1. From Conf lict to Recognition Rethinking a Scholarly Paradigm in the Study of Christian Origins 1 Ismo Dunderberg Abstract This article analyzes conf lict as a major interpretative framework for early Christian texts. The language of conflict in these texts may be nothing more than a bellicose move to establish a certain form of religious identity and demarcate its boundaries. While conf licts existed between early Christ-believers, a focus on conflicts may distort our understanding of the past. Ancient texts also of fer examples of respectful dialogue with those suspected of heresy and show that conflict is not the only option in religious dialogue. Keywords: religious dialogue; early Christian texts; Johannine literature; Clement of Alexandria; Origen Early Christ-followers were often engaged in conflicts with each other. While there is no denying this, the question deserves to be raised whether conflict has become too dominant a paradigm in the study of Christian origins. In this f ield, the notion of conflict provides a major interpretive framework 1 I wish to thank my two Helsinki colleagues, Outi Lehtipuu and Nina Nikki, for their close reading of and valuable comments on the earlier versions of this study. An early draft of this essay was presented and discussed at the Department of Religious Studies at Northwestern University, 2 May 2018. I am grateful to Christine Helmer and Robert Orsi for the kind invitation, and for the thoughtful response by Jason Springs (University of Notre Dame), who, among other things, reminded me that, in conflict and peace studies, conflict is not merely approached as a negative thing. It can also be understood as one way to determine, and work on, the nature of a relationship. Lehtipuu, O. and M. Labahn (eds.), Tolerance, Intolerance, and Recognition in Early Christianity and Early Judaism, 2021. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press doi 10.5117/9789462984462_ch01 Amsterdam University Press