Meddelanden 24 (2009) (PDF 780 kB - Nytt fönster) - Centrum för ...

Anders Runesson discusses the origins of separate Christian and Jewish
identities in his important essay “Inventing Christian Identity: Paul, Ignatius
and Theodosius I.” Runesson first tackles the thorny problem of using such
labels as “Christian” and Jew” in the ancient context. In one of the best discussions
of this much debated topic Runesson argues that the Greek term
Ioudaioi can be translated in many cases with the English words “Jew” or
“Jewish.” The case is different, however, with the use of the term “Christian”
which is anachronistic in a first-century context. Runesson suggests
that the term “Apostolic Judaism” could be used for the religious identity of
the first century Jesus believers in a similar way as we speak of Pharisaic or
Essene Judaism. Those non-Jews who attached themselves to Apostolic
Judaism could be called “Christ-fearers” while such second-century writers
as Ignatius, who rejected any overlap between the identity of the Ioudaioi
and their own identity, could be called “proto-Christians.” Runesson concludes
that Paul’s Apostolic Jewish approach to non-Jews was a necessary
factor in the development that led Ignatius to de-ethnosize belief in Christ
which, in turn, had direct implications for later Christian empire building.
Rikard Roitto’s essay “Behaving like a Christ-Believer: A Cognitive Perspective
on Identity and Behavior Norms in Early Christ-Movement” argues
that a cognitive approach provides a coherent framework to understand the
connection between identity in Christ and the narrative meanings and social
dynamics of behavior norms. Roitto presents in an accessible way how
cognitive research has been applied to the study of religion and culture.
Roitto follows cognitive scholars in claiming that the concept of culture is
ontologically unintelligible, a conclusion that poses a challenge to Gerd
Theissen’s definition of early Christianity as an independent cultural sign
system. Roitto also brings into discussion the social identity approach
developed by Henri Tajfel and others and shows how this approach can
illuminate the use of ingroup prototypes to promote early Christian social
identity.
The social identity approach and prototypes have an important role also
in Mikael Tellbe’s essay “The Prototypical Christ-Believer: Early Christian
Identity Formation in Ephesus.” He discusses the Pastorals, the Johannine
Epistles and Revelation that all have been connected to Ephesus and that
display remarkable differences with regard to such themes as legitimacy and
leadership structures, societal relations, community metaphors and the
prototypes of Christ-Believers. Tellbe speculates about the possibility that,
for example, the Johannine Epistles were written in critical response to such
ideas concerning authority and legitimacy that are expressed in the
Pastorals. Tellbe finds points of commonality between all these writings in
the significant role of itinerant leaders and in a common pattern of the story
of Jesus and the ethical response to this story. It can be questioned, however,
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