The formation of gentile Christ-believing identity vis-à-vis Israel in Ephesians and Barnabas
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2018.019Keywords
Ephesians, Barnabas, Israel, replacement theology, collective memory, ethnic identityAbstract
Ephesians is frequently located at a mid-point on a trajectory in early Christianity between Paul’s earlier struggles to forge unity between Jewish and gentile Christ-believers and later replacement theologies. The author of the present article tests this trajectory through a comparative analysis of Ephesians and Barnabas, investigating the way in which the two epistles respectively shape a collective memory for their recipients with respect to Israel, its Scriptures and its symbols. Examining the two epistles from this perspective highlights their differences strikingly, calling into question the posited trajectory. In this respect, Ephesians is generally consonant with the undisputed Pauline epistles.References
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