Border Lines: The Partition Of Judaeo-christianity (divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion)
by Daniel Boyarin /
2004 / English / PDF
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The historical separation between Judaism and Christianity is
often figured as a clearly defined break of a single entity into
two separate religions. Following this model, there would have
been one religion known as Judaism before the birth of Christ,
which then took on a hybrid identity. Even before its subsequent
division, certain beliefs and practices of this composite would
have been identifiable as Christian or Jewish.In
The historical separation between Judaism and Christianity is
often figured as a clearly defined break of a single entity into
two separate religions. Following this model, there would have
been one religion known as Judaism before the birth of Christ,
which then took on a hybrid identity. Even before its subsequent
division, certain beliefs and practices of this composite would
have been identifiable as Christian or Jewish.InBorder
Lines
Border
Lines, however, Daniel Boyarin makes a striking case for a
very different way of thinking about the historical development
that is the partition of Judaeo-Christianity.
, however, Daniel Boyarin makes a striking case for a
very different way of thinking about the historical development
that is the partition of Judaeo-Christianity.
There were no characteristics or features that could be described
as uniquely Jewish or Christian in late antiquity, Boyarin
argues. Rather, Jesus-following Jews and Jews who did not follow
Jesus lived on a cultural map in which beliefs, such as that in a
second divine being, and practices, such as keeping kosher or
maintaining the Sabbath, were widely and variably distributed.
The ultimate distinctions between Judaism and Christianity were
imposed from above by "border-makers," heresiologists anxious to
construct a discrete identity for Christianity. By defining some
beliefs and practices as Christian and others as Jewish or
heretical, they moved ideas, behaviors, and people to one side or
another of an artificial border—and, Boyarin significantly
contends, invented the very notion of religion.
There were no characteristics or features that could be described
as uniquely Jewish or Christian in late antiquity, Boyarin
argues. Rather, Jesus-following Jews and Jews who did not follow
Jesus lived on a cultural map in which beliefs, such as that in a
second divine being, and practices, such as keeping kosher or
maintaining the Sabbath, were widely and variably distributed.
The ultimate distinctions between Judaism and Christianity were
imposed from above by "border-makers," heresiologists anxious to
construct a discrete identity for Christianity. By defining some
beliefs and practices as Christian and others as Jewish or
heretical, they moved ideas, behaviors, and people to one side or
another of an artificial border—and, Boyarin significantly
contends, invented the very notion of religion.