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  • From: Richard Fellows <rfellows AT shaw.ca>
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Timothy/Titus and circumcision
  • Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 13:28:25 -0800

David Hindley wrote:
> Your Timothy-Titus hypothesis has long interested me.

Thanks for your interest.

> However, keep in mind that Acts 16:1-3 says Timothy had a Jewish mother
and
> a Greek father, while Gal 2:3-5 says that Titus was himself a Greek.
Before
> you can equate these statements, as if referring to the same person, can
you
> demonstrate from literature of the period (e.g., Josephus) that having a
> Greek father might make one a "Greek" in Jewish eyes, in cases where the
> mother was Jewish?

The son of a Jewish mother and Greek father would have been classed as a
Greek. See D. Daube, Ancient Jewish Law (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981), pp
22-32, and S.J.D. Cohen, 'Was Timothy Jewish (Acts 16:1-3)? Patristic
Exegesis, Rabbinic Law, and Matrilineal Descent', JBL 105/2 (1986), pp.
251-68.

> Personally, even if the concept of matrilineal descent
> making one "Jewish" (and thus in need of circumcision) was not the general
> rule, I can see the expediency of circumcising someone of mixed ethnicity.

Yes indeed.

> Even so, in that period I am aware of Jewish extremists (for lack of a
> better word) who were indeed insisting that Gentiles interested revering
the
> Jewish God should, no "must," convert to Judaism completely and be
> circumcised. The example I mentioned in an earlier post on another
subject,
> where Gentiles who had been seen reading the Jewish scriptures were
> supposedly ambushed by certain Jews who demanded immediate circumcision on
> threat of death, happened in Judaea.

Interesting. Could you give the reference for this incident?

Thanks,

Richard Fellows.







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