Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Paula Fredriksen" in English language version.
By contrast, Fredriksen reads Paul within the context of ancient Judaism. Rather than interpreting gentile inclusion in Paul as a turn from particularist Judaism to universalist Christianity, Fredriksen sees Paul in line with a stream of Jewish thought (which she labels "apocalyptic") that expected the eschatological turn of the gentiles to the Jewish God (see Isa 2:2–4, Mic 4:1, Tobit 14:5–6, Isa 66:21, etc.).
The main argument Fredriksen develops throughout is that Paul lived his life entirely within his native Judaism.
The Jews who expected Jesus to return in apocalyptic glory during their own lifetimes died off. "The single biggest problem was that the End, stubbornly, continued not to come," the author writes, and "[t]ime continued to continue."
The main argument Fredriksen develops throughout is that Paul lived his life entirely within his native Judaism.
Fredriksen has authored a number of articles that quickly became touchstones in contemporary Pauline studies, for instance: "Judaism, the Circumcision of Gentiles, and Apocalyptic Hope"; "Judaizing the Nations: The Ritual Demands of Paul's Gospel"; and "Paul's Letter to the Romans, the Ten Commandments, and Pagan Justification by Faith."
Two emphases drive Fredriksen's study of the early church and its premier apostle. First, that "the Jesus movement's first generation […] thought that they would be history's last generation." Indeed, "they foresaw no extended future," no centuries turned millennia of church history.
From 700 BCE to 430 CE, all in his first 134 pages: Nirenberg's is no small achievement. And he has the broad lines of his ancient story right, his footnotes documenting the mass of patient reading that stands behind his recount of these centuries.
He was executed, she asserts, because the crowds at the Temple that year acclaimed him the Messiah who would restore Jewish rule over Judea and reestablish the kingdom of David and Solomon. To quell that, Pilate quickly arrested Jesus and had him crucified.
She argues that Augustine's notions about the Jews actually saved lives—during the Crusades, for example, when popes and preachers invoked them to prevent the destruction of more Jewish communities.
The main argument Fredriksen develops throughout is that Paul lived his life entirely within his native Judaism.
A former Catholic who long ago converted to Judaism, she was one of Mel Gibson's most acerbic critics when he released his movie The Passion of the Christ.
Not only could I establish that he had changed his position, but I could locate this shift in his thinking very precisely, to the four-year period when he also wrote his monumental Confessions
Back in 1993, I was reading a work of Augustine's attacking a Christian heretic. Usually when ancient orthodox Christians said terrible things about heretics, they found even worse things to say about Jews. Until 395, Augustine had not been much different, but here he was, writing about one of the flashiest heresies of his time and marshaling as arguments unbelievably positive things about Jews. As I read further, my scalp tingled. I had been working on Augustine for 20 years and I'd never seen anything like this before.
Augustine, in the course of arguing for Christ's incarnation — this intimate relationship between divinity and humanity — explicitly parallels it to God's relationship with the Jews. He writes that Catholics and Jews stand as one community over against pagans and heretics, that Jesus and his apostles, including Paul, lived as Torah-observant Jews for the whole of their lives. And he urges that God himself would punish any king who tried to interfere with the Jews' practice of Judaism.
A former Catholic who long ago converted to Judaism, she was one of Mel Gibson's most acerbic critics when he released his movie The Passion of the Christ.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Krister has served as a mentor to many of us in the field of ancient Jewish-Christian relations. His seminal 1963 article, "Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West," continues to exert a salubrious effect on modern scholarship; and much of my own work, both on Paul and Augustine, can be seen as an extended footnote to his insights in that luminous essay.
Augustine's impact on Western Christian thought can hardly be overstated; only his beloved example, Paul of Tarsus, has been more influential, and Westerners have generally seen Paul through Augustine's eyes.
Not only could I establish that he had changed his position, but I could locate this shift in his thinking very precisely, to the four-year period when he also wrote his monumental Confessions
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Back in 1993, I was reading a work of Augustine's attacking a Christian heretic. Usually when ancient orthodox Christians said terrible things about heretics, they found even worse things to say about Jews. Until 395, Augustine had not been much different, but here he was, writing about one of the flashiest heresies of his time and marshaling as arguments unbelievably positive things about Jews. As I read further, my scalp tingled. I had been working on Augustine for 20 years and I'd never seen anything like this before.
Fredriksen also makes the point that Augustine argued "against Jerome that both Jesus and the first generation of Jewish apostles, Paul emphatically included, were, as Christians, also Torah-observant Jews."
Augustine, in the course of arguing for Christ's incarnation — this intimate relationship between divinity and humanity — explicitly parallels it to God's relationship with the Jews. He writes that Catholics and Jews stand as one community over against pagans and heretics, that Jesus and his apostles, including Paul, lived as Torah-observant Jews for the whole of their lives. And he urges that God himself would punish any king who tried to interfere with the Jews' practice of Judaism.
She argues that Augustine's notions about the Jews actually saved lives—during the Crusades, for example, when popes and preachers invoked them to prevent the destruction of more Jewish communities.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Krister has served as a mentor to many of us in the field of ancient Jewish-Christian relations. His seminal 1963 article, "Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West," continues to exert a salubrious effect on modern scholarship; and much of my own work, both on Paul and Augustine, can be seen as an extended footnote to his insights in that luminous essay.
Augustine's impact on Western Christian thought can hardly be overstated; only his beloved example, Paul of Tarsus, has been more influential, and Westerners have generally seen Paul through Augustine's eyes.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Fredriksen also makes the point that Augustine argued "against Jerome that both Jesus and the first generation of Jewish apostles, Paul emphatically included, were, as Christians, also Torah-observant Jews."