Philip L. Mayo's "Those Who Call Themselves Jews": The Church and Judaism in PDF

the character of Jewish-Christian family members on the finish of the 1st century has been a topic of significant learn and massive debate. The time among 70 and one hundred fifty CE is held to be a unstable time in that Jewish-Christian family members have been fast, even supposing now not uniformly, deteriorating. it is a time often called the "partings of the ways," whilst the church used to be rising as a faith except Judaism.
even though it has usually been missed during this examine, of specific curiosity is the Apocalypse of John, because it used to be written during this darkish and turbulent time in Jewish-Christian family members. John, who's a Jewish Christian, is writing to what are most probably predominantly Gentile church buildings. at the beginning, he seems to be to disclaim the very identify "Jew" to his ethnic family members whereas accusing them of belonging to devil (2:9; 3:9). however, he doesn't abandon his personal Jewish history and theology. He makes huge use of the Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish cultic imagery whereas retaining a Christian figuring out that Jesus is the success of God's redemptive plan. what's of specific curiosity is how he adopts and adapts this imagery and language and applies it to the church. it truly is John's mixture of Jewish imagery with a Christian message which may offer a few perception into his viewpoint at the courting among those more and more polarized sects. What precisely this attitude is constitutes the topic of the current discussion.

"This is a cautious, well-argued thesis, which takes heavily the symbolic and recapitulative nature of Revelation's pictures. It acknowledges how John's visions usually describe an analogous realities via a kaleidoscope of images."
--Ian Boxall, Journal for the learn of the hot Testament, 2007 Booklist

"Mayo's paintings is a good contribution to the learn of Revelation and its figuring out of the Church's angle to Judaism on the finish of the 1st century. The background of scholarship has paid scant consciousness to Revelation's position within the smooth problems with the separation of the Church and Judaism within the first and moment centuries. I warmly commend this useful and perceptive research to all who care for the problems of the connection among the early Church and Judaism in addition to the translation of the ebook of Revelation."
--David M. Scholer, Fuller Theological Seminary

Philip L. Mayo is affiliate Professor of latest testomony reports at North important college in Minneapolis.