Release date: June 29, 2007
Contact: Elaine Justice at 404-727-0643 or elaine.justice@emory.edu

'Reluctant Parting' Author to Give Jewish Insights on New Testament

Julie Galambush

Religion scholar Julie Galambush will discuss her book "The Reluctant Parting: How the New Testament's Jewish Writers Created a Christian Book" Tuesday, July 10 at Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum.

The free talk, set for 7 p.m. in the Reception Hall, is part of a series of public events surrounding the museum's exhibit "Cradle of Christianity: Jewish and Christian Treasures from the Holy Land," which continues through Oct. 14. To see details about the full calendar of events, visit the "Cradle of Christianity" Web site.

Galambush, associate professor of religious studies at The College of William and Mary, earned her PhD in Old Testament Studies from Emory University. She was an ordained Baptist minister before she converted to Judaism in 1994.

"It was an easy and joyful transition," says Galambush, adding that even while growing up in a liberal American Baptist family in Ohio, she did not see a major theological barrier between Christianity and Judaism.

After converting, "I spent a lot of time explaining Christianity to Jews and Judaism to Christians," she says. "That became a sort of avocation. I was surprised at how much the two groups didn't know about each other and I began to see myself as a resource."

To help fill the gap in understanding, Galambush wrote "The Reluctant Parting," which was published in 2005. "I'm trained in the Old Testament and New Testament texts, so I thought I could write a Jewish-friendly introduction to the New Testament," she explains. In the book, she makes the case that the New Testament writers are "engaged in a defensive task proving, ironically enough, that they're still Jewish. They're saying that they're the part of the Jewish community that's gotten it right."

Jews and Christians alike have expressed gratitude for the book, Galambush says. "People need this. Understanding how the Jewish identity is reflected in every page of the New Testament allows a reader to befriend the authors as Jews without any suggestion that the authors themselves should now become Christians."

Recognition of this strong Jewish identity that persisted in the first century of Christianity "is a relatively new understanding," Galambush said. "It's only been fully articulated in the last generation. Scholars continue to see the 'parting of the ways' taking place at a later and later date."

The Holocaust was one impetus for the two religions to search for common ground, Galambush says, while the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered between 1947 and 1956, provided critical tools to further explore the connections. "The Dead Sea Scrolls not only told us a lot of fascinating things about how Jews thought in the period when Christianity was forming, they were also powerful enough to get us to reconsider other data," she explains.

Organized by and drawn exclusively from the Israel Museum, "Cradle of Christianity" is one example of this gradual transformation in the understanding of the two religions. The exhibit explores the concurrent histories of early Christian and Jewish life through some of the most significant biblical artifacts ever found, including a section of a Dead Sea Scroll and a fragment from the temple of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus and Herod. The Carlos Museum is one of only three U.S. venues for the traveling exhibition.

"I think the exhibition, in an understated way, is quite daring," Galambush says. "A cradle is a place where you do some nurturing. So the name implies that not only did Christianity originate in Judaism, Judaism nurtured it. We can look at this as an intimate relationship. In many ways, that potential for gracious co-existence is still there in the two religions."

Click for a complete listing of news releases on the "Cradle of Christianity" exhibit.

The Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University brings visitors in contact with masterworks from Egypt, the Near East, Greece, Rome, the Americas, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, as well as prints and drawings from the Middle Ages to the present day, all housed in the stunning spaces of a building by world-renowned architect Michael Graves. An exciting array of special exhibitions, lectures, concerts and programs for children and families make the Carlos Museum a dynamic destination to experience the world's great art.

Emory University is one of the nation's leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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