Hellenists and Hebrews: Reappraising Division Within the Earliest Church

Hellenists and Hebrews: Reappraising Division Within the Earliest Church by Hill, Craig C.. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780800625054.

One of the most interesting (and surprisingly neglected) implications for New Testament studies of the "eclipse of the dichotomy" between Hellenism and Judaism concerns the dominant understanding of the "Hellenists" and "Hebrews" of Acts. The prevailing interpretation of Acts 6:1-8:4 holds that the Hellenists and Hebrews were separate, ideologically based parties within the earliest Jerusalem church. The Hellenists, being universalistic in outlook and liberal in temperament, came after a short time to realize (in a way in which the narrow, conservative Hebrew believers could not) the true ramifications of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In light of the diversity of first-century Judaism, it must be asked whether this depiction of the Hellenists and the Hebrews is founded on anything but stereotype. Why should our acceptance of the cultural pluralism of first-century Judaism (both Diaspora and Palestinian) stop at the door of Jewish Christianity? Surely the historically credible picture here, as in the case of Judaism itself, is the complex one. We should expect to find Jewish Christians of various opinions irrespective of their particular nationalities. We ought not to be surprised, for example, to learn of liberal Hebrews and conservative Hellenists.