Circumcision of Gentile Converts

The seminal historical circumstance in the hostility between Christians and Jews was, I believe, the conflict over whether gentiles could be converted to Christianity without undergoing circumcision. Until that conflict, Christianity and Judaism were not seen as diametrically opposed to each other. Jesus and his followers did not seek to establish a new religion (Christianity) that defined itself in contrast to Judaism. Christianity’s separation from its parent, Judaism, occurred later. And one of the most divisive issues was whether circumcision was to be required of gentile converts.