Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This study analyzes the term ioudaismos in Second Temple literature and proposes differentiation in how this term was used in Palestine and the Diaspora, with the latter being characterized by the following: (1) seize the land; (2) persecute barbarians; (3) retain the temple; (4) liberate Jerusalem; (5) reestablish Torah. In the Diaspora, ioudaismos was modified to refer to: (1) persecuting pagans; (2) concern for the Temple; and (3) observing ancestral customs devoutly. It then analyzes how Paul’s use of the term fits within these usages of other literature of the time and how the term was later used by early Christian authors of the second century in a different manner. Paul understood his role as a messianic emissary as fitting with ioudaismos by modifying the formula slightly to attract the nations to worship Israel’s god and by refocusing the ancestral customs of the Jews upon Jesus, who Paul believed to be the messiah.
Source: Religions
DOI: 10.3390/rel16091161
Author: Jordan Lavender
Institution: Quinsigamond Community College
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,172
OpenAlex ID: W4414210217