Who made early Christianity? : the Jewish lives of the Apostle Paul

Resource Information

The work Who made early Christianity? : the Jewish lives of the Apostle Paul represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Who made early Christianity? : the Jewish lives of the Apostle Paul

Title remainder

the Jewish lives of the Apostle Paul

Statement of responsibility

John G. Gager

Creator

• Gager, John G

Author

• Gager, John G

Subject

• Christianity -- Origin
• Christianity -- Origin
• Christianity and other religions -- Judaism
• Identification (Religion)
• Identification (Religion)
• Interfaith relations
• Judaism
• Judaism -- Relations | Christianity
• Paul, the Apostle, Saint
• Paul, the Apostle, Saint -- Relations with Jews
• RELIGION -- Biblical Studies | New Testament
• Relations with Jews
• Christianity

Language

eng

Summary

In this historical and theological study, John G. Gager undermines the myth of the Apostle Paul's rejection of Judaism, conversion to Christianity, and founding of Christian anti-Judaism. He finds that the rise of Christianity occurred well after Paul's death and attributes the distortion of the Apostle's views to early and later Christians. Though Christian clerical elites ascribed a rejection-replacement theology to Paul's legend, Gager shows that the Apostle was considered a loyal Jew by many of his Jesus-believing contemporaries and that later Jewish and Muslim thinkers held the same view. He holds that one of the earliest misinterpretations of Paul was to name him the founder of Christianity, and in recent times numerous Jewish and Christian readers of Paul have moved beyond this understanding. Gager also finds that Judaism did not fade away after Paul's death but continued to appeal to both Christians and pagans for centuries. Jewish synagogues remained important religious and social institutions throughout the Mediterranean world. Making use of all possible literary and archaeological sources, including Muslim texts, Gager helps recover the long pre-history of a Jewish Paul, obscured by recent, negative portrayals of the Apostle, and recognizes the enduring bond between Jews and Christians that has influenced all aspects of Christianity. (Publisher)

Member of

• American lectures on the history of religions
• EBSCO eBook Public Library Collection-North America

Cataloging source

EBLCP

Dewey number

225.9/2

Index

index present

Language note

In English

LC call number

BS2506.3

LC item number

.G34 2015eb

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

• dictionaries
• bibliography

Series statement

American lectures on the history of religions