Jews, Hebrews and Christians: Some Needed Distinctions

Abstract

JEWS, HEBREWS AND CHRISTIANS: SOME NEEDED DISTINCTIONS by ROBERT MURRAY, S.J. Heythrop College (University of London) Probably everyone who tries to identify groups, tendencies or movements in the religious world in which Christianity was born has felt frustrated by the imprecision, or even confusion, affecting the principal terms which have to be used. The difficulty of defini- tion centres on 'Jewish Christianity', but the reasons for it are already there in Judaism and its related sects or movements, while the problem of the varieties of early Christianity is soon compound- ed with that of Gnosticism. Attempts to define 'Jewish Christianity'