Corpus-Paul

[tmcos AT canada.com]

Dear Cameron, it would appear at least from the NT
gospel of Matthew that there is some evidence that
Judaism was a missionary religion. This is seen in
Jesus' statement concerning the Pharisees, "Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel
around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when
he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of
hell as yourselves." (Matt.23:15 NASB)Following the
destruction of the Temple in 70 CE and the Bar Cochba
revoly in 135 CE Judaism receded from missionary
outreach to Gentiles, the Gentiles it seemed brought
more trouble than anything else! A good book if I may
recommend in this area is 'Paul and the gentiles :
remapping the Apostle's convictional
world'(Minneapolis, Minn.:Fortress Press,1997)by
Terence L. Donaldson. Best regards, 

                                  Tony Costa, M.A.
                             University of Toronto 
   



On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 23:50:32 -0700, Cameron VanEpps
wrote:

> 
> Dear Readers,
> 
> I have recently read Paula Fredriksen's essay,
> "Judaism, Circumcision, 
> and Apocalyptic Hope" in Mark Nanos' new book, The
> Galatians debate, 
> and found my mind pricked with many interesting
> thoughts. I will only 
> pose one question at a time in the hope that each will
> be dealt with 
> fully. My first question, which I never really gave
> much thought to, is 
> the idea of Judaism as being a "missionary" religion.
> Does it make 
> sense to think that there was such a thing as outreach
> based 
> preaching/teaching prior to the great commission? Or
is
> it more likely 
> that what really happened was teachings or
> philosophical debates 
> between a Rabbi and those holding to another
> theological application in 
> an open air arena, thus drawing those inclined to
> monotheism into the 
> fold. I would love to hear people's thoughts on this
> topic.
> 
> Cameron P. VanEpps
> 215 W. Illinois St.
> Bellingham, WA 98225
> phone: (360) 715-8873
> cell: (360) 319-6653