Louisville Process Theology Network

Their Hybrid Religious Identity

We know better, of course. Still, we tend think that Christian theology as we know it today arose two thousand years ago. What we often forget is the origins of the first converts. Most were Jews whom maintained a hybrid identity into the second century AD. They obeyed the laws of Moses even as they professed faith in Jesus. They worshiped at temple and called themselves Jews.

In “Jews, Christians, and Judeo-Christians,” Geza Vernes writes that outsiders could not tell the difference between these Jewish Christians and their Jewish counterparts.

The differences were obvious among Jews themselves, though. The first converts observed the teachings of Jesus by “breaking bread.” Many donated their belongings to their communities and lived communally, a lifestyle that was not Jewish custom at the time.

This hybrid identity eventually got to be complicated as more and more former pagans (Gentiles) converted. These two groups shared some beliefs, such as the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead, but there were sharp differences on the message of Jesus.

For example, an important Jewish Christian text known as the "Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles" (The Didache) regards Jesus as an inspired prophet. The Gentiles would soon disagree. That and other disagreements led to a council in Jerusalem intended to unify the branches.

Most notably, the council decided that Gentiles would not have to obey all Jewish laws; the circumcision requirement for one. This conciliatory move hardly deterred the Gentiles from remaking other aspects of Christianity, however. The breaking of bread, which the Jewish Christians had regarded as an observance, became a “sacrament” within the next generation.

Vernes writes that Jewish Christians were waning into the second century. Historical records of their existence end about that time.  He reasons that some were absorbed in the Gentile religion while others returned to the Jewish fold.