Notzrim

From Wikinoah English
Revision as of 18:48, 14 February 2021 by פטר חמור (talk | contribs) (Created page with "'''Notzri''' plural '''Notzrim''' ({{lang-he|נוצרים}}), is the modern Hebrew standard term for "Christian" and "Christians".<ref>"Christian adj. n. נוצרי " (''N...")

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search

Notzri plural Notzrim (Template:LangWithName), is the modern Hebrew standard term for "Christian" and "Christians".[1] An alternative term, used to translate the Greek Christianoi in many translations of the New Testament into Hebrew, and by some churches, is Meshiykhiyyim "Messianics" (Template:LangWithName).[2]

The first confirmed use of "Nazarenes" (in Greek Nazoraioi) occurs from Tertullus before Antonius Felix.[3] One such as Tertullus who did not acknowledge Iesous ho Nazoraios ("Jesus of Nazareth") as Iesous ho Christos ("Jesus the Messiah") would not call Paul's sect Christianoi ("followers of the Messiah").[4] The terms "Nazarenes" and "of Nazareth" are both nasraya (ܕܢܨܪܝܐ) in Syrian Aramaic, while Nasrat (ܢܨܪܬ ) is used for Nazareth.[5][6][7]

Rabbinical tradition

The first Hebrew language mentions of Notzrim are in manuscripts of the Babylonian Talmud, these mentions are not found in the Jerusalem Talmud.[8]

Babylonian Talmud

Notzrim are not mentioned in older printed editions of the Talmud due to Christian censorship of Jewish presses.[9] Notzrim are clearly mentioned in Avodah Zarah 6a, Ta'anit 27b, and may be reconstructed in other texts such as Gittin 57a.[10]

  • Avodah Zarah ("foreign worship") 6a: "The Nazarene day, according to the words of R. Ishmael, is forbidden for ever"[11]
  • Taanit "On fasting" 27b: "Why did they not fast on the day after the Sabbath? Rabbi Johanan said, because of the Notzrim"

Samuel Klein (1909)[12] proposed that the passage in Gittin ("Documents") 57a, which is one of the most controversial possible references to Jesus in the Talmud, may also have included reference to "Yesu ha Notzri" warning his followers, the "Notzrim", of his and their fate.[13]

An additional possible reference in the Tosefta where the text may have originally read Notzrim ("Christians") rather than Mitzrim ("Egyptians")[14] is "They said: He went to hear him from Kfar Sakhnia[15] of the Egyptians [Mitzrim] to the west." where medical aid from a certain Jacob, or James, is avoided.[16]

There are no Tannaitic references to "Notzrim" and few from the Amoraic period.[17] References by Tannaim (70-200 CE) and Amoraim (230-500 CE) to "Minim" are much more common, leading some, such as R. Travers Herford (1903), to conclude that Minim in Talmud and Midrash generally refers to Jewish Christians.[18]

Yeshu ha Notzri

Main article: Jesus in the Talmud

The references to Notzrim in the Babylonian Talmud are related to the meaning and person of Yeshu Ha Notzri ("Jesus the Nazarene") in the Talmud and Tosefta.[19] This includes passages in the Babylonian Talmud such as Sanhedrin 107b which states "Jesus the Nazarene practiced magic and led Israel astray" though scholars such as Bock (2002) consider the historicity of the event described is questionable.[20][21] The Jerusalem Talmud contains other coded references to Jesus such as "Jesus ben Pantera,"[22] while the references using the term notzri are restricted to the Babylon Talmud.[23] [24] (See main article Jesus in the Talmud for further discussion).

Birkat haMinim, "Curse on the Heretics"

Main article: Birkat haMinim

Two fragments of the Birkat haMinim ("Curse on the heretics") in copies of the Amidah found in the Cairo Geniza include notzrim in the malediction against minim.[25][26][27] Robert Herford (1903) concluded that minim in the Talmud and Midrash generally refers to Jewish Christians.[28]

Toledot Yeshu, "History of Jesus"

Main article: Toledot Yeshu

The medieval rabbinical text Toledoth Yeshu is a polemical account of the origins of Christianity which connects the "notzrim" (Nazarenes) to the "netzarim" ("watchmen" Jeremiah 31:16) of Samaria. The Toledot Yeshu identifies the leader of the "notzrim" during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus as a rebellious student mentioned in the Baraitas (traditions outside the Mishnah) as "Yeshu ha-Notzri".{cite} This is generally seen as a continuation of references to Jesus in the Talmud[29] although the identification has been contested, as Yeshu ha-Notzri is depicted as living circa 100 BCE.[30] According to the Toledot Yeshu the Notzrim flourished during the reign of the Hasmonean queen Alexandra Helene Salome among Hellenized supporters of Rome in Judea.[31]

Medieval usage

The term "Notzrim" continued to be used of "Christians" in the medieval period. Hasdai Crescas, one of the most influential Jewish philosophers in the last years of Muslim rule in Spain,[32] wrote a refutation of Christian principles in Catalan which survives as Sefer Bittul 'Iqqarei ha-Notzrim (Refutation of Christian Principles).[33]

Modern Hebrew usage

In Modern Hebrew, the word "Notzrim" (נוצרים) is the standard modern word for Christians, but Meshiykhiyyim (Template:LangWithName) is used by many Christians of themselves, as in the BFBS New Testament of Franz Delitzsch; 1 Peter 4:16 "Yet if any suffer as ha-Meshiykhiyyim (Template:LangWithName), let them not be ashamed, but let them glorify God in that name."[34][35] In the Hebrew New Testament Tertullus' use of "Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5) is translated "Notzrim", and "Jesus of Nazareth" is translated "Yeshu ha Notzri".[36]

Possible relation to other groups

Pliny and the Nazerini (1st century BCE)

Pliny the Elder mentioned a people called the "Nazerini" in his Historia Naturalis (Book V,22).[37] Bernard Duborg (1987) connects Pliny's Nazerini with early Christians, and Dubourg dates Pliny's source between 30 and 20 BCE and, accounting for the lapse of time required for the installation in Syria of a sect born in Israel/Judea, suggests the presence of a Nasoraean current around 50 BCE.[38] Pliny the Elder indicates[39] that the Nazerini lived not far from Apamea, in Syria in a city called Bambyx, Hierapolis or Mabog. However it is generally thought that this people has no connection to either Tertullus' description of Paul, nor to the later 4th Century Nazarenes[40] Bizarrely{cite}, Pritz, following Dussaud, connects Pliny's 1st century BCE Nazerini, to the 9th century CE Nusairis.{cite}

Sect of the Nazarenes (1st century CE)

Main article: Nazarene (title)

The first mention of the term "Nazarenes" (plural) is that of Tertullus in the first accusation of Paul (Acts 24:4), though Herod Agrippa II (Acts 26:28) uses the term "Christians", which had been "first used in Antioch." (Acts 11:26), and is acknowledged in 1 Peter (4:16).[41] Later Tertullian,[42] Jerome, Origin and Eusebius note that the Jews call Christians "Nazarenes." Template:Quote

Nazarenes, and Nasaraioi (4th century CE)

Main article: Nazarene (sect)

The testimonies of Epiphanius, Philastrius, and Pseudo-Tertullian may all draw in part from the same lost anti-heretical works of Hippolytus of Rome, mentioned as the Syntagma by Photius, and Against all Heresies by Origen and Jerome.[43]

Epiphanius uses the spelling nasaraioi (Νασαραίοι), which he attempts to distinguish from the spelling nazoraios in parts of the New Testament, as a Jewish-Christian sect.[44] According to the testimony of Epiphanius against the 4th century Nazarenes, he reports them as having pre-Christian origins. He writes: "(6,1) They did not call themselves Nasaraeans either; the Nasaraean sect was before Christ, and did not know Christ. 6,2 But besides, as I indicated, everyone called the Christians Nazoraeans," (Adversus Haereses, 29.6).[45] The sect was apparently centered in the areas of Coele-Syria, Galilee and Samaria, essentially corresponding to the long-defunct Kingdom of Israel.[46] According to Epiphanius they rejected temple sacrifice and the Law of Moses, but adhered to other Jewish practices. They are described as being vegetarian.[47] According to him they were Jews only by nationality who lived in Gilead, Basham, and the Transjordan. They revered Moses but, unlike the pro-Torah Nazoraeans, believed he had received different laws from those accredited to him.

Epiphanius' testimony was accepted as accurate by some 19th Century scholars, including Wilhelm Bousset, Richard Reitzenstein and Bultmann.{cite} However Epiphanius testimony in this regard, which is second-hand, is in modern scholarship read with more awareness of his polemical objectives to show that the 4th Century Nazarenes and Ebionites were not Christian.[48]

Mandaeans

Main article: Mandaeans

The Mandaeans of Iraq use the term "Nasorean" in their history, the Haran Gawaitha, to describe their origins in, and migration from Jerusalem: "And sixty thousand Nasoreans abandoned the Sign of the Seven and entered the Median Hills, a place where we were free from domination by all other races."...[49]

Theories on the origins of the Mandaeans have varied widely. During the 19th Century Wilhelm Bousset, Richard Reitzenstein and Rudolf Bultmann argued that the Mandaeans were pre-Christian, as a parallel of Bultmann's theory that Gnosticism predated the Gospel of John.[50] Hans Lietzmann (1930) countered with the argument that all extant texts could be explained by a 7th Century exposure to, and conversion to, an oriental form of Christianity, taking on such Christian rituals as a Sunday Sabbath.

Scholars of Mandaeans considered them to be of pre-Christian origin, however no evidence for this is found prior to the second century.[51] They claim John the Baptist as a member (and onetime leader) of their sect; the River Jordan is a central feature of their doctrine of baptism.[52] However, in the 1960s the position of scholars of Mandaeism settled on an early Jerusalem, but not pre-Christian, origin.[53][54]

See also

References

  1. "Christian adj. n. נוצרי " (Notzri) The Oxford English-Hebrew Dictionary (9780198601722) 1999 p.69; The New Bantam-Megiddo Hebrew & English Dictionary, Dr. Sivan Reuven, Dr. Edward A. Levenston, 2009 p.50; Ben Yehuda's Hebrew Dictionary, 1940 reprint, p.450
  2. United Bible Societies Hebrew New Testament, 1997 printing, based on the BFBS New Testament of Franz Delitzsch: Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, 1 Peter 4:16.
  3. Marvin R. Wilson Our father Abraham: Jewish roots of the Christian faith 1989 p41 "The Greek Nazoraioi (Acts 24:5), "Nazarenes," was likely used as a designation for Jewish Christians from a very early date. It was apparently retained in Hebrew conversation (and later in Hebrew literature) by the term Notzrim,"
  4. Eckhard J. Schnabel Paul the missionary: realities, strategies and methods p73 2008 "... that is “Nazarenes” 64 Jews who did not acknowledge Jesus as Messiah would hardly have called the believers in Jesus “followers of the Messiah” (Christeioi or Christianoi). It is quite possible that the term Christianoi was an official designation coined by the Roman authorities in Antioch."
  5. Bruce Manning Metzger The early versions of the New Testament p86 - 1977 "Peshitta Matt, and Luke ... nasraya, 'of Nazareth'."
  6. William Jennings Lexicon to the Syriac New Testament 1926 p143
  7. Robert Payne Smith Compendious Syriac Dictionary 1903 p349
  8. Yaakov Y. Teppler, Susan Weingarten Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world 2007 p48 "Only in a few places is the term notzrim mentioned, and they too are on the pages of the Babylonian Talmud. The only clear mention is as follows: The rabbis said: the people of the watch used to pray for their brothers' offering to be ..."
  9. Yaakov Y. Teppler,Susan Weingarten Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world p48
  10. Graham Stanton, Guy G. Stroumsa Tolerance and intolerance in early Judaism and Christianity 1998 p256 "According to Pritz, Notzrim as such are explicitly mentioned only in Avodah Zarah 6a, Ta'anit 27b, and Gittin 57a. 36 The text is from Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, 171-2. 37 Herford, followed by Pritz, thinks the term in these two passages probably refers to catholic Christians."
  11. Christianity in Talmud and Midrash - Page 171 R. Travers Herford - 2007 "For R Tahlipha bar Abdimi said that Shemuel said: ' The Nazarene day, according to the words of R. Ishmael, is forbidden for ever.' (59) b. Taan. 27b.— On the eve of Sabbath they did not fast, out of respect to the Sabbath "
  12. Klein S. Beiträge zur Geographie und Geschichte Galiläas
  13. Pritz, Nazarene Jewish Christianity, 95-102, who (like others) also includes Gittin 57a on the basis of an emendation suggested by Samuel Klein (Pritz, 107):
  14. Yaakov Y. Teppler, Susan Weingarten Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world 2007 p49 "The second is a little more problematic: "They said: He went to hear him from Kfar Sakhnia of the Egyptians [Mitzrim] to the west."'"* This should probably read Kfar Sakhnia of notzrim,' " as Kfar Sakhnia (or Sakhnin) is the arena for ..."
  15. Frankfurter judaistische Beiträge: 27 Gesellschaft zur Forderung Judaistischer Studien in Frankfurt am Main - 2000 "Kfar Sakhnia (or Sekhania) has been identified by some scholars with Sukhnin in Galilee."
  16. Jeffrey L. Rubenstein Rabbinic stories 2002 p170 "The identity of Jesus' disciple Yaakov [=Jacob] of Kefar Sarnma or Kefar Sakhnia (A, H) is unknown. The first Toseftan anecdote takes the extreme position that it is better to die than to solicit medical help from a Christian (AC)."
  17. Wilson: "Related strangers Jews and Christians, 70-170 C.E." 1981 p366 "There are no tannaitic references and few from the amoraic period. The one clear reference (b.Ta'an.27b) could refer to Christians in general, but might mean only "Jewish Christians". The fullest discussion is in Kimelman.
  18. Herford Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, 1903 p379 "The theory that the Minim are intended to designate Jewish Christians I regard as having been now conclusively proved. This may be otherwise expressed by saying that wherever the Talmud or the Midrash mentions Minim, the authors of the statement intend to refer to Jewish Christians"
  19. Yaakov Y. Teppler,Susan Weingarten Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world p48
  20. Darrell L. Bock Studying the historical Jesus: a guide to sources and methods 2002 p230 Sanhedrin 107b, makes a similar claim, though it alludes to an event whose authenticity is questionable: One day he [R. Joshua] ... And a Master [another major rabbi] has said, “Jesus the Nazarene practiced magic and led Israel astray . ...
  21. Primary source: [publication details needed since this text has been edited] Sanhedrin 107b: What of R. Joshua b. Perahjah? — When King Jannai (104-78 B.C.) slew our Rabbis, R. Joshua b. Perahjah (with his student Yeshu) fled to Alexandria of Egypt. On the resumption of peace, Simeon b. Shetach sent to him: 'From me, the holy city, to thee, Alexandria of Egypt (my sister). My husband (the Rabbis) dwelleth within thee and I am desolate.' He arose, went, and found himself in a certain inn, where great honour was shewn him. 'How beautiful is this Acsania!' (can mean inn or female innkeeper) Thereupon (Yeshu) observed, 'Rabbi, her eyes are narrow.' 'Wretch,' he rebuked him, 'dost thou thus engage thyself.' He sounded four hundred trumpets and excommunicated him. He came before him many times pleading, 'Receive me!' But he would pay no heed to him. One day he was reciting the Shema', when Yeshu came before him. He intended to receive him and made a sign to him. He thinking that it was to repel him, went, put up a brick, and worshipped it. 'Repent,' said he to him. He replied, 'I have thus learned from thee: He who sins and causes others to sin is not afforded the means of repentance.' And a Master has said, 'Yeshu the Notzri practised magic and led Israel astray.'
  22. Yaakov Y. Teppler,Susan Weingarten Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world p48
  23. Graham Stanton, Guy G. Stroumsa Tolerance and intolerance in early Judaism and Christianity 1998 p256 "35 All these are from the Babylonian Talmud (Gemara): Sanhedrin 107b (twice), 103a, 43a (four times); Sola 47a;"
  24. Joshua Efrón Studies on the Hasmonean period p156
  25. Birkat haMinim: Jews and Christians in conflict in the ancient world ed Yaakov Y. Teppler, Susan Weingarten
  26. A. J. M. Wedderburn A history of the first Christians 2004, Page 245 Cf. Maier, Zwischen den Testamenten, 288: he points out that the reference to the 'Nazarenes' (notzrim) is first found in medieval texts; also van der Horst, 'Birkat ha-minim'; SG Wilson, Strangers, 176-83. 8. JT Sanders, Schismatics ...
  27. Herman C. Waetjen The Gospel of the Beloved Disciple 2005 p142
  28. Herford Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, 1903 p379 "The theory that the Minim are intended to designate Jewish Christians I regard as having been now conclusively proved. This may be otherwise expressed by saying that wherever the Talmud or the Midrash mentions Minim, the authors of the statement intend to refer to Jewish Christians"
  29. R. Travers Herford, (1906), “Christianity in the Talmud and Midrash,” Princeton Theological Review, 4:412-414.
  30. {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}
  31. Goldstein, M. Jesus in the Jewish Tradition, Macmillan 1950 (pp. 148-154 Toledot Y.S.W.)
  32. The Columbia History of Western Philosophy p204 ed. Richard H. Popkin, Stephen F. Brown, David Carr - 2005 "In the last century of Jewish life in Spain, the three most influential Jewish philosophers were without doubt Rabbi Hasdai Crescas (ca. 1340-1410/1411), Rabbi Joseph Albo (d. after 1433), and Rabbi Isaac Abrabanel (1437-1508)."
  33. History of Jewish Philosophy p551 ed. Daniel H. Frank, Oliver Leaman - 2004 "translation of Joseph ibn Shem Tov who entitled it Sefer Bittul 'Iqqarei ha-Notzrim (Refutation of Christian Principles)."
  34. BFBS Delitszch translation 1 Peter pdf
  35. example: The Christian Church, Jaffa Tel-Aviv website article in Hebrew יהודים משיחיים - יהודים או נוצרים?
  36. United Bible Societies Hebrew New Testament, 1997 printing, based on the BFBS New Testament of Franz Delitzsch: Acts 24:5
  37. Plinii naturalis historia: Libri I-VII ed. Francesco Della Corte - 1984 "Nunc interiora dicantur. Coele habet Apameam Marsya amne divisam a Nazerinorum tetrarchia, Bambycen quae alio nomine ... In Cele si trova Apamea, divisa dalla tetrarchia dei Nazerini dal fiume Marsia, Bambice, che con altro nome..."
  38. B. Dubourg, L'Invention de Jesus, Gallimard Paris 1987, II, p. 157.
  39. Pliny the Elder, Natural Histories Book V, recopying reports drafted by Marcus Agrippa on the orders of Emperor Octavian Augustus Caesar.
  40. Ray Pritz Nazarene Jewish Christianity: from the end of the New Testament 1988 p17 Pliny's Nazerini - While treating the name of the sect, we may deal here with a short notice by Pliny the Elder which has caused some confusion among scholars. .... Can Pliny's Nazerini be early Christians? The answer depends very much on the identification of his sources, and on this basis the answer must be an unequivocal No. It is generally acknowledged that Pliny drew heavily on official records and most likely on those drawn up for Augustus by Marcus Agrippa (d. 12 BC).[31] Jones has shown that this survey was accomplished between 30 and 20 BC [32] Any connection between the Nazerini and the Nazareni must, therefore, be ruled out, and we must not attempt to line this up with Epiphanius' Nazoraioi. [33]"
  41. Edwin K. Broadhead Jewish Ways of Following Jesus: Redrawing the Religious Map of Antiquity Mohr Siebeck, 2010 "Here it is on the lips of Tertullus, the attorney who represents the case of Ananias and the elders against Paul (Acts 24.5)."
  42. The Oxford Bible commentary - Page 850 John Barton, John Muddiman - 2001 Further, in Acts 24:5 Christians are 'the sect of the Nazarenes' (an appellation also attested in Tertullian, Adv. Marc. 4.8), and in rabbinic writings Christians are nosrim.
  43. The Cambridge history of early Christian literature 2004 p146 Frances Margaret Young, Lewis Ayres, Andrew Louth "18 A large section is ... of the Syntagma when he argued that Epiphanius, Philastrius, and Ps.-Tertullian had all drawn on the Syntagma "
  44. Charles Hugh Hope Scobie John the Baptist 1964 "Epiphanius mentions a sect of Nasarenes (Nasaraioi), whom he carefully distinguishes from a Christian sect of Nazorenes (Nazoraioi) whom he also describes.2 The Nasarenes, we are told, existed prior to the time of Christ"
  45. The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, translated Frank Williams p116
  46. Encyclopedia Britannica, Nazarene article, Wm. Benton Publ., London, vol. 16, 1961 edition.
  47. Bashan and Galaatides (Panarion 18; 20, 3; 29, 6, 1; 19, 5)
  48. Antti Marjanen, Petri Luomanen A companion to second-century Christian "heretics" 2008 p281 "Because the ancient writers that explicitly deal with the Nazarenes, Epiphanius and Jerome, are from the fourth century and are known for often allowing their polemical interests and personal ambitions to dictate the contents of their presentations, it is no wonder that the role of the Nazarenes in second-century Christianity has been open to various interpretations."
  49. Karen L. King What is Gnosticism? 2005 Page 140
  50. Edwin M. Yamauchi Gnostic ethics and Mandaean origins 2004 - Page 8 "C. The Age of the Mandaean Sect Against the claims of Reitzenstein and Bultmann that the Mandaeans dated to the pre-Christian period"
  51. Etudes mithriaques 1978 p545 Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin "The conviction of the leading Mandaean scholars — E. S. Drower, Kurt Rudolph, Rudolph Macuch — that Mandaeanism had a pre-Christian origin rests largely upon the subjective evaluation of parallels between Mandaean texts and the Gospel of John."
  52. Drower, Introduction, p. xiv
  53. King "Many specialists in Mandaean studies still argue for an early Western origin for Mandaeanism, preeminent among them Rudolf Macuch, Lady Drower, Kurt Rudolph, and Lupieri, but they generally reject a pre-Christian date and argue for great circumspection in using Mandaean texts to explain the genesis of New Testament literature.91 "
  54. Edmondo Lupieri The Mandaeans: the last gnostics 2002

Further reading

  • Drower, E. S., The Secret Adam: A Study of Nasoraean Gnosis, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1960)
  • The Ante-Nicene Fathers (1986 American Edition), vol. viii, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan.

pt:Notzrim