Some Early Jewish and Christian Exegetical Problems and the Dynamics of Monotheism

The thesis of this article is that a Jewish theological formula or an interpretation of biblical passages which, in one period, successfully served one side of a polemic, became, in a later period and in another context, a springboard for an adversary's attack, or an insidious internal theological problem. The author attempts to illuminate the inner dynamics of Judaism as a monotheistic religion, and to observe the potential of inherent theological tensions in Judaism of the Second Temple period and rabbinic Judaism for the emergence of Christian and Gnostic theological concepts and interpretations which were in conflict with the Jewish ones.