Jewish Christian

Jewish Christian

Jewish Christians is a term which appears in historical texts contrasting Christians of Jewish origin with Gentile Christians, both in discussion of the New Testament church and the second and following centuries. It is also a term used for Jews who converted to Christianity but kept their Jewish heritage and traditions.

Related terms:

The term Hebrew Christians, according to Edward Kessler in A dictionary of Jewish-Christian relations (2005) relates to 19th Century Hebrew Christian movement of Jewish converts to Christianity, acting semi-autonomously within the Anglican and other established churches. though it is also used in some texts concerning the early church and Arnold Fruchtenbaum applied the term to Jewish Christians standing aside from the Messianic Judaism movement.

The term Christian Jews is a modern term which, relative to usage of "Jewish Christians" above, is more frequently encountered in texts dealing with sociology and demographics.

The term Judaizers, relates primarily to Early Christians who maintained or adopted Jewish religious practices, from the period of the inception of Christianity until approximately the fifth century.

The term "Judean Christians" refers to Christians from Judea who, it happens, were predominantly Jewish.

Alister McGrath, former Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University, claims that the 1st century "Jewish Christians" were totally faithful religious Jews. They differed from other contemporary Jews only in their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah.

However as Christianity grew throughout the Gentile world, Christians diverged from their Jewish and Jerusalem roots. Jewish Christianity, initially strengthened despite persecution by Jerusalem Temple officials, fell into decline during the Jewish-Roman wars (66-135) and the growing anti-Judaism perhaps best personified by Marcion (c. 150). With persecution by the orthodox Christians from the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, Jewish Christians sought refuge outside the boundaries of the Empire, in Arabia and further afield. Within the Empire and later elsewhere it was dominated by the Gentile based Christianity which became the State church of the Roman Empire and which took control of sites in the Holy Land such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Cenacle and appointed subsequent Bishops of Jerusalem.

The term "Jewish Christians" in the 3rd and 4th centuries can refer to groups such as Ebionites, Nazarenes and other groups, and related to these groups are quotation fragments of non-canonical gospels referred to as the "Jewish-Christian Gospels".