Relations between Judaism and Christianity

The Judaïsme and the Christianisme are two abrahamic Religions which are so closely dependant that in certain cases they live in parallel, and in other cases they diverge on the theological level or in practice.

Dogmatic questions

God

The Jews and the Christians believe in the prophets Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for the Jews God of the Tanakh, for the Christians God of the Old Testament, the creator of the world. The two religions reject the fact that God is entirely Immanent, and that it has in the world a physical presence (although the Christians believe in the Incarnation of God).

The two religions reject the fact that God is entirely Transcendant, and thus separated from the world, like Unknown God Greek pre-Christian. The two religions reject the Athéisme on the one hand, the Polythéisme of the other.

The Jews particularly reject the divinity of Jesus like a blasphemy and thus the Trinity. Their official doctrines are the divine Simplicité.

Bible

The Jews and the Christians make rest the authority on many common fundamental texts, but they can design these books in ways significantly different.

The Hebraic Bible includes/understands three parts:

Torah - five books of Brace;
Nevi' im - books of the Prophets;
Ketouvim - historical books.

The unit is known under the name of Tanakh, a Hebrew acronym corresponding to the first letters of each one.

The Christians consider that the Bible is a Old Testament auquelles they add a New Testament which is the whole of the Évangiles telling the life of Jesus to form the Christian Bible. They also add in the biblical body of the writings Apocryphes which were not retained by the Judaism.

Law

The life of the Jews is governed by the Halakha. I.e. the whole of the divine commands called Mitzvot which are given by God in the written Loi, developed by the Wise ones in Law oral and explained by the rabbinical authorities. The oral law was gathered in the Mishnah towards approximately 200 E.C.. It made the subject of debate in the rabbinical academies of Israel and Babylon which is brought back in the Guémara. The edition of Mishna increased by Guémara form the Talmud of Jerusalem and the Talmud of Babylon, which were published towards 450 E.C. and 600 E.C. respectively.

The Christians do not recognize the authority of any of these laws. They interpret these commands in an allegorical way and préferrent to draw their rules of life in the teaching of Jesus as clarified by the Fathers of the Church.

Messiah

The Bible indicates by Messie, in Hebrew Mashiah (מָשִׁיחַ), the people ointes of holy oil during their establishment, the such large priest or the king of Israel. This term appointed future king d' Israël, the delivery one announced in an allegorical way by the prophets, at the time of the second Temple. Certain Jews see in him, a simple monarch who would restore independence national policy on the ground of Israel. Other Jews, see in him delivery of the humanity which would bring it fine of our material time for the entry in a nouivelle divine gasoline era.

The Christians consider that Jesus is this famous universal Messiah and that its death on the cross actually delivered the humanity of its sins. The Apocalypse it Révélation of God in His Glory joins together all the nations, Israel Ancien and New Israel. The meeting of the nations is among Christians the condition of the advent of the New Era, that of the Spirit. The Christians believe in the resurrection of the flesh, consequence of the Divine Incarnation. Death, the evil attached to the pure materiality, is overcome by the Messianic advent.

Proselytism

The Judaism is conceived like the national religion of the Jewish people. He also considers that all the right men, whether they are Jewish or not, will be entitled to the future world. Consequently, the Judaism does not seek to convert the others with its faith. He hopes however that they will recognize the single divinity and will adopt the seven laws noahides.

Christianity is defined as a universal religion. He considers that only the Christians, the " circoncis in the middle " inspired of: (Lév.26, 41) - (Deut. 10,16 and 30,6) - (Jér. 4,4) will have share in the future world, in the New Jerusalem. Consequently, if Christianity wishes to convert all humanity with its faith, it does not distinguish therefore the children from Israel from the " Gentils" , pagan the contertis, it does not cut off from/to each other.

Religious life

Study

The Judaïsme makes study of the crowned texts and particularly of the Loi a daily obligation. A religious Jew particularly studies the Torah through the Paracha commented on thus the Choulhan Aroukh and Talmud. The study of the Kabbale through Hassidisme gained a great popularity.

Christianity must much of its clean Herméneutique with the Jewish tradition. Thus, the doctrines of the Four directions of the Writing in the Christian tradition, defined by Origène in the 3rd century, find its source in the Judaism, with the method of study of the Torah ( Peshat , Remez , Drash , Sod (Cabal) ). The latter was with the Moyen-âge a school of very famous biblical study, which had a Christian equivalent in the Christian Kabbale as from the 15th century. However, in the climate of Antijudaïsme of this century, the Church was opposed to the talmudic studies. In particular, Marin Mersenne (friendly very near to Descartes) was very firmly opposed to the Christian Kabbale, which was considered to be esoteric.

Festivals

Although not having exactly the same significances, certain Christian festivals find their origin in Jewish holidays.

Jewish Passover (Pessa' H) commemorates the Exode Hebrew out of Egypt. The Christian festival of Easter commemorates death and the Résurrection of Jesus-Christ. Christ took a meal with her disciples (the Cène), the day of Jewish Passover. The word Pessah means passage. In both cases, the festival symbolizes a revival.

The Christian Pentecost is the heiress of the Jewish holiday of Chavouot, or celebrates Weeks or celebrates First steps. The Jews celebrate the gift of the Torah on the Sinai mount whereas the Christians celebrate the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Ritual

The Christian Baptême draws its origin in the Jewish ritual bath, the Mikveh, which is particularly used in the Conversion with the Judaism.

The use of the bread and the wine in the Eucharistie recalls their use to the beginning of the meals of Jewish holidays.

Lastly, the catholic church vestments are a reminiscence of the Kippa and Talith.

Prayer

Behind each invocation of the Our Christian Father appear Jewish expressions of Prière S, in particular the Kaddish.

See: Jewish sources of our Father

Priesthood

The cohen is the Jewish priest who officiates in the sanctuary, i.e. the Tabernacle at times of the crossing of the desert which would have carried out the Enfants of Israel during the Exodus, and the Temple of Jerusalem after its construction. Its function, strictly hereditary and purely ritual, disappeared with the destruction from the Temple, like that of the levi having for function to assist it.
La figure of authority consequently became the Rabbin, a scholar of the Jewish Loi, recognized by its pars as expert on the matter and ready to slice in the situations requiring its competence as regards rites and traditions. He acquired a scale of spiritual leader in the Jewish communities of the exile, but does not superimpose itself nor does not replace the cohen at all.
Le role of the cohen , which is to direct the service, is currently held by the Hazzan (cantor) or the shalia' H tzibour (emissary of the congregation). It is however not excluded that a rabbi assumes the load of shalia' H tzibour , or is cohen from his ascent, as it was the case in particular Hafetz Hayim or Rav Kook.

The catholic Prêtre is a pastoral chief equipped with the capacity to forgive the Péché S in the name of God. The Pasteur protesting does not have this capacity. The Catholic church developed orders of Moines which generally withdraw material world to find God.

The monastic concept is completely foreign with the Judaism which comsidère that the mission of the Jew on ground is to bring God in the material world.

Ethics

War, violence, and pacifism

The Jews and the Christians accept most of the same moral principles taught in the Torah. There is a great overlapping between the systems ethical S from these two Foi S. Nevertheless, there are significant differences in doctrines.

The Judaism rejects the general use of violence. He precisely legislates the use of the war which is classified besides in three categories:

Release of the ground of Israel: religious command and obligatory war
Defense of the ground of Israel: obligatory war
Conquest of territories out the ground of Israel: optional war whose release by the King must be approved by the Sanhédrin.

The Torah envisages the conscription of the whole of the old men from 20 to 60 years with an exemption for the young grooms, the new owners and the timorous ones.

For Christianity, the characters of Gog and Magog quoted in the Old Testament) can incite with literal interpretations in some currents of Christianity - primarily certain evangelic branches under development strong in the United States and in other parts of the world, and deviate towards certain forms of fundamentalism.

Contraception and abortion

the first divine command given to humanity is procreation. The rabbinical authorities consider this command filled after the birth of two children for some or two wire for others. The Jewish Law however invites to give rise to a maximum of children and is opposed to the generalized use of contraception. Rabbinical exemptions are given to the reason for the protection of the health of the mother or impossibility of providing materially for new children. The Jewish Law also reduced the use of the abortion to the cases where it is necessary to save the life of the mother. She recognizes the humanity of the last fetus seven weeks.

Capital punishment

The Jewish Law regulates the capital punishment which can be marked only by one Sanhédrin. The oral Law introduced so much procedure rules which it is practically inapliquable. Talmud considers that a rabbinical court having delivered more than one sentence capital in 70 years is sanguinary and must be dissolved.

Relations Judeo-Christians

Antiquity

During the 1st century, in Judaea, and jusquà the fall of the Temple of Jerusalem (70 EC.), Jews and Christians lived with relatively good relations. In the years 70 - 100 EC., the scission was accentuated, the two communities defining each one its own gun of Writing between the II {{E}} and the 4th centuries. While the Christians formatted the gun of the Christian Bible, the Jews wrote Talmud.

When the Roman empire was christianized, the wind turned for the Jews. The Christian emperors of Rome, then of], quickly adopted a legislation which prohibits any economic life and spiritual auz Juifs of the ground of Israel. That caused the result of the movement of exile of the Jews which had started during the Roman wars. The Jews of Diaspora were touched by this legislation anti-semite.

The Middle Ages

In occident, between the 6th century and the Year thousand, Jews and Christians lived rather in good intelligence, the sculptures testify some on the monuments with Ravenne (basilica San Vitale) and except the kingdom wisigothic in Spain and frank in France whose Jews were expelled under threat of forced conversion.

The Catholic church slowly sat its authority on the Christian kingdoms and gradually imposed on the civil authorities the relegation of the Jews to the rebus of the company. Their civil statute passed from that of free man to that of serf. They were locked up in Ghetto S and were reduced to practice only certain professions. In particular, trade of the money. Whereas Christianity then prohibited the practice of the loan with interest with its faithful, the Jews were authorized to lend to the not-Jews by their religion. The result of this evolution were the Pogrom S practiced by the Christian population in all Europe at the time of the Croisades and the great epidemics of plague. The Church was often exceeded by the consequences of its teaching and tested sometimes, but with very little of success, to limit violences anti-semites.

Rebirth

The relations Judeo-Christians did not improve during the rebirth. The Jews remained a population marginalized at the thank you of the temporal power and popular angers. The birth of Protestantism and the first declarations of Luther were a great hope for the Jewish populations of Europe. But when it understood that it would not succeed in converting the Jews, Luther adopted the traditional Christian antisemistism.

Times modern and contemporary

With the modern time and the secularization of the Western states, the release of the Jews of their lower statute arrived. The Church and the synagog are generally considered in a levelling way by the political authorities.

This evolution allowed the opening of a true bringing together Judeo-Christian which could not exist under the former conditions. In France, the emancipation is the fact of the French revolution. In England, the acceptance of the Jews was considered for the first time by Crmwell and Manasse Ben Israel.

The Catholic church had been regarded a long time as only the verus Israel (see Théologie of substitution). Consequently, Rome recognized the State of Israel only in 1994, which decreased the effects of the ecumenical IIe council of the Vatican. In the Anglo-Saxon world, one saw developing Christian doctrines in connection with the Judaism, like the Dispensationalisme, which is taken into account by certain fundamentalist evangelic Churches.

Since the Second world war, the bringing together between the Judaism and the Catholic church is effective. It was carried out under the impulse of some outstanding personalities like Jacques Maritain, Jules Isaac, or Mgr Jean-Marie Lustiger. The declaration Nostra Ætate fixed the framework of the interreligieuses relations. The Prayer of the Good Friday and catechism (1992) were re-examined to remove any offensive mention with respect to the Jews. The repentances of the years 1995 - 2000 aimed to make become aware with the Christians of the responsibilities in the Shoah. The popes paid the first visits in synagogs: Jean-Paul II in Rome in 1986, Benoit XVI in Cologne in 2004.

Reciprocal opinions

Opinion of the Christians on the Judaism

Until the 20th century, the position of the Church and majority of the Protestant churches were that the Juif S did not play any more a part in the intention of God (Théologie of substitution or Supersessionisme). The Church even considered that the Jews were to live in the forfeiture in order to testify to their punishment not to have recognized the divinity of Jesus. The general policy of the Church was thus to protect the life from the Jews while making bet Western company. A long Christian legislation gave to the temporal autotities the means of concretizing the intentions of the church.

Since the Concile Vatican II, the Théologie of substitution was given up by the Church (Nostra Aetate and declaration on the Religious liberty). See on this subject the Theology of Alliance. Consequently, a true oecumenical dialog could be born.

From other points of view were adopted by certain branches of Protestantism in the United States: John Nelson Darby, author of a translation of the Bible, is at the origin of the doctrines of the Dispensationalisme, largely widespread today at the fundamentalist Chrétiens, according to which the Second arrival of Christ would be accompanied by events forerunners, of which the return of the Juif S on the Promised land to Abraham.

The Dominican Father French Marcel-Jacques Dubois (1920 - 2007), Philosophe and Théologien, considered as a “great figure of the bringing together judéo - Christian, professor with the Hebraic Université of Jerusalem, installed with Jerusalem in the Années 1960, which obtained Israeli nationality in 1973, encouraged the study of Jewish sciences and the Judaïsme by the Chrétiens.

See also: Jewish people and his Holy Scriptures in the Christian Bible, biblical pontifical commission, on the site of the the Vatican.

See for more details: Dispensationalisme

Opinion of the Jews on Christianity

Jesus does not play any part in the Judaïsme. The Jews acquired a familiarity with the person of Jesus primarily by the western world which is a company relatively directed towards the Christianisme.

The majority of the Jews believe that Jesus was a real person. Much sees it only like one of the figures of a long list of applicants to the messianity, of which none meets the conditions of a prophet specified in the five books of Moïse. Others see Jesus as a teacher who worked with the Gentils and allot the Messianic claims which they find objectables with his successors. Finally, for others still, perhaps the majority of the Jews, Jesus are simply out of matter, a central figure in a religion which is not theirs, a little as Mahommet would be it for the majority of the Christians.

The Christian Antijudaïsme which was expressed during two thousand years in the form of censure of the Jewish texts, humilations, physical violences and massacres left an extremely negative image of Christianity in the Jewish collective conscience.

The question of knowing if Christianity is a form of divided idolatry the rabbinical authorities. The answer to this question has a ritual importance and conditions the relation of the religious Jews with the Christians and their places of worship. The Middle Ages, the majority of the ground Masters having lived of Islam answer by the affirmative contrary to those which lived out of Christian ground. This question remained unanswered distinct.

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