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  • From: Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>
  • To: corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: "Judaizing" and the question of forced circumcision
  • Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 11:10:39 -0800 (PST)


Listers,

Mark recommended that I post our recent off-list
exchange to the list. The exchange began when he
criticized my use of the term “Judaizing” in
responding to Deborah yesterday:

> Hi Loren,
> Just a quick note to provoke some thought on the use
> of the term
> "judaizing" to describe Jewish influence toward
> proselyte conversion.
> In my view its use by Christians is steeped in
> ideology that I do not
> think you share. It has acquired a pejorative sense.
> Christians are
> missionaries, presumably serving the interests of
> the other; Jews are
> judaizers, serving their own interests. Even
> Christianizing, while
> having a slightly negative valence, does not have
> the same level of
> negative connotations as Judaizing. Moreover, where
> Christians do
> missionize, it is less clear that many Jews did so,
> but rather
> responded to the interest expressed. Also
> grammatically it is not
> something Jews do, but something that gentiles do
> when they become
> proselytes, they judaize. But I stay away even from
> that because when
> many Christians think of this they see it in a
> pejorative way.


[Loren, earlier]

I’m not fond of the term “Judaizing” either but
sometimes use it as a lazy convenience. Old habits --
and biases -- die hard.

Based on your past postings on C-P -- and our own
discussions off-list -- my understanding is that you
believe the Galatians “desired” circumcision, just as
they “desired” to conform to some Greco-Roman pagan
practices. But to what degree did they “desire”/
“want” these things? I see you as reacting against the
old school which holds that the “Judaizing opponents”
were shoving the law down the throats of Paul’s
unwilling converts.


[Mark]

Correct.


[Loren, earlier]

I believe you have offered an accurate and timely
corrective: The “opponents” were in fact only
“influencers” -- perhaps proselyte converts themselves
-- and Paul’s converts actively sought out proselyte
conversion, apropos these influencers.


[Mark]

They sought confirmation of their identity as
righteous ones on the basis of what they learned from
Paul, but were confused/shamed/threatened by the
response of these important and influential “ritual
elders”.


[Loren, earlier]

But how much did they really “want” this? Did they
desire to become proselytes with unrestrained
exuberance -- or, at least, to the same degree Timothy
(presumably) wanted to become circumcised?


[Mark]

I don’t know about Timothy wanting this, but the
addressees want to reduce the dissonance, so they are
somewhere between compliance and conformity. . . What
do the addressees want? Certainty. Confirmation of the
reality that they believe they have gained by the good
news of Christ, in the face of that which they have
begun to lose already from the reality of pagan
identity with their family, neighbors, etc.


[Loren, now]

I presume a desire on Timothy’s part. Paul exploited
that desire -- by pressing it into the service of his
missionary needs -- but it makes little sense that
Timothy was circumcised against his will. Alan Segal
has also speculated about Timothy’s desire to be
circumcised (“Paul the Convert”, pp. 218-221).


[Loren, earlier]

Do you allow for a large measure of confusion and
uncertainty in the minds of Paul’s Galatian converts?


[Mark]

Yes! His ironic rebuke is tailored to unsettling
teenagers caught in the confusion of two rival courts
of reputation.


[Loren, now]

Good! That’s what I need to be clear on. This makes
all the difference in the world between them and
someone like Timothy. Both the Galatians and Timothy
“wanted” circumcision, but in very different contexts.
The important thing to understand, I think, is that in
neither case was the rite being aggressively urged on
them.


Loren Rosson III,
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com



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  • "Judaizing" and the question of forced circumcision, Loren Rosson, 10/31/2000

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