ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD J E W “In this creative and groundbreaking study, Smith places material culture front I and center as he explores the rich contact zone of the figurative ‘valley’ between S H the ‘mountain peaks’ that represent late Roman Judaism and Christianity as clearly distinct religions. Building on the recognition that modern concepts of G religion, and with it understandings of Judaism and Christianity, distort our L A understanding of the Roman world, Smith rethinks early Christian/Jewish S ‘relations’ through a deep engagement with critical race theory, hybridity, and S intersectionality. This accessible and engaging book contributes significantly A to the study of early Christianity, Roman Judaism, identity-construction, and N religion, and demonstrates clearly the value of the materialist turn.” D C Christina Shepardson, University of Tennessee, USA H R I S In recent years, scholars have reevaluated the “parting of the ways” between Judaism T and Christianity, reaching new understandings of the ways shared origins gave way I A to two distinct and sometimes inimical religious traditions. But this has been a N profoundly textual task, relying on the writings of rabbis, bishops, and other text- producing elites to map the terrain of the “parting.” S T O Jewish Glass and Christian Stone takes up the question of the divergence of Judaism N and Christianity in terms of material — the stuff made, used, and left behind by E the persons that lived in and between these religions as they were developing. Considering the glass, clay, stone, paint, vellum, and papyrus of ancient Jews and Christians, this book maps the “parting” in new ways, and argues for a greater role for material and materialism in our reconstructions of the past. E R Eric C. Smith is Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity and New I C J E W I S H G L A S S A N D Testament Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, USA. C . C H R I S T I A N S T O N E S EARLY CHRISTIANITY/EARLY JUDAISM M I T H A MATERIALIST MAPPING OF THE Cover image: Heinrich Kiepert’s Map of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, 1856 (public domain) “PARTING OF THE WAYS” ISBN 978-1-138-20212-2 www.routledge.com E R I C C . S M I T H 9 781138 202122 Routledge titles are available as eBook editions in a range of digital formats i JEWISH GLASS AND CHRISTIAN STONE In recent years, scholars have reevaluated the “parting of the ways” between Judaism and Christianity, reaching new understandings of the ways shared origins gave way to two distinct and sometimes inimical religious traditions. But this has been a profoundly textual task, relying on the writings of rabbis, bishops, and other text- producing elites to map the terrain of the “parting.” Jewish Glass and Christian Stone takes up the question of the divergence of Judaism and Christianity in terms of material— the stuff made, used, and left behind by the persons that lived in and between these religions as they were developing. Considering the glass, clay, stone, paint, vellum, and papyrus of ancient Jews and Christians, this book maps the “parting” in new ways, and argues for a greater role for material and materialism in our reconstructions of the past. Eric C. Smith is Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity and New Testament Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, USA. ii ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD www.routledge.com/ Routledge- Studies- in- the- Early- Christian- World/ book- series/ SECW AVAILABLE: VISIONS OF GOD AND IDEAS ON DEIFICATION IN PATRISTIC THOUGHT Edited by Mark Edwards and Elena Ene D- Vasilescu THE LEGACY OF DEMETRIUS OF ALEXANDRIA (189–2 32 ce) The Form and Function of Hagiography in Late Antique and Islamic Egypt Maged S.A. Mikhail THE UNBOUND GOD Slavery and the Formation of Early Christian Thought Chris L. De Wet FORTHCOMING: RECONCEIVING RELIGIOUS CONFLICT New Views from the Formative Centuries of Christianity Edited by Wendy Mayer and Chris L. De Wet CHROMATIUS OF AQUILEIA AND THE MAKING OF A CHRISTIAN CITY Robert McEachnie THE CAPTIVE MONK Slavery and Asceticism in Early Syrian Christianity Chris L. De Wet SEXUALITY, CELIBACY, AND MARRIAGE AMONG THE EARLY CHRISTIANS John Martens iii JEWISH GLASS AND CHRISTIAN STONE A Materialist Mapping of the “Parting of the Ways” Eric C. Smith iv First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 Eric C. Smith The right of Eric C. Smith to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data Names: Smith, Eric C., 1977– author. Title: Jewish glass and Christian stone : a materialist mapping of the ‘parting of the ways’ / Eric C. Smith. Description: First [edition]. | New York : Routledge, 2017. | Series: Routledge studies in the early Christian world Identifiers: LCCN 2017023845 | ISBN 9781138202122 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315474731 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Judaism–Relations–Christianity. | Christianity and other religions–Judaism. | Material culture–Religious aspects–Christianity. Classification: LCC BM535 .S635 2017 | DDC 261.2/609–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017023845 ISBN: 978- 1- 138- 20212- 2 (hbk) ISBN: 978- 1- 315- 47473- 1 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Out of House Publishing v FOR JESSA, HAZEL, ELI, AND AMOS vi vii CONTENTS List of figures x Acknowledgments xi Introduction: the geographies of identity 1 Situated scholarship 1 On the edge of Appalachia 2 Encountering the other 5 The plan of this book 6 1 Mountains, valleys, and stones 10 Twin daughters 10 The menorah and the cross 13 Sinai and Zion 17 Raising up mountains 19 Germanos in the valley 21 2 Mountains: the construction of world religions 26 The death of Mme_ _ _ _ 26 Inventing “religion” in modernity 27 Inventing “religion” in antiquity 29 (Re)Constructing identities 31 Hybrid Jews and Christians 33 Identity, hybridity, materiality 35 3 Valleys: intersectional, material antiquity 39 Religion in text and creed 39 Materialism 40 Feminism 42 vii viii CONTENTS Critical race theory 45 Intersectionality 49 Hybridity 52 A materialist mapping 56 4 Glass: the identities of things 61 A fragment 61 Syncretism and hybridity 64 Hybrid things 68 5 Clay: the economics of belonging 77 Light in the tombs 77 Beth She’arim 78 Consumer theory 80 Clay vessels 84 Intersectional Probos 85 6 Marble: stories in stone 93 Jonah cast up 93 Israel’s stories 96 Jonah in stone 101 Haptic hybridity 105 7 Paint: the hollowness of symbols 111 The menorah and the cross, again 111 The menorah 112 The cross 114 Other Jewish symbols 116 Other Christian symbols 117 Jewish and Christian symbols 121 8 Vellum: “relations” in miniature 127 “Relations” and the “parting of the ways” 127 The origins of illumination 128 The Vienna Genesis 130 The wash of interpretation 135 9 Papyrus: the practice of text 142 Euplus reads 142 Text as material 143 viii ix CONTENTS Text as practice 145 Jewish and Christian texts 147 Other kinds of texts 152 10 The mountains from the valley 159 Abstract categories of the scholar 159 Index 165 ix