There's quite a bit of writing about this in early Christianity, beginning with the Pauline Epistles, which make up the earliest expression of Christian theology. After Paul's decisive break with the Judaizing elements, it doesn't seem to have been a great problem within the church. Tertullian and Augustine were also massively influentia…
There's quite a bit of writing about this in early Christianity, beginning with the Pauline Epistles, which make up the earliest expression of Christian theology. After Paul's decisive break with the Judaizing elements, it doesn't seem to have been a great problem within the church. Tertullian and Augustine were also massively influential here. Another important influence to account for is that Christian theology came to be expressed through the language of neoplatonism (though there has always been speculation that Greek theories of monotheism were themselves borrowed from Jewish and Egyptian sources).
As a Christian, I never really experienced much anxiety about this. My understanding of Jewish chosenness was always that Jews had this special history *because* they would bring forth this messianic ministry (this is more or less Paul's take). So, Jews are "special" because of Jesus, Jesus was not special for being Jewish. This racial concept is antithetical to Christian theology as I understand it.
I read Pascal's Pensées just this year and he talks about the relationship between Judaism and Christianity extensively. His basic take is that post-Temple Judaism exists to provide independent verification of the messianic prophecies (a nice little irony that resembles God's sense of humor in scripture). But he also divides both Jews and Christians into those "of the flesh" (sinful) and "of the spirit" (redeemed). So, it ends up as kind of a wash. This is all to say that the racial or national aspect of choseness is dropped within one generation, and, where it is encountered later, is generally condemned as a form of idolatry of the flesh. The whole religion is founded upon the rejection of a national Messiah in favor of a universal one.
There's quite a bit of writing about this in early Christianity, beginning with the Pauline Epistles, which make up the earliest expression of Christian theology. After Paul's decisive break with the Judaizing elements, it doesn't seem to have been a great problem within the church. Tertullian and Augustine were also massively influential here. Another important influence to account for is that Christian theology came to be expressed through the language of neoplatonism (though there has always been speculation that Greek theories of monotheism were themselves borrowed from Jewish and Egyptian sources).
As a Christian, I never really experienced much anxiety about this. My understanding of Jewish chosenness was always that Jews had this special history *because* they would bring forth this messianic ministry (this is more or less Paul's take). So, Jews are "special" because of Jesus, Jesus was not special for being Jewish. This racial concept is antithetical to Christian theology as I understand it.
I read Pascal's Pensées just this year and he talks about the relationship between Judaism and Christianity extensively. His basic take is that post-Temple Judaism exists to provide independent verification of the messianic prophecies (a nice little irony that resembles God's sense of humor in scripture). But he also divides both Jews and Christians into those "of the flesh" (sinful) and "of the spirit" (redeemed). So, it ends up as kind of a wash. This is all to say that the racial or national aspect of choseness is dropped within one generation, and, where it is encountered later, is generally condemned as a form of idolatry of the flesh. The whole religion is founded upon the rejection of a national Messiah in favor of a universal one.