When Did Christianity and Judaism Part Ways? 

There's a running joke in my family regarding this. My great-grandmother and my mother got in an argument about Jesus being Jewish. The final word was when my great-grandmother shouted, "Jesus may have been Jewish, but the Blessed Virgin Mary was Catholic!!!"

This is like pinpointing where rock became heavy metal-impossible.

So early "Christians" were just Jews for Jesus.

Really fascinating. As a Pastor viewing this while leading my people through Luke/Acts, it gave me a new insight. Thank you!

I love your videos, but I always try not to scroll down to the comments. I can't imagine how difficult it is to discuss religious topics professionally with a scholarly outlook because it is such a personal thing for most people, and they tend to shut off and not actually listen to you when they think you may say something that won't like.

I'd also add that a lot of the early Christian sects you talk about wouldn't be (easily) recognised by modern Christians as fellow Christians.

This channel is absolutely fantastic, great to hear from someone who clearly knows his shit, far too rare :)

I think the important thing to remember about the early history of Christianity is that many of Jesus' followers largely came from among the more Hellenized Jews rather than the more orthodox and that this was the source of a lot of the controversy surrounding Jesus during his life. He was drawing on a population that was moving towards certain popular aspects of Greco-Roman religion and away from more traditional Jewish beliefs. This is what later made it very attractive to disaffected Greeks and Romans as the early Christians spread throughout the empire.

Love your brief but compact talks, so thought provoking.

From today I start to watch your works. Concised, filterex and vital. So I feel cool when watching yours.

After the destruction of the 2nd Temple, Pharisee Judaism became what is today Rabbinical Orthodox Judaism. As apart of how they defined Judaism, they rejected what they considered as heretical or "minim." Undoubtly, Jewish Christianity was considered as being among the "minim."

great job handling such a complex topic!

The Bar Kokhba Revolution of 135 ca played a big role in parting ways between the two groups. From that moment on, the Jewish element in the Church was progressively suppressed and an anti-Judaic sentiment prevailed among the Christians. The Hebrew calendar was banned, the Hebrew feasts forbidden, and the Christian customs were slowly being made autonomous from their Jewish sources. The synagogues all over the Empire became very conservative and closed to Christian preachers. This process culminated in 193 CE when pope Victor tried to detach the Christian from the Jewish Passover, although not successfully. However, these changes marked a decisive moment in which a new, non-Jewish identity of the Christian Church started to develop.

I am an atheist but I am binge watching your videos....

"How odd of god/ to choose the Jews... but not so odd/ as those who choose/ A Jewish god/ Yet spurn the Jews." William Norman Emer (1885 - 1977)

I don’t believe in God, but I’m still fascinated by the history of human beliefs, and your channel is a goldmine for that. Concise and instructive!

Absolutely love the videos!! I am a Non Practicing catholic.. but very strong belief in Jesus as My Lord and Savior.. I started seriously researching his history and in turn history of religion .. your videos are perfect and love how you give additional research material

What a super informative channel. So glad I saw this. You education is stellar on this topic!

I really appreciate the respectful and unbiased nature of this video, I’m not sure how you as the creator of the video feel about religion but your maturity and clarity made this a really enjoyable video that has a lot of valuable information to offer.

Isn't this basically the same question as saying when did Heavy Metal seperate from hard rock? As with most social transitions there was a period where there was a blend of the two before splitting legitimately.

Dude, I've fallen in love with your channel. I've been learning a lot through these videos, it's really helping me writing my masters thesis. I want to commend you for your effort in making good quality content, on a website where facts, reasoning, don't seem to be the main point. I bet you get a ton of Hate for having a scholar prespective, and I imagine you get constantly bombarded with comments like "SO YOU THINK JESUS WAS FAKE?" or " HAHA! Told you religion was a lie!". Anyway, if you ever see this, just remember that I feel your struggle and I know it must be hard on you. But please, keep making these videos, there's also a lot of people like me who genuinely just want to learn more about history and religion! Congrats, keep it up!

You have to remember that similar confusion was going on within the Jewish community as well after the destruction of Jerusalem. What did it mean to be 'Jewish' without the Temple and without a country to call their own.

Peace and blessings to you for this. You are helping me so much with this paper.

This gets even more odd when The birth of Islam takes place. Even Islam itself has ideas from different and obscure Judeo-Christian texts in the Quran. The biographies of the Prophet came 100-200 years after his passing. Without these writings, the Quran is VERY vague. Some writers described Islam as a very Jewish Christianity. Others claim it evolved from Syriac Christianity. The ideas of Islam are very similar to Ebionites where they did not see Jesus as God. It is indeed hard to precise where the official separation happened.

I love your videos will you be doing some on how Europe became Christian? I’ve read some historical items on it and its interesting how long it took till it was fully complete and how it was not exactly a kind gentle assimilation

Thanks for the subtitle when you said "lugaks" because that's all I heard.

Just found your channel. Very interesting stuff, so very well put together. I'm an athiest, but I'm inclined to learn something new about anything. I like to think of this as more the culture and history of someone or some thing more than just a religious standpoint. Your videos are well informed, and are very entertaining. Thank you for the great content!

I've been looking for this. Thanks❤

Wow, why was i not taught this in Sunday school!!!

@ReligionForBreakfast if you ever consider writing a book, I think this would be an excellent topic! There is a lot of interest in "Early Christianity" and "The Historical Jesus" from readers with a wide variety of backgrounds. I've read a lot of them, but I've never seen this angle in a book aimed at non-experts. I've been reading Boyarin's book, and, honestly, I don't think I would be following his points if I hadn't been introduced to it by this video. I am always learning about interesting subjects, but it is a rare peak experience when something opens up a whole new perspective for me. This video is one of those experiences, thank you!

Since Mary Magdalene was the first one that Jesus chose to appear to after his resurrection, Mary was the first Christian ever. And this always blows my mind: from the time that she got her orders until the time that they saw Him, she was the ONLY Christian on earth.

Very informative and thought provoking. And the poster of Tatooine did not escape me!

One man's heresy is another man's orthodoxy.

I Am Hindu, Its always Interesting for me to learn About other Religions 🙏

I would say when Paul retconned the faith with his letters to the Churches so that everyone could take part in their god, instead of just the Hebrews. Jesus even said he only came for Israel. Paul pretty much double talked his way around it and made special pleadings so the Church could grow.

You do a great job on all your videos, thanks for all the info friend

Its wild. As a Christian, we could all just be a jewish sect. Oi veh!

Agnostic but raised Catholic and I'm loving your content. My dad studied theology so I've always wanted to learn more of what he talks about

The man is brilliant. No bs, no padding, just the info

so interesting, thanks for making these!

Good job, as usual, although there is the big question of non-Jews increasingly converting to Christianity, which, I daresay was the decisive factor: the ethnic dilution is already observable in Paul's letters and it couldn't but grow the two religious strains apart.

I think it is important to note the Council at Yavneh where Jewish Leaders reject Jesus as the Messiah in 90 AD, the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the thought and teachings of early church fathers of the Rejection of the Jews because the temple was destroyed and Jews Banished from Jerusalem in 135? AD, and Constantine. I agree there was no one point but a gradual process. I also appriciate you pointing out how early Christians were closer to Judaism. Also in the Book of Acts it states that believers were first called Christians in Antioch, not in Israel.

i enjoyed your discussion here. i was very pleased with your honesty here and your fairness. i have listened to a few Jewish and Gentile attempts at this topic and most of them are full of error in my view.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge! 💛

There are good Christian and Jewish people 💯

I think the parting away from Judaism happened in the book of acts.When circumcision was not binding on a non jew who became a believer in the teachings of jesus.

excellent exposition of logical, practical reality. The fundamental principle of the distinction of belief vs practice is new to me, and obvious once one thinks about it.

Thank you for your clear and concise explanation.

I love this concept of how religion is very delicate and when talking about Christianity and Jewedisum (belief over practice) is very compelling but the one thing that isn't clarifying identity is the origin of nationality and what defines or is unique to that nationality and culture. For example, we talk about Jews and the unique customs and rituals that make that group of people unique, but then you compose those rituals and customs onto those who don't identify themselves as Jewish, which is what Christianity has done to most of the known world.

I ended up not pursuing a degree in ancient history but my working theory at the time was that non-Christian Jews would have regarded Christians as different from Jews (which they would have defined more exclusively) much earlier than Romans would have distinguished them for a variety of reasons. To use an analogy, Catholics and Protestants at one point in the Reformation supposedly denied the others were really Christians (whether that's historically correct or not does not matter) yet if so non-Christians would simply have seen them both as Christians.

Well done and explained. Thank you

Great content!! God bless you

The official parting happened at the council of Nicaea in 325AD

The history of things like this is always very gradual and layered, never cut and dry.

You don't need the music... I'm following along fantastically because you 'CONTINUE' on with the topic very briskly and with constant content which is perfect for those like myself wishing to learn new things. But the music takes away from that, because everyone else seems to be using the same background music & it's just boring. Then of course the worst of all problem, it's distracting from that beautiful content I mentioned earlier.

This is from an Orthodox Jew. Jesus was a Great Teacher may God rest his soul. ✡ 🤝 ✝

You can see the beginnings of the separation within Paul's writings. There were those God Fearers that Paul addresses and grabs hold of that are intrigued by Sunday worship (2 Corinthians 9), having no forbidden foods (Romans 14), no castration - Galations (uhhmm... circumcision) etc. You can see some historical evidence in Suetonius as he records a disruption in Rome in 49AD because of a "Chrestus" (Acts 18?). The Jewish Synod of Jamnia expels "Christians" in 85AD. There's even some tiny evidence in the Pastoral Epistles of the beginnings of Gnostics. Most of these things take place in the first century. In summary there was probably never a one time email or communique that went out over the wire. It was one synagogue at a time that were getting fed up with these Gentile Jewish people. It was each house/business church set up by Gentiles that had no real connection with Jewish people. to be more visibly different groups. However, as mentioned in the above video, there was never a time where all of the groups acted cohesively in separating. Lastly, remember, there was the destruction of Jerusalem around 70AD (typing this without notes). This scattered many Jewish people and broke up communities. Aside from Nero's persecution (argued by some) most Roman or Roman province Gentile Christians began to thrive unimpeded. Many suggest that by the first decade of the so-called second century, those that were Gentile Christians easily outnumbered those that still identified themselves as Jewish as they had no Jerusalem or synagogues to attend.

You don't mention the three Jewish wars which were major events in the life of the Roman Empire. The Great Jewish War which ended in 70 with the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, then there was the Jewish rebellion centered around Cyrene in what's now Libya and elsewhere outside of Israel around 113 - 115 and was evidently very boody - the city of Cyrene never recovered from this uprising. Finally there was the Bar Kochba Revolt of 132 to 135 which required major Roman forces to defeat it. Jews were seen by many in the Roman Empire as enemies, many Christians (those who accepted Jesus as the Messiah or part of G-d of either Jewish or Gentile background) wanted to distance themselves from the pesky Jews. I was surprised you made no mention of Pella, still it was an interesting video.

Love your channel

Ok, first, cool starwars poster. Next, your energy back then was great.

Love watching your videos, especially the ones you do on Christianity

I am also an atheist but your content is fascinating and I’m hooked. Thanks.

I love your posts. You fill in so many blanks in regard to religious history... Please address when Christians change their sabbath to Sunday from Saturday.

Appears that the demarcation line would have a fractal appearance

I wonder if middle-eastern Christians today have Jewish ancestors. My family are Iraqi Christians.

I love this topic. But my view is that it almost doesn’t matter. The specifics of what people believe and practice is far more important than what label they fall under. Changing their label doesn’t change their beliefs. And the beliefs are what I care about most

There are few things in history that are so neat and simple. Especially when talking about beliefs and culture!

Ifs fun going back and watching these early episodes.

After the destruction of the temple

So when, certainly before Constantine

Rodney Stark mentioned the rejection of Marcion as an indication how strong the christian Jewish way of life and thinking was around 144 AD and it stayed strong for centuries to come.

As a Catholic, I believe that no matter what your religious views are, you still have a loving God(s)

I learned Christian history, and I see this cute guy, Oh god.

Andrew Mark Henry, you seem to present the 'parting' of Judaism and Christianity from a strictly Christian perspective. What about the Jewish view of Christians, especially in light of the Council of Jamnia in 74 CE (or 85 CE per another commenter) in which assembled rabbis declared that followers of Jesus could not legally be called Jews (especially for the purpose of obtaining the Roman legal exemption granted to followers of Jewish religion)? Thanks for any info that you can provide.

The rabbinical schools at the time, as well as the apostolic Church Fathers, and the myriad heretical groups, clearly distinguished one issue alone--- the divinity of Christ. All other issues were secondary. It is quite simply one's response to Jesus' question "Who do you say that I am?" which defined, and still defines one as a Christian.

Great explanation to a very complex topic.

6:38 I love it

4:10 In modern parlance he is what we would call a "Messianic Jew" A sect of Judaism which isnt part of Judaism. Wild stuff I know.

Wow, thank You. Much needed video. Glory to YAH!!!

Interesting and makes sense. My understanding would be then that the further the Christianity got, the more top-down views of Church'es Fathers became pronounced, thus making this partitioning more pronounced.

That just sounds like Judaism with extra steps!

The single most important thing to remember is that the Greek word for *Christ* is just a translation of the Hebrew word for *Messiah.* Thus "Jesus Christ" is the Greek way of saying the Hebrew for "Joshua-the-Messiah". Note that the real name of Jesus was always the Hebrew name *Joshua,* and the name Jesus we have today is just a mistranslation of the original name of Joshua. So the Greek "Christ" can refer to any Messiah at all, not just Joshua, and the Romans dealt brutally with several Jewish Messiah cults - or Christ cults - in the first and second centuries. The most important besides Joshua-the-Messiah was Simon bar Kochba-the-Messiah, which in the Greek language would be Simon-Christ, and his second-century followers would be "Christians" in the Greek language just as much as followers of the Joshua of the previous century were "Christians" too. From the point of view of the Greek speaking Romans there was no important distinction between any specific Jewish Messiah claimant, and they would be unlikely to have the inclination to care - they were all just Jews following one of their various Messiahs to a Roman soldier. During the Roman supression of Simon-the-Messiah in the second-century, the Romans became so anti-Jewish that it was virtually certain that they were killing followers of both Joshua-the-Messiah (aka Jesus-Christ followers) as well as followers of Simon-the-Messiah (Simon-Christ followers). After that second century bloodbath, the followers of Joshua were very motivated to distance themselves from the Jews who had followed other Messiah claimants by downplaying their Jewishness. This is likely the fundamental reason why modern Christians use Sunday as their main day of worship instead of Saturday - instead of the _actual_ Sabbath as required in their holy text. (The commandment to _keep the Sabbath holy_ has lost its original meaning to most modern Christians, often being reinterpreted as the next day, Sunday, instead.) By no longer following the Jewish practice of keeping the Sabbath holy according to their holy texts, they could forge a new identity for their particular Messiah worship - the worship of Joshua/Jesus - that had less and less to do with the original Jewish Messiah concept. Over the centuries following the Roman supression of Simon-Christ, the Jesus-Christ movement carved for itself a new Roman identity that wasn't explicitly at odds with the Roman Empire like the Jews were known to be. The end result of that new identity was the early Roman Catholic Church, which had an explicit hartred for Jews, plus it had also elevated their own Messiah Joshua to the status of a god. Elevating Joshua, better known as Jesus, to the status of a god actually followed the Roman practice of the elevation of real historical figures to the status of a god - for example Julius Caesar was elevated to a god by the Romans as well. Of course since Judaism was monotheistic the elevation of Jesus to a god caused a lot of strife within the new "Christian" religion, since it required its followers to believe that Jesus was his own father! But that's a whole other story ... 😂😂😂

it would be teaching grad school but it would we interesting to see you tease out the timeframes of the separation. in the 1970s-80s there was a movement in 'primitive' Christianity to reconnect with its Jewish roots though it was very light on historical scholarship

This makes a lot of sense, as my own readings of history suggest the Romans really couldn't tell the difference between Christians and Jews in the early days

This is a real question and not a veiled criticism. Why do you choose to use CE/BCE instead of BC/AD? Assume because CE/BCE is more all inclusive but just thought I'd ask. Great channel!

I think they parted ways when god say “I am unchanging” and “put no gods before me.” Then Jesus came along and said, “god has changed, the only way to him is through me.”

i have no idea where the first part is, cant slick on the pop up,

Christianity parted ways with Judaism, when Paul convinced the Apostles that Gentile male converts to Christianity did not need to undergo circumcision. Paul went further by arguing that circumcision was completely pointless. Paul's stance made it much easier (i.e., much less painful) for male Gentiles to adopt what evolved into Christianity.

would you agree that a theological split began sometime during or after the destruction of the second temple. Christians starting to distance themselves from Jews and aligning themselves with the Romans more. John's Gospel paints the Jews as the Killers of Christ and that Pilot was not a bad guy. I think that shows the shift in identity and seperation. thoughts ?

Paul invented modern christianity.

As a Christian i am extremely saddned how Christianity is so far removed from it's Jewish roots.

Personally, I see it more as a reformation than a clean break, hence why no particular date can be set as to when they 'split' as the reformation took place over several centuries.

Messianic Jews remain and remained Jewish with their synagogue and their celebrations and everything else that you was do they just believe that Jesus is the messiah. That's the only change and it's a change in mind and heart the rest of their life is Jewish.

I would guess that the important partition occurred when Rome acknowledged Christianity and spread it throughout the empire. This led to European "Christendom" which diverges much more from the Hebrew faith than do other, older, Christian groups, i.e. Ethiopian Christians, Coptic Christians, etc. Just my guess, I'm not a professional religious scholar.

Catholic Christianity descended from the sacrificial temple judaism. it has more in common with temple practices than rabbinical judaism today

There’s something there! Good job...

The Talmud officially denouncing Jesus was probably a turning point. Not sure when that was added though.

You could say they were Jew-ish.

Great video. Very insightful. I’ll keep watching! Just too PC the CE numbering years erroneously the rest súper just thought that it’s better to use 100% of a calendar instead of just the numbers. PC

Can you please provide links to the books you have cited?