Source: “Reading Paul Within Judaism: The Collected Essays”, By Mark D. Nanos, 2017.
Paul And The Jewish Tradition The Shema.wav
This podcast argues that Paul's theology is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition, particularly the central concept of the Shema Israel, which declares God's oneness. The podcast contends that Paul did not aim to create a new religion but rather to articulate a Jewish subgroup's belief that the anticipated "end of the ages" had arrived with Christ, leading to the inclusion of non-Jews into God's covenant while maintaining their distinct identities. This perspective explains Paul's controversial stance against the conversion of non-Jewish Christ-followers to Judaism, emphasizing that their continued non-Jewish status serves as a testament to God's universal dominion over all nations, rather than just Israel. Ultimately, the text challenges traditional interpretations of Paul as a founder of Christianity separate from Judaism, advocating for a re-evaluation of his work within a broader Jewish eschatological framework.
Topic 1: The Shema Israel's Significance in Judaism The Shema Israel stands as a paramount ideological declaration in early Israelite history, embodying a profound call to listen to God. This injunction extends beyond mere auditory perception; it compels individuals to wholeheartedly love God, which translates into unwavering loyalty and dedicated service with one's entire being. It encompasses both rigorous observance of divine commandments and deep, internal reflection, referred to as kavannah, or the intention of the heart. The Shema is understood to capture the very essence of Torah, which represents God's teachings that Israel is uniquely privileged to possess on behalf of all humanity, and for which they are responsible to internalize and embody. It is a cornerstone of Jewish spiritual life, recited in sacred prayer twice daily, taught to Jewish children as their first prayer, and ideally, the final words on a Jew's lips. Historical accounts, such as that of Rabbi Akiva, who recited the Shema during his execution by the Romans, underscore its profound association with ultimate loyalty and martyrdom, interpreting the command to be loyal "with all thy soul" to mean "even if He takes thy soul." The declaration that God is "One" signifies Israel's singular choice and exclusive devotion to her God. Crucially, this affirmation of "oneness" does not necessarily entail a denial of the existence of other gods, but rather an absolute commitment to Israel's God alone, irrespective of the claims of other nations or their deities. This relationship is often analogized to the exclusive loyalty and commitment found in a marriage, where the existence of other potential partners does not negate the singular devotion to the chosen one.
Topic 2: Obedience, Understanding, and the Oneness of God in Jewish Tradition Despite being mentioned only once in the Torah, the Shema's profound importance is underscored by its placement as the opening halakah (legal principle) of the Talmud by Rabbi Judah the Prince. The act of "hearing" in the Shema is fundamentally understood as a call to obey. Yet, Jewish tradition acknowledges human fallibility, recognizing that people do not always "do" what they "hear" to be right. Even in instances of failure, such as the making of the Golden Calf, the responsibility to "hear" and "listen" remained. Thus, the Shema is described as the "acceptance of the yoke of the kingdom of heaven," serving as a constant reminder not only of God's steadfast loyalty and promises but also of the profound love of God that is central to Jewish identity. It embodies the responsibility to enact God's will and to serve one's neighbors, reflecting core ideals of Jewish spirituality. Interestingly, biblical Hebrew lacks a specific word for "obedience," instead relying on terms like šema' (hear) to convey this concept. Furthermore, the Sages ruled that the recitation of the Shema is more concerned with intellectual and spiritual "understanding" than with mere audible "hearing," allowing for its recitation even inaudibly if accompanied by genuine intention. The "oneness" of God, as declared in the Shema, is a rich subject of interpretive tradition. It encompasses the realization that God is supreme, both in heaven above and on earth below, with no other. Medieval Jewish thinkers like Maimonides emphasized God's incorporeal, indivisible, and utterly unique nature, while Rashi observed that God's oneness includes the recognition that Israel's God is the sole God of all nations. The Shema thus became a vital rallying cry against polytheism and later served as a polemical statement against Christian Trinitarian claims, emphasizing the singularity of God. The focus on "hearing" rather than "seeing" signifies a commitment to an unseen God, without statues or visual representations. Beyond its theological significance, the Shema also functions socially, acting as a defining marker of group identity and shared values.
Topic 3: Reconceptualizing Paul's Relationship with Judaism Traditional interpretations of Paul often present him as a figure who emerged from Judaism to establish a new religion, Christianity, effectively conceptualizing him as no longer a representative of Judaism. However, an alternative perspective argues that Paul and his audiences, rather than forming a new religion, continued to practice Judaism. Within this framework, Paul's groups are understood as a specific Jewish coalition united by a shared conviction: that the "end of the ages" had definitively dawned. They believed this was the long-awaited era when members of other nations would turn to Israel's God, acknowledging Him as the one God of all humankind. From this viewpoint, Paul was not striving to create something entirely new, but rather was actively involved in the ongoing restoration of Israel and the gathering of the nations, a process they believed had been initiated by this new epoch. This interpretation fundamentally reframes Paul's theological and social mission as deeply embedded within, and faithful to, the Jewish tradition of his time, even as it developed unique perspectives within that tradition due to their belief in Christ.
Topic 4: The Shema as Central to Paul's Theology The Shema Israel is posited as the fundamental conviction underpinning Paul's entire theological system. The sources indicate that Paul frequently references God's oneness at critical junctures within his arguments, where this concept serves both theological and polemical purposes. He does not typically provide an elaborate explanation of the Shema, suggesting that for him, the concept of God's oneness operated at an ideological level, its explanatory power assumed to be self-evident. This assumption implies that Paul expected his audiences to intuitively grasp the logic of this theological proposition without detailed exposition. This understanding further presumes that Paul's audiences, whether through his direct teaching or through their immersion in broader Jewish communal life and liturgy, perceived reality through a distinct Jewish communal lens, having been socialized into normative Jewish ideological patterns of thought and life. The pervasive and unquestioned presence of the Shema in his arguments suggests it was not merely a proof-text but the very intellectual and spiritual bedrock upon which his reasoning was built, particularly in his discussions concerning the inclusion of non-Jews within the scope of God's people.
Topic 5: Paul's Logic on Non-Jews, Proselyte Conversion, and God's Oneness A significant and distinctive aspect of Paul's theology, directly derived from the Shema, is his stance on the proselyte conversion of non-Jewish believers in Christ. Paul argued emphatically that non-Jews who turned to God through Christ should not become Jewish proselytes (a process that included circumcision for males). This position sharply contrasts with the traditional Christian view, which later taught that Judaism and Torah had ended with Christ. Paul's reasoning was deeply rooted in the concept of God's oneness: if all who worshipped the One God were required to become Israelites, it would, paradoxically, undermine God's universal sovereignty. It would imply that God was solely the God of Israel, and that others had to "join" Israel to access this God, as if there were another God for non-Israelites. Instead, Paul argued that when non-Jews turned to Israel's God while remaining non-Jews (not becoming members of the nation Israel), they then bore witness to the profound truth that Israel's God is indeed the one God of all nations. This act of non-Jews joining alongside Jews in worship, while maintaining their distinct religio-ethnic identities without hierarchical advantage, served as a crucial demonstration that the awaited day had arrived—the day when representatives from all the nations would turn from idolatry to worship the One God. This distinctive policy regarding non-Jewish Christ-followers, particularly their inclusion as full members of Jewish communities apart from proselyte conversion, was a defining characteristic of Paul's groups, making them unique among most other Jewish groups of his time. While other Jewish groups also hoped for future reconciliation with the nations where they would remain non-Israelites, they typically would not agree to such an inclusive policy in the present age unless the awaited day had truly dawned.
Topic 6: The Preservation of Social and Religio-Ethnic Differences in Paul's Communities Contrary to widespread interpretations that suggest Paul taught the dissolution of all social and religio-ethnic differences among Christ-followers, aiming for a "new, third race" where distinctions like "Jew or Greek" no longer existed, the sources argue that Paul was not against such differences. He explicitly recognized and addressed the diverse biological, cultural, socio-economic, and gender identities within his communities. For instance, he maintained that Jews who believed in Christ were to remain Jews and continue their obligation to observe Torah, just as he himself practiced Jewish dietary norms. Concurrently, non-Jews who came to faith in Christ were to remain non-Jews and were not considered obligated to observe Torah in the same manner as Jews. His famous declaration in Galatians 3:28, "There is not Jew or Greek," is not understood as an abolition of these fundamental identities. Instead, Paul's rhetoric signified that these distinct groups, despite their differences, were not to practice hierarchical discrimination among themselves based on the prevailing cultural valuations of those differences, as they might have done in the "present evil age." The core principle was that because God is one, there should be no intra-group discrimination within the communities devoted to God, even while social differences persisted. This approach meant that non-Jewish Christ-followers, while not becoming Jewish proselytes, were nevertheless expected to respect the righteousness embodied in Torah and the explicit practices of Jewish believers, and to adhere to Jewish communal ways of living developed for non-Jewish guests. This ideal called for living in community and eating together, symbolizing the messianic banquet of the awaited age, bearing witness to the gospel's claim that this new age had arrived.
Topic 7: Paul's Eschatological Framework and the Shema The Shema served as a central pillar in Paul's eschatological, or "end times," reasoning. Before his profound encounter with Christ, Paul adhered to the prevailing Jewish expectation of a future restoration of the nations, a time when all peoples would acknowledge the One God. However, he believed that until that specific day arrived, Israel alone genuinely represented God's righteous people, and any individual from other nations wishing to fully identify with God's people had to join Israel through proselyte conversion. This perspective dramatically shifted with his conviction that the resurrection of Christ had marked the very dawning of this awaited age. For Paul, the "age to come" had begun, and the "messianic banquet" had commenced. Consequently, he understood that both Israel and the other nations were now turning to the One God on equal terms. The Christ-believing subgroups within the broader Jewish community were, therefore, meant to be living demonstrations of this propositional truth. Paul's specific teachings on Jewish values, translated into cross-cultural contexts, proceeded directly from this eschatological premise. The Shema, in this context, not only articulated fundamental theological truths about God's singularity but also offered practical guidance for how believers should conduct their lives in the "present evil age" as if they were already members of the blessed "age to come," aligning their behavior with this future reality that they believed had already begun to unfold.
Topic 8: Distinguishing Paul from Later Paulinism and Christianity The interpretation that Paul continued to live and teach from within Judaism, rather than founding a new religion, poses a fundamental challenge to the traditional understanding of Christian origins. This perspective argues that Paul's authentic values and teachings are distinct from the subsequent theological trajectory known as "Paulinism," which later contributed to the development of Christianity as a religion clearly distinct from Judaism. The sources highlight that within roughly fifty years of Paul's death, figures like Ignatius of Antioch explicitly stated that it was "utterly absurd to profess Jesus Christ and to practice Judaism," indicating a swift and profound divergence from Paul's initial vision. This dramatic shift calls for a critical historical re-evaluation: rather than attributing the founding of Christianity as a new religion, separate from Judaism, directly to Paul, it becomes imperative to investigate precisely when and how this change occurred. The argument suggests that later Christian theological developments, particularly the notion that Christianity abrogated Jewish identity and Torah-based lifestyles for believers (implying God is only the God of non-Jews and Christianity is a gentile religion), effectively inverted Paul's original argument, which was rooted in the Shema and asserted God's simultaneous identity as the God of both Jews and non-Jews. Thus, "Paulinism" represents an interpretive trajectory that diverges from Paul's probable intended results.
Topic 9: Implications for Christian Identity and Jewish Historiography Understanding Paul as a figure deeply rooted in Jewish tradition, rather than as a founder of a new, separate religion, carries profound implications for Christian self-identity. This perspective suggests that the foundational truths of Christianity, as expressed through Paul's voice, do not arise in opposition to Judaism but rather originate within it as an exemplification of its ideals. This necessitates a critical re-examination by Christians of their historical narratives and the theological developments that led to the significant separation from Judaism. Similarly, this approach demands a reconsideration of Paul's place within Jewish historiography. It encourages Jewish scholars to differentiate between Paul himself, a historical figure operating within Second Temple Judaism, and the later "Paulinism," which represents an interpretive trajectory within Christian teaching to which Jewish communities have historically responded. Just as Jesus is studied by both Jews and Christians with an awareness of the distinction between the historical figure and the religious traditions that emerged, Paul should also be studied with sensitivity to this dynamic. Such historical investigation can provide crucial data for mapping the diverse forms of Judaism that existed during this critical period, immediately preceding the destruction of the Second Temple and the subsequent emergence of Rabbinic Judaism.
Topic 10: Fostering Christian-Jewish Dialogue Through Shared Foundations The reinterpretation of Paul's teachings, particularly the understanding that his faith and mission were not based on a fundamental rejection of Judaism but rather an expression of it in "age-to-come" terms within the present age, offers a significant avenue for overcoming historical obstacles in Christian-Jewish dialogue and relations. While acknowledging the undeniable and significant differences that exist between these two faith traditions today, this approach highlights that their core foundational ideals are not necessarily in dispute. Instead, the primary divergence lies in the interpretation of the meaning of Jesus Christ. By focusing on shared principles, such as the unwavering conviction in the One God, there is an opportunity to cultivate mutual respect and foster a deeper sense of shared identity as fellow witnesses to this singular divine reality. This recognition of common ground can facilitate much-needed "shalom" or peace, enabling collaboration and understanding despite differing opinions on whether the awaited messianic age has already dawned in Jesus Christ.