Judism

"Judaism and Christianity are linked to each other with a kinship that transcends all their differences. Christianity arose in the Jewish household of faith, and its basic teachings clearly reflect the influence of its family origin. The Jewish heroes of faith from Abraham through the prophets, are also deemed as the pioneers of Christian faith; the basic teachings of Judaism concerning God and man were adopted by Christianity into its own doctrinal structure. [...] Jews and Christians have forgotten their true relationship."1

As we look at the Jewish and the Christian faiths, both of which trace their origins back past Abraham and Moses, to the original stories of Genesis and the Garden of Eden, we notice basic similarities and major differences between the two religions. This paper will attempt to highlight those similarities and differences, illustrating major points in each religion and contrasting them, in order to come to a higher understanding of each religion and their relationship to each other.

Judaism is the faith of a people, in a people and as such, does not qualify itself so much as a religion as a group of people who follow the same traditions, laws, and beliefs. "Judaism does not characterize itself as a religion. The subject of the Tanakh is the history of the Children of Israel, especially in terms of their relationship with God. Thus, Judaism has been categorized as a culture or as a civilization."3 However, Christianity is a faith in faith, in an idea or ideal. The purely theological aspect of Christianity is one of the many differences between the two religions, and also one of the most important. There is no concept of national identity in Christianity the way there is in Judaism, nor does Christianity permeate everyday life quite in the same way Judaism does.

As we continue to look at both religions, we see that the tradition of the Old Testament (Christian) or Tanakh (Judaic) is respected, upheld and included in both sets of sacred texts. However, the value and meaning derived from this text is vastly different for each faith. Judaism sees the Tanakh (Torah) as its primary and holiest scripture, basing its laws, traditions, and worships therein. The Judaic faith also takes into account the oral traditions as recorded in the Talmud. But the fact remains that "the church [..] cannot forget that she received the revelation of the Old Testament from the people with whom G-d in His ineffable mercy concluded the former convenant."1 The stories of Adam and Eve, the Great Flood, Cain and Abel, Abraham, in fact all of the traditions with the sole exception of Jesus and his teachings, are Judaic in origin.

With the development of Christianity, the New Testament came into being. The different texts contained therein (Gospels, Acts, etc.) show usthe life of Jesus and his teachings, the acts of the Apostles after his death, and letters from early Christian religious figures. The Christian faith also rejected the Torah and Jewish oral traditions as obsolete. The Christians believe that with the coming of Jesus, God entered into a new covenant with the people, hence the distinction between the Old Testament and New Testament. "It became accepted Christian doctrine that the "Old" Testament was a preparation for the New Testament, that the new faith was the completion of the old. This led to a two fold development. Christians, though they admitted the Hebrew Bible into their canon of Scriptures, nevertheless felt constrained to contrast the two Testaments, always showing the higher spiritual reach of the New as compared with the Old."1 Yet in the opening page of the New Testament, Jesus' genealogy is traced in detail back to Abraham, the timeline divided into periods of fourteen generations, blatantly connecting Jesus to his Jewish heritage, and hence the heritage of Christianity to Judaism. However, the Jewish faith rejects the idea of a new covenant, the title of Old Testament, and the entirety of the New Testament, which extols Jesus as the messiah.

This brings us logically to the problem of the messiah, and to the main divide between Judaism and Christianity. In the Judaic tradition, the messiah will be be a moral man, descended from King David, who will rebuild and restore the nation of Israel and the Great Temple for all time. "Judaism teaches a belief in the messiah, but what is primary in the messianic faith in Judaism is its historical content. The core of this belief is the vision of a new world order of justice, freedom, and peace to replace the present epoch of oppression of man and by man and nation by nation."1 Jewish beliefs go on to say that "eventually war, hatred, and famine will end, and an era of peace and prosperity will come upon the Earth."2 For the Jewish people, in order to know if the messiah has arrived or not, all one has to do is look and see if the world is at peace. According to Jewish Scripture, the messiah had not yet arrived. The idea that Jesus was the messiah is completely unacceptable to the Jewish traditions. "Most of the reservations which a Jew must feel concerning Christianity stems from the belief in the messiahship of Jesus and its various doctrinal elaborations. [...] Christianity has invested his being with metaphysical significance. It has made his role as mediator between God and man an indispensable element in the scheme of human salvation."1

The central argument about the messiah-ship of Jesus was truly was caused the schism between Judaism and Christianity. Although Judaic tradition does acknowledge the existence of Jesus, as historical figure, a normal human being who was perhaps a teacher and healer of sorts or a miracle worker, as was common enough in the day. according to the Jewish faith, he cannot redeem souls, only God can, nor did he rise from the dead. To the Jews there is no God but God and that idea is irrefutable according to Jewish laws. Another break is that Judaism still follows the Ten Commandments, something the teachings of Jesus replaced for the Christians. The new covenant "lived by faith in Christ, not by the Law"5 To the Christians, Jesus is seen as the Son of God, God incarnate, the link between the heavenly and the earthly. It is the Christian belief that he died a martyr's death on the cross so that the sins of those who believe in Jesus' divinity may be forgiven and their souls redeemed. "In Jesus Christians see the messiah long anticipated in Judaism, whose ministry offers those who believe in him redemption from sin, and its consequences."1 For Christians he is the savior of humanity and part of the holy Trinity.

The idea of God as a trinity comprising the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is unique to