Another aspect of how Jesus is viewed in terms of cultural connectivity is
the elimination or toning down of his "Judaism." When he comes to be
viewed as "Roman" (for the prestige, etc.) and that perspective becomes
passe (for whatever reasons), what do you do? Turn him back into the
Jewish hero of the sources? Not likely. Do the medieval sources do much
explicitly with this problem?
Paul as Roman citizen is perhaps not an unrelated issue. This is a claim
made not by the Pauline letters themselves, but by the early apologetic
author of Acts, perhaps for similar reasons of prestige, etc. (as well as
to advance Paul from Palestinian Caesarea to Rome in the story line). But
again, Paul in these early accounts is clearly a Jewish Roman citizen. Do
the later reworkings of early Christian history tend to ignore the Jewish
part? There are some inklings in this direction in some of the earlier
traditions (noticably by "Jewish Christians" antagonistic to Paul!), but I
don't recall any similar early treatment that makes Jesus more Roman at
the expense of his Jewishness. Very interesting.
Added notes: with all due respect, Edersheim is NOT a good place to look
today for these sorts of historical details. He holds a revered place near
the beginning of many generations of modern scholarship, not at the apex.
On beheading and Roman citizenship: I'm not sure that a direct correlation
can be drawn between mode of execution and civic status, except perhaps of
a negative sort -- a known Roman citizen would not be crucified. But there
are many claims of execution by beheading of persons not likely to have
been Roman citizens (maybe Acts 12.2 doesn't count since the execution is
under Herod, not directly under Rome -- also John Baptist -- but see the
early martyrologies as well). If anyone has exact legal knowledge of this
situation in the early Roman empire, it might be of general interest.
Bob Kraft, UPenn
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