God-fearer

For the religious concept, see Fear of God.
Sardis Synagogue (3rd century, Turkey) had a large community of God-fearers and Jews integrated into the Roman civic life.

God-fearers (Koinē Greek: φοβούμενοι τὸν Θεόν, phoboumenoi ton Theon)[1] or God-worshippers (Koinē Greek: θεοσεβεῖς, Theosebeis)[1] were a numerous class of Gentile sympathizers to Hellenistic Judaism that existed in the Greco-Roman world,[2][3][4][5] which observed certain Jewish religious rites and traditions without becoming full converts to Judaism.[1][2][3][5][6][7][8] The concept has precedents in the proselytes of the Hebrew Bible.

Many of these Greco-Roman sympathizers to Hellenistic Judaism, which had a monotheistic or henotheistic Pagan background, were worshippers of Caelus (the Roman name/equivalent to Yahweh).[9] Some modern scholars of Judaic studies, such as A. Thomas Kraabel, believe the God-fearers named in the New Testament (such as Cornelius the Centurion) to be a fictional invention of the Acts of the Apostles.[2] More generally, God-fearing has come to mean someone who is honestly religious.

  1. ^ a b c Sim, David C. & MacLaren, James S. (2013). "Gentiles, God-fearers and proselytes (Chapter 1): God-Fearers (Section 3)". Attitudes to Gentiles in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 9–27. ISBN 978-0-56763-766-6.
  2. ^ a b c Kraabel, A. T. (1981). "The Disappearance of the 'God-Fearers'". Numen. 28 (2). Leiden: Brill Publishers: 113–126. doi:10.1163/156852781X00160. eISSN 1568-5276. ISSN 0029-5973. JSTOR 3270014. LCCN 58046229. OCLC 50557232.
  3. ^ a b Feldman, Louis H.; Reinhold, Meyer, eds. (1996). ""Sympathizers" (God-fearers)". Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. pp. 137–145. ISBN 0-567-08525-2.
  4. ^ Marcus, Ralph (1952). "The Sebomenoi in Josephus". Jewish Social Studies. 14 (3). Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press: 247–250. JSTOR 4465081. We know from Pagan, Christian, and Jewish sources that during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods some Gentiles were so strongly attracted to Judaism that they became converts and undertook to observe Jewish laws and customs in the same manner as did the Jews themselves. [...] It is also commonly assumed that there were some Gentiles who did not go so far as to become converts but indicated their belief in monotheism and gave up the worship of Pagan gods. How far they went in openly dissociating themselves from Paganism and in associating themselves with Judaism we do not know. These Gentile sympathizers are commonly thought to be referred by the terms sebomenoi or phoboumenoi ton theon and metuentes in Greek and Latin sources, and yir᾿ê shamayim "fearers of Heaven" (i.e. God-fearers) in some early Rabbinic passages.
  5. ^ a b Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1986). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Vol. 3 (Fully Revised ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans. p. 1010. ISBN 0-8028-3783-2. Many scholars see a parallel between the "God-fearers" in rabbinic literature and the "God-fearers" in the New Testament (NT). In rabbinic literature the ger toshab was a Gentile who observed the Noachian commandments but was not considered a convert to Judaism because he did not agree to circumcision. [...] some scholars have made the mistake of calling the ger toshab a "proselyte" or "semiproselyte." But the ger toshab was really a resident alien in Israel. Some scholars have claimed that the term "those who fear God" (yir᾿ei Elohim/Shamayim) was used in rabbinic literature to denote Gentiles who were on the fringe of the synagogue. They were not converts to Judaism, although they were attracted to the Jewish religion and observed part of the law.
  6. ^ Trebilco, Paul (2001). "I «Timorati di Dio»". In Lewin, Ariel (ed.). Gli ebrei nell'Impero romano: saggi vari (in Italian). Florence: La Giuntina. pp. 161–193. ISBN 88-8057-120-6.
  7. ^ Trebilco, Paul (2006). "The Jews in Asia Minor, 66-c. 235 CE". In Davies, William David; Finkelstein, Louis; Katz, Steven T. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 80–82. ISBN 978-0-521-77248-8.
  8. ^ Goodman, Martin (2007). "Identity and Authority in Ancient Judaism". Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays. Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Vol. 66. Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 30–32. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004153097.i-275.7. ISBN 978-90-04-15309-7. ISSN 1871-6636. LCCN 2006049637. S2CID 161369763.
  9. ^ Florus, Epitome 1.40 (3.5.30): "The Jews tried to defend Jerusalem; but he [Pompeius Magnus] entered this city also and saw that grand Holy of Holies of an impious people exposed, Caelum under a golden vine" (Hierosolymam defendere temptavere Iudaei; verum haec quoque et intravit et vidit illud grande inpiae gentis arcanum patens, sub aurea vite Caelum). Finbarr Barry Flood, The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies on the Makings of an Umayyad Visual Culture (Brill, 2001), pp. 81 and 83 (note 118). The Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982, 1985 reprinting), p. 252, entry on caelum, cites Juvenal, Petronius, and Florus as examples of Caelus or Caelum "with reference to Jehovah; also, to some symbolization of Jehovah."