Commemorative Identities

<em>Commemorative Identities </em>represents a significantly new approach to the issue of replacement/abrogation vs. continuation of Jewish thought patterns and practices among Jewish Christ-followers as they are addressed by the Johannine author. Previous studies have been unable to elucidate a comprehensible argument to support continuation of commemoration in the face of explicit Temple replacement terminology in the Gospel. <br/><br/>This study provides that argument based upon known sociological observations and models and direct comparative analysis with Jewish practices pre- and post-70. Mary Spaulding's study will further invigorate scholarly debate concerning identity issues in the Fourth Gospel a topic of significant interest among Johannine scholars today. More generally the origins of Christianity as portrayed in the Gospel of John are understood as a gradual unfolding of and differentiation among various Jewish groups post-Second Temple rather than as an abrupt break from an established normative Judaism.