Interview with the Author of Excommunicating the Faithful: Jewish Christianity in the Early Church

By Rev. Ken Howard

"As a scholar of Hebrew language and literature, with a focus on the Second Jewish Commonwealth, I have long been fascinated by the notion that the rift between Judaism and the developing Christian faith was not a matter of the Jews rejecting Jesus, but the Christian churches, having become thoroughly 'Romanized,' rejecting the Jews. In this eye-opening volume, Rev. Ken Howard does a masterful job elucidating who the early Jewish Christians were and their ultimate exclusion from the orthodox Christian fold. In particular, the so-called Nazarenes identified with the apostolic church in every respect, their sole transgression being their wish to retain their Jewish identity, including the observance of Jewish ceremonial practices. Excommunicating the Faithful is a must for those who, from this 'cautionary tale,' seek inclusion and diversity in today’s religious environment, and who seek to resolve differences, not through excommunication but dialogue."

‒Kenneth Hanson, Ph.D.

Coordinator & Abe and Tess Wise Endowed Professor of Judaic Studies,

University of Central Florida

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ABSTRACT

Excommunicating the Faithful traces the development of Jewish Christianity from among the earliest Jesus followers through its apparent disappearance in the fourth or fifth century. The author’s thesis is that among Jewish Christians in the early Church, there existed at least one Jewish Christian sect whose theology stood within the acceptable boundaries of orthodoxy at that time and existed through at least the fifth century, at which point it was declared heretical by the Church Fathers and eventually died out despite the fact that it considered itself part of the greater Church. The author’s thesis also suggests that the increasing antipathy of the Church toward Jewish Christianity was the result of a variety of interrelated influences operating over several centuries. Some of these influences included the changing demographics of the Church and the accompanying clash of cultures; the increasing isolation of Jewish Christianity from the predominantly Gentile Church; power struggles between competing Christian communities in Palestine, as well as Rome’s interest in asserting its primacy; and theological and pastoral concerns, which were well-intentioned but resulted in increasingly narrow views of orthodoxy and orthopraxis; and lasting anti-Jewish sentiments throughout the Empire, some of which still exist today.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Tell your readers a little about yourself.

I am the great-grandson of the chief rabbi of Mogelev in Belarus, whose family fled to the United States as refugees after he was killed in the early 20th century. I was born in Lubbock, Texas but grew up in the South Beach area of Los Angeles, California (a.k.a. “Baywatch Country”). In my early 20s, I made the mistake of betting my then brother-in-law, an Evangelical Christian, that I could prove to him from the scriptures that Jesus was not God and not the Messiah. Instead, much to my surprise, I became increasingly convinced that he was and ultimately became a Christ-follower, while still considering myself a Jew. I joined the Episcopal Church because it was the most Jewish church I could find, and I then spent the next 16 years trying to escape a call to ordained ministry (but I ultimately gave in). While in seminary, I did extensive research on the origins of Christianity and how a religion, which originally started out as a movement entirely within Judaism, increasingly became a separate Gentile religion. THAT research ultimately became THIS book.

I have been married for 46 years to the woman I love and have two wonderful adult children. I like reading science fiction, bike riding, playing the dulcimer, trying new and different ethnic foods, and going to movies. After starting two congregations, I left parish ministry to form The FaithX Project, a non-profit consulting, research, and resource development practice that helps congregations across the United States and from all religious traditions survive and thrive in challenging times through data-grounded discernment.

What inspired you to author your book?

I feel as though I was called, perhaps driven, to author Excommunicating the Faithful. In large part, what drove me was that Judaism and Christianity both had met in me, called to me, and had a hold on me. I will always consider myself both Jewish and Christian. I could no more separate them than I could cut myself in two. One of my first experiences as a follower of Jesus was taking part in Evening Prayer and discovering that many of the prayers in that service paralleled very closely to the Evening Prayers in my Jewish prayer book. It was experiences like this that led me to understand what a tragedy it was for these two sister faiths to have effectively disowned each other and that both ultimately excommunicated the Jewish-Christian community from their midst. It was this deep sense of mourning over relationship lost, as well as a deep desire to heal this great divorce, that inspired me to write the book.

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Where did you get the inspiration for your book’s cover?

I have twice made allyah (lit. “going up”) to Israel: first to Jerusalem, then to several other areas in the Holy Land where we visited several important historical and archeological sites. In one of those sites, the Church of St. George in Madaba, Jordan, we saw this beautiful mosaic map depicting Jerusalem and its environs as they appeared in the sixth century CE. That map, which is now broken into large pieces, symbolized to me the split between Judaism and Christianity.

Who has been the most significant influence on you personally and as a writer?

While I never met him, I think perhaps the greatest influence on me personally was my great-grandfather, Rabbi Reuben Minkoff, whose qualities were woven into the many stories that his daughter (my grandmother) told me. His devotion to God, his desire to protect his people, his determination to do what was right regardless of the consequences, even if (and when) it cost him his life, formed me first as a human being and later shaped me for ordained ministry.

What were your struggles or obstacles you had to overcome to get this book written?

This book grew out of my graduate thesis in seminary, with all the struggles that that process entailed, including the fact that it contravened the prevailing wisdom of the time. Similarly, when I began to look for a publisher, all the publishers I contacted did not have a niche into which they could readily pigeonhole it until I finally found GCRR Press.

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Tell your readers about your book.

Excommunicating the Faithful is a cautionary tale that is reminiscent of a murder mystery. It is cautionary because it shows how cultural misunderstandings and power struggles between competing Christian communities can result in increasingly narrow and conflicting views of orthodoxy, and orthopraxis can create not only theological divisions but racial and ethnic prejudice, as well. It shows what a loss it was (and is) for the Church to forget its spiritual heritage.

It is reminiscent of a murder mystery because the only evidence of the crime consists of fragments in the writings of the ones who were responsible for the death in the first place.

Who is your target audience, and why?

Early Church scholars and researchers, for sure, but also anyone who wants to understand how the need for power and control, the impulse to demonize those who are different, and latent antisemitism seeped into the early Church, resulting in a split between Christianity and Judaism, the excommunication of all Jewish Christians from the fellowship of the Church, and the erasing of the Church’s memory of its Jewish heritage.

If you were going to give one reason for anyone looking at your book to read, why should they buy it?

To begin to recover the memory of what was lost.

What do you consider your greatest success in life?

My great success in life is still be married to my best friend for more than four decades (marriage is hard work).

What one unique thing sets you apart from other writers in your genre?

Notwithstanding that the author of Proverbs said, “There is nothing new under the Sun,” I am probably one of few, if any, present-day Jewish Christians writing about their ancient forbears in the faith.

Tell your readers anything else you want to share.

I think that about says it all, except “Try it! You’ll like it!” as my Jewish mother used to say.”

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