addresses the contemporary debate about the enduring utility of the category “Jewish Christianity” in light of the new historical problem. Questions resulting from the eclipse of Christian apologetics in critical reconstructions of Jewish and Christian antiquity have been raised with increasing insistence in the opening decades of the twenty-first century. In the theoretical void left by the evacuation of Christian theology from critical historiography, scholars are seeking to reconceptualize the nature of Christianity, and the problem of its origins and development in relation to Judaism, in light of the more general human propensity to construct and maintain social and cultural identities. This paradigm shift has led to fundamental changes in the scholarly debates about Jewish Christianity. The question at issue today is no longer merely how to define the category. Among those who continue to use it, the question is whether it should be defined at all given the inevitable fluidity of cultural identity. Even more fundamental is the question of the continued utility of the very notion of Jewish Christianity.