Adherence to Jesus as an Orientation within Fourth-century Judaism?

The Case of the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies

Karin Hedner Zetterholm, Associate Professor in Jewish Studies at Lund University

I am currently working on the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies, a composite text redacted in the early fourth century that gives the impression of being both Jewish and Christia at the same time. The author/redactor prescribes a lifestyle for non-Jewish followers of Jesus based on the laws that according to Leviticus are binding on non-Israelites living among the Israelites in the land of Israel and presents adherence to Jesus as being in continuity with the teachings of Moses. He envisions two parallel lifestyles and paths to salvation, one for Jews through Moses and one for non-Jews through Jesus (an ideal text for interfaith dialogue!).

The Homilies are by most scholars seen as a Christian work and is studied as part of the history of (heretical) Christianity but given recent scholarship on the diversity within Judaism also after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 and the rabbinic movement’s slow ascent to power, one could argue that it should be included in the history of Judaism as well. Some scholars have convincingly demonstrated that at least some authors saw belief in Jesus as an orientation within Judaism as late as the fourth and even fifth century, and the discussion has moved on to attempts at establishing criteria for determining which texts, previously considered Christian, may rather be placed “within Judaism.” These efforts are highly significant for the scholarly reconstruction of the history of both Christianity and Judaism and have the potential to change our perception of them both. While rabbinic Judaism was earlier seen as the sole standard by which Jewishness was measured, the insight that Judaism in the early centuries CE was much more diverse than previously thought has led scholars to consider an increasing number of non-rabbinic texts as potential sources of information about Jews and Judaism in antiquity. In time, this will lead to a reassessment of what constituted Judaism (and Christianity) during the early centuries CE.

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