S1 E13: Ebionites, Nazarenes, and More

05/15/21 • 35 min

In this episode we explore the lives and situations of Yeshua's Jewish followers in the period between the two great Jewish Wars, which ended in 70 and 135 CE respectively. We ask and answer:

Where did Jewish disciples of Yeshua live?
Did they interact with other Jews? With Gentiles?
Did they have communities of their own? And what were these communities like?
What distinguished their beliefs and way of life from other Jews and Gentile Christians?
What was the reaction of the Jewish and Gentile Christian worlds to them?

This is a critical period in the history of the Nascent Messianic Jewish Movement, and one that is vastly under-reported in both Jewish and Christian histories. You will enjoy quotations from both Jewish and Secular sources of the day, however, which tell us that this Movement was far from insignificant!

In this episode we explore the lives and situations of Yeshua's Jewish followers in the period between the two great Jewish Wars, which ended in 70 and 135 CE respectively. We ask and answer:

Where did Jewish disciples of Yeshua live?
Did they interact with other Jews? With Gentiles?
Did they have communities of their own? And what were these communities like?
What distinguished their beliefs and way of life from other Jews and Gentile Christians?
What was the reaction of the Jewish and Gentile Christian worlds to them?

Previous Episode

S1 E12: Messianic Judaism and the First Jewish Revolt

Don't mention the war!
As Jews we have to mention the war. In this episode we take a look at the reasons for, and the inevitability of the First Jewish Revolt, given the inadequacies of Roman governance both in Judea and in Rome itself. We also explore the various types of responses to the revolt and how the nascent Messianic Jewish movement fit into the series of events. It truly was a tragic time, and we have to cover the tragic response of the greater non-Jewish church that made the tragedy the cause célèbre for its wholesale pivot to replacement theology, the fruits of which continue to be born even today.

Next Episode

S1 E14: The Second Jewish War and the Birkat Haminim!

In this episode, we ask questions about the Second Jewish War, its "messiah" Bar Koziba, and its rabbi, Akiva.

What made the revolt so inevitable?
What made it such a milestone in Jewish, including Messianic Jewish, history?
Did this war really cause a parting of the ways between Christianity and Judaism?
What happened to the Messianic Jews who lived at that time – the Nazarenes, Ebionites, and others?
And – were the Messianic Jews really singled out as heretics in the curse on the “minim”?