“Jewish Studies, Christianity, and Even Paganism”

On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the publication of The Ways That Never Parted, I reflect on the ways that the original framers of the conference and volume contemplated not only convergence and divergence of ancient religions (Christians and Jews) but also modern academic disciplines: classical studies, Jewish studies, and early Christian studies. I ask to what extent these imagined convergences and divergences (ancient religions then, scholarly disciplines now) rely on unacknowledged Christian theological assumptions about religion, religions, and religious studies. One enduring legacy of The Ways That Never Parted is its invaluable work to chart a path out of this tangle of historical and historiographic homologies that we are still grappling with.