Ephrem, one of the earliest Syriac Christian writers, lived on the eastern outskirts of the Roman Empire during the fourth century. Although he wrote polemical works against Jews and pagans, and identified with post-Nicene Christianity, his writings are also replete with parallels with Jewish traditions and he is the leading figure in an ongoing debate about the Jewish character of Syriac Christianity. This book focuses on early ideas about betrothal, marriage, and sexual relations, including their theological and legal implications, and positions Ephrem at a precise intersection between his Semitic origin and his Christian commitment. Alongside his adoption of customs and legal stances drawn from his Greco-Roman and Christian surroundings, Ephrem sometimes reveals unique legal concepts which are closer to early Palestinian, sectarian positions than to the Roman or Jewish worlds. The book therefore explains naturalistic legal thought in Christian literature and sheds light on the rise of Syriac Christianity.

Explores the relationship between the Mosaic law and early Christian ethics In this volume thirteen respected scholars explore the relationship between the Mosaic law and early Christian ethics, examining early Christian appropriation of the Torah and looking at ways in which the law continued to serve as an ethical reference point for Christ-believers -- whether or not they thought Torah observance was essential. These noteworthy essays compare differences in interpretation and application of the law between Christians and non-Christian Jews; investigate ways in which Torah-inspired ethical practices helped Christ-believing communities articulate their distinct identities and social responsibilities; and look at how presentations of the law in early Christian literature might inform Christian social and ethical practices today. Posing a unified set of questions to a diverse range of texts, Torah Ethics and Early Christian Identity will stimulate new thinking about a complex phenomenon commonly overlooked by scholars and church leaders alike.

A ground-breaking study in the formation of early Christian identity, by one of the world's leading scholars.In Neither Jew Nor Greek, Judith Lieu explores the formation and shaping of early Christian identity within Judaism and within the wider Graeco-Roman world in the period before 200 C.E. Lieu particularly examines the way that literary texts presented early Christianity. She combines this with interdisciplinary historical investigation and interaction with scholarship on Judaism in late Antiquity and on the Graeco-Roman world.The result is a highly significant contribution to four of the key questions in current New Testament scholarship: how did early Christian identity come to be formed? How should we best describe and understand the processes by which the Christian movement became separate from its Jewish origins? Was there anything special or different about the way women entered Judaism and early Christianity? How did martyrdom contribute to the construction of early Christian identity? The chapters in this volume have become classics in the study of the New Testament and for this Cornerstones edition Lieu provides a new introduction placing them within the academic debate as it is now.

Judith Lieu's study explores how a sense of being a Christian was shaped within the setting of the Jewish and Graeco-Roman world. By exploring this theme she reveals what made early Christianity so distinctive and separate.

Explores marriage, sexual relations, and family law in late antique Christianity using the writings of Ephrem the Syrian.

JEWISH LAW AND IDENTITY is the second book in the Hermit Kingdom Studies in Christianity and Judaism, an academic monograph series in Hebrew, Jewish, and Early Christian Studies. This book contains 9 academic essays relating to the theme of Jewish law and identity. Chapter one compares English contract law (Law of Privity of Contracts) with Jewish contract law as found in the book of Genesis (the Abrahamic covenant). Chapters two and three discuss Jewish Rabbinic Law and its relevance for understanding Jewish identity in the period of the composition of the documents. Chapters four, five and seven discuss Jewish individual and group identity as found in the Old Testament, particularly in relation to the religious practice (Temple worship) and political institutions (the monarchy) of ancient Israel. Chapter six is a theoretical discussion for understanding identity in relation to rituals. The author proposes "the atomic theory", utilizing the scientific concept of the atom with nucleus and electrons, applied in a social-scientific and humanistic way to texts and social realities. Chapter eight discusses the book of Acts and its interaction with Jewish identity and the impact of the movement founded by Jesus of Nazareth. Chapter nine discusses Jewish identity as seen through the pseudepigraphic text of the Psalms of Solomon and its relevant for the late Second Temple period. All the academic essays in the book discuss Jewish law and identity in a creative, and ground-breaking way in light of the most recent research trends. The essays represented here include important academic papers delivered at international conferences, like the Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting and the Australia and New Zealand Theological Society continental conference. This book is useful for using in college/university teaching and for advanced research in Jewish studies.

In the twenty-first century, Jews and Christians are challenged to reconsider their theological assumptions by two inescapable truths: the moral tragedy of the holocaust demands that Christian thinkers acknowledge the violent effects of theologically delegitimizing Jews and Judaism, and the pervasive reality of cultural and religious pluralism calls both Christian and Jewish theologians to rethink the covenant in the presence of the Other. Two Faiths, One Covenant? Jewish and Christian Identity in the Presence of the Other is a breakthrough work that embraces this contemporary challenge and charts a path toward fruitful interfaith dialogue. The Christian and Jewish theologians in this book explore the ways that both religions have understood the covenant and reflect on how it can serve as a reservoir for a positive theological relationship between Christianity and Judaism-not merely one of non-belligerent tolerance, but of respect and theological pluralism, however limited.