Journal for the Study of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting

Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting #5 – free access

~ Richard Goode ~ 2 Comments

The latest edition of the Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting (5) is now out with the great news that it has also secured more funding to ensure that it can continue its commitment to the production of a quality open access journal that maintains the high academic standards that it has set itself.

JJMJS is strongly committed to remain open access.  Moving forward, we, as any other open-access journals, must secure long-term economic stability without compromising academic quality. We are therefore very pleased to announce that, through a unique collaborative effort, JJMJS is now entering a multilateral partnership with Hebrew University of Jerusalem, DePaul University in Chicago, and the University of Oslo.

This edition is something of a feast for those interested in Paul, Pauline scholarship, and first century CE Judaism and is timed to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of E.P. Sanders’ Paul and Palestinian Judaism. The edition is divided into two parts. Part I considers the “impact of the work of E.P. Sanders forty years after the publication of his magisterial Paul and Palestinian Judaism“. Part II then explores Paul in contemporary research with three articles reflecting on the work of Paula Fredriksen and John Gager. The final article is Paula Fredriksen’s response to these articles. Continue reading →

Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting #4 – free access

~ Richard Goode ~ 1 Comment

Great news – Issue 4 of the Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting (JJMJS 4-2017), from Eisenbrauns, is now out. This is an extremely valuable (if not essential) resource for anyone with an interest in the forming church and New Testament studies.

JJMJS’s editor in chief, Anders Runesson, introduces this edition with these words:

“To whom is Paul’s letter to the Romans addressed, how do we know, and what difference does it make for our understanding of Paul’s position on the salvation of ‘all Israel’ (Rom 11:26)? In the 4th issue of JJMJS, John W. Marshall approaches these and related issues starting not with ‘heavyweight’ themes like faith, works, law, and gospel, but rather with smaller words of great significance for language-making, such as ‘all,’ ‘we,’ ‘thus,’ and ‘you,’ as well as Paul’s characteristic expression μὴ γένοιτο! (‘Certainly not!’) These are words, he claims, that “determine the course of Paul’s eschatological, mystical flow of big concepts.” Continue reading →

Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting

~ Richard Goode ~ Leave a comment

It is always exciting to hear news of a new journal – and especially so when it is open-access and published free of charge!

One of the major developments in mid to late 20th century biblical studies was the way research began to set the figures of Jesus and Paul within their distinctively Jewish contexts. Rather than viewing them as prototype Christians, New Testament scholars began to draw upon contemporary Jewish literature in order to understand them within a Jewish environment. Following the publication of Geza Vermes’ Jesus the Jew  (1973) and Ed Sanders’ Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977), the Jewish setting of Jesus and Paul have been widely acknowledged. It is therefore great news to hear of research that explores these Jewish roots (and their continuity) within early Christianity.

Published by Eisenbrauns, the Journal  of the Study of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting (JJMJS) proposes to look at the inter-relationships between Jewish and Christian traditions during the first seven centuries of Christianity.

JJMJS
Screenshot of JJMJS website

Contributions to the journal are made from a range of disciplines including, Christian origins, early Jewish studies, the Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, rabbinics, patristics, and archaeology and, in the increasingly fragmented world of biblical scholarship, is exactly the sort of initiative this area of study needs. This creates a wonderful sense of dialogue and joint exploration. Peer reviewed articles (some by top specialists in their fields) can be read online or downloaded (free of charge) in pdf format.

An exciting additional feature is the online forum. As far as I know this is an innovative step by Eisenbrauns and could lead to some interesting conversations and responses to the published articles. It will be really interesting to see how this catches on.

Eisenbrauns should be applauded for this venture. The JJMJS looks like a really worthwhile addition to scholarship in early Christian and early Jewish studies.