Paul between Synagogue and State : Christians, Jews, and Civic Authorities in 1 Thessalonians, Romans, and Philippians

Abstract: When first-century gentile Christians withdrew from the traditional and civic Graeco-Roman cults and increasingly began to be identified by the Romans as not belonging to mainstream or common Judaism, they soon found themselves pressed "between synagogue and state." On the one side, the fact that they did not observe the Torah elicited hostility from Jews who did not want to be identified with a movement that in Roman eyes could be interpreted as seditious and thus jeopardize their own political and religious privileges. On the other side, the Roman authorities were well known for their suspicion of upstart religious movements and potentially subversive organizations. Did Christians in this situation make any attempt to claim Jewish identity and rights in order to operate under the privileges of the Jews and to avoid potential conflicts with the wider civic community and the governing authorities? And how did the apostle Paul respond to this socio-political dilemma of the early first-century Christian movement? Building on these and related questions, this study attempts to reconstruct the interactions between Christians, Jews, and civic authorities in Thessalonica, Rome, and Philippi in the middle of the first century CE and investigates how interactions in this tripartite relation shaped the self-understanding and identity of the Christian communities of 1 Thessalonians, Romans, and Philippians. It is argued that the need for socio-political legitimacy in the Graeco-Roman society was a pressing need for the Christian movement not only from the late first century and onward but already in the middle of the first century, and that the interactions between Christians, Jews, and civic authorities played a vital role in forming a specific Christian self-understanding in the Pauline churches. After having identified the socio-political settings implicit in these three letters, it is concluded that Paul addresses issues relating to the interactions between Christians, Jews, and civic authorities in 1 Thessalonians, Romans, and Philippians, and that his response and theology fomented the process of the "parting of the ways"—that is, the emergence of Christian distinctiveness and the pulling apart of Christianity and Judaism—in its early stages. However, it is also concluded that when they were in conflict with the wider civic community and the governing authorities early Christians did in some places claim Jewish social and political rights for themselves.