Английская Википедия:God-fearer

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Файл:Sardis Synagogue, late 3rd century AD, Sardis, Lydia, Turkey (18897218314).jpg
Sardis Synagogue (3rd century, Turkey) had a large community of God-fearers and Jews integrated into the Roman civic life.

God-fearers (Шаблон:Lang-grc-x-koine, phoboumenoi ton Theon)[1] or God-worshippers (Шаблон:Lang-grc-x-koine, Theosebeis)[1] were a numerous class of Gentile sympathizers to Hellenistic Judaism that existed in the Greco-Roman world,[2][3][4][5] which observed certain Jewish religious rites and traditions without becoming full converts to Judaism.[1][2][3][5][6][7][8] The concept has precedents in the proselytes of the Hebrew Bible.

Many of these Greco-Roman sympathizers to Hellenistic Judaism, which had a monotheistic or henotheistic Pagan background, were worshippers of Caelus (the Roman name/equivalent to Yahweh).[9] Some modern scholars of Judaic studies, such as A. Thomas Kraabel, believe the God-fearers named in the New Testament (such as Cornelius the Centurion) to be a fictional invention of the Acts of the Apostles.[2] More generally, Шаблон:Wikt-lang has come to mean someone who is honestly religious.

Overview

Origin, history, status and diffusion

Шаблон:See also Since the mid-1980s, a growing number of scholars of Judaic studies and history of Judaism became interested in the subject of God-fearers and their relationship with Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity.[1][10] According to the popular opinion,[11] Jews that lived in the Greco-Roman world during the Hellenistic and Roman period were not involved in active missionary efforts of mass conversion among Pagans,[12][13] although many historians disagree.[11][14][15][16]

As Jews emigrated and settled in the Roman provinces of the Empire, Judaism became an appealing religion to a number of Pagans, for many reasons;[6][7][15] God-fearers and proselytes that underwent full conversion were Greeks or Romans, and came from all social classes: they were mostly women[14] and freedmen[14] (liberti), but there were also artisans, soldiers and few people of high status, like patricians and senators.[14] Despite their allegiance to Judaism, the God-fearers were exempted from paying the "Jewish tax" (fiscus Judaicus).[8]

The class of God-fearers existed between the 1st[15] and the 3rd century CE.[17][18] They are mentioned in Latin and Greek literature, Flavius Josephus' and Philo's historical works, rabbinic literature, early Christian writings, and other contemporary sources such as synagogue inscriptions from Diaspora communities[6][7][18] (Palestine,[14] Rome,[2] and Asia Minor).[6][7][14]

In the Ancient Greek theatre of Miletus, some sitting places seem to have been reserved for the God fearer.[19]

Sources

Hebrew Bible

In the Hebrew Bible, there is some recognition of Gentile monotheistic worship as being directed toward the God of the Jews. This forms the category of yir’ei HaShem/yir’ei Shamayim (Шаблон:Lang-he, meaning "Fearers of the Name"/"Fearers of Heaven",[1][4][18] "the Name" being a Jewish euphemism for Yahweh, cf. Psalm Шаблон:Bibleverse-nb).[20][21] This was developed by later rabbinic literature into the concept of Noahides, i. e. Gentiles that follow the Seven Laws of Noah, which rabbinic writings assigned to the Noahic Covenant.[8][22]

In inscriptions, texts and papyri

The Greek and Latin terms that refer to God-fearers (theosebeis, sebomenoi, phoboumenoi, metuentes)[4][18][23] are found in ancient literature (Greek, Roman, and Jewish) and synagogue inscriptions discovered in Aphrodisias,[6][8][18][24] Panticapaeum, Tralles, Sardis, Venosa, Lorium (in Rome), Rhodes, Deliler (Philadelphia) and Miletus.[6][7]

Judging from the distinctions in the Acts of the Apostles, it is thought that they did not become gerim tzedekim,[25] which required circumcision,[3][26] although the evidence across the centuries varies widely and the meaning of the term may have included all kinds of sympathetic Gentiles, proselytes or not.[27] There are also around 300 text references (4th century BCE to 3rd century CE) to a sect of Hypsistarians, some of whom practiced Sabbath and which many scholars see as sympathizers with Judaism related to God-fearers.[28]

In early Christian writings

Шаблон:See also

In the New Testament and early Christian writings, the Greek terms God-fearers and God-worshippers are used to indicate those Pagans who attached themselves in varying degrees to Hellenistic Judaism without becoming full converts,[1][3][5] and are referred to primarily in the Gospel of Luke (Шаблон:Bibleverse-nb)[1] and more extensively in the Acts of the Apostles,[1][29][30] which describes the Apostolic Age of the 1st century. Шаблон:Quote Шаблон:Quote

Role in 1st-century Christianity

Шаблон:See also

Judaizing Gentiles and God-fearers are considered by modern scholars to be of significant importance to the growth of early Christianity;[31][32] they represented a group of Gentiles who shared religious ideas and practices with Jews, to one degree or another.[4][5][6][8] However, the God-fearers were only "partial" converts, engaged in certain Jewish rites and traditions without taking a step further to actual conversion to Judaism, which would have required full adherence to the 613 Mitzvot (including various prohibitions such as kashrut, circumcision, Shabbat observance, etc.) that were generally unattractive to would-be Gentile (largely Greek) converts.[6][8] The rite of circumcision was especially unappealing and execrable in Classical civilization[32][33][34] because it was the custom to spend an hour a day or so exercising nude in the gymnasium and in Roman baths, therefore Jewish men did not want to be seen in public deprived of their foreskins.[33][34] Hellenistic and Roman culture both found circumcision to be cruel and repulsive.[33][34]

The Apostle Paul in his letters fiercely criticized the Judaizers that demanded circumcision for Gentile converts, and opposed them;[32][35][36][37][38][39] he stressed instead that faith in Christ constituted a New Covenant with God,[39] a covenant which essentially provides the justification and salvation for Gentiles from the harsh edicts of the Mosaic Law, a New Covenant that didn't require circumcision[32][37][38][39] (see also Justification by faith, Pauline passages supporting antinomianism, Abrogation of Old Covenant laws). Lydia of Thyatira, who became Paul's first convert to Christianity in Europe, is described in the New Testament as "a worshipper of God" (Шаблон:Bibleverse); the Roman soldier Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch are also considered by modern scholars as God-fearers who converted to Christianity.[31][40][41]

In Paul's message of salvation through faith in Christ as opposed to submission under the Mosaic Law,[32][35][36] many God-fearers[1] found an essentially Jewish group to which they could belong without the necessity of their accepting Jewish Law.[1] Aside from earning Paul's group a wide following, this view was generalized in the eventual conclusion that converts to Christianity need not first accept all Jewish Law (see Apostolic Decree), a fact indispensable to the spread of the early Christians which would eventually lead to the distinction between Judaism and Christianity as two separate religions.

See also

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Notes and references

Шаблон:Reflist

External links

Шаблон:New Testament people

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  1. ↑ 1,0 1,1 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5 1,6 1,7 1,8 1,9 Шаблон:Cite book
  2. ↑ 2,0 2,1 2,2 2,3 Шаблон:Cite journal
  3. ↑ 3,0 3,1 3,2 3,3 Шаблон:Cite book
  4. ↑ 4,0 4,1 4,2 4,3 Шаблон:Cite journal
  5. ↑ 5,0 5,1 5,2 5,3 Шаблон:Cite book
  6. ↑ 6,0 6,1 6,2 6,3 6,4 6,5 6,6 6,7 Шаблон:Cite book
  7. ↑ 7,0 7,1 7,2 7,3 7,4 Шаблон:Cite book
  8. ↑ 8,0 8,1 8,2 8,3 8,4 8,5 Шаблон:Cite book
  9. ↑ Florus, Epitome 1.40 (3.5.30): "The Jews tried to defend Jerusalem; but he [Pompeius Magnus] entered this city also and saw that grand Holy of Holies of an impious people exposed, Caelum under a golden vine" (Hierosolymam defendere temptavere Iudaei; verum haec quoque et intravit et vidit illud grande inpiae gentis arcanum patens, sub aurea vite Caelum). Finbarr Barry Flood, The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies on the Makings of an Umayyad Visual Culture (Brill, 2001), pp. 81 and 83 (note 118). The Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982, 1985 reprinting), p. 252, entry on caelum, cites Juvenal, Petronius, and Florus as examples of Caelus or Caelum "with reference to Jehovah; also, to some symbolization of Jehovah."
  10. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  11. ↑ 11,0 11,1 Шаблон:Cite news
  12. ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
  13. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  14. ↑ 14,0 14,1 14,2 14,3 14,4 14,5 Louis H. Feldman, "The Omnipresence of the God-Fearers", Biblical Archaeology Review 12, 5 (1986), Center for Online Judaic Studies.
  15. ↑ 15,0 15,1 15,2 Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (1989), pp. 55–59, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, Шаблон:ISBN.
  16. ↑ A. T. Kraabel, J. Andrew Overman, Robert S. MacLennan, Diaspora Jews and Judaism: essays in honor of, and in dialogue with, A. Thomas Kraabel (1992), Scholars Press, Шаблон:ISBN. "As pious gentiles, the God-fearers stood somewhere between Greco-Roman piety and Jewish piety in the synagogue. In his classic but now somewhat outdated study titled Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, Harvard scholar George Foot Moore argued that the existence of the God-fearers provides evidence for the synagogue's own missionary work outside of Palestine during the first century C.E. The God-fearers were the result of this Jewish missionary movement."
  17. ↑ Robert F. Tannenbaum, "Jews and God-Fearers in the Holy City of Aphrodite", Biblical Archaeology Review 12, 5 (1986), Center for Online Judaic Studies.
  18. ↑ 18,0 18,1 18,2 18,3 18,4 Шаблон:Cite book
  19. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  20. ↑ Islam and Global Dialogue: Religious Pluralism and the Pursuit of Peace. ed. Roger Boase, Hassan Bin (FRW) Talal . Ashgate. 2010 Page 203 "Nevertheless, by late biblical times Israelites realised that there were other people in the world who worshipped the one, unseen God. Such people form the category of yir'ei Hashem (God-fearers, cf. Psalm 115:11); perhaps it is to ..."
  21. ↑ Jeffrey M. Cohen 500 questions and answers on Chanukah 2006 "Hence the references to them in Jewish sources such as Sebomenoi or Yir'ei Hashem (God-fearers). Many of them accepted monotheism, though held back from many other basic ritual precepts."
  22. ↑ Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 56a, 56b.
  23. ↑ Pieter W. van der Horst, God-fearers (theosebeis) (2015), Oxford Classical Dictionary.
  24. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  25. ↑ Шаблон:Cite encyclopedia
  26. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  27. ↑ Todd C. Penner, In praise of Christian origins: Stephen and the Hellenists, p. 226, 2004: "The category of Theosebes is notoriously difficult to delineate. It is debatable whether or not the term was ever a widely recognized technical designation of a Gentile "hanger-on," and much of the evidence is difficult to date".
  28. ↑ James D. Arvila, p. 29.
  29. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  30. ↑ Journal of Biblical Studies: Godfearer, by J. Brian Tucker Шаблон:Webarchive: "The traditional understanding of God-fearers, i. e. F. F. Bruce, “God-fearers were Gentiles who attached themselves in varying degrees to the Jewish worship and way of life without as yet becoming full proselytes.”"
  31. ↑ 31,0 31,1 Шаблон:Cite book
  32. ↑ 32,0 32,1 32,2 32,3 32,4 Шаблон:Cite book
  33. ↑ 33,0 33,1 33,2 Шаблон:Cite journal
  34. ↑ 34,0 34,1 34,2 Шаблон:Cite encyclopedia; Шаблон:Cite journal
  35. ↑ 35,0 35,1 Шаблон:Cite journal
  36. ↑ 36,0 36,1 Шаблон:Cite journal
  37. ↑ 37,0 37,1 Шаблон:Cite book
  38. ↑ 38,0 38,1 Шаблон:Cite book
  39. ↑ 39,0 39,1 39,2 Шаблон:Bibleverse, Шаблон:Bibleverse-nb; Шаблон:Bibleverse, Шаблон:Bibleverse-nb, Шаблон:Bibleverse-nb; Шаблон:Bibleverse; Шаблон:Bibleverse; Шаблон:Bibleverse, Шаблон:Bibleverse-nb, Шаблон:Bibleverse-nb; Шаблон:Bibleverse.
  40. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  41. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
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