Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

FROM THE GOSPELS TO JESUS §9.2
say of himself 'I am an Israelite'; 36 and in the rabbinic writings 'Israel' and not
'Jews' is the almost universal self-designation. 37 'Jews', in other words, naturally
evokes the counterpart, 'Gentiles', each defining itself by its exclusion of the
other — 'Jews' = non-Gentiles, 'Gentiles' = non-Jews. 38 In contrast, 'Israel' is
defined by the insider, not the outsider, and more by reference to its internal history
(as heirs of the promises made to the patriarchs), than by reference to the
history of nations and peoples. In short, 'Jew' betokens the perspective of the
spectator (Jewish included), 'Israel' that of the participant. 39
We might simply add that the picture is confirmed by the use of the verbal
equivalent to 'Judaism' and 'Jew', equally infrequent in our sources as the former
— ioudaizein, 'to live like a Jew'. 40 In each case it probably describes the
action of a non-Jew in adopting what were regarded as distinctive Jewish customs
(sabbath, food-laws, etc.) though not to the extent of being circumcised (becoming
a proselyte). 41 In contrast, there is no verbal form of 'Israel/Israelite'.
The 'judaizer' starts from outside, his very action presupposes the distinction between
Jew and Gentile, he begins to cross a boundary, whereas the 'Israelite'
starts from inside and so has no need to take an action equivalent to ioudaizein. 42
The upshot of all this is that great care must be taken in using the term 'Judaism'
to categorize the religious identity of the principal inhabitants of the land
of Israel in the first century. Of course our modern use need not be determined or
restricted by ancient usage. But we do need to be more alert than usual as historians
to the fact that any modem attempt to describe first-century Judaism will inevitably
reinforce something of the spectator perspective and concern for differentiation
from others implicit in the ancient usage. The very term itself makes it
difficult for us to gain an insider's view of Judaism at the time of Jesus. And if we
want to see Jesus and earliest Christianity in context, that is, in some sense
36. Rom. 11.1; 2 Cor. 11.22. In contrast, it is the Gentile Luke who has Paul say of himself
'I am a Jew' not only to the Roman tribune but also to the Jerusalem crowd, speaking in Aramaic
(Acts 21.39; 22.3). See further my 'Who Did Paul Think He Was? A Study of Jewish-
Christian Identity', NTS 45 (1999) 174-93.
37. S. Zeitlin, The Jews: Race, Nation, or Religion? (Philadelphia: Dropsie, 1936) 31-
32, recalling that after the failure of the bar Kokhba revolt the Jews ceased to exist as a nation.
38. Since '(the) Gentiles' is a way of translating (ha)goyim = (ta) ethne = '(the) nations',
the contrast really says 'Jews and all other nations', Jews in distinction from all the rest.
39. Similarly Kuhn and Tomson (above n. 32).
40. Only five known occurrences prior to the second century CE — Esther 8.17 LXX;
Theodotus in Eusebius, Praep. Evang. 9.22.5; Gal. 2.14; Josephus, War 2.454, 463; Plutarch,
Life of Cicero 7.6.
41. See further Cohen, 'Ioudaizein, "to Judaize"', Beginnings of Jewishness ch. 6.
42. This more historically accurate use of the term 'judaizer' should therefore be distanced
from the historically inaccurate use of the term (since Baur) to denote conservative Jewish
Christians in their opposition to Paul's circumcision-free Gentile mission; seebelow, vol. 2.
264