Mission and Conversion: Proselytizing in the Religious History of the Roman Empire (Clarendon Paperbacks) - Softcover

Goodman, Martin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198263872 ISBN 13: 9780198263876

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, 1996

Synopsis

This book tackles a central problem of Jewish and comparative religious history: proselytization and the origins of mission in the Early Church. Why did some individuals in the first four centuries of the Christian era believe it desirable to persuade as many outsiders to join their religious group, while others did not? In this book, the author offers a radical new explanation of the origins of mission in this period, arguing that mission is not an inherent religious instinct, that in antiquity it was found only sporadically among Jews and pagans, and that even Christians rarely stressed its importance in the early centuries. In the first half of the book, Dr Goodman makes a detailed and radical re-evaluation of the evidence for Jewish missionary attitudes in the late Second Temple and Talmudic periods, overturning many commonly held assumptions about the history of Judaism, in particular the view that Jews proselytized energetically in the first century AD. This leads him on to take issue with the common notion that the early Christian mission to the gentiles imitated or competed with contemporary Jews. Finally, the author puts forward some novel suggestions as to how the Jewish background to Christianity may nonetheless have contributed to the enthusiastic adoption of universal proselytization by some followers of Jesus in the apostolic age.

About this title

Product Description

This is a controversial and important new examination of the origins of Christian mission, set against the background of ancient Judaism and the pagan culture of the Roman Empire. The author invites a total reconsideration of the grounds for religious conversion in both Christianity and Judaism. He suggests that mission was not inherent to either early Judaism or Christianity, and was only sporadically practiced in antiquity by these religions. Clear, accessible, and displaying considerable scholarship, this book will provide an important challenge and a stimulus to both theologians and historians.

Review

provides a fascinating analysis of Jewish missionary attitudes, and raises questions for church historians and theologians about the influences which shaped the young Church (Church Times)

for Jews and Christians this book is a rich source of interest and relevance ... There is a great deal of information and analysis that is clearly presented and cogently argued (Expository Times)

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0198263872
• ISBN 13: 9780198263876
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 212