AJR is happy to host the Society of Biblical Literature’s panel discussion on what “Paul Within Judaism” means. The panel, organized by SBL’s “Paul Within Judaism” Unit, met virtually at the 2021 annual meeting.
— AJR Editors
We begin with John Van Maaren
“Sociologists and anthropologists agree that identity, whether ethnic, religious, or national cannot be determined by a list of shared or defining characteristics exhibited by all group members. Rather, identity is primarily a matter of ascription—that is, a person is Jewish, Greek, Roman, or Syrian first and foremost because they think and claim they are.”
A more recent trend in this research area speaks not of “Paul and Judaism” but rather of “Paul the Jew.” Instances of this trend begin by granting (!) that Paul was a Jew but then add a descriptor qualifying what kind of Jew he was: “Paul, an [x] Jew”…But to label is not to understand.
“I would agree, however, that the field of Jewish studies, and especially the study of ancient Jewish diversity, needs to open up to include and address the sources relevant to the development of the Jesus movement.”
“To what stage in its life does the label ‘within Judaism’ apply? In the spirit of maximal clarity and accuracy, should we not say this text was once within Judaism but came to be outside Judaism?”