Cities of God by Rodney Stark

Author:Rodney Stark
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins

The Cessation of Jewish Conversion

Virtually everyone believes that the mission to the Jews soon failed. Some suppose that an impervious barrier to Jewish conversion was erected during the Jewish Revolt of 66–74, when many Diasporan Jews supported the rebels and Christians did not. Others accept that substantial Jewish conversion continued until the Bar-Kokhba Revolt in 132–135, which further alienated the church and the synagogue. But from then on, it is assumed that Jewish conversion was at an end. Perhaps so, but this conclusion seems contrary to a considerable variety of evidence and inference.

The first objection to the claim that the mission to the Hellenized Jews ended in failure early on is that the fundamental circumstances that led to its early success did not change. Granted, Diasporan Jews suffered various degrees of persecution in reaction to the nationalist uprisings in Palestine—but that would not seem to have lessened the appeal of Christianity. Indeed, it might well have made the Diasporan Jews, many of whom greatly resented (and feared) being implicated in zealous Palestinian politics, even more concerned to shed their marginal status.

Of even greater significance is the abundant evidence of continuing Jewish influence within Christianity. Consider that, with the exception of Acts, the New Testament was written by Jews. Moreover, many of the early heretical movements, such as Marcionism, as well as the bulk of writings identified as Gnostic, were remarkably anti-Jewish. These attacks, as well as the ease with which they were rejected as heretical, support an inference of continuing strong Jewish influence. Turning to a later period, what are we to make of all the concern over Judaizing expressed by various Christian leaders as late as the fifth century? Historians agree that in that era large numbers of Christians showed such an affinity for Jewish culture that it could be characterized as “a widespread infatuation with Judaism.”37 It seems unlikely that this was but a lingering attraction38—not if it had really been several centuries after Jewish conversion had ceased. On the other hand, this is precisely what one would expect to find in Christian communities containing many members of relatively recent Jewish origin, who retained ties of family and association with non-Christian Jews, and who therefore still retained a distinctly Jewish aspect to their Christianity. Moreover, this is consistent with repeated Roman prohibitions against mixed marriages between Christians and Jews, one such statute being promulgated as late as 388 CE.39 Governments seldom bother prohibiting things that are not taking place.

Consequently, what may have been at issue was not the Judaizing of Christianity, but that in many places—especially in the eastern end of the empire—a substantial Jewish Christianity persisted. And if that was the case, there is no reason to suppose that Jewish Christians had lost the ability to attract new converts from their network of Hellenized families and friends. Hence, rather than seeing the evidence as indicative of a sudden outbreak of Judaizing, we can more plausibly interpret it as proof that Jewish conversion had never stopped. When John

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