RBL 04/2005

Boyarin, Daniel

Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity

Divinations: Rereading Late Antique Religion

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.

Pp. xv + 374. Hardcover. $38.50. ISBN 0812237641.

Jed Wyrick
California State University, Chico
Chico, CA 95929

Daniel Boyarin’s Border Lines: The Partition of Judeo-Christianity advances the thesis
that the discourse of minut (heresy) in rabbinic Judaism stands in a dynamic and
dialectical relationship to early Christian heresiology and that these discourses on heresy
were crucial in creating orthodox Christianity and Judaism alike.

The book opens with an introductory overview of Boyarin’s theoretical views (in a
panegyric to hybridity and borderlines in ch. 1). Boyarin then turns to a reading of Justin
Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho, together with analogous Mishnaic approaches to heresy,
in an effort to show that orthodoxy was created out of a theological refutation of Judaism
by Christianity and of Christianity by Judaism (ch. 2). In chapter 3, Boyarin maintains
that the notion of an “apostolic” succession in the Mishnah derives from Christianity and
from the common historico-cultural environment. On this issue, I would point out that the
impact of Josephus’s idea of a “succession of prophets” on the Christian view of the
apostolic succession should be considered in evaluating the trajectory of the succession
idea.

The most fascinating and groundbreaking parts of Boyarin’s book are his chapters on the
origin and deployment of Logos theology in pre- and pararabbinic Judaism (chs. 4, 5, and
6). Boyarin argues that the heresy referred to by the rabbis as “Two Powers in Heaven”

This review was published by RBL 2005 by the Society of Biblical Literature. For more information on obtaining a
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was, in essence, “binitarianism,” a Jewish worship of a helper divinity, variously referred
to as Logos, Memra, and/or Sophia. He then documents how Jewish Logos-theologians
(employing the Aramaic term memra) attributed a creative force to God’s “word,” and
emphasizes the origin of these traditions in midrashic interpretations of Gen 1 and Prov 8.

In using these insights to interpret the Prologue to the Gospel of John, Boyarin finds that
the hymn depicts the three descents of Wisdom/Logos, reworked with material about
John the Baptist. Significantly, he interprets John 1:11–13 as referring not yet to Jesus but
to the second of Wisdom’s failed attempts to enter the world, consisting in giving the
Torah to Israel. The passage thus constitutes a retort to the tradition that Wisdom is
Torah, as found in Ben Sira 24. Boyarin further claims that Memra traditions, found in
the Targums (at least those that were the least rabbinized), were the product of ancient
synagogues, which remained nonrabbinic in their religious ethos until the Middle Ages
(unlike the houses of study). At length, rabbinic Judaism would define itself by
identifying Logos theology as Christianity and expelling it, just as Christian orthodoxy
would embrace this theology and call its repudiation “Judaizing.”

An equally fascinating part of Boyarin’s project is his argument that the “Academy at
Yavneh” and its demarcation of heretical forms of Judaism are largely the legendary
creation of the Stammaim, the anonymous, posttalmudic rabbis who were so influential in
the creation of what we call Judaism (ch. 7). Along the way, Boyarin posits that orthodox
Judaism is characterized less by interpretive indeterminacy and endless debate than by
the idea of a pluralism won by excluding any possibility of real dissent. He reads this
move as a counterpoint to post-Nicene Christianity, which eliminated debate and dissent
in favor of monovocality. Finally, chapter 8 discusses the evolution of the concepts of
religio and superstitio in the fourth and early fifth centuries, arguing that Hellenism,
Christianity, and Judaism were conceived of as “religions” (the new understanding of
religiones) only at this time.

Border Lines is a difficult and extremely stimulating text. Sometimes it is challenging

because of the mid-sentence endnotes and their labyrinthine discussions. Its habit of
constantly mentioning and slightly tweaking the positions of the latest scholars may
frustrate. I applaud Boyarin’s commitment to interacting with recent critical theory,
although I occasionally wonder whether the clarity in thought that is potentially gained
outweighs the incongruity and anachronism sometimes involved.

For example, Boyarin’s use of Talal Asad’s critique of “religion” as a transhistorical,

transcultural entity is not entirely convincing. Boyarin conflates Asad’s critique with his
own description of the nexus between Christianity and Judaism. His conclusion is that
Judaism is a religion only from the perspective of Christianity, but for the Jews it is

This review was published by RBL 2005 by the Society of Biblical Literature. For more information on obtaining a
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“occasionally, ambivalently, and strategically” so. While Asad’s formulation represents
an important corrective to Christian and postmedieval assumptions about religion as an
entity separate from society at large, it should not be taken programmatically. Similarly,
Boyarin’s Foucauldian conception of “orthodoxy” as a historical entity created in the
fourth century by both Christians and Jews in semicollusion with each other leaves out
the possibility, articulated by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, that a orthodoxy/heterodoxy
dialectic is created in a variety of social contexts when tradition breaks down.

None of these minor criticisms detract from Boyarin’s tremendous accomplishment. This
work fundamentally enriches our understanding of how Christianity and Judaism
developed from one another, by articulating how Christian and Jewish texts make use of
legendary history and historical allegory and by reconceptualizing our understanding of
how heresy developed in both traditions.

This review was published by RBL 2005 by the Society of Biblical Literature. For more information on obtaining a
subscription to RBL, please visit http://www.bookreviews.org/subscribe.asp.