The relation of Judaism to Christianity has always been a question heavy-laden with negative and threatening overtones. The term ‘Christianity’ was initially used (by Ignatius) to define Christianity by way of contrast with ‘Judaism’. And the long centuries of Christian imperialist disdain for Judaism persisted well into the second half of the twentieth century. However, the attempt to achieve a healthier and more just appreciation of Judaism on the part of Christian scholarship is now well under way.

The New Testament has been at the heart of this reappraisal: understandably, since some of its own more antithetical statements have contributed to the rise of Christian anti-Judaism. But the renewed appreciation of Judaism as a religion of covenant and atonement as well as of law and obedience, and of Christianty's Jewish origins, of Jesus the Jew, of the New Testament as largely written by Jews, and of the Jewish character of the Christianity therein expressed has more and more counteracted such polemical passages. The new perspective on Paul in particular has made it much clearer that terms like ‘Jew’, ‘Judaism’ and especially ‘Israel’ reflect a much more complex reality (historical, social, religious) than a too simplistic reading of the antithetical statements has hitherto recognised.

The discussion aroused by this new perspective on Paul has focused principally on the two letters of Paul which deal most fully with the Jew/Gentile issue – Romans and Galatians.