Jews and Christians: People of God

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Under sharia , the dhimmi communities were usually subjected to their own special laws, rather than some of the laws which were applicable only to the Muslim community. For example, the Jewish community in Medina was allowed to have its own Halakhic courts , [19] and the Ottoman millet system allowed its various dhimmi communities to rule themselves under separate legal courts. These courts did not cover cases that involved religious groups outside of their own community, or capital offences.

Dhimmi communities were also allowed to engage in certain practices that were usually forbidden for the Muslim community, such as the consumption of alcohol and pork. Historically, dhimmi status was originally applied to Jews , Christians , and Sabians. This status later also came to be applied to Zoroastrians , Hindus , Jains and Buddhists. Thirty-one times In the Koran Jews are referred to as "people of the book. Indeed Rashi himself comments on the mishnaic statement, "Moses received the Torah from Sinai" by noting since the text does not say "ha-torah" the written torah but Torah in general this refers to both the written torah 24 books of the Old Testament and the oral torah, which in Rabbinic theology are co-terminous [30] , as suggested by Soloveitchik who notes a recent trend in the Artscroll generation to eclipse oral transmission with written translations.

Scholars of antiquity and the early middle ages do know about the canonization process of the Tanakh [31] the Hebrew Bible and the redaction processes of the Talmudim and Midrashim. Rabbinic tradition has demonstrated a reverence, respect, and love for sacred divinely revealed "text," both written and oral in the process of the chain of transmission the masorah. Indeed the metaphor of the book is marshaled in Talmudic Tractate Rosh Hashanah, that on Rosh Hashanah the fate of each person for the year is written, on Yom Kippur sealed, and on Hoshanah Rabbah the angels of the heavenly court deliver the verdict to God's archive.

The Hai Gaon in in Pumbeditah comments, "Three possessions should you prize- a field, a friend, and a book.

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The Spanish philosopher, physician, and poet Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi writes of the importance of books by commenting, "My pen is my harp and my lyre, my library is my garden and orchard. The Provencal scholar Rabbi Yehudah ibn Tibbon Adler recension further elaborates on the importance of his library by commenting, "Make books your companions; let your bookshelves be your gardens: And when your soul be wary, change form one garden to garden, and from one prospect to prospect.

The Spanish statesman Rabbi Shmuel ha-Nagid writes, "the wise of heart will abandon ease and pleasures for in his library he will find treasures. Rabbi Yitzchak ben Yosef of Corbeil ca , France in his Sefer Mitzvot Qatan composed in outlines a detailed strategy for the dissemination of his texts by asserting that every community should finance a copy of his halkhic code and keep it for public consultation.

Rabbi Shimon ben Zemach Duran Tashbaz in his introduction to his halakhic code, Zohar HaRakiah, writes, "When the wise man lies down with his fathers he leaves behind him a treasured and organized blessing: The love and reverence for Jewish books is seen in Jewish law. It is not permissible for a sacred Jewish text to lie on the ground and if by accident a book is dropped to the floor it should be picked up and given a kiss. A Jewish book is not to be left open unless it is being read, nor is it to be held upside down. If one says to someone, "Please hand me this book," the book should be given with the right hand and not with the left hand.

In the early Christian experience the New Testament was added to the whole Old Testament , which after Jerome 's translation tended more and more to be bound up as a single volume , and was accepted as a unified locus of authority: This fact has further promoted an identification with the phrase among Christians themselves.

This arises because the first written text produced in their native language, as with the English-speaking peoples, has often been the Bible. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about the theological concept. For the novel by Geraldine Brooks, see People of the Book novel. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Archived from the original on 3 January A Glossary of Jewish Life. People of the Book: Christian Identity and Literary Culture. Though first intended pejoratively, "People of the Book" in Jewish tradition came to be accepted with pride as a legitimate reference to a culture and religious identity rooted fundamentally in Torah, the original book of the Law.

Archived from the original on 14 July Retrieved 14 June Archived from the original on 28 June Retrieved 23 July An Analysis And Brief History. And yet, despite the manifest differences in how they practise their religions, Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship the same God. The founder of Islam, Muhammad, saw himself as the last in a line of prophets that reached back through Jesus to Moses, beyond him to Abraham and as far back as Noah. According to the Quran, God known as Allah revealed to Muhammad:.

Thus, since Muhammad inherited the Jewish and Christian understandings of God, it is not surprising that the God of Muhammad, Jesus and Moses has a similarly complex and ambivalent character — a blend of benevolence and compassion, combined with wrath and anger. If you were obedient to his commands, he could be all sweetness and light.

To those who turned to him in repentance, this God was above all else merciful and all-forgiving. But those who failed to find the path or, having found it failed to follow it, would know his judgment and wrath. The God of the Old Testament was both good and evil. He went way beyond the good when he told Abraham to offer his son to God as a burnt sacrifice. He was a warrior God who murdered the firstborn of Egypt and drowned the army of Pharaoh. Yet he was also a compassionate and loving God, one who in the well-known words of Psalm 23 in the Book of Psalms was a shepherd whose goodness and mercy supported his followers all the days of their lives.

He loved Israel like a father loves his son. Yet, behind this God of tenderness and love, there remained a ruthless God of justice. Like the prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus preached doom and gloom. He was offering Israel its last chance and God would be merciless to those who failed to heed his message.

God would come in judgment at the end of history. All would then be resurrected. Two notable examples are:. Instead of the traditional Jewish order and names for the books, Christians organize and name the books closer to that found in the Septuagint. Some Christian denominations such as Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox , include a number of books that are not in the Hebrew Bible the biblical apocrypha or deuterocanonical books or Anagignoskomena , see Development of the Old Testament canon in their biblical canon that are not in today's Jewish canon, although they were included in the Septuagint.

Christians reject the Jewish Oral Torah, which was still in oral, and therefore unwritten, form in the time of Jesus. Christians believe that God has established a New Covenant with people through Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles, and other books collectively called the New Testament the word testament attributed to Tertullian is commonly interchanged with the word covenant. Others, especially Protestants , reject the authority of such traditions and instead hold to the principle of sola scriptura , which accepts only the Bible itself as the final rule of faith and practice.

Anglicans do not believe in sola scriptura.

For them scripture is the longest leg of a 3-legged stool: Scripture cannot stand on its own since it must be interpreted in the light of the Church's patristic teaching and ecumenical creeds. Additionally, some denominations include the "oral teachings of Jesus to the Apostles", which they believe have been handed down to this day by apostolic succession.

Christians refer to the biblical books about Jesus as the New Testament, and to the canon of Hebrew books as the Old Testament. Judaism does not accept the retronymic labeling of its sacred texts as the "Old Testament", and some Jews refer to the New Testament as the Christian Testament or Christian Bible.

Judaism rejects all claims that the Christian New Covenant supersedes , abrogates , fulfills, or is the unfolding or consummation of the covenant expressed in the Written and Oral Torahs. Therefore, just as Christianity does not accept that Mosaic law has any authority over Christians, Judaism does not accept that the New Testament has any religious authority over Jews. Many Jews view Christians as having quite an ambivalent view of the Torah, or Mosaic law: Some Jews contend that Christians cite commandments from the Old Testament to support one point of view but then ignore other commandments of a similar class and of equal weight.

Examples of this are certain commandments that God states explicitly be a "lasting covenant" NIV Exod Some translate the Hebrew as a "perpetual covenant" Exod Likewise, some Christians contend that Jews cite some commandments from the Torah to support one view, but then ignore other commandments of a similar class and of equal weight.

Christians explain that such selectivity is based on rulings made by early Jewish Christians in the Book of Acts , at the Council of Jerusalem , that, while believing gentiles did not need to fully convert to Judaism, they should follow some aspects of Torah like avoiding idolatry and fornication and blood , [20] including, according to some interpretations, homosexuality. This view is also reflected by modern Judaism, in that Righteous gentiles needn't convert to Judaism and need to observe only the Noahide Laws, which also contain prohibitions against idolatry and fornication and blood.

Some Christians agree that Jews who accept Jesus should still observe all of Torah, see for example Dual-covenant theology , based on warnings by Jesus to Jews not to use him as an excuse to disregard it, [22] and they support efforts of those such as Messianic Jews Messianic Judaism is considered by most Christians and Jews to be a form of Christianity [23] [24] [25] to do that, but some Protestant forms of Christianity oppose all observance to the Mosaic law, even by Jews, which Luther criticised as Antinomianism.

Judaism and major sects of Christianity reject the view that God is entirely immanent although some see this as the concept of the Holy Ghost and within the world as a physical presence, although trinitarian Christians believe in the incarnation of God. Both religions reject the view that God is entirely transcendent , and thus separate from the world, as the pre-Christian Greek Unknown God.

Both religions reject atheism on one hand and polytheism on the other.

Both religions agree that God shares both transcendent and immanent qualities. How these religions resolve this issue is where the religions differ. Christianity posits that God exists as a Trinity ; in this view God exists as three distinct persons who share a single divine essence , or substance.

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In those three there is one, and in that one there are three; the one God is indivisible, while the three persons are distinct and unconfused, God the Father , God the Son , and God the Holy Spirit. It teaches that God became especially immanent in physical form through the Incarnation of God the Son who was born as Jesus of Nazareth , who is believed to be at once fully God and fully human. There are denominations self-describing as Christian who question one or more of these doctrines, however, see Nontrinitarianism.

By contrast, Judaism sees God as a single entity , and views trinitarianism as both incomprehensible and a violation of the Bible's teaching that God is one. It rejects the notion that Jesus or any other object or living being could be 'God', that God could have a literal 'son' in physical form or is divisible in any way, or that God could be made to be joined to the material world in such fashion.

Although Judaism provides Jews with a word to label God's transcendence Ein Sof , without end and immanence Shekhinah , in-dwelling , these are merely human words to describe two ways of experiencing God; God is one and indivisible. A minority Jewish view, which appears in some codes of Jewish law , is that while Christian worship is polytheistic due to the multiplicity of the Trinity , it is permissible for them to swear in God's name, since they are referring to the one God.

This theology is referred to in Hebrew as Shituf literally "partnership" or "association". Although worship of a trinity is considered to be not different from any other form of idolatry for Jews, it may be an acceptable belief for non-Jews according to the ruling of some Rabbinic authorities. Judaism teaches that the purpose of the Torah is to teach us how to act correctly. God's existence is a given in Judaism, and not something that most authorities see as a matter of required belief. Although some authorities see the Torah as commanding Jews to believe in God, Jews see belief in God as a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for a Jewish life.

The quintessential verbal expression of Judaism is the Shema Yisrael , the statement that the God of the Bible is their God, and that this God is unique and one. The quintessential physical expression of Judaism is behaving in accordance with the Mitzvot the commandments specified in the Torah , and thus live one's life in God's ways. Thus fundamentally in Judaism, one is enjoined to bring holiness into life with the guidance of God's laws , rather than removing oneself from life to be holy.

Much of Christianity also teaches that God wants people to perform good works , but all branches hold that good works alone will not lead to salvation, which is called Legalism , the exception being dual-covenant theology. Some Christian denominations hold that salvation depends upon transformational faith in Jesus, which expresses itself in good works as a testament or witness to ones faith for others to see primarily Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism , while others including most Protestants hold that faith alone is necessary for salvation.

Some argue that the difference is not as great as it seems, because it really hinges on the definition of "faith" used. The first group generally uses the term "faith" to mean "intellectual and heartfelt assent and submission". Such a faith will not be salvific until a person has allowed it to effect a life transforming conversion turning towards God in their being see Ontotheology. The Christians that hold to "salvation by faith alone" also called by its Latin name " sola fide " define faith as being implicitly ontological —mere intellectual assent is not termed "faith" by these groups.

Faith, then, is life-transforming by definition. In both religions, offenses against the will of God are called sin. These sins can be thoughts, words, or deeds.

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Catholicism categorizes sins into various groups. A wounding of the relationship with God is often called venial sin ; a complete rupture of the relationship with God is often called mortal sin. Without salvation from sin see below , a person's separation from God is permanent, causing such a person to enter Hell in the afterlife. Both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church define sin more or less as a "macula", a spiritual stain or uncleanliness that constitutes damage to man's image and likeness of God.

Hebrew has several words for sin, each with its own specific meaning. The word pesha , or "trespass", means a sin done out of rebelliousness. The word aveira means "transgression". And the word avone , or "iniquity", means a sin done out of moral failing. The word most commonly translated simply as "sin", het , literally means "to go astray". Just as Jewish law, halakha provides the proper "way" or path to live, sin involves straying from that path. Judaism teaches that humans are born with free will , and morally neutral, with both a yetzer hatov , literally, "the good inclination", in some views, a tendency towards goodness, in others, a tendency towards having a productive life and a tendency to be concerned with others and a yetzer hara , literally "the evil inclination", in some views, a tendency towards evil, and in others, a tendency towards base or animal behavior and a tendency to be selfish.

In Judaism all human beings are believed to have free will and can choose the path in life that they will take. It does not teach that choosing good is impossible—only at times more difficult. There is almost always a "way back" if a person wills it. Although texts mention certain categories for whom the way back will be exceedingly hard, such as the slanderer, the habitual gossip, and the malicious person. The rabbis recognize a positive value to the yetzer hara: In contrast to the Jewish view of being morally balanced, Original Sin refers to the idea that the sin of Adam and Eve 's disobedience sin "at the origin" has passed on a spiritual heritage, so to speak.

Christians teach that human beings inherit a corrupted or damaged human nature in which the tendency to do bad is greater than it would have been otherwise, so much so that human nature would not be capable now of participating in the afterlife with God.

Christianity and Judaism

This is not a matter of being "guilty" of anything; each person is only personally guilty of their own actual sins. However, this understanding of original sin is what lies behind the Christian emphasis on the need for spiritual salvation from a spiritual Saviour, who can forgive and set aside sin even though humans are not inherently pure and worthy of such salvation.

Paul the Apostle in Romans and I Corinthians placed special emphasis on this doctrine, and stressed that belief in Jesus would allow Christians to overcome death and attain salvation in the hereafter. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and some Protestants teach the Sacrament of Baptism is the means by which each person's damaged human nature is healed and Sanctifying Grace capacity to enjoy and participate in the spiritual life of God is restored. This is referred to as "being born of water and the Spirit", following the terminology in the Gospel of St.

Most Protestants believe this salvific grace comes about at the moment of personal decision to follow Jesus, and that baptism is a symbol of the grace already received. Christians will often use the Septuagint to make distinctions between the types of love: Like many Jewish scholars and theologians, literary critic Harold Bloom understands Judaism as fundamentally a religion of love.

But he argues that one can understand the Hebrew conception of love only by looking at one of the core commandments of Judaism, Leviticus Talmudic sages Hillel and Rabbi Akiva commented that this is a major element of the Jewish religion. Also, this commandment is arguably at the center of the Jewish faith. As the third book of the Torah, Leviticus is literally the central book. Historically, Jews have considered it of central importance: Bernard Bamberger considers Leviticus 19, beginning with God's commandment in verse 3—"You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God, am holy"—to be "the climactic chapter of the book, the one most often read and quoted" The only statements in the Tanakh about the status of a fetus state that killing an unborn infant does not have the same status as killing a born human being, and mandates a much lesser penalty Exodus The Talmud states that the fetus is not yet a full human being until it has been born either the head or the body is mostly outside of the woman , therefore killing a fetus is not murder, and abortion —in restricted circumstances—has always been legal under Jewish law.

Rashi , the great 12th century commentator on the Bible and Talmud, states clearly of the fetus lav nefesh hu: Christians who agree with these views may refer to this idea as abortion before the quickening of the fetus. Judaism unilaterally supports, in fact mandates , abortion if doctors believe that it is necessary to save the life of the woman. Many rabbinic authorities allow abortions on the grounds of gross genetic imperfections of the fetus. They also allow abortion if the woman were suicidal because of such defects. However, Judaism holds that abortion is impermissible for family planning or convenience reasons.

Each case must be decided individually, however, and the decision should lie with the pregnant woman, the man who impregnated her and their Rabbi. Jews and Christians accept as valid and binding many of the same moral principles taught in the Torah. There is a great deal of overlap between the ethical systems of these two faiths. Nonetheless, there are some highly significant doctrinal differences.

Judaism has many teachings about peace and compromise, and its teachings make physical violence the last possible option. Nonetheless, the Talmud teaches that "If someone comes with the intention to murder you, then one is obligated to kill in self-defense [rather than be killed]". The clear implication is that to bare one's throat would be tantamount to suicide which Jewish law forbids and it would also be considered helping a murderer kill someone and thus would "place an obstacle in front of a blind man" i.

The tension between the laws dealing with peace, and the obligation to self-defense, has led to a set of Jewish teachings that have been described as tactical-pacifism. This is the avoidance of force and violence whenever possible, but the use of force when necessary to save the lives of one's self and one's people.

Although killing oneself is forbidden under normal Jewish law as being a denial of God's goodness in the world, under extreme circumstances when there has seemed no choice but to either be killed or forced to betray their religion, Jews have committed suicide or mass suicide see Masada , First French persecution of the Jews , and York Castle for examples. As a grim reminder of those times, there is even a prayer in the Jewish liturgy for "when the knife is at the throat", for those dying "to sanctify God's Name". These acts have received mixed responses by Jewish authorities.

Where some Jews regard them as examples of heroic martyrdom, but others saying that while Jews should always be willing to face martyrdom if necessary, it was wrong for them to take their own lives. Because Judaism focuses on this life, many questions to do with survival and conflict such as the classic moral dilemma of two people in a desert with only enough water for one to survive were analysed in great depth by the rabbis within the Talmud, in the attempt to understand the principles a godly person should draw upon in such a circumstance. The Sermon on the Mount records that Jesus taught that if someone comes to harm you, then one must turn the other cheek.

This has led four Protestant Christian denominations to develop a theology of pacifism , the avoidance of force and violence at all times. They are known historically as the peace churches , and have incorporated Christ's teachings on nonviolence into their theology so as to apply it to participation in the use of violent force; those denominations are the Quakers , Mennonites , Amish , and the Church of the Brethren.

Many other churches have people who hold to the doctrine without making it a part of their doctrines, or who apply it to individuals but not to governments, see also Evangelical counsels. The vast majority of Christian nations and groups have not adopted this theology, nor have they followed it in practice. See also But to bring a sword. Although the Hebrew Bible has many references to capital punishment , the Jewish sages used their authority to make it nearly impossible for a Jewish court to impose a death sentence.

Even when such a sentence might have been imposed, the Cities of Refuge and other sanctuaries, were at hand for those unintentionally guilty of capital offences. It was said in the Talmud about the death penalty in Judaism, that if a court killed more than one person in seventy years, it was a barbarous or "bloody" court and should be condemned as such. Christianity usually reserved the death penalty for heresy , the denial of the orthodox view of God's view, and witchcraft or similar non-Christian practices.

For example, in Spain, unrepentant Jews were exiled, and it was only those crypto-Jews who had accepted baptism under pressure but retained Jewish customs in private, who were punished in this way. It is presently acknowledged by most of Christianity that these uses of capital punishment were deeply immoral. Orthodox Jews, unlike most Christians, still practice a restrictive diet that has many rules. Most Christians believe that the kosher food laws have been superseded , for example citing what Jesus taught in Mark 7: Eastern Orthodoxy, in particular has very elaborate and strict rules of fasting , and continues to observe the Council of Jerusalem 's apostolic decree of Act Some Christian denominations observe some biblical food laws, for example the practice of Ital in Rastifarianism.

Jehovah's Witnesses do not eat blood products and are known for their refusal to accept blood transfusions based on not "eating blood".

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