Jewish roots and ritual continuity: Sabbath-keeping and the iconography of the Decalogue among gentile Christians (1ST–6TH CENTURIES CE)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2317-8051.cllh.2025.243382Keywords:
Parting of the Ways, Jewish Continuity, Early Christianity, Sabbath, DecalogueAbstract
This article offers a critical analysis of the “parting of the ways” historiographical paradigm, which posits a swift and definitive rupture between Judaism and Christianity. In opposition to this narrative, the study adopts the concept of a “porous zone,” arguing that identity distinction and group boundaries were, in fact, ambiguous, fluid, and geographically variable throughout Late Antiquity (1st-6th centuries CE). The objective is to investigate the persistence of Jewish heritage in Gentile Christian communities, specifically manifested in Sabbath-keeping and the iconographic patterns of the Decalogue. The hypothesis is that the persistence of these practices, coupled with the appropriation of Jewish themes in monumental art, indicates that the total separation was a chronologically extended phenomenon and an imposition by the ecclesiastical hierarchy, rather than a spontaneous rupture. The research employs an interdisciplinary methodology, triangulating Patristic Literature, conciliar records, and archaeological evidence to trace markers of continuity. The results aim to contribute to Historical Theology and the Archaeology of Religion by reassessing the origin of Christianity as a transformation of its Jewish matrix, which provides a basis for inter-religious dialogue and counters supersessionist and antisemitic narratives.
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