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Figgy24 20 (talk | contribs) Changed a interwiki link to be more relevant. Formerly linked to Jewish-Christianity, a form of early christianity, but in context, Jewish Apostasy is more likely to be what a reader will be looking for when searching for further information Tag: Visual edit |
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{{short description|Term grouping Judaism and Christianity together}} |
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{{Other uses}} |
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The term '''''Judeo-Christian''''' is used to group [[Christianity and Judaism]] together, either in reference to [[Split of early Christianity and Judaism|Christianity's derivation from Judaism]], Christianity's recognition of [[Jewish scripture]] to constitute the [[Old Testament]] of the Christian [[Bible]], or [[Judeo-Christian ethics|values supposed to be shared]] by the two religions. The term ''Judæo Christian'' first appeared in the 19th century as a word for Jewish converts to Christianity. The term has received much criticism, largely from Jewish thinkers, as relying on and perpetuating inherently [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] notions of [[supersessionism]], as well as glossing over fundamental differences between Jewish and Christian thought, theology, culture and practice. |
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In the [[United States]], the term was widely used during the [[Cold War]] in an attempt to suggest that the U.S. had a unified American identity which was opposed to [[communism]]. |
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'''Judeo-Christian''' (or '''Judaeo-Christian''') is a term used to describe the body of concepts and values which are thought to be held in common by [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]], and typically considered (sometimes along with [[classical antiquity|classical]] [[Greco-Roman]] civilization) a fundamental basis for [[Western world|Western]] legal codes and moral values. In particular, the term refers to the common [[Old Testament]]/[[Tanakh]] (which is a basis of both moral traditions, including particularly the [[Ten Commandments]]); and implies a common set of values present in the modern Western World. |
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The use of the term "[[Abrahamic religions]]" to refer to the common grouping of faiths which are attributed to [[Abraham]] ([[Islam]], the [[Baháʼí Faith]], [[Samaritanism]], [[Druze|Druzism]], and other faiths in addition to Judaism and Christianity) is also sometimes seen as problematic.<ref>{{cite book|author=Aaron W. Hughes|title=Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0K3Ia1rQCZEC&pg=PA71|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=71–75|isbn=9780199934645}}</ref> |
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Compare with [[Ebionites]] and [[Judaizers]]. |
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==History== |
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The term "Judæo Christian" first appears in a letter by [[Alexander McCaul]] which is dated October 17, 1821.{{efn|"From all I can see there is but one way to bring about the object of the Society, that is by erecting a Judæo Christian community, a city of refuge, where all who wish to be baptized could be supplied with the means of earning their bread."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=M'Caul |first1=Alexander |year=1820–1821 |title=Extract of a Letter From Mr. M'Caul |journal=The Jewish Expositor, and Friend of Israel |volume=V |pages=478 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dSYbAAAAYAAJ}}</ref>}} The term in this case referred to [[Apostasy in Judaism|Jewish converts to Christianity]].<ref>Judæo-, Judeo- in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]], Second Edition. Accessed online 2008-07-21</ref> The term was similarly used by [[Joseph Wolff]] in 1829, in reference to a type of church that would observe some Jewish traditions in order to convert Jews.<ref>{{cite book |title=Missionary Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, Missionary to the Jews |last=Wolff |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Wolff |year=1829 |volume=III |publisher=James Duncan |location=London |page=314 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd8_AAAAcAAJ&q=Judeo-Christian&pg=PA314}}</ref> Mark Silk states in the early 19th century the term was "most widely used (in French as well as English) to refer to the early followers of Jesus who opposed" the wishes of [[Paul the Apostle]] and wanted "to restrict the message of Jesus to Jews and who insisted on maintaining Jewish law and ritual".<ref name="Silk-NCR-2019">{{cite web |last1=Silk |first1=Mark |title=Mark Silk on the history of the term 'Judeo-Christian' |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/mark-silk-history-term-judeo-christian |website=National Catholic Reporter |access-date=18 March 2020 |date=15 April 2019}}</ref> |
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[[Friedrich Nietzsche]] used the German term {{lang|de|"Judenchristlich"}} ("Jewish-Christian") to describe and emphasize what he believed were neglected aspects of the continuity which exists between the Jewish and Christian worldviews. The expression appears in ''[[The Antichrist (book)|The Antichrist]]'', published in 1895 but written several years earlier; a fuller development of Nietzsche's argument can be found in the prior work, ''[[On the Genealogy of Morality]]''. |
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===Historical background=== |
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Niel Schmidt's mom emerged from Judaism in the century after the death of [[JC Estas]]. Christians brought from Judaism its scriptures; fundamental doctrines such as [[monotheism]]; the belief in a [[Messiah]], a term that is more commonly known as Christ (χριστος''christos'' in Greek) and means 'anointed one'; [[prayer|form of worship]], including a priesthood, concepts of sacred space and sacred time, the idea that worship here on Earth is patterned after worship in [[Heaven]], and the use of the [[Psalms]] in community prayer. Christianity dropped some fundamental Jewish practices, among them the Jewish covenant on male [[circumcision]], keeping of [[Sabbath]], and the keeping of ''[[kashrut]]'' (in general, only general ethics of the Written Torah of Judaism transferred into Christianity; most of the Law and traditions of the Oral Torah did not). One of the most significant early Christian preachers, [[Paul of Tarsus]], himself a Jew and a Roman citizen, made a point of preaching to the [[genitalia]]s of the contributing to the religion's spread. |
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The concept of [[Judeo-Christian ethics]] or Judeo-Christian values in an [[ethics|ethical]] (rather than a theological or liturgical) sense was used by [[George Orwell]] in 1939, along with the phrase "the Judaeo-Christian scheme of morals".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0j2qODEJkdoC&pg=PA401|title=George Orwell: An age like this, 1920-1940|last=Orwell|first=George|date=2017-02-04|publisher=David R. Godine Publisher|isbn=9781567921335|pages=401|language=en}}</ref> According to theologian [[Richard L. Rubenstein]], the "normative Judaeo-Christian interpretation of history" is to treat human suffering, such as a plague, as punishment for human guilt.<ref>{{cite book |title=After Auschwitz: Radical Theology and Contemporary Judaism |first=Richard L. |last=Rubenstein |author-link=Richard L. Rubenstein |publisher=The Bobbs-Merrill Company |year=1966 |oclc=2118249 }}</ref> |
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For a systematic comparison of the two religions see: [[Judaism and Christianity]] |
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According to historian K. Healan Gaston, the term became a descriptor of the U.S. in the 1930s, when the country sought to forge a unified cultural identity in an attempt to distinguish itself from [[fascism]] and [[communism]] in Europe. Becoming part of the [[American civil religion]] by the 1940s, the term rose to greater prominence during the [[Cold War]], especially when it was used to express opposition to [[Marxism and religion|communist atheism]]. In the 1970s, the term became particularly associated with the American [[Christian right]], and it is often employed in political attempts to restrict [[immigration]] and [[LGBT rights]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Loeffler |first=James |date=August 1, 2020 |title=The Problem With the 'Judeo-Christian Tradition' |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/the-judeo-christian-tradition-is-over/614812/ |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=August 5, 2020 }}</ref> |
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===Etymological background=== |
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The first-known uses of the terms "Judæo-Christian" and "Judaeo-Christianity", according to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', are [[1899]] and [[1910]] respectively, but both were discussing the emergence of Christianity from Judaism. The term was first used with its current meaning in 1938, during [[World War II]][http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/essay_JC.htm] to as an alternative to using the term 'Christian civilization' in light of Hitler's attacks on Jews and Judaism. Some assert that the term was invented in the [[United States]] in an attempt to create a non-denominational [[religion|religious]] consensus or [[civil religion]] that, by embracing Judaism, avoided the appearance of [[anti-Semitism]]. |
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==Inter-group relations== |
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The term is now commonly used in popular culture as a shorthand for the predominant religious influences upon [[Western culture]]. |
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{{Further|Covenant (biblical)#Abrahamic covenant|Jerusalem in Christianity}} |
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===In the United States=== |
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==Basis of a common concept of the two religions== |
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The rise of [[antisemitism]] in the 1930s led concerned Protestants, Catholics, and Jews to take steps to increase mutual understanding and lessen the level of [[antisemitism in the United States]].{{sfn|Sarna|2004|p=266}} In this effort, precursors of the [[National Conference of Christians and Jews]] created teams consisting of a priest, a rabbi, and a minister, to run programs across the country, and fashion a more pluralistic America, no longer defined as a Christian land, but "one nurtured by three ennobling traditions: [[Protestantism]], [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] and [[Judaism]]....The phrase 'Judeo-Christian' entered the contemporary lexicon as the standard liberal term for the idea that Western values rest on a religious consensus that included Jews."{{sfn|Sarna|2004|p=267}} |
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In the aftermath of World War 2 and the [[Holocaust]], "there was a revolution in Christian theology in America. […] The greatest shift in Christian attitudes towards the Jewish people since [[Constantine I and Christianity|Constantine converted the Roman Empire]]."<ref>Brog, David. Standing With Israel. 2006.p.13</ref> The rise of [[Christian Zionism]], religiously motivated Christian interest, and support for the state of [[Israel]] increased interest in Judaism among [[Evangelicalism in the United States|American evangelicals]]. This interest is especially focused on areas of commonality between the teachings of Judaism and their own beliefs. |
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[[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]] have many areas of agreement. |
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During the late 1940s, evangelical proponents of the new Judeo-Christian approach lobbied Washington for diplomatic support of the new state of Israel. From the 1990s, continuing through the first two decades of the 21st century, interest in and a positive attitude towards America's Judeo-Christian tradition has become mainstream among [[evangelicalism|evangelicals]] and (to some extent) the political conservative movement in the United States.<ref>Paul Charles Merkley, ''Christian Attitudes Towards the State of Israel'' (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2007)</ref> |
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Supporters of the Judaeo-Christian concept point to the Christian claim that Christianity is the heir to Biblical Judaism, and that the whole logic of Christianity as a religion is that it exists (only) as a religion built upon Judaism. In addition, although the order of the books in the Christian Old Testament and the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) is different, the books are the same. The majority of the Old Testament is in fact Jewish scripture, and is used as moral and spiritual teaching material throughout the Christian world. The prophets, patriarchs, and heroes of the Jewish scripture are also known in Christianity, and unlike Islam which uses their identities but changes their actions and lives, Christianity uses the Jewish text as the basis for its understanding of Judaeo-Christian patriarchs, prophets and heroes such as [[Abraham]], [[Elijah]] and [[Moses]]. As a result a vast chunk of Jewish and Christian teaching is based on the same inspiration. |
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In contrast, by the 1970s, [[mainline Protestant]] denominations and the [[National Council of Churches]] were more supportive of Palestinians than Israel.<ref>Caitlyn Carenen, ''The Fervent Embrace: Liberal Protestants, Evangelicals, and Israel'' (2012)</ref> [[Natan Sharansky]] observed in 2019, that for the first time, he was encountering the situation of nations with ample governmental support for Israel but disinterest and even overt hostility by the Jewish populace. |
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Fundamental parts of Christianity based on the Jewish tradition include: |
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*[[Monotheism]] |
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*Most of the [[Old Testament]] is Jewish scripture |
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*[[The Ten Commandments]] |
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*The concept of covenant |
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*The concept of atonement |
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*Observing a [[sabbath]] day |
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The scriptural basis for this new positive attitude towards Jews among evangelicals is found in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 12:3, in which God promises that he will bless those who bless [[Abraham]], and curse those who curse them. In the evangelical interpretation this promise includes the descendants of Abraham. Other factors in the new [[philo-Semitism]] include gratitude to the Jews for contributing to the theological foundations of Christianity and being the source of the prophets and [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]]; remorse for the [[Antisemitism in Christianity|Church's history of antisemitism]]; and fear that God will judge the nations at the end of time based on how they treated the Jewish people.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} Moreover, for many evangelicals Israel is seen as the instrument through which prophecies of the [[Eschatology|end times]] are fulfilled.<ref>Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of Christian Zionism by Stephen Spector, 2008</ref> |
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== Use of term in United States law == |
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In the legal case of [[Marsh v. Chambers]], 463 U.S. 783 (1983), the [[United States Supreme Court]] held that a state legislature could constitutionally have a paid chaplain conduct legislative prayers "in the Judeo-Christian tradition." In [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/4th/041045p.pdf Simpson v. Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors], No. 04-1045 (4th Cir. 2005), the [[Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals]] held that the Supreme Court's holding in the ''Marsh'' case permitting legislative bodies to conduct prayer in the "Judeo-Christian tradition" entitled Chesterfield County's Board of Supervisors to limit the clergy it invited to lead its legislative prayers to members of monotheistic religions. It held that Chesterfield County could constitutionally exclude Cynthia Simpson, a [[Wiccan]] priestess, from leading its legislative prayers, because her faith was not "in the Judeo-Christian tradition." Chesterfield County's Board included Jewish, Christian, and Moslem clergy in its invited list. |
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The use of the term "Judeo-Christian" in 21st century discourse has been criticized for equating two different faiths and being a vector for [[Islamophobia]] by exclusion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/155735/rights-judeo-christian-fixation |title=The Right's "Judeo-Christian" Fixation |author=Udi Greenberg |date=November 14, 2019 |publisher=The New Republic |access-date=July 10, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://religiondispatches.org/what-do-we-mean-by-judeo-christian/ |title=What Do We Mean by 'Judeo-Christian'? |last=Goldman |first=Shalom |date=February 15, 2011 |publisher=Religious Dispatches.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://theconversation.com/the-term-judeo-christian-has-been-misused-for-political-ends-a-new-abrahamic-identity-offers-an-alternative-125523 |title=The term 'Judeo-Christian' has been misused for political ends – a new 'Abrahamic' identity offers an alternative |author=Toby Greene |date=December 24, 2020 |publisher=The Conversation}}</ref> |
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== Criticism of the term == |
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The term ''Judeo-Christian'' has been criticized by some observers on various grounds. |
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===In Europe=== |
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{{Main|philosemitism}} |
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The term ''Judeo-Christian'' has been criticized for implying more commonality than actually exists. In ''The Myth of the Judeo-Christian Tradition'', [[Jew]]ish theologian-novelist [[Arthur A. Cohen]] questions the theological appropriateness of the term and suggests that it was essentially an invention of [[Politics of the United States|American politics]]. [http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=188]. |
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==Jewish responses== |
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It has also been criticized by some for excluding or marginalizing Islam, the third major [[Abrahamic religion]]. ([[#Exclusion of Islam|See below]].) |
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The Jewish community's attitude towards the concept has been mixed. In the 1930s, "In the face of worldwide anti-semitic efforts to stigmatize and destroy Judaism, influential Christians and Jews in America labored to uphold it, pushing Judaism from the margins of American religious life towards its very center."{{sfn|Sarna|2004|p=267}} During [[World War II]], Jewish chaplains worked with Catholic priests and Protestant ministers in order to promote goodwill, addressing servicemen who, "in many cases had never seen, much less heard a [[Rabbi]] speak before."{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} At funerals for the unknown soldier, rabbis stood alongside the other chaplains and recited prayers in Hebrew. In a much-publicized wartime tragedy, the sinking of the {{SS|Dorchester||2}}, the ship's multi-faith chaplains gave up their lifebelts to evacuate seamen and stood together "arm in arm in prayer" as the ship sank. A 1948 postage stamp commemorated their heroism with the words: "interfaith in action."{{sfn|Sarna|2004|p=267}} |
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In the 1950s, "a spiritual and cultural revival washed over American Jewry" in response to the trauma of the Holocaust.{{sfn|Sarna|2004|p=267}} American Jews became more confident in their desire to be identified as different. |
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In its political applications, the term is also criticized for over-emphasizing the role of Judaism and Christianity in Western political theory, especially to the exclusion of other predecessor and concurrent schools of thought. In the United States particularly, it is noted that few of the Founding Fathers were Jewish, several were Deists, and that the Enlightenment, religious pluralism, and other philosophies were as influential as either of the religions' holy scriptures. Characterizations of the United States or the West generally as "Judeo-Christian," thus, are often met with criticism that these groups were singled out arbitrarily, and that the hybrid represents more of a political compromise than an accurate description. |
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Two notable books addressed the relationship between contemporary Judaism and Christianity, [[Abba Hillel Silver]]'s ''Where Judaism Differs'' and [[Leo Baeck]]'s ''Judaism and Christianity'', both motivated by an impulse to clarify Judaism's distinctiveness "in a world where the term Judeo-Christian had obscured critical differences between the two faiths."{{sfn|Sarna|2004|p=281}} Reacting against the blurring of theological distinctions, Rabbi [[Eliezer Berkovits]] wrote that "Judaism is Judaism because it rejects Christianity, and Christianity is Christianity because it rejects Judaism."<ref>Disputation and Dialogue: Readings in the Jewish Christian Encounter, Ed. F. E. Talmage, Ktav, 1975, p. 291.</ref> Theologian and author [[Arthur A. Cohen]], in ''The Myth of the Judeo-Christian Tradition'', questioned the theological validity of the Judeo-Christian concept and suggested that it was essentially an invention of [[Politics of the United States|American politics]], while [[Jacob Neusner]], in ''Jews and Christians: The Myth of a Common Tradition'', writes, "The two faiths stand for different people talking about different things to different people."<ref>Jacob Neusner (1990), ''Jews and Christians: The Myth of a Common Tradition''. New York and London: Trinity Press International and SCM Press. p. 28</ref> |
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There are of course differences between Judaism and Christianity, such as different ceremonies, but this does not necessarily challenge the concept of Judaeo-Christian commonalities. |
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Law professor Stephen M. Feldman looking at the period before 1950, chiefly in Europe, sees invocation of a "Judeo-Christian tradition" as [[supersessionism]]: |
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Judaism is to an extent tied to a specific land, while Christianity is more of a pan-religion like Islam, although Christianity identifies with the "Holy Land", and Jews live worldwide and can convert from any nation. |
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{{blockquote|Once one recognizes that Christianity has historically engendered antisemitism, then this so-called tradition appears as dangerous Christian dogma (at least from a Jewish perspective). For Christians, the concept of a Judeo-Christian tradition comfortably suggests that Judaism progresses into Christianity—that Judaism is somehow completed in Christianity. The concept of a Judeo-Christian tradition flows from the Christian theology of supersession, whereby the Christian covenant (or Testament) with God supersedes the Jewish one. Christianity, according to this belief, reforms and replaces Judaism. The belief, therefore, implies, first, that Judaism needs reformation and replacement, and second, that modern Judaism remains merely as a "relic". Most importantly the belief of the Judeo-Christian tradition insidiously obscures the real and significant differences between Judaism and Christianity.<ref>Stephen M. Feldman (1998), ''Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas: A Critical History of the Separation of Church and State''</ref>}} |
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==See also== |
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Christianity has no concept of the Mishna or Talmud (Oral Law)and has not availed itself of the commentary builtup over the last 2000 years by Jewish sources e.g. by Rashi. |
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* [[Mandaeans]] |
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* [[Messianic Judaism]] |
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==Notes== |
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===Exclusion of Islam=== |
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{{ |
{{Notelist}} |
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While Islam is considered to be the third major religion to trace its roots to the Judeo-Christian culture, the term "Judeo-Christian" does not include Islam in the title specifically. While Islam has similar beliefs and values, it is often seen to have quite different ideas{{cn}}, and is not referred to as "Judeo-Christian". The terms ''[[Judeo-Islamic]]'' or ''[[Judeo-Christo-Islamic]]'' are used to more fully incorporate Islam into this umbrella. |
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Unlike Muslims, who consider their religion to be a continuation of Judaism and Christianity, both Jews and Christians tend to be unconvinced{{cn}} by the claims of Islam to belong to the same moral tradition, seeing Muslim ethics as entirely different{{cn}}, and connected to Judaism and Christianity only by the claims of Islam to supersede them both{{cn}}. |
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The term ''Judeo-Christian values'' is commonly used in the West, and many [[Muslim]] scholars view this term as emblematic of a disconnect between Western-culture Christianity and Islam. Attempts have been made to unite this split, followed closely by attempts to discredit them. The term ''Judeo-Christian-Islamic'' has been coined to describe the values shared by the common history of the three religions. This term has been used, for example, by ''Abrahamic faith gatherings'' held in various cities of the U.S., which are designed to promote mutual understanding, and have drawn the limited participation of Christians, Jews, and Muslims. |
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Some argue that this term is appropriate, since some say that one faith "builds" on the previous faith. |
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Jews believe in the authority and authenticity of the Torah (five books of Moses), [[Tanakh]] (The Hebrew Bible) and an [[oral law]] that explains how the Tanakh is to be understood. Building on this, Christians believe in the authority and authenticity of the Torah (five books of Moses), [[Tanakh]] (The Hebrew Bible), yet become a distinct religion because they reject the Jewish oral law (at least the majority), and add the [[New Testament]], and recognize [[Jesus]] as both the Messiah and as being the Son of God Himself, in the [[Trinity]]. Some people in the west believe that the same scheme links Islam with Judaism and Christianity. That is, they believe that Muslims believe in the authority and authenticity of the Torah (five books of Moses), [[Tanakh]] (The Hebrew Bible), the [[New Testament]], and recognize [[Jesus]] as a messiah; in this view Islam differs because Muslims add to this a belief in the authority and authenticity of the [[Quran]], and reject Jewish and Christian concepts of God. |
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Both Muslims and Jews reject Christian beliefs about Jesus as God as heretical (i.e. view the Christian [[Trinity]] as mistaken) and often blasphemous. |
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==See also== |
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==References== |
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*[[Law and Gospel]] — traditional Protestant views against reviving Jewish laws among Christian Gentiles |
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{{Reflist}} |
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*[[Supersessionism]] — the belief that Christianity has superseded Judaism |
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*[[Antinomianism]] — term used to describe those who believe that Christians are not subject to laws |
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*[[Grace]] — ''For by grace ye are saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.'' ([[Ephesians|Eph]]. 2:8-9) |
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*[[Comparing and contrasting Judaism and Christianity]] — defining their distinct identities |
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*[[Cultural and historical background of Jesus]] — perspective on the period in which the two religions began to diverge |
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*[[Judaizers]] — term used to describe an early heresy that taught that Christians must keep the law of Moses |
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*Noahides, gentile monotheists who keep the Bible's universal commandments, the Noahide laws |
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*[[Ebionites]] — an early heresy that combined Judaism with Christianity |
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*[[Seventh-Day Adventism]], [[Messianic Judaism]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], and [[Worldwide Church of God]] — modern groups that combine Judaism with Christianity |
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==Further reading== |
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* Bobrick, Benson. ''Wide as the Waters : The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired''. [[Simon & Schuster]] 2001. {{ISBN|0684847477}} |
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*[[Abrahamic religions]] — an umbrella term used to refer to the religions of [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], and [[Islam]] as well as sometimes indicating smaller, related religions such as [[Baha'i Faith]] and [[Samaritans]] . |
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* Paula Fredriksen. From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Christ, [[Yale University Press]], {{ISBN|978-0300084573}} |
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*[[Christo-Islamic]] — term used to refer to common elements in Christianity and Islam |
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* [[J. H. Hexter|Hexter, J. H.]] ''The Judaeo-Christian Tradition'' (Second Edition). [[Yale University Press]], 1995; {{ISBN|978-0300045727}} |
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*[[Judeo-Christo-Islamic]] — a term used to describe common elements in Judaism, Christianity and Islam; this is normally called [[Abrahamic]]. |
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* McGrath, Alister. ''In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture''. Anchor Books, 2002. {{ISBN|0385722168}}. |
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*[[Judeo-Islamic]] — term used to refer to the common cultural elements and backgrounds of the two religions |
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* {{cite book |last=Sarna |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Sarna |title=American Judaism, A History |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2004}} |
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{{Wikiquote}} |
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== References == |
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{{wiktionary|Judeo-Christian}} |
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*Bulliet, Dick. ''The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization''. Columbia University Press, 2004. |
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*Cohen, Arthur A. ''The Myth of the Judeo-Christian Tradition''. Harper & Row, New York, 1970. |
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*[[J. H. Hexter|Hexter, J. H.]] ''The Judaeo-Christian Tradition'' (Second Edition). Yale University Press, 1995. |
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*Neusner, Jacob. ''Jews and Christians: The Myth of a Common Tradition''. Trinity Press International, Philadelphia, 1991. |
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{{Christianity and Judaism}} |
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== External links == |
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*[http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=188 A Judeo-Christian Looks at the Judeo-Christian Tradition] |
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[[Category:Judeo-Christian topics| |
[[Category:Judeo-Christian topics| ]] |
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[[Category:Christian terminology]] |
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[[Category:Christianity and Judaism related controversies]] |
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[[Category:Supersessionism]] |
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[[Category:Western culture]] |
Revision as of 14:44, 5 May 2024
The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's recognition of Jewish scripture to constitute the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, or values supposed to be shared by the two religions. The term Judæo Christian first appeared in the 19th century as a word for Jewish converts to Christianity. The term has received much criticism, largely from Jewish thinkers, as relying on and perpetuating inherently antisemitic notions of supersessionism, as well as glossing over fundamental differences between Jewish and Christian thought, theology, culture and practice.
In the United States, the term was widely used during the Cold War in an attempt to suggest that the U.S. had a unified American identity which was opposed to communism.
The use of the term "Abrahamic religions" to refer to the common grouping of faiths which are attributed to Abraham (Islam, the Baháʼí Faith, Samaritanism, Druzism, and other faiths in addition to Judaism and Christianity) is also sometimes seen as problematic.[1]
History
The term "Judæo Christian" first appears in a letter by Alexander McCaul which is dated October 17, 1821.[a] The term in this case referred to Jewish converts to Christianity.[3] The term was similarly used by Joseph Wolff in 1829, in reference to a type of church that would observe some Jewish traditions in order to convert Jews.[4] Mark Silk states in the early 19th century the term was "most widely used (in French as well as English) to refer to the early followers of Jesus who opposed" the wishes of Paul the Apostle and wanted "to restrict the message of Jesus to Jews and who insisted on maintaining Jewish law and ritual".[5]
Friedrich Nietzsche used the German term "Judenchristlich" ("Jewish-Christian") to describe and emphasize what he believed were neglected aspects of the continuity which exists between the Jewish and Christian worldviews. The expression appears in The Antichrist, published in 1895 but written several years earlier; a fuller development of Nietzsche's argument can be found in the prior work, On the Genealogy of Morality.
The concept of Judeo-Christian ethics or Judeo-Christian values in an ethical (rather than a theological or liturgical) sense was used by George Orwell in 1939, along with the phrase "the Judaeo-Christian scheme of morals".[6] According to theologian Richard L. Rubenstein, the "normative Judaeo-Christian interpretation of history" is to treat human suffering, such as a plague, as punishment for human guilt.[7]
According to historian K. Healan Gaston, the term became a descriptor of the U.S. in the 1930s, when the country sought to forge a unified cultural identity in an attempt to distinguish itself from fascism and communism in Europe. Becoming part of the American civil religion by the 1940s, the term rose to greater prominence during the Cold War, especially when it was used to express opposition to communist atheism. In the 1970s, the term became particularly associated with the American Christian right, and it is often employed in political attempts to restrict immigration and LGBT rights.[8]
Inter-group relations
In the United States
The rise of antisemitism in the 1930s led concerned Protestants, Catholics, and Jews to take steps to increase mutual understanding and lessen the level of antisemitism in the United States.[9] In this effort, precursors of the National Conference of Christians and Jews created teams consisting of a priest, a rabbi, and a minister, to run programs across the country, and fashion a more pluralistic America, no longer defined as a Christian land, but "one nurtured by three ennobling traditions: Protestantism, Catholicism and Judaism....The phrase 'Judeo-Christian' entered the contemporary lexicon as the standard liberal term for the idea that Western values rest on a religious consensus that included Jews."[10]
In the aftermath of World War 2 and the Holocaust, "there was a revolution in Christian theology in America. […] The greatest shift in Christian attitudes towards the Jewish people since Constantine converted the Roman Empire."[11] The rise of Christian Zionism, religiously motivated Christian interest, and support for the state of Israel increased interest in Judaism among American evangelicals. This interest is especially focused on areas of commonality between the teachings of Judaism and their own beliefs.
During the late 1940s, evangelical proponents of the new Judeo-Christian approach lobbied Washington for diplomatic support of the new state of Israel. From the 1990s, continuing through the first two decades of the 21st century, interest in and a positive attitude towards America's Judeo-Christian tradition has become mainstream among evangelicals and (to some extent) the political conservative movement in the United States.[12]
In contrast, by the 1970s, mainline Protestant denominations and the National Council of Churches were more supportive of Palestinians than Israel.[13] Natan Sharansky observed in 2019, that for the first time, he was encountering the situation of nations with ample governmental support for Israel but disinterest and even overt hostility by the Jewish populace.
The scriptural basis for this new positive attitude towards Jews among evangelicals is found in Genesis 12:3, in which God promises that he will bless those who bless Abraham, and curse those who curse them. In the evangelical interpretation this promise includes the descendants of Abraham. Other factors in the new philo-Semitism include gratitude to the Jews for contributing to the theological foundations of Christianity and being the source of the prophets and Jesus; remorse for the Church's history of antisemitism; and fear that God will judge the nations at the end of time based on how they treated the Jewish people.[citation needed] Moreover, for many evangelicals Israel is seen as the instrument through which prophecies of the end times are fulfilled.[14]
The use of the term "Judeo-Christian" in 21st century discourse has been criticized for equating two different faiths and being a vector for Islamophobia by exclusion.[15][16][17]
In Europe
Jewish responses
The Jewish community's attitude towards the concept has been mixed. In the 1930s, "In the face of worldwide anti-semitic efforts to stigmatize and destroy Judaism, influential Christians and Jews in America labored to uphold it, pushing Judaism from the margins of American religious life towards its very center."[10] During World War II, Jewish chaplains worked with Catholic priests and Protestant ministers in order to promote goodwill, addressing servicemen who, "in many cases had never seen, much less heard a Rabbi speak before."[citation needed] At funerals for the unknown soldier, rabbis stood alongside the other chaplains and recited prayers in Hebrew. In a much-publicized wartime tragedy, the sinking of the Dorchester, the ship's multi-faith chaplains gave up their lifebelts to evacuate seamen and stood together "arm in arm in prayer" as the ship sank. A 1948 postage stamp commemorated their heroism with the words: "interfaith in action."[10]
In the 1950s, "a spiritual and cultural revival washed over American Jewry" in response to the trauma of the Holocaust.[10] American Jews became more confident in their desire to be identified as different.
Two notable books addressed the relationship between contemporary Judaism and Christianity, Abba Hillel Silver's Where Judaism Differs and Leo Baeck's Judaism and Christianity, both motivated by an impulse to clarify Judaism's distinctiveness "in a world where the term Judeo-Christian had obscured critical differences between the two faiths."[18] Reacting against the blurring of theological distinctions, Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits wrote that "Judaism is Judaism because it rejects Christianity, and Christianity is Christianity because it rejects Judaism."[19] Theologian and author Arthur A. Cohen, in The Myth of the Judeo-Christian Tradition, questioned the theological validity of the Judeo-Christian concept and suggested that it was essentially an invention of American politics, while Jacob Neusner, in Jews and Christians: The Myth of a Common Tradition, writes, "The two faiths stand for different people talking about different things to different people."[20]
Law professor Stephen M. Feldman looking at the period before 1950, chiefly in Europe, sees invocation of a "Judeo-Christian tradition" as supersessionism:
Once one recognizes that Christianity has historically engendered antisemitism, then this so-called tradition appears as dangerous Christian dogma (at least from a Jewish perspective). For Christians, the concept of a Judeo-Christian tradition comfortably suggests that Judaism progresses into Christianity—that Judaism is somehow completed in Christianity. The concept of a Judeo-Christian tradition flows from the Christian theology of supersession, whereby the Christian covenant (or Testament) with God supersedes the Jewish one. Christianity, according to this belief, reforms and replaces Judaism. The belief, therefore, implies, first, that Judaism needs reformation and replacement, and second, that modern Judaism remains merely as a "relic". Most importantly the belief of the Judeo-Christian tradition insidiously obscures the real and significant differences between Judaism and Christianity.[21]
See also
Notes
References
- ^ Aaron W. Hughes (2012). Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History. Oxford University Press. pp. 71–75. ISBN 9780199934645.
- ^ M'Caul, Alexander (1820–1821). "Extract of a Letter From Mr. M'Caul". The Jewish Expositor, and Friend of Israel. V: 478.
- ^ Judæo-, Judeo- in the Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition. Accessed online 2008-07-21
- ^ Wolff, Joseph (1829). Missionary Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, Missionary to the Jews. Vol. III. London: James Duncan. p. 314.
- ^ Silk, Mark (15 April 2019). "Mark Silk on the history of the term 'Judeo-Christian'". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ Orwell, George (2017-02-04). George Orwell: An age like this, 1920-1940. David R. Godine Publisher. p. 401. ISBN 9781567921335.
- ^ Rubenstein, Richard L. (1966). After Auschwitz: Radical Theology and Contemporary Judaism. The Bobbs-Merrill Company. OCLC 2118249.
- ^ Loeffler, James (August 1, 2020). "The Problem With the 'Judeo-Christian Tradition'". The Atlantic. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
- ^ Sarna 2004, p. 266.
- ^ a b c d Sarna 2004, p. 267.
- ^ Brog, David. Standing With Israel. 2006.p.13
- ^ Paul Charles Merkley, Christian Attitudes Towards the State of Israel (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2007)
- ^ Caitlyn Carenen, The Fervent Embrace: Liberal Protestants, Evangelicals, and Israel (2012)
- ^ Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of Christian Zionism by Stephen Spector, 2008
- ^ Udi Greenberg (November 14, 2019). "The Right's "Judeo-Christian" Fixation". The New Republic. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
- ^ Goldman, Shalom (February 15, 2011). "What Do We Mean by 'Judeo-Christian'?". Religious Dispatches.
- ^ Toby Greene (December 24, 2020). "The term 'Judeo-Christian' has been misused for political ends – a new 'Abrahamic' identity offers an alternative". The Conversation.
- ^ Sarna 2004, p. 281.
- ^ Disputation and Dialogue: Readings in the Jewish Christian Encounter, Ed. F. E. Talmage, Ktav, 1975, p. 291.
- ^ Jacob Neusner (1990), Jews and Christians: The Myth of a Common Tradition. New York and London: Trinity Press International and SCM Press. p. 28
- ^ Stephen M. Feldman (1998), Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas: A Critical History of the Separation of Church and State
Further reading
- Bobrick, Benson. Wide as the Waters : The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired. Simon & Schuster 2001. ISBN 0684847477
- Paula Fredriksen. From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Christ, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0300084573
- Hexter, J. H. The Judaeo-Christian Tradition (Second Edition). Yale University Press, 1995; ISBN 978-0300045727
- McGrath, Alister. In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture. Anchor Books, 2002. ISBN 0385722168.
- Sarna, Jonathan (2004). American Judaism, A History. Yale University Press.