Mapping the New Testament: Early Christian Writings as a Witness for Jewish Biblical Exegesis

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Nov, 2009 by Anders Runesson

Mapping the New Testament: Early Christian Writings as a Witness for Jewish Biblical Exegesis. By Serge Ruzer. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007. Pp. xiii 254. Cloth $155.00.

New Testament texts have long been used by Christians to define their relationship to--and distance from--contemporary Jews. Traditionally, the comparative emphasis has been on what is perceived as unique in "Christianity." A focus on the apparent uniqueness of the New Testament in relation to a polemically constructed "Judaism" has functioned as a rhetorical foundation for super-sessionist theologies claiming that Judaism is a misguided religion and that Christians have, as a consequence, replaced the Jews as the people of God. While such theologies have been challenged as unrelated to the New Testament evidence, the underlying assumption that Judaism and Christianity were two distinct entities already in the first century still underlies much New Testament research and has simultaneously prevented scholars of Early Judaism from using New Testament material as evidence of Second Temple Judaism.

Individual researchers have long pointed to the lack of "uniqueness" on the part of the Jesus movement in relation to Judaism. It is not until recently that we find a larger movement within New Testament scholarship problematizing the way the question has been asked and applying, systematically, a variety of socio-religious, political, institutional, ritual and other approaches to analyze the nature of New Testament texts and groups within a first century Jewish setting. More unusual are attempts by scholars of Early Judaism to integrate New Testament material into their analysis of developments within Judaism. Serge Ruzer has authored an engaging study doing just that. Shedding light on the interrelationship of interpretive techniques in the New Testament and other Jewish texts, this book contributes to our understanding of the development of Jewish hermeneutics from the Second Temple period to the emergence of rabbinic Judaism.

Ruzer's approach departs, thus, from previous anachronistic attempts at understanding New Testament texts using rabbinic literature, of which the most influential is the early moth century multi-volume collection of rabbinic parallels to New Testament passages by Strack and Billerbeck (Kommentar zum Neuen Testament). Instead, for Ruzer, layers of New Testament material provide "missing links," previously ignored, between various forms of Judaism. The procedure is sound and reinforces the historical necessity of treating New Testament texts primarily as expressions of and evidence for early Judaism.

Ruzer's argument is, in brief, that various Jewish groups, including parts of the Jesus movement, did exegesis within a common Jewish hermeneutical framework. Referring to and using shared exegetical techniques (such as, e.g., juxtaposing two or more parallel Torah precepts as a means of widening the scope of a commandment), they put forward their specific interpretations, which supported their own sectarian position. The fact that we find the same techniques used by groups from different social strata indicates their general acceptance; in order to make exegetical claims effectively and persuade others in a specific religio-cultural milieu (Ruzer identifies this milieu as Palestinian), one has to use interpretive tools that are commonly shared. While the specific interpretations may tell us something about the characteristics of individual groups, the techniques used reveal the general, intra-Jewish setting of the conversations, debates and polemic. The link between the New Testament and rabbinic literature is the use of similar techniques; since it is hardly likely that the rabbis picked up these techniques from New Testament texts, one may conclude that the techniques evidenced in the New Testament are representative of Second Temple Judaism, whence rabbinic hermeneutics developed.

The topics and passages analyzed are well chosen, not least because of their centrality to Christian identity formation; these include the so-called anti-theses of Matthew 5, the development of the command to love the neighbor to include love of the enemy, the identity of the Messiah, attitudes to marriage and divorce, sin and Torah, the crucifixion, and the new covenant. The comparative material used to situate the (shared) hermeneutics comprises the synoptic Gospels, Acts, the Pauline letters, the Dead Sea scrolls, Pseudepigrapha, Philo, rabbinic literature and the targums.

Although Ruzer's purpose is to understand the development of Jewish hermeneutics, his analyses contribute important insights to the study of identity formation among both Christ-believers and other Jews in the first century. As he himself claims, exegetic statements are acts of power, often "aimed at polemically flavored self-definition." Biblical exegesis was--and is--one of the main avenues for expressing and/or constructing identity. Ruzer's study shows that when an under-theorised focus on polemics is problematized and hermeneutical foundations are taken into consideration as a necessary shared site for making sense in a specific culture, the early history of what later became Judaism and Christianity needs to be reassessed. By focusing on topics fundamental to exclusive Christian identity claims, Ruzer demonstrates that even the cornerstones of Christian theological structures are assembled using Jewish techniques. As a consequence, the so-called parting(s) of the ways between "Judaism" and "Christianity" is yet again proven to be more complex than is often assumed. Mapping the New Testament deserves careful study by students of Early Judaism and the New Testament alike.