WI Constantine became Jewish, Judaism and Christianity switched

It's pretty well understood by scholars that modern Judaism and Christianity both emerged from the same sectarian theological-political mess that was 2nd Temple Judaism under Roman occupation. Both come from the same roots. And in different ways, both were heavily influenced by Hellenistic and Roman philosophy.

(Notwithstanding Christian claims of supersessionism, modern Judaism is more explicitly a continuation of 2nd Temple Judaism and Christianity is more expressly a schismatic movement rejecting many of of the claims made by 2nd Temple Judaism. But this does not change the facts! Judaism and Christianity are often analogized to the Biblical story of Yaakov and Esau, by both Jewish and Christian thinkers. They are twin ideologies that shared as much as they differed.)

Christianity became the dominant religious movement in the Roman Empire and Judaism was relegated to an often-oppressed minority group. What if the reverse happened? What if Constantine (or another Roman emperor) adopted Judaism instead?

This would naturally avert all of the Ecumenical Councils that Constantine set into motion. This would also naturally avert the codification of the Talmud (which was contemporaneous with Constantine). But what would all of that look like? How would Judaism look as a Roman imperial doctrine, and how would Christianity look without the influence of state power?
 
Rome especially saw circumcision as a practice strange at best and detestable at worst. No way that the Empire converts en masse to Judaism even if the Emperor adopts it.
 
Yah and that was the penance and may other thing to get into the religion and many Jewish people at the time consider converts to Judaism not jewsih
 
Rome especially saw circumcision as a practice strange at best and detestable at worst. No way that the Empire converts en masse to Judaism even if the Emperor adopts it.
Jewish law concerning circumcision rules became stricter in the post-2nd Temple period to prevent assimilated Jews from attempting to cosmetically reverse the process (1, 2). This is because intense Hellenic distaste towards the concept led to multiple attempts to outlaw circumcision, culminating even in wars. IIRC circumcision was controversial even in early Christianity; Peter insisted on Christians being circumcised, but Paul did not.

As a historic practice, circumcision has been practiced by Jews and Egyptians and others across the MENA for hundreds of years before Hellenism and the Roman Empire - but I don't think it was practiced in pre-Islamic Persia. If Islam OTL was able to impose circumcision, couldn't a Roman emperor?
 
You'd need a POD much earlier than Constantine.

Constantine adopting Christianity (or rather acknowledging it and making it an accepted/favored faith within the empire) was dependent on the spread and relative success of Christianity by the 300s. Lots of important figures, landowners, and even officers had converted by then. The religion had garnered a lot of support and status by then...but was still facing suspicion from more traditional elements of society and government. But note that Constantine used Christian imagery and associations to promote his victory; evidence that such propaganda was reaching a receptive audience among a good portion of the empire's population.

There is no reason to use Judaic imagery or iconography as there is no established, influential Jewish population in the empire.

Not saying it isn't feasible; you'd just need a POD in the 1st century AD (at the latest) to make Judaism more widespread through the empire AND have converts from positions of status, wealth, and influence. Again, Constantine wasn't taking some downtrodden, "loser" religion and turning it into the prom queen; he was going with the flow of demographic and religious change within the empire and legitimizing a faith that had gained some critical mass of support.
 
Theological correlations aside, I think you're underestimating Judaism's lack of a messianic spirit vis-a-vis Christianity as Constantine's conversion was derived in part from Christianity's spread and success throughout the Roman Empire. Furthermore, Constantine himself had this to say on the matter of Judaism in a letter to the Council of Nicea:

"... it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul ... Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way."
 
I have seen claims that Judaism was successfully missionary in the empire, until such activities became dangerous under Christian rulers, and that both Christianity and Judaism each comprised a tenth of the population before the official adoption of Christianity. Is that correct, or what was the situation?
 

Philip

Donor
I have seen claims that Judaism was successfully missionary in the empire, until such activities became dangerous under Christian rulers

It is wrong to think of Judaism at the beginning of the Common Era as a monolithic faith. Some sects were certainly proselytizing, and may have laid the groundwork for Christian expansion (academic debate on how important they were continues). Other traditions taught that the Gentiles had no place in The-World-to-Come and conversion was impossible. Still others fell somewhere inbetween.

Certainly the restrictions on proselytizing placed by Christian and later Islamic rulers reduced the trend in Judaism, but it was in decline before that. In part it may have been that those groups that favored allowing conversion were absorbed into the universalism of the Christian movement. The destruction of the temple and the defeat of the Jewish rebellions reduced its appeal. Judaism that came out of the Desolation may have closed itself off as a protective measure or as a rejection of the spread of Christianity.

both Christianity and Judaism each comprised a tenth of the population before the official adoption of Christianity.

I would ask for a source on those numbers.
 
Maybe a POD where Christianity is more like the modern "Messianic Judaism"? Maybe somehow, Christianity doesn't lose its Jewish identity. So they both "feed" off of each other's growth and Constantine has a "Sophie's Choice" on the matter.
 
Rome especially saw circumcision as a practice strange at best and detestable at worst. No way that the Empire converts en masse to Judaism even if the Emperor adopts it.

Why later on Muslim empire it became standard? Jews also accepted that people entering it and not be circumcised.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-covenant-of-circumcision/

One point I do think is that if Judaism did become the national religion in Rome, it would be changed dramatically. What we call Judaism today would be very different.
 

Zwinglian

Banned
Maybe a POD where Christianity is more like the modern "Messianic Judaism"? Maybe somehow, Christianity doesn't lose its Jewish identity. So they both "feed" off of each other's growth and Constantine has a "Sophie's Choice" on the matter.
For that to happen Paul would have to be executed by the Romans before he really wrote anything. But taking out half of the New Testament would have a lot of effects beyond making Christianity more like Judaism
 
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