================================================================== @@@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@ @@ @@@@ @@@ @@@@@@@ @@ @ @@ @@ @ @ @@ @ @@ @@ @ @@ @ @ @@ @ @@ @@ @ @ @@ @@@@@@ @@ @ @@ @ @@ @ @@ @@ @ @@ @ @@ @@ @ @@ @ @ @@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@ @@@@@@@ ================================================================== R E V I E W ================================================================== VOLUME 2.023 OCTOBER 1992 Hans Conzelmann, Gentiles, Jews, Christians: Polemics and Apologetics in the Greco-Roman Era. Trans. M. Eugene Boring. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992 (German original, 1981). Pp. xxxvii + 390. <0.1> This book of dense prose and even denser notes will be extremely valuable to anyone seeking a comprehensive collection of primary source quotations bearing on ``the conscious (!) debate of Judaism with the non-Jewish world'' [sic] in the five centuries before the Mishna (9). Its mastery of the sources is awe-inspiring (and very demanding on the reader). Its attention to detail meets the highest standards of Germanic scholarship (and makes it very difficult to read). Its goal ``to let the past be what it was'' is commendable (though ill-defined) (1). <0.2> Conzelmann, who died in 1989, completed this book in 1981. According to the translator's preface, it had minimal circulation and few reviews in the German edition where all ancient sources were cited in only their original languages. Part of the delay in producing an English edition has been providing suitable English translations to go along with the original (a decision deeply appreciated by this reviewer). In addition the translator has updated the bibliography, corrected a few errors, and added a few primary texts that Conzelmann was unable to include. In substance, however, this is a book from 1981--supplemented with a translator's preface and two memorial essays that address Conzelmann's life and theology. <1.1> Conzelmann sets a very high goal for his work: Precisely as a strictly historical work derived directly from the primary sources, my book is directed to the present. If the writing of history intends to be taken seriously, that is, if it expects to do something besides merely impose contemporary views on the past, it must attempt to let the past be what it was. Only then can the study of history serve to provide better understanding of ourselves in our world. (1) These two foci are maintained throughout the book: careful critical analysis of the primary sources which attempts to hear them in their own context and a self-conscious address to the present dialogue between Christianity and Judaism. Both are goals more easily declared than accomplished. <1.2> The book is divided into four parts. The ``Political Background'' addresses the situation of Jews in Egypt and Cyrene and then more extensively their situation in the Roman Empire (7-43). The ``Evaluation of Judaism in Greco-Roman Literature'' first addresses the general topics of the typical objections raised against the Jews and the familiarity of Gentiles with the scriptures and then methodically examines, in chronological order, first Greek and then Roman authors who have something to say about Jews (47-133). The ``Debate of Hellenistic Jews with the Hellenistic-Roman World'' examines the Jewish response and counter-assertions from the Septuagint to the Sibylline Oracles (135-233). The final section of the book addresses the topic ``Christians and Jews from the Beginnings of Christianity to the Time of Origen (235-342)''. <2.1> I would like to say that this is an interesting book to read, but it is not. It is laborious. Nevertheless, it does raise many interesting suggestions. I will try to summarize some of them. <2.2> Conzelmann is well aware of the rich diversity of Judaism in this period--even calling the Zealots ``the most consistent Jews'' of the time (16)--yet he persistently refers to Judaism as if it were a unity with clearly defined boundaries. His survey of the political background is judicious, addressing many of the significant points of controversy. He concludes that it is impossible to generalize about the social class of Jews in Egypt; they inhabit all levels of society (14). He tries to articulate a middle position between Bickermann/Hengel and Tcherikover on the question of the crisis under Antichous IV (14-15). He is convinced there was a great increase in the Jewish population in this period, but does not think we have clear enough evidence to judge the degree of proselytization (16-18). He sees the relation of Jews with the Empire to be basically cordial, though he surveys the exceptions from Tiberias to Hadrian (27-35). <2.3> After an overview of the principal objections against the Jews by Gentile writers (principally hatred of humanity, 48) and an evaluation of the degree of Gentile familiarity with the Jewish scriptures (``prior to the end of the second century C.E. no Gentile author known to us was familiar with the Bible,'' 57), Conzelmann analyzes all references to Jews in Greek and Roman authors. Each citation is given in the original language, followed by an English translation and a critical evaluation and interpretation. This analysis is packed with both footnotes and parenthetical references to other scholars' views on disputed points. This section is very disjointed, with so much time spent on summary and analysis that it lacks all substance as an argument. It seems to me the worst sort of ``letting the past speak for itself''. At the end of the section, there is a short summary on ancient anti-Semitism which is quite revealing: There was no such thing in antiquity as a continuing anti- Semitic stream, but rather the continuity of the Jewish people with their consciousness of being an elected people.... Even today this Jewish consciousness cannot be encroached upon by any attempt at Christian-Jewish rapprochement. For Christians, there can be no acknowledgement of the people of Israel as an especially holy people, nor of Israel's law. But instead of attempting to find a basis for religious agreement, it is thoroughly possible to attempt a rapprochement on human grounds, since Christians stand under the commandment of love, which is the end of the law (133). <2.4> Conzelmann identifies the basic themes of Jewish apologetic as deriving ``mostly from the points on which the Jews were attacked'' and from the facets of Jewish life seen as peculiar (142). These included their numerical growth, the unity of all humanity, monotheism, Torah and natural law, ``godlessness'' with its concomitant political implications, slanders concerning Jewish origins, and the issues of world chronology. Extensive analysis of all known Jewish literature addressing these themes leads Conzelmann to conclude: Jewish apologetic extends only over a short phase of Jewish history and is thus not a characteristic feature of Judaism as such. After a prelude in late Old Testament prophecy, its typical forms and elements of content were developed in Hellenistic Judaism, and they disappeared with it. Rabbinic Judaism did not carry on any apologetic--until this day (232). <2.5> This final section attempts to trace the relations between Christians and Jews up to the time of Origen, focused through the lens of their overlapping and competing apologetics. It is in this section that Conzelmann's own Lutheran theology comes to the fore with assertions like: ``Within the category of salvation history the church cannot claim to be the true people of God without denying that status to the Jewish people'' (243). He methodically works his way through the New Testament material, the Apostolic Fathers, the New Testament Apocrypha, Gnosticism, Jewish Christianity, to the Apologists. Instead of a conclusion, the book ends with a call for faith, understood in its classical Lutheran formulation as the abandonment of one's sinful pride when one is confronted by the Word of God. <3.1> We must be grateful for this marvelous collection of primary source data, coupled with one scholar's critical assessment of much of the secondary literature--especially the German scholarship. One can also admire his intention to let the past speak for itself (1), even while one recognizes his counter-principle that scholarship itself is historically conditioned (237). His frank assessment of the views of others is refreshing, whether he agrees or disagrees. <3.2> Granting its usefulness as a primary source collection, I have three major difficulties with the work. The conceptual model seems inadequate, usually assuming that we can speak meaningfully of ``Judaism'' as an entity in the Hellenistic period (see 135-39). The attempt to wed his historical research to his theology is also problematic; I often felt that the theology was shaping the historical analysis. But beyond such particular issues, I find the book to be nearly unreadable. It is ninety-five per cent analysis and five percent synthesis, making it nearly incoherent as an argument. It is more like a collection of research notes than like a monograph--a failure compounded by the lack of a subject index. (There are indexes to primary sources and to scholars.) <3.3> The impossibility of the task Conzelmann set himself is nowhere more clear than in his analysis of the early Christian material. Matthew, for example is analyzed in one page by citing four (German) commentators--all published before 1967. Such limitations are probably inevitable in a work of this sort. <00.1> This is a work well worth consulting, especially for its delineation of the treatment of Jews in Greco-Roman literature (Part Two) and its collection and analysis of the Jewish response (Part Three). It provides not only citations and translations, but also preliminary secondary bibliography--especially of works published before 1970. It thus enhances, but does not replace, the more extensive and better organized collection of primary source citations in English edited by Molly Whittaker (Jews and Christians: Graeco-Roman Views [Cambridge: CUP, 1984]). Reviewed by: David L. Barr Department of Religion Wright State University Dayton, OH 45435 DBarr@Desire.Wright.edu (c) 1992 Reproduction beyond fair use only on permission of the editors. ----------------------------end review---------------------------- RV:Barr, David L. AU:Conzelmann, Hans YR:1992 BT:Gentiles, Jews, Christians: Polemics and Apologetics in the Greco-Roman Era CO:M. Eugene Boring (Trans.) PL:Minneapolis PR:Fortress