Is there a Judeo-Christian heritage?
Hi all,
A friend gave me a copy of Jewish Western Bulletin, Feb. 11, 2000 edition, you may find interesting.
A letter to the editor by Eugene Kaellis, New Westminster, B.C.
Is there a Judeo-Christian heritage?
As expected, the Chanukah / Christmas season brought some public references to "Judeo-Christian heritage" (or "tradition").
The so-called Judeo-Christian heritage or tradition is an invention of Christians troubled by the roots of the Holocaust in Christian teachings and anxious to make amends in order to proselytize them and hasten the Second Coming, and by some Jews who are desperate enough for acceptance by the dominant community that they will fervently embrace counterfeit forms.
If God is viewed as the infinite and, therefore ineffable, of course it is easy to claim that Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and others believe in the same God. But that isn't what happened. God was immediately anthropomorphized, i.e. given human characteristics. "He" became a noun and was given a gender, masculine of course, and then a whole series of traits -- emotional, moral, legal, prescriptive to the point of blueprinting the Ark as design of breastplates, and what may or may not be eaten.
Both Jews and Christians did this. In the case of the latter, the theological result was the
Doctrine of the Trinity, which Jews (and Muslims) view as a serious disavowal of monotheism. So, right away, there was a big departure from an allegedly common tradition.
But it doesn't end here.
Judaism posits individual responsibility and accountability; Christianity proclaims the vicarious atonement of the world's sins through the sacrifice of Jesus, the redeemer.
Judaism emphasizes behaviour, Christianity emphasizes belief. Indeed, in many Christian denominations, belief is all that is required for salvation, in spite of a life of sin.
If clergy is defined as those who mediate the relationship between people and God, Judaism does not (except for purposes of parking privileges) have a clergy. The rabbinate consists of teachers and, if the congregation is lucky, they are primum interpares [first among equals]. In Christianity, the clergy administers, depending on denomination, from 2 to 7 sacraments that generate a special relationship between God and people.
Judaism frankly recognizes the humanness of its leaders, Moses, Saul, David, for example, whereas Christianity posits perfection for Jesus, formed in an immaculate conception, born of a virgin birth, living a perfect life and dying a perfect death.
Judaism does not believe in original sin; Christianity does.
Judaism sees no harm in corporeal pleasure; Christianity sees the body (and indeed, the material world) as the occasion for sin.
Except for the Nazerites, Judaism has never had an ascetic order, whereas, in Christianity, abstemiousness is considered the holiest state.
Christianity considers itself complete, except for Parousia; Talmudic Judaism accepts the ongoing moral dilemmas of conflicting principles.
Judaism does not claim exclusivity; Christianity does.
Judaism is vague and contradictory about an afterlife; in Christianity, it is the centrepiece of belief.
Judaism has only one basic statement of belief -- the Sh'ma (a reaffirmation of monotheism); Christianity has a far more elaborate and detailed statement (various versions of the Apostle's Creed).
Judaism does not speculate on who God is, but only on what He does.
This is only a partial list and, while there are obvious denominational differences on both sides, it is a fair summary of the divergence between the 2 religions. Both serve their followers and both can intellectually justify, provided one accepts basic premises. The Trinity and original sin, for example, run through facile "metaphor machines," are not hard to rationalize. But there is no shared tradition or heritage.
Christianity began as a Jewish heresy, but making no significant headway in the Semitic world, penetrated the Greco-Roman world, quickly taking on the cultural and intellectual trappings of that environment. Indeed, as the Gospels preceded, to curry favour with the Romans and dissociate themselves from the rebellious Jews, each story about Jesus became increasingly anti-Judaic and pro-Roman.
Would that Mani, an early self-proclaimed apostle of Jesus and Paraclete pretender, had triumphed. He advocated a total abandonment of the Jewish Testament. His failure, and that of his followers, permitted Christians to continue claiming that they had superseded the Jews in choseness, and, as the New Israel, could deny Jews the interpretation and meaning of their own history and religion, both of which were henceforth seen as merely precursors to the advent of Jesus.
Eugene Kaellis
Last year my friend was given a large package containing "Jews for Jesus" literature by a Baptist church. He thought it an affront -- a new low in
proselytizing by Christians. As I have done to others in a similar situation I recommended a web site "Jews for Judaism" at
http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/ to help counter the Jews for Jesus people and their propaganda. If you know any Jewish people I would suggest you give them this web site address so they can help other Jews counter this evil to them.