for correct page numbers, see Journal of Early Christian History 5 (2015): 26-48 Bennema-Early Christian Identity Formation amidst Conflict 1/19 Early Christian Identity Formation amidst Conflict Cornelis Bennema 1 Wales Evangelical School of Theology, UK ABSTRACT This article examines the historical development and nature of early Christian identity during the first two centuries C.E. The formation of early Christian identity was inextricably related to conflict. There were conflicts within the emerging movement itself, and conflicts with both Judaism and the Roman Empire. Within these contexts, early Christian identity evolved from being a Jewish ethno-religious identity into a Christian identity that was unattached to a particular geopolitical and ethno-cultural identity. Even though early Christians constructed their identity by means of ethnoracial language, it simultaneously superseded and absorbed existing identities and hence was a meta- or trans-ethnic identity. 1. INTRODUCTION The topic of this study is the historical development and nature of early ‘Christian’ identity in contexts of conflict during the first two centuries C.E. Although the label ‘Christian/ity’ is arguably anachronistic for Christ groups in the first two centuries C.E., I shall use the term without reading the developed Christianity of the fourth century C.E. into it. 2 My thesis is that early Christian identity evolved from being a Jewish ethno-religious identity into a Christian identity that was unattached to a particular geopolitical and ethno-cultural identity. 3 The formation of early Christian identity was inextricably related to conflicts within the emerging movement itself, and conflicts with both Judaism and the Roman Empire. Consequently, Christianity developed from a messianic sect within the matrix of late Second Temple Judaism into a religion distinct from Judaism by the second century C.E. I will also argue that the Christian identity transcended and integrated rather than abrogated existing geopolitical and ethno-cultural identities. I shall use the term ‘trans-ethnic Christianity’ to say that the Christian identity transcended ethnic identities. This does not imply that early Christianity discarded or opposed ethnicity (Christian identity 1 Cornelis Bennema is also an Extraordinary Associate Professor at the Unit for Reformed Theology and the Development of the South African Society, Faculty of Theology, North-West University, South Africa. 2 Similarly, ‘Judaism’ as referring to a systematic belief system or religion before the third century C.E. is problematic (Daniel Boyarin, ‘Rethinking Jewish Christianity: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category, ’ JQR 99 [2009]: 7–36), and hence I use it as an umbrella term for the variegated, dynamic Jewish groups in the first two centuries C.E. For the diverse approaches to reconstruct early Christian identity, see Bengt Holmberg, ‘Understanding the First Hundred Years of Christian Identity,’ in Exploring Early Christian Identity (ed. Bengt Holmberg; WUNT 226; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 5–27. 3 For the justification of using the term ‘Jew/ish’ rather than ‘Judaean,’ see Anders Runesson, ‘Inventing Christian Identity: Paul, Ignatius, and Theodosius I, ’ in Exploring Early Christian Identity (ed. Bengt Holmberg; WUNT 226; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 64–70. Those who embrace the social sciences often insist on ‘Judaean’ (e.g., Philip F. Esler, Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul’s Letter [Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003], 62–74).