Customer Reviews

The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited (Radical Traditions)

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The essays in this collection are some of the most important, original, and illuminating contributions to the study of Jewish-Christian relations/origins that I have come across. I think these essays are a "must-read" for any person interested in this field or related fields of study and also, especially, any committed Jew or Christian.

However, I have a huge problem with the way this book was put together. The essays were originally written at different times and for different purposes/occasions, and collected informally near the end of Yoder's life as a "desktop publication" to be printed out and delivered on request. The present volume contains all of those original essays, however it also unfortunately contains an intro, an afterword, and _"commentaries"_following_each_essay_, written by extremely ill-chosen, uncomprehending, smaller minded (no personal offense is meant here) authors who are often nearly hostile to Yoder's thought(s) and who essentially seem to be using what little of his thought they agree with to push their own agendas, which have precious little to do with Yoder's.

I have never in my life heard of the first edition of any book, much less by a deceased author incapable of protesting or composing a response, being undertaken in such a disrespectful, manipulative manner. Shame on Stanley Hauerwas, Eerdmans, and the editors; I think the essays' potential for changing minds and lives has been greatly diminished by them.

But again, all negative elements of the published book aside, by all means, read these terribly important essays.

This book challenged my assumptions about the relationships between 'Christians' and Jews at the time of the apostles. I found this book extremely helpful in clarifying just how Jewish Paul, and the other disciples, actually were. I also find it a bit disturbing that this book was put together in this manner, with extra commentary and afterwards that often hindered a full appreciation of Yoder's work. Although Ochs and Cartwright are insightful, I'm not so sure having their writings in this book was the wisest of choices on behalf of Eerdmans and Hauerwas.
Nevertheless, Yoder would have appreciated a continued, more nuanced, study of the schism between Jews and Christians... indeed, a schism that did not have to be.

Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by Michael G. Cartwright and Peter Ochs, The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited is a posthumous collection of essays by John Howard Yoder (1927-1997) "revisiting" the Jewish-Christian split in the light of Yoder's primary thesis that the schism "did not have to be". The editors place Yoder's discourse within the context of dialogue with Rabbi Steven S. Schwarzschild. Examining the whole debate in light of theological understanding of what it means to be Christian, Jewish, or a "missionary" people, The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited is a welcome and engaging contribution to Judeo/Christian Religious Studies collections and supplemental reading lists.