PRESIDENT'S ESSAY
Jews and sacrifice
POSTED
November 22, 2008

Nicolae Roddy of Creighton University pointed out in an SBL paper that the Jews were not required to sacrifice to the emperor. It was a passing point, but it raises the question of why there would be such a massive difference between Christian and Jewish. Jews were just as monotheistic, just as intolerant of idolatry, as Christians, yet Christians were persecuted. I suspect that it’s the innovativeness of Christianity - Judaism was sanctified by long tradition and Christianity was not. Too, Judaism was recognizable to antique pagans in a way that Christianity was not - no temple, no sacrifice, a radically modified priesthood.

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