Books
Within Judaism? Interpretive Trajectories in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the First to the Twenty-First Century. Lanham: Lexington/Fortress Academic. 2024. Edited by Karin Hedner Zetterholm and Anders Runesson.
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This book charts the shifting boundaries of Judaism from antiquity to the modern period in order to bring clarity to what scholars mean when they claim that ancient texts or groups are “within Judaism,” as well as exploring how rabbinic Jews, Christians, and Muslims have negotiated and renegotiated what Judaism is and is not in order to form their own identities. Belief in Jesus as the Messiah was seen as part of first-century Judaism, but by the fourth or fifth century, the boundaries had shifted and adherence to Jesus came to be seen as outside of Judaism. Resituating New Testament texts within first- or second-century Judaism is an historical exercise that may broaden our view of what Judaism looked like in the early centuries CE, but normatively these texts remain within Christianity because of their reception history. The historical “within Judaism” perspective, however, has the potential to challenge and reshape the theology of contemporary Christianity while at the same time the long-held consensus that belief in Jesus cannot belong within Judaism is again challenged by the modern Messianic Jewish movement.
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Description
This book charts the shifting boundaries of Judaism from antiquity to the modern period in order to bring clarity to what scholars mean when they claim that ancient texts or groups are “within Judaism,” as well as exploring how rabbinic Jews, Christians, and Muslims have negotiated and renegotiated what Judaism is and is not in order to form their own identities. Belief in Jesus as the Messiah was seen as part of first-century Judaism, but by the fourth or fifth century, the boundaries had shifted and adherence to Jesus came to be seen as outside of Judaism. Resituating New Testament texts within first- or second-century Judaism is an historical exercise that may broaden our view of what Judaism looked like in the early centuries CE, but normatively these texts remain within Christianity because of their reception history. The historical “within Judaism” perspective, however, has the potential to challenge and reshape the theology of contemporary Christianity while at the same time the long-held consensus that belief in Jesus cannot belong within Judaism is again challenged by the modern Messianic Jewish movement.
Judaism for Gentiles: Reading Paul beyond the Parting of the Ways Paradigm (2022)
In collaboration with Rebecca Runesson.
Anders Runesson, Judaism for Gentiles: Reading Paul beyond the Parting of the Ways Paradigm.
In collaboration with Rebecca Runesson. WUNT 494. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022.
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For almost two millennia, readers of the New Testament have been trying to figure out Paul. The struggle with his words begins already within the canon itself. While Acts portrays with ease a Torah-observant, Pharisaic-messianic Paul working in partnership with James and other leaders in Jerusalem, the author of 2 Peter famously admitted that the apostle to the nations is difficult to understand. From that moment on debate has ebbed and flowed on all things Pauline; on women as leaders in assemblies and on the status of Jews and Gentiles in God's plan, just to mention two of the contentious topics associated with Paul. For clergy, scholar, and lay person, Paul's letters hold weight and continue to draw in new readers. Anders Runesson seeks to listen to the voice of the historical Paul – a Jew proclaiming a form of Judaism to non-Jews to save them from divine wrath – but also to probe what it means to breathe new life into this historical figure in the twenty-first century.
Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–600 CE) (2022)
Karin Hedner Zetterholm, Anders Runesson, Cecilia Wassen, and Magnus Zetterholm,
Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–600 CE). Lanham: Lexington/Fortress Academic, 2022.
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Covering the period from 200 BCE to 600 CE, this book describes important aspects of identity formation processes within early Judaism and Christianity, and shows how negotiations involving issues of ethnicity, stereotyping, purity, commensality, and institution building contributed to the forming of group identities. Over time, some of these Jewish group identities evolved into non-Jewish Christian identities, others into a rabbinic Jewish identity, while yet others remained somewhere in between. The contributors to this volume trace these developments in archaeological remains as well as in texts from the Qumran movement, the New Testament and the reception of Paul’s writings, rabbinic literature, and apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings, such as the Book of Dreams and the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies. The long timespan covered in the volume together with the combined expertise of scholars from various fields make this book a unique contribution to research on group identity, Jewish and Christian identity formation, the Partings-of-the-ways between Judaism and Christianity, and interactions between Jews and Christians.
Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–600 CE) (2022)
Karin Hedner Zetterholm, Anders Runesson, Cecilia Wassen, and Magnus Zetterholm,
Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–600 CE). Lanham: Lexington/Fortress Academic, 2022.
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Reviews
Description
Covering the period from 200 BCE to 600 CE, this book describes important aspects of identity formation processes within early Judaism and Christianity, and shows how negotiations involving issues of ethnicity, stereotyping, purity, commensality, and institution building contributed to the forming of group identities. Over time, some of these Jewish group identities evolved into non-Jewish Christian identities, others into a rabbinic Jewish identity, while yet others remained somewhere in between. The contributors to this volume trace these developments in archaeological remains as well as in texts from the Qumran movement, the New Testament and the reception of Paul’s writings, rabbinic literature, and apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings, such as the Book of Dreams and the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies. The long timespan covered in the volume together with the combined expertise of scholars from various fields make this book a unique contribution to research on group identity, Jewish and Christian identity formation, the Partings-of-the-ways between Judaism and Christianity, and interactions between Jews and Christians.
Jesus, the New Testament, and Christian Origins: Perspectives, Methods, Meanings (2021)
Dieter Mitternacht and Anders Runesson (eds.) Jesus, the New Testament, and Christian Origins: Perspectives, Methods, Meanings. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2021. Foreword by David E. Aune.
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In this up-to-date introduction to the New Testament, twenty-two leading biblical scholars guide the reader through the New Testament’s historical background, key ideas, and textual content. Seminarians and anyone else interested in a deep understanding of Christian Scripture will do well to begin with this thorough volume that covers everything from the historical Jesus to the emergence of early Christianity. The contributors stress the importance of Christianity’s emergence within and from Second Temple Judaism.
Unique to this book is a special focus on interpretative methods, with several illustrative examples included in the final chapter of various types of scriptural exegesis on select New Testament passages. Readers are guided through the hermeneutical considerations of a historical text-oriented reading, a historical-analogical reading, a rhetorical-epistolary reading, argumentation analysis, feminist analysis, postcolonial analysis, and narrative criticism, among others. These practical, hands-on applications enable students to move from an abstract understanding of the New Testament to a ready ability to make meaning from Scripture.
Matthew within Judaism (2020)
Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner (eds.) Matthew within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel, Atlanta: SBL Press, 2020.
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ln this collection of essays, leading New Testament scholars reassess the reciprocal relationship between Matthew and Second Temple Judaism. Some contributions focus on the relationship of the Matthean Jesus to torah, temple, and synagogue, while others explore theological issues of Jewish and gentile ethnicity and universalism within and behind the text.
Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner (eds.) Matthew within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel, Atlanta: SBL Press, 2020.
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Description
ln this collection of essays, leading New Testament scholars reassess the reciprocal relationship between Matthew and Second Temple Judaism. Some contributions focus on the relationship of the Matthean Jesus to torah, temple, and synagogue, while others explore theological issues of Jewish and gentile ethnicity and universalism within and behind the text.
Divine Wrath and Salvation in Matthew (2016)
Anders Runesson. Divine Wrath and Salvation in Matthew. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2016.
2017 winner of the Frank W. Beare Award for an “outstanding book in the areas of Christian Origins, Post-Biblical Judaism and/or Graeco-Roman Religions.”
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Judgment and the wrath of God are prominent themes in Matthew's Gospel. Because judgment is announced not only on the hypocritical but also on those who reject God's messengers—and because this rejection is implicitly connected with the destruction of Jerusalem—the Gospel has often been read in terms of God's rejection of Israel, with catastrophic results. Anders Runesson sets out to show, through careful study of Matthew's composition and comparison with contemporary Jewish literature, that the theme of divine judgment plays very different and distinct roles regarding diverse groups of Jews (including Jesus' disciples) and non-Jews in this Gospel. Runesson examines various assumptions regarding the criteria of judgment in each case and finds that Matthew does not support some of the most popular slogans in Christian theology. The results and implications for our historical understanding of Christian origins and our theological estimation of Matthew's place in that story will be of vital interest to scholars and students for years to come.
Anders Runesson. Divine Wrath and Salvation in Matthew. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2016.
2017 winner of the Frank W. Beare Award for an “outstanding book in the areas of Christian Origins, Post-Biblical Judaism and/or Graeco-Roman Religions.”
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Reviews
Description
Judgment and the wrath of God are prominent themes in Matthew's Gospel. Because judgment is announced not only on the hypocritical but also on those who reject God's messengers—and because this rejection is implicitly connected with the destruction of Jerusalem—the Gospel has often been read in terms of God's rejection of Israel, with catastrophic results. Anders Runesson sets out to show, through careful study of Matthew's composition and comparison with contemporary Jewish literature, that the theme of divine judgment plays very different and distinct roles regarding diverse groups of Jews (including Jesus' disciples) and non-Jews in this Gospel. Runesson examines various assumptions regarding the criteria of judgment in each case and finds that Matthew does not support some of the most popular slogans in Christian theology. The results and implications for our historical understanding of Christian origins and our theological estimation of Matthew's place in that story will be of vital interest to scholars and students for years to come.
Purity, Holiness, and Identity in Judaism and Christianity (2013)
Carl Ehrlich, Anders Runesson and Eileen Schuller (eds.). Purity and Holiness in Judaism and Christianity: Essays in Memory of Susan Haber. WUNT 305. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013.
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Mark and Matthew: Comparative Readings II (2013)
Eve-Marie Becker and Anders Runesson, eds., Mark and Matthew. Comparative Readings II: Hermeneutics, Reception History, Theology. WUNT 304. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013.
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Mark and Matthew: Comparative Readings I (2011)
Eve-Marie Becker and Anders Runesson, eds. Mark and Matthew. Comparative Readings I: Understanding the Earliest Gospels in their First Century Settings. WUNT 271. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011.
"This collection of essays employs a sustained multi-perspectival comparative approach to Mark and Matthew, the earliest Gospel writings, which contributes to the Synoptic Problem discourse and sheds light on the individual Gospels in their first century setting(s)."
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"This collection of essays employs a sustained multi-perspectival comparative approach to Mark and Matthew, the earliest Gospel writings, which contributes to the Synoptic Problem discourse and sheds light on the individual Gospels in their first century setting(s)."
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O att du slet itu himlen och steg ner! (2011)
Runesson, Anders. O att du slet itu himlen och steg ner! Om Jesus, Jonas Gardell och Guds andedräkt. (O That You Would Tear Open the Heavens and Come Down! On the Historical Jesus, Jonas Gardell, and the Breath of God.) Örebro and Skellefteå: Libris and Artos, 2011.
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The Ancient Synagogue: A Source Book (Paperback, 2010)
Runesson, Anders, Donald D. Binder, and Birger Olsson. The Ancient Synagogue: From its Origins to 200 c.e. A Source Book. Leiden: Brill, 2010. (328 pages + map). ISBN 978 90 04 18890 7.
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The Ancient Synagogue: A Source Book (2008)
Runesson, Anders, Donald D. Binder, and Birger Olsson. The Ancient Synagogue: From its Origins to 200 c.e. A Source Book. Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity Series 72. Leiden: Brill, 2008. (328 pages + foldout map). ISBN 9789004161160.
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Jesus och de första kristna (Jesus and the First Chrisitans) (2006)
Mitternacht Dieter and Anders Runesson (eds.). Jesus och de första kristna: Inledning till Nya testamentet. (Jesus and the First Christians: An Introduction to the Study of the New Testament). Stockholm: Verbum, 2006. (527 pages). ISBN 97891-526-4721-9.
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Varför ser ni mot himlen? (Why Do You Look Towards Heaven?) (2005)
Runesson, Anders and Torbjörn Sjöholm (eds.). Varför ser ni mot himlen? Utmaningar från den kontextuella teologin. [Why Do you Look Towards Heaven? Challenges from Contextual Theology]. Stockholm: Verbum, 2005. (204 pages).
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The Origins of the Synagogue (2001)
