Negotiating Identity: The Jewishness of the Way in Acts

Abstract

Acts is often read as an anti-Jewish text that validates a gentile church which has separated from Judaism and the Jewish people. While the text does depict opposition between the Way and “the Jews,” it simultaneously challenges this construction by attributing elements of Jewish identity both to “the Jews” and to the Way. This paper argues, in four steps, that Luke presents the Way as a Jewish group with ongoing ties to other Jews: (1) Luke uses familial language to demonstrate a continuing connection between Jews in the Way and other Jews; (2) the initial construction of the Way includes only Jews through a redefinition of the boundaries of Israel; (3) when gentiles join the Way they do so in accord with the law of Moses; and (4) Luke carefully shows that Jews in the Way observe the law of Moses. Luke has constructed a complex narrative in which both the Way and other Jews are characterized in Jewish terms, a move made possible by the ambiguity and malleability of Jewish identity during the period in which Luke is writing.