LAW AND THE EARLY CHRISTIANS
Keywords:
TORAH, CHRISTIAN BEGINNINGS, PAUL, GENTILES, EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS, GOSPEL OF MATTHEWAbstract
The earliest Christians were Jews; within decades, however, the number of Christian Jews was rivalled, then surpassed, by that. of non- Jewish believers. That references to "law" in the earliest Christian writings intend almost exclusively the Mosaic Torah is revealing of Christianity's roots. That Torah's applicability to the new communities of faith quickly became a subject of contention, reflects its rapid dissemination in the new-Jewish world. More than any other issue of internal debate, the controversy surrounding the Jewish "law" tested and shaped the self-understanding of the nascent church.
References
Harold W. Attridge, Hebrews (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1989) 1-13.
Henry Chadwick, The Early Church (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1967) 18-23.
Chadwick, Early Church, 38- 40; Maurice F.Wiles, The Divine Apostle (Cambridge: University Press, 1967) 49-72.
Ephraim E. Urbach, The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1975) I, 365-399.
C.H.Dodd, Gospel and Law (New York: Columbia University Press, 1951) 46-63.
