Scriptural Authority and Early Christian Identities

Texts invested with authority are tools of identity struggle: they can be used to legitimate claims about who "we" are and how "we" ought to act. This book explores the interconnections between constructing a shared social identity and projecting authority onto texts through six case studies: Paul's undisputed letters, The First Epistle of Peter, The First Epistle of Clement, The Second Epistle of Clement, The Epistle of Barnabas, and Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho. It develops new analytical tools for an undertheorized phenomenon—authority projected onto texts—making the study relevant to multiple fields concerned with authoritative traditions. The book's comparative approach reveals genuine variation in how authority is conferred on Jewish scriptures and on written Jesus traditions, as well as the different ways these texts are deployed to present a compelling narrative of who "we" "truly" are. Drawing on recent research, it offers fresh readings of the sources, frequently challenging outdated paradigms and proposing new ways to approach the evidence. Through critical engagement with a social identity approach to leadership, the book illuminates the connections between the use of authoritative traditions, the shaping the social identity of one's audience, and the exertion of power through texts to change the social reality. It thus sheds light on creative moves in identity construction that ultimately contributed to the "the parting of the ways" between Jews and Christians. By bridging textual analysis, social identity theory, and leadership studies, the book offers a new framework for understanding the interplay between negotiations of textual authority and identity construction.