christianity and judaism essay

Christianity vs. Judaism

Christianity and Judaism are two Abrahamic religions that have similar origins but have varying beliefs, practices, and teachings.

Comparison chart

About Judaism and Christianity

The definition of Christianity varies among different Christian groups. Roman Catholics, Protestants and Eastern Orthodox define a Christian as one who is the member of the Church and the one who enters through the sacrament of baptism . Infants and adults who are baptized are considered as Christians. Jesus's Jewish group became labeled 'Christian' because his followers claimed he was 'Christ' the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew and Aramaic word for ' Messiah .' Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people, based on principles and ethics embodied in the Hebrew Bible ( Tanakh ) and the Talmud .

Christianity began in 1st century AD Jerusalem as a Jewish sect and spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond to countries such as Ethiopia, Armenia, Georgia, Assyria, Iran, India, and China. The first known usage of the term Christians can be found in the New Testament of the Bible . The term was thus first used to denote those known or perceived to be disciples of Jesus. The history of early Christian groups is told in Acts in the New Testament. The early days of Christianity witnessed the desert Fathers in Egypt, sects of hermits and Gnostic ascetics.

Jesus gave the New Law by summing up the Ten Commandments. Many of the Jews did not accept Jesus. For traditional Jews, the commandments and Jewish law are still binding. For Christians, Jesus replaced Jewish law. As Jesus began teaching the twelve Apostles some Jews began to follow Him and others did not. Those who believed the teachings of Jesus became known as Christians and those who didn't remained Jews.

Differences in Beliefs

The Religion of Mary and Joseph was the Jewish religion . Judaism's central belief is the people of all religions are children of God , and therefore equal before God. Judaism accepts the worth of all people regardless of religion, it allows people who are not Jewish and wish to voluntarily join the Jewish people. While the Jews believe in the unity of God, Christians believe in the Trinity. A Jew believes in divine revelation through the prophets and Christians believe it to be through Jesus and the prophets.

The Christian Religion encompasses all churches as well as believers without churches, as many modern practitioners may be believers in Christ but not active church goers. A Christian will study the Bible , attend church, seek ways to introduce the teachings of Jesus into his or her life, and engage in prayer. A Christian seeks forgiveness for his or her personal sins through faith in Jesus Christ . The goal of the Christian is both the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on Earth and the attainment of Heaven in the after-life.

In the following video, Christian apologist Lee Strobel interviews Rabbi Tovia Singer and fellow evangelical Christian apologist William Lane Craig about the Trinity of God:

Scriptures of Christianity and Judaism

Judaism has considered belief in the divine revelation and acceptance of the Written and Oral Torah as its fundamental core belief. The Jewish Bible is called Tanakh which is the dictating religious dogma. Christianity regards the Holy Bible, a collection of canonical books in two parts (the Old Testament and the New Testament) as authoritative: written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and therefore the inerrant Word of God.

Jewish vs. Christian Practices

Traditionally, Jews recite prayers three times daily, with a fourth prayer added on Shabbat and holidays. Most of the prayers in a traditional Jewish service can be said in solitary prayer, although communal prayer is preferred. Jews also have certain religious clothing which a traditional Jew wears.Christians believe that all people should strive to follow Christ's commands and example in their everyday actions. For many, this includes obedience to the Ten Commandments . Other Christian practices include acts of piety such as prayer and Bible reading. Christians assemble for communal worship on Sunday, the day of the resurrection, though other liturgical practices often occur outside this setting. Scripture readings are drawn from the Old and New Testaments, but especially the Gospels .

Comparing Jewish and Christian Religious Teachings/Principles

Judaism teaches Jews to believe in one God and direct all prayers towards Him alone while Christians are taught about the Trinity of God - The Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. Jews generally consider actions and behavior to be of primary importance; beliefs come out of actions. This conflicts with conservative Christians for whom belief is of primary importance and actions tend to be derivative from beliefs.

Another universal teaching of Christianity is following the concept of family values, helping the powerless and promoting peace which Jews also believe in.

The View of Jesus in Christianity and Judaism

To Jews, Jesus was a wonderful teacher and storyteller. He was just a human, not the son of God. Jews do not think of Jesus as a prophet . Also, Jews believe that Jesus cannot save souls, and only God can. In the Jewish view, Jesus did not rise from the dead. Judaism in general does not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

Christians believe in Jesus as a messiah and as the giver of salvation. Christians believe that all people should strive to follow Christ's commands and example in their everyday actions.

Geographical Distribution of Jews vs. Christians

The Jews have suffered a long history of persecution in many different lands, and their population and distribution per region has fluctuated throughout the centuries. Today, most authorities place the number of Jews between 12 and 14 million. Predominantly, Jews today live in Israel, Europe and the United States .

Data suggest that there are around 2.1 billion Christians in the world all around the globe inlcuding South and North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

Groups/Sects

Jews include three groups: people who practice Judaism and have a Jewish ethnic background (sometimes including those who do not have strictly matrilineal descent), people without Jewish parents who have converted to Judaism; and those Jews who, while not practicing Judaism as a religion, still identify themselves as Jewish by virtue of their family's Jewish descent and their own cultural and historical identification with the Jewish people.

There are many people who follow christianity and have divided themselves into various groups/ sects depending upon varying beliefs. The types of Christians include Catholic , Protestant , Anglican , Lutheran , Presbyterian , Baptist, Episcopalian , Greek Orthodox , Russian Orthodox , Coptic .

• Jews and Christians: Exploring the past, present and Future by Various Contributors and edited by James H. Charlesworth
• Wikipedia: Jewish history
• Wikipedia: Jew#Who is a Jew
• Wikipedia: Christian
• Wikipedia: Christianity

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Comments: Christianity vs Judaism

Anonymous comments (5).

January 10, 2012, 7:53pm A rather poor and static account of Judaisim with no distinction between the period of Temple worship and the evolution of Judaism after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, which involved innovations such as synagougue worship and the codification of the Oral Law. Halakha is merely a term for law or legaly study (see the Penguin Dictionary of Judaims by Nicholas De Lange). No mention of the fact that Judaism deals with how to bevave ethically in a divinely create world whose permissible pleasures and benefits which are enjoined to enjoy. Likwise, no mention of the seven basic Noachic Commandments, the observance of which places non-Jews and Jews on a equal footing. Therefore, I do not stop Christians in the street and try to convert them to Judaism. I wish that they would accord me the same courtesy. Judaism today covers a wide range of groups, some of whom, such as the Chassidim, have beliefs that are coloured by Christian thought such as original sin and the existence of Satan. In traditonal Jewish thought, everything is created by the Almighty and there is no supernatural source of evil. Every human being has an inclination towards good and towards evil and we are all indiviudally rsponsible for our own actions. Human beings therefore are capable of change and no Redeemer who died for our sins is required. I resent the historical treatment of Jews by Christians and their belief that theirs is the one truth faith, despite Christ's statement about the many mansions in my Father's house. I aslo resent Christians' sometimes deliberate misinterpretation of passages in the Old Testament such as "eye for eye" in a literal manner, in order to portray Judaism as a brutal religion that has been supersed by Christianity, the religion of love, although throught the ages we Jews have seen percious little of this virture. Even today, the indifference of most Christians towards animal welfare and animal cruelty is striking. In Judasim, all living beings are part of the divine creation and are to be respected accordingly. I suggest that you do more reading to deepen your knowledge and understanding of our religion, without which Christianity would not have been possible. — 82.✗.✗.178

December 1, 2012, 9:41am Are you talking a out a religion that came years after the Hebrews stopped using the name of God when he told you to keep it and remember it for it is his name forever? If I recall most jews don't even utter or even try to pronounce the name anymore. Jesus the rebel had to come along and use the name,lol, Jesus said Ehyah has sent me, and said he is one with Ehyah and most jews wanted to stone him and if possible kill all his followers or mess with there teachings due to the fact Gentiles after being exposed to Messiah and his culture were being taught that they needed to be circumcised and of that other such. I didn't come to say all jews are bad, in fact there are as many good as there are bad, we are all humans. What I am saying is Judaism formed over the years compared to there predecessors. I mean lets be rash No prophet in the bible was claiming to be apart of Judaism, what they claimed was there tribe and the God. If you ask Moses what's Judaism he wouldn't know what to say because its a religion and if I go to the nearest synagogue over a year I can possibly be called a Jew too. Does that make me Judah's descendant NO. Big difference between tribes and religion — 71.✗.✗.160

December 14, 2011, 3:04am I am a little late for the discussion here. I find it interesting that with the similar beliefs in the Old testament and the Torah that the two diverge as much as they do. I have yet to find one mention of the trinity in either the Old or New Testament (if I missed it please enlighten me). To me is seems both religions claim to worship the same G-d. One teaches redemption while the other preaches salvation. To me this are a lot alike it is where man is removed from his own sin and evil. I know on a social scale there is much difference. A person is Jewish by birth and or choice. In almost any event they will be Jewish even if they choose not to believe in g-d. In Christianity you are a Christian by choice , you must ask g-d to accept you. You must apologize for a sinful nature that is part of the human condition. You must live the best you can to G-d standards and the 10 commandments. However there were a number of restrictions lifted most notably diet. I am trying to get to the root of the differences myself as I sit and look at the two religions. I know that G-d's people are to be tormented and the Jews have had that throughout history. I see this happening with the Christians now as well. I will keep digging and hope somewhere someone can help me by shedding light on the Jews and Christians. Untill then may G-d bless every one of you as he does. — 71.✗.✗.121

May 2, 2014, 3:33pm no that is a hole different religion that that the cover their hair if you thought that because of the movie gods not dead her family was islamic — 209.✗.✗.254

August 16, 2013, 5:21am Start writing down how many times your prayer have been answered and how they were answered. So next time some one tells you there's no god show 'em the list. They may say that's just a coincidence but they are probably going to start wondering if what they've been told is true and start looking into it. And for those of you who say your prayers haven't been answered, here's some advice. APPRECIATE THE little THINGS. — 72.✗.✗.10

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Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Essays on the Relationship between Christianity and Judaism

Digital Logos Edition

Print (Paperback)

Explore the relationship between Judaism and Christianity

The question of how Jesus’ followers relate to Judaism has been a matter of debate since Jesus first sparred with the Pharisees. The controversy has not abated, taking many forms over the centuries. In the decades following the Holocaust, scholars and theologians reconsidered the Jewish origins and character of Christianity, finding points of continuity.

Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity advances this discussion by freshly reassessing the issues. Did Jesus intend to form a new religion? Did Paul abrogate the Jewish law? Does the New Testament condemn Judaism? How and when did Christianity split from Judaism? How should Jewish believers in Jesus relate to a largely gentile church? What meaning do the Jewish origins of Christianity have for theology and practice today?

In this volume, a variety of leading scholars and theologians explore the relationship of Judaism and Christianity through biblical, historical, theological, and ecclesiological angles. Readers will have their understanding of this centuries-old debate enriched with current scholarship.

Praise for Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity

This remarkable collection adds its own distinctive contribution to the rapidly emerging picture that places early Christians into their full Jewish context. From there, biblical and historical issues begin to look very different. The collection raises profound and difficult questions about the stereotypes Christians have entertained for so long.

–Gavin D'Costa, professor of Catholic theology, University of Bristol

I am so glad that this book exists. It is the best one-volume overview of Christianity's relation to its Jewish roots that I know of, in any language.

–R. Kendall Soulen, professor of systematic theology, Emory University and author of The God of Israel and Christian Theology

Top Highlights

“This essay has argued for a third possibility—a Paul who regarded Jewish identity and law observance as a matter of calling and covenant fidelity.” ( Pages 49–50 )

“Paul’s bottom line, his rule, is that Jews who follow Jesus, like Paul himself, should remain in their calling as Jews and not assimilate.” ( Page 37 )

“But do these differences indicate a rejection on the part of the author of the Jewish roots of early Christianity” ( Page 52 )

“‘The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?’ The operative framework is sacrifice, the cultic action that effects communion between the sacrificer and the deity.” ( Page 89 )

“Mark Gignilliat uses the most recent biblical scholarship to argue that New Testament authors regarded the Hebrew Scriptures as their grammar for thinking about how the God of Israel could have a divine Son and Spirit.” ( Pages 3–4 )

Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology

Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology is a peer-reviewed series of contemporary monographs exploring key topics and issues in biblical studies and biblical theology from an evangelical perspective.

Learn more about the other titles in this series.

• Introduction
• “Old Testament: How Did the New Testament Authors Use Tanak?” by Mark S. Gignilliat
• “Did Jesus Plan to Start a New Religion?” by Matthew Thiessen
• “Was Paul Championing a New Freedom from—or End to—Jewish Law?” by David Rudolph
• “Jesus’ Sacrifice and the Mosaic Logic of Hebrews’ New-Covenant Theology” by David M. Moffitt
• “Missed and Misunderstood Jewish Roots of Christian Worship” by Matthew S. C. Olver
• “The Parting of the Ways: When and How Did the Ekklēsia Split from the Synagogue?” by Isaac W. Oliver
• “From Constantine to the Holocaust: The Church and the Jews” by Eugene Korn
• “Post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian Relations: Challenging Boundaries and Rethinking Theology” by Jennifer M. Rosner
• “Anglicans and Israel: The (Largely) Untold Story” by Sarah Lebhar Hall
• “Messianic Judaism: Recovering the Jewish Character of the Ekklēsia ” by Mark S. Kinzer
• “Christian Churches: What Difference Does the Jewishness of Jesus Make?” by Archbishop Foley Beach
• “Christian Theology: What Difference Does This Make?” by Gerald McDermott

Product Details

• Title: Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Essays on the Relationship between Christianity and Judaism
• Editor: Gerald McDermott
• Series: Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology
• Publisher: Lexham Press
• Publication Date: 2021
• Format: Logos Digital, Paperback
• Trim Size: 6x9
• ISBN: 9781683594611

About Gerald R. McDermott

Gerald R. McDermott is Anglican Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He previously taught at Roanoke College and is an Anglican priest. McDermott is the author, coauthor, or editor of numerous books, including Israel Matters , Famous Stutterers , The Theology of Jonathan Edwards , God’s Rivals: Why Has God Allowed Different Religions? , Can Evangelicals Learn from World Religions? , World Religions: An Indispensable Introduction , and A Trinitarian Theology of Religions . He has written for Christianity Today , the Christian Century , and First Things .

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Jewish-christianity and the history of judaism. collected essays . by annette yoshiko reed. (texts and studies in ancient judaism, 171.) pp. xxx + 506. tübingen: mohr siebeck, 2018. €174. 978 3 16 154476 7; 0721 8753.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2019

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• Volume 70, Issue 3
• James Carleton Paget (a1)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S002204691900037X

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Earliest Christianity within the boundaries of Judaism : essays in honor of Bruce Chilton

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• The Contributors Preface Introduction
• Part 1: Methodology A Phenomenological Approach to Values and Valuing: A Research Strategy, M. Kathryn Armistead Justification: An Essay on Approach and Method in Biblical Studies, Baruch A. Levine Critical Issues in the Formation of the Hebrew Bible, Lee Martin McDonald
• Part 2: Earliest Christianity in Its Judaic Setting Gamaliel and Paul, Richard Bauckham What Shall We Remember, The Deeds or the Faith of Our Ancestors? A Comparison of 1 Maccabees 2 and Hebrews 11, Christian M.M. Brady Reading Paul in Relation to Judaism: Comparison or Contrast?, William S. Campbell The Targums and the Apostle Paul, Delio DelRio Few and Far Between: The Life of a Creed, Scot McKnight Patterns of Prophecy, Jacob Neusner What James Was, His More Famous Brother Was Also, John Painter
• Part 3: Gospel Studies The Compassionate Father of Two Difficult Sons (Luke 15:11-32) and Judaic Interpretation of the Ark and 2 Samuel 6, Roger David Aus Parables of Jesus: Told and Enacted, Frederick Houk Borsch Passover and the Date of the Crucifixion, Philip R. Davies An Aramaic Parable in a Greek Gospel: The Quest for the Original Meaning of the Vineyard Parable, Craig A. Evans The Gospel of Mark in Syriac Christianity, Daniel M. Gurtner The Legacy of B.F. Westcott and Oral Gospel Tradition, Stanley E. Porter Misunderstood New Testament Texts: Mark 2:23 and Galatians 2:1, John Townsend
• Part 4: History and Meaning in the Later Church Origen: Exegesis, Contemplative Prayer, and the Limits of Language, Robert M. Berchman Exploring the Origins of the descensus ad inferos, J.H. Charlesworth The Chalcedonian Formula and Twentieth Century Ecumenism, Paul B. Clayton, Jr. The Gospel of Participation, Klyne Snodgrass One Supper, Many Suppers: The Eucharist in the Earliest Christian Communities, Armand Puig Tarrech Major Publications of Bruce Chilton Index of Biblical and Post-Biblical References Index of Topics.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

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• Introduction
• Early views
• Medieval and Reformation views
• Modern views
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• The relation of the early church to late Judaism
• The relation of the early church to the career and intentions of Jesus
• The Gentile mission and St. Paul
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• The problem of jurisdictional authority
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• Early heretical movements
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• Roman Catholicism
• Eastern Orthodoxy
• Oriental Orthodoxy
• Lutheranism
• Anglicanism
• Presbyterian and Reformed churches
• Other Protestant churches
• The nature and functions of doctrine
• Scripture and tradition: the apostolic witness
• Evangelism: the first teaching about the God of Jesus Christ
• Catechesis: instructing candidates for baptism
• Liturgy: the school and feast of faith
• Ethics: obeying the truth
• Aversion of heresy: the establishment of orthodoxy
• Apologetics: defending the faith
• Restatement: respecting language and knowledge
• Inculturation: respecting places and peoples
• Dogma: the most authoritative teaching
• Consensus: patterns of agreement
• Theology: loving God with the mind
• Symbolics: creeds and confessions
• Development: the maturation of understanding
• Schism: division over substantial matters
• Controversy: fighting over the faith
• Ecumenism: speaking the truth in love
• Characteristic features of the Christian concept of God
• The specific concept of God as Father
• The belief in the oneness of the Father and the Son
• The revelatory character of God
• God as Creator, Sustainer, and Judge
• The view that God is not solitary
• Modern views of God
• Satan and the origin of evil
• Different interpretations of the person of Jesus
• The Christological controversies
• Messianic views
• The doctrine of the Virgin Mary and holy Wisdom
• Contradictory aspects of the Holy Spirit
• Conflict between order and charismatic freedom
• The operations of the Holy Spirit
• The basis for the doctrine of the Trinity
• Introduction of Neoplatonic themes
• Attempts to define the Trinity
• What it is to be human
• The human as a creature
• The human as the image of God
• Human redemption
• The problem of suffering
• The resurrection of the body
• Progressive human perfection
• The “new man”: The human being in the light of Christ
• The “reborn human”
• Human liberation
• Joy in human existence
• The charismatic believer
• Christian perfection
• Fellow humans as the present Christ
• Normative defenses in the early church
• Evolution of the episcopal office
• Authority and dissent
• Organization
• Church polity
• New liturgical forms and antiliturgical attitudes
• The sacraments
• Scriptural traditions
• Veneration of places, objects, and people
• Monasticism
• The saintly life
• Art and iconography
• Theology of icons
• Expectations of the kingdom of God in early Christianity
• Expectations of the kingdom of God in the medieval and Reformation periods
• Expectations of the kingdom of God in the post-Reformation period
• The role of imminent expectation in missions and emigrations
• Eschatological expectations and secularization
• Concepts of life after death
• Influence of Greek philosophy
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• Faith and reason
• The design (or teleological) argument
• The cosmological argument
• The ontological argument
• Moral arguments
• Arguments from religious experience and miracles
• The immortality of the soul
• Influence of logical positivism
• Evidentialist approach
• Early church
• Eastern Christianity
• Western Catholic Christianity
• Protestant Christianity
• The dying to self
• The union with God
• The readjustment
• Christ-mysticism
• Trinitarian mysticism
• Negative mysticism: God and the Godhead
• Significance of Christian mysticism
• Characteristics of Christian myth and legend
• The ages of the world
• Messianic secrets and the mysteries of salvation
• The Magi and the Child of Wondrous Light
• Relics and saints
• The Middle Ages
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• Christian practice in the modern world
• Historical views
• Church, sect, and mystical movement
• The church and the Roman Empire
• The church and the Byzantine, or Eastern, Empire
• The church and Western states
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• The views of Eusebius of Caesarea
• The views of Augustine
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• The problem of slavery and persecution
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• Healing the sick
• Care for the sick
• Care for widows and orphans
• Property, poverty, and the poor
• Pastoral care
• Church and minorities
• The tendency to spiritualize and individualize marriage
• The tendency toward asceticism
• Love as the basis for Christian ethics
• Freedom and responsibility
• Biblical foundations
• First transition, to 500 ce
• Western mission
• Papal mission
• Eastern and Nestorian missions
• The rise of Islam
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• Fourth transition, from 1950
• Scripture translations
• The biblical perspective
• Early controversies
• The Schism of 1054
• The Reformation
• Ecumenism in the 17th and 18th centuries
• 19th-century efforts
• Ecumenism since the start of the 20th century

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Christianity and world religions

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• United Religions Initiative - Christianity: Background, Basic Beliefs, and Sacred Texts
• Biblical Cyclopedia - Christianity
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• BCcampus Open Publishing - UnRoman Romans - Christianity
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• Jewish Virtual Library - Christianity
• World History Encyclopedia - Christianity
• The Canadian Encyclopedia - Christianity
• Christianity - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
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• Table Of Contents

The global spread of Christianity through the activity of European and American churches in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries brought it into contact with all other existing religions. Meanwhile, since the beginning of the 19th century, the close connection between Christian world missions and political, economic, technical, and cultural expansion was, at the same time, loosened. Meanwhile, as the study of religion emerged as an academic discipline , scholarship on non-Christian and non-Western religious traditions developed. Philosophers and writers in both Europe and the United States (particularly the New England Transcendentalists ) drew from an increasing body of scholarly and missionary writing on Indian and Chinese traditions, incorporating some Eastern ideas—or at least their interpretations of them—into their own idiosyncratic religious visions of a reformed or reinvigorated Christianity. The World Parliament of Religions, held at the World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893, increased the visibility in the West of traditions from South and East Asia in particular.

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After World War II the former mission churches were transformed into independent churches in the newly autonomous Asian and African states. The concern for responsible cooperation between the members of Christian minority churches and their non-Christian fellow citizens became more urgent with a renaissance of the Asian higher religions in numerous Asian states.

Missionaries of Asian world religions moved into Europe, the Americas, and Australia. Numerous Vedanta centres were established to introduce Hindu teachings within the framework of the Ramakrishna and Vivekananda missions. In the United States the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 dramatically increased the number of legal immigrants from East, Southeast, and South Asia , the vast majority of whom were not Christians. In that year the Hare Krishna movement (formally the International Society for Krishna Consciousness [ISKCON]) was founded in the United States, attracting followers to its version of Vaishnavism , one of the main branches of Hinduism . Followers of South Asian Theravada Buddhism ; Mahayana Buddhism, particularly that of Japan (largely Pure Land , Nichiren [especially Sōka-gakkai ], and Zen ); and Tibetan Vajrayana ( Tantric ) Buddhism founded temples (some of which were called “churches”), meditation centres, community centres, and other spiritual retreats. This influence penetrated Europe and North America on several fronts, whether in the form of a spontaneously received flow of religious ideas and methods of meditation through literature and philosophy , through developments in psychology and psychotherapy, or through institutions within which individuals could develop a personal practice of meditation and participate in the life of the sangha (community). As a result, Christianity in the latter part of the 20th century found itself forced to enter into a factual discussion with non-Christian religions.

There has also been a general transformation of religious consciousness in the West since the middle of the 19th century. Until about 1900, intimate knowledge of non-Western world religions was still the privilege of a few specialists. During the 20th century, however, a wide range of people studied translations of source materials from the non-Christian religions. The dissemination of the religious art of India and East Asia through touring exhibitions and the prominence of the 14th Dalai Lama as a political and religious figure have created a new attitude toward the other religions in the broad public of Europe and North America. In recognition of this fact, numerous Christian institutions for the study of non-Christian religions were founded: e.g., in Bengaluru (Bangalore), India; in Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma); in Bangkok, Thailand; in Kyōto, Japan; and in Hong Kong , China.

The readiness of encounter or even cooperation of Christianity with non-Christian religions is a phenomenon of modern times. Until the 18th century, Christians showed little inclination to engage in a serious study of other religions. Even though contacts with Islam had existed since its founding, the first translation of the Qurʾān (the Islamic holy book) was issued only in 1141 in Toledo by Peter the Venerable , abbot of Cluny. Four hundred years later, in 1542/43, Theodor Bibliander, a theologian and successor of the Swiss reformer Zwingli , edited the translation of the Qurʾān by Peter the Venerable . He was subsequently arrested, and he and his publisher could be freed only through the intervention of Luther .

Christian exposure to Asian religions also was delayed. Although the name Buddha is mentioned for the first time in Christian literature—and there only once—by St. Clement of Alexandria about 200 ce , it did not appear again for some 1,300 years. Pali , the language of the Theravada Buddhist canon ( see also Pali literature ), remained unknown in the West until the early 19th century, when the modern Western study of Buddhism began.

The reasons for such reticence toward contact with foreign religions were twofold: (1) The ancient church was significantly influenced by the Jewish attitude toward contemporary pagan religions. Like Judaism , it viewed the pagan gods as “nothings” next to the true God; they were offsprings of human error that were considered to be identical with the wooden, stone, or bronze images that were made by humans. (2) Beside this, there was the tendency to identify the pagan gods as evil demonic forces engaged in combat with the true God. The conclusion of the history of salvation , according to the Christian understanding, was to be a final struggle between Christ and his church on one side and Antichrist and his minions on the other, culminating with the victory of Christ.

The history of religion , however, continued even after Christ. During the 3rd and 4th centuries a new world religion appeared in the form of Manichaeism , which asserted itself as a superior form of Christianity with a new universal claim of validity. The Christian church never acknowledged the claims of Manichaeism but considered the religion a Christian heresy and opposed it as such.

Christianity faced greater challenges when it encountered Islam and the religions of East Asia. When Islam was founded in the 7th century, it considered the revelations of the Prophet Muhammad to be superior to those of the Old and New Testaments . Christianity also fought Islam as a Christian heresy and saw it as the fulfillment of the eschatological prophecies of the Apocalypse concerning the coming of the “false prophet,” as portrayed in the Revelation to John . The religious and political competition between Christianity and Islam led to the Crusades , which influenced the self-consciousness of Western Christianity in the Middle Ages and later centuries. In China and Japan, however, missionaries saw themselves forced into an argument with indigenous religions that could be carried on only with intellectual weapons. The old Logos theory prevailed in a new form founded on natural law , particularly among the Jesuit theologians who worked at the Chinese emperor’s court in Beijing. The Jesuits also sought to adapt indigenous religious traditions to Christian rituals but were forbidden from doing so by the pope during the Chinese Rites Controversy .

Philosophical and cultural developments during the Enlightenment brought changes in the understanding of Christianity and other world religions. During the Enlightenment the existence of the plurality of world religions was recognized by the educated in Europe, partly—as in the case of the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz —in immediate connection with the theories of natural law of the Jesuit missionaries in China. Only in the philosophy of the Enlightenment was the demand of tolerance , which thus far in Christian Europe had been applied solely to the followers of another Christian denomination , extended to include the followers of different religions.

Some missionaries of the late 18th and19th centuries, however, ignored this knowledge or consciously fought against it. Simple lay Christianity of revivalist congregations demanded that a missionary denounce all pagan “idolatry.” The spiritual and intellectual argument with non-Christian world religions simply did not exist for this simplified theology , and in this view a real encounter of Christianity with world religions did not, on the whole, occur in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The 20th century experienced an explosion of publicly available information concerning the wider religious life of humanity, as a result of which the older Western assumption of the manifest superiority of Christianity ceased to be plausible for many Christians. Early 20th-century thinkers such as Rudolf Otto , who saw religion throughout the world as a response to the Holy (or the Sacred ), and Ernst Troeltsch , who showed that, socioculturally, Christianity is one of a number of comparable traditions, opened up new ways of regarding the other major religions.

During the 20th century most Christians adopted one of three main points of view. According to exclusivism , there is salvation only for Christians. This theology underlay much of the history outlined above, expressed both in the Roman Catholic dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus (“outside the church no salvation”) and in the assumption of the 18th- and 19th-century Protestant missionary movements. The exclusivist outlook was eroded within advanced Roman Catholic thinking in the decades leading up to the Second Vatican Council and was finally abandoned in the council’s pronouncements. The pope St. John Paul II ’s outreach to the world’s religions may be seen as the practical application of the decisions of Vatican II. Within Protestant Christianity there is no comparable central authority, but most Protestant theologians, except within the extreme fundamentalist constituencies , have also moved away from the exclusivist position.

Since the mid-20th century many Roman Catholics and Protestants have moved toward inclusivism—the view that, although salvation is by definition Christian, brought about by the atoning work of Christ, it is nevertheless available in principle to all human beings, whether Christian or not. The Roman Catholic theologian Karl Rahner expressed the inclusivist view by saying that good and devout people of other faiths may, even without knowing it, be regarded as “anonymous Christians.” Others have expressed in different ways the thought that non-Christians also are included within the universal scope of Christ’s salvific work and their religions fulfilled in Christianity.

The third position, which appealed to a number of individual theologians, was pluralism . According to this view, the great world faiths, including Christianity, are valid spheres of a salvation that takes characteristically different forms within each—though consisting in each case in the transformation of human existence from self-centredness to a new orientation toward the Divine Reality. The other religions are not secondary contexts of Christian redemption but independent paths of salvation. The pluralist position is controversial in Christian theology, because it affects the ways in which the doctrines of the person of Christ, atonement , and the Trinity are formulated.

Christians engage in dialogue with the other major religions through the World Council of Churches ’ organization on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies and through the Vatican’s Secretariat for Non-Christians, as well as through a variety of extra-ecclesiastical associations, such as the World Congress of Faiths. There is a National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States, and practically every U.S. state has its own similar state-level organization. A multitude of interreligious encounters have taken place throughout the world, many initiated by Christian and others by non-Christian individuals and groups. A Parliament of the World’s Religions was held in Chicago in 1993 to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the original parliament; it has been held every three or four years since then.

Friday essay: what do the 5 great religions say about the existence of the soul?

Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland

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Philip C. Almond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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A recent survey found almost 70% of Australians believed in or were open to the existence of the soul — meaning they believe we are more than the stuff out of which our bodies are made.

The soul can be defined as the spiritual or non-material part of us that survives death.

Western pop culture is currently bewitched by what happens to us after death with TV shows such as The Good Place and Miracle Workers set largely in the afterlife. And the Disney film Soul depicts the soul of a jazz pianist separating from his earthly body to journey into the afterlife.

Read more: Disney Pixar's Soul: how the moviemakers took Plato's view of existence and added a modern twist

The five great world religions — Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism — all believe in some version of a “self”, variously named, which mostly survives death. But they imagine its origin, journey, and destination in some quite different and distinctive ways.

The origin of the soul – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

These three religions all believe there was a time when souls were not. That is to say, before God created the world, there was nothing at all.

Within Christianity, how the soul was united with its body was a matter of uncertainty. But all were agreed that the soul was present within the foetus, if not at the moment of conception, then within the first 90 days. When it comes to contemporary Christian debate about abortion, this moment is a crucial one. Most Christians today believe the soul enters the body at the time of conception.

Christianity adopted the Greek philosopher Plato’s view that we consist of a mortal body and an immortal soul . Death is thus the separation of the soul from the body.

According to Judaism, the soul was created by God and joined to an earthly body. But it did not develop a definitive theory on the timing or nature of this event (not least because the separation between body and soul was not an absolutely clear one). Modern Judaism remains uncertain on when, between birth and conception, a human being is fully present.

Similarly, in Islam, the soul was breathed into the foetus by God. As in Christianity, opinions vary on when this occurred, but the mainstream opinion has it that the soul enters the foetus around 120 days after conception.

For all three religions, souls will live forever.

The origin of the soul – Hinduism and Buddhism

Within Hinduism, there has been never been a time when souls did not exist. All of us have existed into the infinite past. Thus, we are all bound to Samsara – the infinite cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

Our souls are continually reincarnated in different physical forms according to the law of karma — a cosmic law of moral debit and credit. Each moral deed, virtuous or otherwise, leaves its mark on the individual. At the time of death, the sum total of karma determines our status in the next life.

Like Hinduism, Buddhism accepts there was no time when we were not bound to the cycle of birth and rebirth. But unlike Hinduism, it does not believe there is an eternal, unchanging “soul” that transmigrates from one life to the next. There is nothing permanent in us, any more than there is any permanence in the world generally.

Nevertheless, Buddhists believe our consciousness is like a flame on the candle of our body. At the moment of death, we leave the body but this flame, particularly our flame of moral credit or debit, goes into a new body. In Buddhism, this “karmic flame of consciousness” plays the same role as the “soul” in other religions.

The destiny of the soul – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Within Christianity, it is believed the soul continues its existence immediately after death. Most believe it will do so consciously (rather than in a sleep-like state). At the point of death, God will determine the soul’s ultimate fate — eternal punishment or eternal happiness .

Still, by the end of the first millennium, there was a recognition that most of us had not been sufficiently good to merit immediate happiness, nor sufficiently evil to merit eternal misery. Catholicism thus developed an intermediate state — purgatory — offering the slightly or moderately wicked a chance to be purified of their sins. All souls will be reunited with their resurrected bodies on Judgement Day when Christ returns and God finally confirms their destiny.

Judaism remains uncertain about the consciousness of the dead in the afterlife, although the dominant view holds that, after death, the soul will be in a conscious state.

Orthodox Judaism is committed to the idea of the resurrection of the body on Judgement Day and its reunion with the soul, together with heavenly bliss for the saved. Liberal forms of modern Judaism, like modern liberal Christianity, sit lightly on the idea of the resurrection of the body and emphasise spiritual life immediately after death.

Within Islam, souls await the day of resurrection in their graves. It is a limbo-like state: those destined for hell will suffer in their graves; those destined for heaven will wait peacefully.

There are two exceptions to this: those who die fighting in the cause of Islam go immediately into God’s presence; those who die as enemies of Islam go straight to hell.

On the final Day of Judgement, Muslims believe the wicked will suffer torments in hell. The righteous will enjoy the pleasures of Paradise.

The destiny of the soul – Hinduism

In the modern West, reincarnation has a positive flavour as a desirable alternative to the traditional Western afterlife. But the Indian traditions all agree it is the ultimate horror — their aim is to escape from it.

They do, however, differ radically in their views of the destiny of the soul beyond the eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Within Hinduism, we can distinguish four different schools of thought on this.

In the first of these, known as Samkhya-Yoga , the aim is to realise the essential separateness of the soul from its material body, thus enabling us to live in the here and now without attachment to the things of the world. At death, the liberated soul will exist eternally beyond any further entanglements with the world. Modern Western postural yoga derives from this, although it is intended, not so much to remove us from the world, as to enable us the better to function within it.

The second view, known as the Dvaita Vedanta school, is completely focused on the soul’s loving devotion to God, which will help liberate souls beyond death. As George Harrison sang , by chanting the names of the Lord (Krishna and Rama) “you’ll be free”. This is the dominant philosophy underlying the Hare Krishna movement and of all the Indian traditions, most closely resembles Christianity.

The third view is that of the Vishishtadvaita Vedanta school. Here, liberation occurs when the soul enters into the oneness of God, rather as a drop of water merges into the ocean, while paradoxically maintaining its individual identity.

The final view of the destiny of the soul within Hinduism is that of the Advaita Vedanta school. Liberation is attained when the soul realises its essential identity with Brahman — the impersonal Godhead beyond the gods.

The destiny of the karmic flame – Buddhism

Although there are divinities galore in Buddhism, the gods are not essential for liberation. So, it is possible to be a Buddhist atheist. Liberation from endless rebirth comes from our realisation that all is suffering and nothing is permanent, including the self.

In Theravada Buddhism (present in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos), the realised person enters Pari-Nirvana at death. The flame of consciousness is “extinguished”. The “soul” is no more.

In Mahayana Buddhism (in Japan, Vietnam and China, including Tibet)), liberation is attained when the world is seen as it really is, with the veil of ignorance removed — as having no ultimate reality. This means that, although at one level the many gods, goddesses, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas can assist us on the path to liberation, they too, like us, have never really existed.

At the everyday level, we can distinguish between truth and falsity. But from the perspective of what is ultimately real, there is only Emptiness or Pure Consciousness. Liberation consists of coming to know that the idea of the individual soul was always an illusory one. In short, the individual soul never really was. It was part of the grand illusion that is the realm of Samsara.

The practice of Buddhist “mindfulness”, now becoming popular in the West in a secular form, is the continual attentiveness to the impermanence or unreality of the self and the world, and the suffering caused by thinking and acting otherwise.

The meaning of the soul

Within the Christian tradition, the idea that each individual was both mortal body and immortal soul distinguished humans from other creatures.

It made humanity qualitatively unique; ensuring the life of each individual soul had an ultimate meaning within the grand, divine scheme. However, even without a belief in the transcendent, atheistic humanists and existentialists still affirm the distinct value of each human person.

The question of souls is still one that matters. It is, in effect, wrestling with the meaning of human life — and whether each of us has more ultimate significance than a rock or an earthworm.

This is why the belief in souls persists, even in this apparently secular age.

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Comparing Christianity and Judaism

• Written by  Super User
• PETER KREEFT

Kreeft outlines the main theological and practical differences, as well as the important common elements, between Christianity and Judaism.

This is surely Jesus' point of view too, for He said He came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them. From His point of view, Christianity is more Jewish than modern Judaism. Pre-Christian Judaism is like a virgin: post-Christian Judaism is like a spinster. In Christ, God consummates the marriage to His people and through them to the world.

What have Christians inherited from the Jews? Everything in the Old Testament. The knowledge of the true God. Comparing that with all the other religions of the ancient world, six crucial, distinctive teachings stand out: monotheism, creation, law, redemption, sin and faith.

Only rarely did a few gentiles like Socrates and Akenaton ever reach to the heights and simplicity of monotheism. A world of many forces seemed to most pagans to point to many gods. A world of good and evil seemed to indicate good and evil gods. Polytheism seems eminently reasonable; in fact, I wonder why it is not much more popular today.

There are only two possible explanations for the Jews' unique idea of a single, all-powerful and all-good God: Either they were the most brilliant philosophers in the world, or else they were "the Chosen People" — i.e., God told them. The latter explanation, which is their traditional claim, is just the opposite of arrogant. It is the humblest possible interpretation of the data.

With a unique idea of God came the unique idea of creation of the universe out of nothing. The so-called "creation myths" of other religions are really only formation myths, for their gods always fashion the world out of some pre-existing stuff, some primal glop the gods were stuck with and on which you can blame things: matter, fate, darkness, etc. But a Jew can't blame evil on matter, for God created it; nor on God, since He is all-good. The idea of human free will, therefore, as the only possible origin of evil, is correlative to the idea of creation.

The Hebrew word "to create" ( bara ) is used only three times in the Genesis account: for the creation of the universe (1:1), life (1:21) and man (1:27). Everything else was not "created" (out of nothing) but "formed" (out of something).

The consequences of the idea of creation are immense. A world created by God is real, not a dream either of God or of man. And that world is rational. Finally, it is good. Christianity is a realistic, rational and world-affirming religion, rather than a mythical, mystical, or world-denying religion because of its Jewish source.

The essence of Judaism, which is above all a practical religion, is the Law. The Law binds the human will to the divine will. For the God of the Jews is not just a Being or a Force, or even just a Mind, but a Will and a person. His will is that our will should conform to His: "Be holy, for I am holy" (Lev. 11:44).

The Law has levels of intimacy ranging from the multifarious external civil and ceremonial laws, through the Ten Commandments of the moral law, to the single heart of the Law. This is expressed in the central prayer of Judaism, the shma (from its first word, "hear"): "Hear O Israel: the Lord, the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" Deut. 6:4).

Thus, the essence of Judaism is the same as the essence of Christianity: the love of God. Only the way of fulfilling that essence — Christ — is different. Judaism knows the Truth and the Life, but not the Way. As the song says: "Two out of three ain't bad."

Even the Way is foreshadowed in Judaism, of course. The act brought dramatically before the Jews every time they worshiped in the temple was an act of sacrifice, the blood of bulls and goats and lambs foretelling forgiveness. To Christians, every detail of Old Testament Judaism was a line or a dot in the portrait of Christ. That is why it was so tragic and ironic that "He came to what was His own, but his own people did not accept Him" (John 1:11). Scripture is His picture, but most Jews preferred the picture to the person.

Thus the irony of His Saying:

You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf" (John 5:39-40).

No religion outside Judaism and Christianity ever knew of such an intimate relationship with God as "faith." Faith means not just belief but fidelity to the covenant, like a marriage covenant. Sin is the opposite of faith, for sin means not just vice but divorce, breaking the covenant.

In Judaism, as in Christianity, sin is not just moral and faith is not just intellectual; both are spiritual, i.e., from the heart. Rabbi Martin Buber's little classic "I and Thou" lays bare the essence of Judaism and of its essential oneness with Christianity.

Christians are often asked by Jews to agree not to "proselytize." They cannot comply, of course, since their Lord has commanded them otherwise (Matt. 28:18-20). But the request is understandable, for Judaism does not proselytize. Originally this was because Jews believed that only when the Messiah came was the Jewish revelation to spread to the gentiles. Orthodox Jews still believe this, but modern Judaism does not proselytize for other reasons, often relativistic ones.

Christianity and Judaism are both closer and farther apart than any two other religions. On the one hand, Christians are completed Jews; but on the other, while dialogue between any two other religions may always fall back on the idea that they do not really contradict each other because they are talking about different things, Jews and Christians both know who Jesus is, and fundamentally differ about who He is. He is the stumbling stone (Is. 8:14).

Additional Info

• Author: Peter Kreeft

Kreeft, Peter. "Comparing Christianity & Judaism." National Catholic Register . (May, 1987).

Reprinted by permission of the author. To subscribe to the National Catholic Register call 1-800-421-3230.

• Publisher: National Catholic Register
• Alternate: http://catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0007.html

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