Review of Eric C. Smith, Jewish Glass and Christian Stone: A Materialist Mapping of the “Parting of the Ways.” Routledge Studies in the Early Christian World. London and New York: Routledge (2018). Review of Biblical Literature (original) (raw)

Beyond the Book: Rethinking Biblical Religion, Autumn 2016

In both scholarly analysis and the popular imagination, premodern Jewry is often envisioned as the people of the Book par excellence—a community in which both practice and belief emerge from the interpretation of Scripture. As a practical consequence, the study of premodern Judaism(s) has largely been relegated to the Society of Biblical Literature and cognate organizations—which has, in turn, subtly reinforced this trend by disproportionately promoting work on early Judaism that coincides with these institution's charge to advance biblical studies. The intellectual implications of this categorization have not been entirely benign. The Bible continues to be shrouded in an aura of sui generity in a great deal of contemporary scholarly discourse. As a result, the traditional portrait of classical Judaism as the religion of the Hebrew Bible has often led researchers to treat premodern Judaism(s) as somehow exempt from the comparative observations that have come to structure the study of other religions and ancient cultural traditions in the academy. An emerging body of new research, however, has begun to bring the study of premodern Judaism(s) back in line with the study of other religious movements and historical traditions in this regard, by revealing that early Judaism was not always as Bible-centric as the traditional scholarly portrait suggests. Or at least, this work draws our attention to the fact that premodern Jews did not always engage with the biblical tradition in the ways that we have come to imagine that religious practitioners will relate to this canonical text. This series seeks to bring together scholars working on these issues to encourage the development of this new line of research.

Annette Y. Reed and Adam H. Becker, “Introduction: Traditional Models and New Directions,” in Adam H. Becker and Annette Y. Reed, eds., The Ways that Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007), 1-33

For those who seek the origins of our modern conceptions of Judaism and Christianity as ultimately related yet essentially distinct religions, the idea of the "Parting of the Ways" proves powerfully attractive, offering a reassuringly ecumenical etiology of the religious differences between present-day Christians and Jews. 1 In this model Judaism and Christianity are likened to two paths that branched off from a single road, never to cross or converge again. 2 Even as their common origin is affirmed, the allegedly fundamental distinction between the two is explained as a result of a mutual decision, long ago, to part their fates and go their separate ways.