Christians and Jews. These words are often uttered in juxtaposition, one on each side of a dividing line, as if to say, "Christians versus Jews." But the distinctions between the religions-the "truths" most of us hold to be self-evident-were not always so.

Early Christians did not make a clean break from Judaism. According to recent scholarship, at the turn of the Common Era the boundary between the faiths was often blurred and porous. Not until the second through fourth centuries did the line become defined-and the seeds of "otherness" get sown.

Parting of the Ways, a fourpart lecture series co-sponsored by Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School, will provide interlocking perspectives on how Christians and Jews related, and ultimately separated, during this pivotal-yet poorly documented-period. Scholars of archaeology, Jewish studies and Christian studies will piece together material and textual clues, and an internationally renowned historian will place them within the political context of the Roman Empire.

How were Jews and early Christians different, and how were they similar? Did Christianity and rabbinic (post-Second Temple) Judaism evolve in response to each other? How did they grow apart?

Dr. Shaye J.D. Cohen and Dr. Karen L. King of Harvard University, and Dr. Katharina Galor and Dr. Michael Satlow of Brown University will address these questions at Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School on March 5, 12, 19 and 26, respectively.

For program descriptions and registration information, please visit hebrewcollege.edu/cajl.

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