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JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY

Adapted from Huston Smith’s The Soul of

Christianity

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4 Interpretations of Holy TextLiteral

What does the text explicitly assert?

Ethical What does the text tell individuals that they should and

should not do?

Allegorical What are the meanings that Jesus' parables, for example,

convey?

Anagogic What inspiration can people draw from the text?

"Inspiration" that with the aid of the Holy Spirit, points them to higher realms in an endless attempt to reach perfection.

Holy Books

The most holy Jewish book is the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) which was revealed by God to Moses on Mount Sinai over 3,000 years ago.

The Torah, together with the Talmud (commentary on the Torah), give the Jewish people rules for everyday life. Observing these rules is central to the Jewish religion

The Christian holy book is the Bible. It is divided into the Old and New Testaments.

The New Testament teaches that God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to restore the broken relationship between people and God which had been caused by human wrong doing.

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•The Jewish World View:

Absolute perfection reigns as God

 God endowed human beings with intelligence and freedom

The human soul is “God-like”: "The kingdom of God is within you.”

People have the potential to go to heaven if they live by the rules of the Torah, do good deeds, and walk a spiritual path

The Messiah will come and bring peace to the world

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The Christian world is Infinite

Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and an incarnation of God

People have the potential to go to heaven if they walk a spiritual path and accept Jesus as their Savior.

Absolute perfection reigns as God

 God endowed human beings with intelligence and freedom

The human soul is God-like "The kingdom of God is within you.”

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THE ORGINS OF THE JUDAISM

Judaism has about 13 million followers throughout the world, mostly in USA and Israel. 267,000 people in the UK said that their religious identity was Jewish (2001 census).

The Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (“Israel”) are the origins of the Hebrew people

Judaism originated in the Middle East over 3500 years ago.

Jews were enslaved in ancient Egypt and freed by Moses (more than 3300 years ago)

Judaism is ethnically grounded in lineage, language, and history

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The Origins of Christianity•Christianity is the largest religion in the world with over 2 billion followers. 42 million people in Britain today describe themselves as Christian, and there are 6 million who are actively practicing.

•Christianity is focused on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe to be the Son of God. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the Middle East over 2000 years ago.

•Christianity began with the controversy over whether Jesus was or was not the Messiah

•Christians honor their Jewish heritage.

Judaism Teaches

A “covenant relationship” exists between God and the Hebrew people

Religion is the celebration and sanctification of life

There is only one God

There were prophets of old – especially Moses, through whom Torah was revealed to the Hebrew people

The Torah (first five books of the Bible), contains religious, moral and social laws which guide the life of a Jew the Hebrew Bible does not include the New

Testament

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Christianity teaches:•Religion is the celebration and sanctification of life

•There is only one God

•There are prophets of old – including Moses, John, and Paul whom are chosen to reveal God’s message

•The Torah (first five books of the Bible), and the New Testament (including the Gospels and Revelations) contain religious, moral and social laws which guide the life of a Christian

•God's revelation is passed along with: • the New Testament• the church fathers• great theologians and saints• The outreach of believers

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The Historical Jesus

Christianity is founded on concrete events, and actual historical happenings rather than abstract principles.

The biographical details of Jesus' life are meager, but both Jews and Christians acknowledge his existance. 

He was a charismatic prophet who stood in a tradition that stretched back to the beginning of Hebrew history.

Jesus was a miraculous healer and exorcist according to Biblical accounts.

While Christians believe he was the son of God, Jews view him as great teacher.

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Jesus as a man…

Jesus was deeply Jewish.

He concluded that certain exclusive qualities of Judaism compromised God's impartial, all-encompassing love for everyone.

He claimed that God's revelation to the Jews was too important to be confined to a single ethnic group.

The mission of Jesus and his followers was to release God’s word to a ready and waiting world.

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The Development of the ChurchThe first Christians spread their beliefs

throughout the Mediterranean world

Christ founded Christianity, Paul founded the Christian church

Paul used the human body to symbolize the church: The church was the Mystical Body of Christ.

Christ was the head of this body the Holy Spirit its soul Individual Christians were its cells.

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The Mind of the Church: Beliefs

The Incarnation: affirms that Christ was God-man; simultaneously both

fully God and fully man.

The Atonement: affirms that people must seek forgiveness for their

imperfections (reconciliation)

The Trinity: holds that while God is fully one, God is also three.

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The Mind of the Church: Beliefs

Continued…Life Everlasting:

Eternal life is life of a higher order than life on earth

Hell : The state of total aloneness - not being connected

to anything.

The Virgin Birth: The beginning of Christianity

Apocalypse: the storyline of impending disasters followed

by final salvation.

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THE THREE MAIN BRANCHES OF CHRISTIANITY TODAY 

Starting in 1054 great divisions began to

occur in the Church.3 main branches evolved as a result

Roman CatholicismEastern Orthodoxy Protestantism

Many other Christian denominations have emerged since

SYMBOLS OF JUDAISM

SYMBOLS OF CHRISTIANITY

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QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION

1. What is the difference between Orthodox and Reform practices?

2. What is Jewish Mysticism? What role does the Kaballah play in this practice?

3. Who are the Hasidic Jews? In what ways does Hasidism differ from other forms of Judaism?

Questions for further discussion:

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