Rebeccas Children

by Segal

Renowned scholar Alan F. Segal offers startlingly new insights into the origins of rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. These twin descendants of Hebrew heritage shared the same social, cultural, and ideological context, as well as the same minority status, in the first century of the common era.

Through skillful application of social science theories to ancient Western thought, including Judaism, Hellenism, early Christianity, and a host of other sectarian beliefs, Segal reinterprets some of the most important events of Jewish and Christian life in the Roman world. For example, he finds:

-- That the concept of myth, as it related to covenant, was a central force of Jewish life. The Torah was the embodiment of covenant both for Jews living in exile and for the Jewish community in Israel.
-- That the Torah legitimated all native institutions at the time of Jesus, even though the Temple, Sanhedrin, and Synagogue, as well as the concepts of messiah and resurrection, were profoundly affected by Hellenism. Both rabbinic Judaism and Christianity necessarily relied on the Torah to authenticate their claim on Jewish life.
-- That the unique cohesion of early Christianity, assuring its phenomenal success in the Hellenistic world, was assisted by the Jewish practices of apocalypticism, conversion, and rejection of civic ritual.
-- That the concept of acculturation clarifies the Maccabean revolt, the rise of Christianity, and the emergence of rabbinic Judaism.
-- That contemporary models of revolution point to the place of Jesus as a radical.
-- That early rabbinism grew out of the attempts of middle-class Pharisees to reach a higher sacred status in Judea while at the same time maintaining their cohesion through ritual purity.
-- That the dispute between Judaism and Christianity reflects a class conflict over the meaning of covenant.

The rising turmoil between Jews and Christians affected the development of both rabbinic Judaism and Christianity, as each tried to preserve the partly destroyed culture of Judea by becoming a religion. Both attempted to take the best of Judean and Hellenistic society without giving up the essential aspects of Israelite life. Both spiritualized old national symbols of the covenant and practices that consolidated power after the disastrous wars with Rome. The separation between Judaism and Christianity, sealed in magic, monotheism, law, and universalism, fractured what remained of the shared symbolic life of Judea, leaving Judaism and Christianity to fulfill the biblical demands of their god in entirely different ways.

Genres: History, Religion, Judaism, Ancient History, Christian, Jewish, Nonfiction

219 pages, Paperback

First published January 18, 1986

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the minds of many people, there was once a religion called Judaism which believed a Messiah would show up and then when Jesus claimed to be Messiah another religion called Christianity began.

That story is not really how it happened.

There are lots of books out there that give a more accurate representation. I haven't read any books in this area in a while, and it was truly fun to dive back into this world through Segal's book. Segal demonstrates how in the first century there was not one unified religion called Judaism. Instead, there were a variety of sects which agreed on some things and disagreed on others and they were all a part of Judaism: Pharisees, Sadducees ,Essenes, Zealots. With the development and extension of Hellenism, the big question for all Jews was how to practice their religion in a Hellenized world.

So first, there were lots of forms of Judaism. Second, all of them were Hellenized in some way. There is an idea that floats around some Christian circles that, when it comes to looking at the ancient world (say, the time of Jesus up to the 500s) that Jewish ideas are good and Greek (Hellenized) ones are bad. But Segal shows this is simplistic, as you cannot divide it up like that. All Jews were Hellenized to some degree.

From this, a third big idea is that both Judaism and Christianity grow out of this first-century situation. Instead of one religion spitting out another, we see two religions growing out, more like siblings, of the same parent. It is probably not news to many people that Christianity was a big change from the form of Judaism prior to Jesus. The idea that might be more surprising is that Judaism also changed greatly. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD many of those old sects soon ceased to exist. The Pharisees survived by transitioning into what we understand as Rabbinic Judaism. Thus, both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism are interpretations of the Judaism of the Old Testament.

Overall this is a fantastic book. It is a bit scholarly, so it might not be the best place to start if you are new to the topic. But if you've read people like NT Wright, you can probably give it a try.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not recommend this book for casual reading, especially if not already very familiar with the history surrounding the Bible during the times in which it was being written. This book is very much one that a professor would have you read to help cement the ideas already spoken about in a class (which is how I came across this book anyway). Much is talked about, but as the size of the book may hint at, many "detail" ideas pertaining to history or jargon are glossed over as if already obvious to the reader.

However, the book remains highly informative on the beginnings of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, naming specific events, people, & culture shifts which came into play to so affect Judaism as it was and made it into the religions we could recognize today.

[Ronb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this book reminded me of the old joke, "My mind's made up, don't confuse me with facts." Mr. Segal chooses liberal and progressive resources for the most part, as is exemplified by his "Notes" section. Like many academics, the sometimes verbalized but usually nonverbalized thought is that evangelicals or conservative theologians are terribly undereducated and cerebrally undernourished. Too bad. What could have been a wonderful treatise on the titular subject was injured by biases that read between the lines and develop doctrine from inferred evaluations of Scripture and conclusions by others who are brilliant enough to agree with the author.

[Shane Wagoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite what you may hear (and certainly to my surprise), today's Judaism should not really be viewed as the trunk from which Christianity branched off. Rather, both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism were the product of a twin birth that occurred in the violent conflicts of the first century. After the destruction of the second temple in 70 A.D. many Jews began to finalize a massive religious reformation that began with the Pharisees. This project served as a way to save and continue Judaism after the centerpiece of their religion was left in rubble. Despite the polemics of the New Testament, the Pharisees were not legalistic elitists. Instead, they transformed the Jewish religion into a democratic enterprise that allowed the "temple" to be maintained through dedication to the Torah rather than only through the physical actions in the Temple. Additionally, in the realm of debate that emerged from this reform, Gentiles were given a new place in the Jewish worldview that opened the road for a pluralistic engagement with other faiths and creeds. Meanwhile, Christianity sought its own form of universalism by granting anyone access to the "new covenant." As Christians were increasingly excluded from religious practice among their fellow Jews, the religion turned towards the Gentiles and developed a massive following throughout the Roman Empire. Ultimately, this book does a magnificent job of relaying the origins of two of the great monotheistic traditions and lays a framework for peace between them.

[Justin Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one starts out *really* slowly, and very, very badly- the introduction is little more than turgid, unnecessary jargon that achieves absolutely nothing. As if that's not bad enough, the whole thing is an effective lesson in what can happen to your prose when you refuse to say 'I' (i.e., tortuous circumlocutions that end up saying almost the exact opposite of what you actually want to say). And the first chapter, on ancient Israel between Cyrus and the Romans, is over-long and under-informative.

Thankfully, it gets good after that. It's a shame that his chapters are so rigidly distinguished ('this is a chapter about Judaism, that is a chapter about Christianity'), when the main importance of the book is to show that there was no such thing as Christianity at the time, and that what we think of as Judaism didn't exist either- they were both born at the same time due to massive disturbances in the late antique world. Segal shows how that happened, why the resulting religions were successful, and says a little bit about what seems, from a Christian/post-Christian perspective, to be the main issue: how can you have a religion of one God that isn't universal?

[Bruce Dayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. Rabbinic Judaism started about the same time as Christianity. It is not the same as historic Judaism in that the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD along with it's practices which were highly influenced by Hellenism. Rabbinic Judaism, a historical continuation of Phariseeism, had to adapt to its surrounding milieu. Like Christianity it grew in communities of like faith mainly in the Gentile world. The author proposes that they are like Jacob and Esau, twins, each with it's own destiny, and very different. Yet there are possible reasons for commonality due to their common ancestry.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teachable for an undergrad class on Jewish-Christian identity and relations.