Posted on 09/25/2003 9:18:42 AM PDT by Greg Luzinski
Jewish leaders continue to decry Mel Gibsons forthcoming Jesus movie for supposedly threatening to whip up anti-Semitism. Due out next April, "The Passion" identifies Jewish priests as instigators of the crucifixion. Maimonides, too, in his Mishnah Torah, affirms Jewish involvement in Jesus execution which must make the greatest of medieval Jewish sages an anti-Semite, too.
But the film Id like to see produced that would really make some Jews nervous, while teaching a healthy lesson: an honest depiction not of Jesus death, but of his preaching. The Christian Bible makes clear what was probably the main theme of his sermons. It is a theme that many liberal rabbis, to their discomfort, would feel obliged to endorse.
Todays secular historians generally assert that Jesus was a loyal adherent of Pharisaic (rabbinic) Judaism. They argue against the conventional Christian understanding that Jesus radically critiqued Judaism. On this, the Christians are right.
True, Jesus is repeatedly quoted in the gospels as embracing Torah observance (e.g., Matthew 5:17-18). He must have accepted certain broadly defined mitzvot like the Sabbath and Temple sacrifice, because his followers were still practicing these commandments just after his death.
What Jesus rejected was the oral Torah that explains the written Torah. Essential to rabbinic Judaism, this notion of an oral Torah recognizes the Pentateuch as a cryptic document, a coded text. It posits that the Bibles first five books were revealed to Moses along with a key to unlock the code for a lock is never made without a key.
This oral tradition was passed from Moses to the prophets to the rabbis, later to be written down in the Mishnah and Talmud. At least thats the theory presented in the first chapter of the Mishnahs tractate Pirke Avot, a theory that still animates traditional Judaism.
On point after point, Jesus derides not the written Torah but its orally transmitted interpretations. He does so on matters like the details of Sabbath observance (no carrying objects in a public space, no harvesting produce or use of healing salves except to save a life), donating a yearly half shekel to the Temple, refraining from bathing and anointing on fast days like Yom Kippur, hand washing before eating bread and praying with a quorum.
Stated this way, laundry-list fashion, such commandments from the oral tradition might seem like trivialities, as they did to Jesus. But from the constellation of such discrete teachings there emerges the gorgeous pointillist masterpiece of Torah not merely "the Torah," the finite text of the Pentateuch that the Christian founder accepted, but the infinite tradition of Judaism as a whole, reflecting Gods mind as applied to human affairs.
For Jesus, oral Torah was a manmade accretion without transcendent authority. He tells a group of Pharisees, "So, for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God," citing Isaiah. "In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men" (Matthew 15:7-9).
Elsewhere, "Woe to you lawyers also! For you load men with burdens hard to bear" (Luke 12:46).
From this position, it was a logical next step to that of the apostle Paul, who abrogated the Torah altogether, oral and written. Abandon the former and youll soon abandon the latter.
A phenomenally charismatic person, Jesus mocked the Jewish establishment of his day and was adulated by a following from Galilee, the region where he conducted his brief ministry, famous in this period (as professor Geza Vermes shows) for the ignorance of the local populace. Knowing no better, loathing Pharisees as their own teacher did, they thought Jesus uniquely had Judaism all figured out.
Sound familiar? Reform ideology has always viewed oral tradition as being pretty much nothing more than the "precepts of men," while the Conservative movement increasingly understands it as a human creation, "hard to bear." Having grown up in a Los Angeles-area Reform community, I can testify that most Reform and Conservative temples impart a level of lay education that is approximately Galilean. As radio commentator Michael Medved has memorably said, the majority of Jews in our country know little about Judaism other than that it rejects Jesus.
Yet when it comes to the oral Torah, most American Jews follow Jesus without know it.
Mr. Gibson, please consider making another movie, a prequel about his career before the crucifixion showing how much Christianity we have unwittingly absorbed.
Torah indeed necessitates rejecting Christianity, but that means rejecting also the Christian view on the most fundamental of concepts in all Judaism: oral Torah. A Jesus movie about his life as a preacher would be a good dose of reality, if unpopular with our beloved Jewish leaders not, come to think of it, unlike the film that Gibson will give us next year.
David Klinghoffers new book is The Discovery of God: Abraham and the Birth of Monotheism (Doubleday, 2003).
And speaking of Luther, as long as people love to throw around accusations about the Catholic Church, how about his tract "On the Jews And Their Lies" where he advocates killing Jews and burning down Synagogues. Very inspirational stuff from the founder of Protestantism.
Hey, Mike, you, remember, claimed that the PVoM was unknown before AD 400. Wideawake correctly pointed out that Jerome called Helvidius' rejection of it "an innovation". Now you're changing the topic to whether Jerome's ideas about the canon ought to be taken authoritatively.
Stick to the subject, man! If you'd like to claim that Jerome was mistaken, and Helvidius' ideas were not an innovation, prove it. You might start with addressing the question of why Pope Siricius rejected Helvidius, also. Then you might also try addressing the question of why Martin Luther and John Calvin also rejected Helvidius' errors.
Mark 7
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"
6 He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
"This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men --the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."
9 He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
Yeshua could be talking to the church, Christmas, Easter??
Tabernacles, Birth / Passover, The Crucifixion / First Fruits, Resurrection
And when Rabbi Sha'ul wrote to the Corinthians...
Colossians 2:16
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,
...he was writing to those who observe the Feasts of The LORD. Lev. 23
How many Christian holidays fall out on the 'new moon?'
And the Sabbath (The LORD's Day) is Saturday, not Sunday.
Read the Prodigal's Son, The older brother is Judaism, the younger Christianity.
Wrong. Read the Didache and the letters of Ignatius of Antioch (who knew your "Rabbi Sha'ul" in the flesh). Christians switched their Sabbath observance to Sunday before the years had three digits.
Your claim is dead wrong. Catholic doctrine is officially defined to clarify and canonize that which always was believed by the Church. The perpetual virginity of Mary, for example, was long established and believed before it became officially declared by the Church.
(1). "This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut. (Ezekial 44:2)
(2). The Apostle St. Andrew, quoted by Abdias, expresses himself in these terms: "As the first Adam was made of the earth before it was cursed, so the second Adam was formed of a virgin earth which was never cursed" (Saint James the Great, and Saint Mark, in their liturgies - Abbe M. Orsini)
(3)."But the Son of God has a Mother touched by no impurity, yet she, whom He is seen to have, had never been a bride" (Tertulian: Apology 21, 9 - circa 213 A.D.)
(4). "there is a very great difference between the rest of mortals and the Virgin, and that all she has in common with them is their nature, and not their sin". (Saint Cyprian, circa 286 A.D.)
(5). "For in thee, Lord, is no spot, nor any stain in Thy Mother" Saint Ephraem the Syrian, (A.D. 306 - A.D. 373)
(6)."You before God and the Word according to the flesh, preserving your virginity before childbirth, and a virgin after childbirth, and we have been reconciled with Christ God, your Son." Saint Ephraem the Syrian, (A.D. 306 - A.D. 373)
(7). "Mary (was) a bright and luminous stem, where there was never found the knot of original, or the bark of actual sin" (Saint Ambrose, circa 380 A.D.)
DM >> "You're kidding, right? Jesus heavily criticized the religious leaders of his day for substituting their own man-made rules for God's law.
Someone here, it seems, has read the Bible and someone has not. Those of us familiar with the Scriptures recognise the beginning of Matt 23 when we read it. Others, apparently, do not. I quote, for general edification and education:
Matthew 23
1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Jesus clearly recognizes that the Pharisees have legitimate teaching authority (indeed He gave it to them), but that they do not live according to their own teachings.
Have fun with that one!
And Rabbi Sha'ul (What Yeshua called him on the road to Damascus) outlined this in Hebrews 11.
What? No chapter and verse on The LORD's Day??
If you are referring to the gradual but steady peeling away of ancient Catholic traditions by the liberals I agree with you. Our Apostolic traditions are being replaced by post-Vatican II novelties and innovations, and the price we have all paid has been a heavy one.
I recognized it, of course, and I'm glad that you do, too.So how do you square your interpretation of Matthew 23 with Mark 7, which offers a demonstration of Jesus and his disciples not obeying a teaching of the Pharisees?
Mark 7Was Jesus contradicting what he said in Matthew 23? Since there are many more verses like Mark 7 than like Matthew 23, perhaps you need to read Matthew 23 in light of these other passages. It's obvious that Jesus promoted obedience to the teachings of the religious leaders, but only to the point that these teachings were in accordance with the scriptures. I'm all in favor of church tradition, too, but only those that do not violate the scriptures.5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?" (emphasis added)
...
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men --the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."
9 He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.Break's over. More tonight.
Thanks for making my point for me.
You are correct. But in a very real sense it doesn't matter anyway, because God asked for "a" Sabbath Day, a day of rest after six work days, and not any specific calendar day, Leviticus 23:3).
Christ endowed the Church with the authority to declare disciplines, such as which day the sabbath shall be, (Mathew 16:19). In any case, what better day to celebrate the Sabbath than the very day that Christ rose from the dead? It is the most important day that humanity could ever know.
And congratulations! The Orthodox Churches are very closely related to the Catholic Church. We recognize the validity of their sacraments and their clergy.
Here's a great list of links for comparing Catholicism and Orthodoxy.
I assure you that I'm quite familiar with the passage. I also agree with you 100% that oral teachings which directly contradict written scripture ought to be discarded.Thanks -- you've articulated the Protestant position quite nicely.
Before you do something as disastrous as rejecting sola scriptura, which most definitely was the teaching of the church for the first 3 to 4 hundred years, I suggest that you read this book. It takes modern Evangelicals to task as well as Catholics for rejecting the historical teaching of the church on the authority of scripture.
Don't forget that another word for "yardstick" is canon. Hold fast to the canon or you'll be adrift at sea.
I'll point out first that when people use the term "inquisitor" they are normally referring to a functionary of the Spanish Inquisition.
In point of fact an "inquisitor" was a canonical term for anyone designated by a bishop (including the Bishop of Rome) to investigate some kind of irregularity.
Such inquisitors existed in the 600s and perhaps earlier. The first heretics ever questioned by clergy canonically constituted for the purpose were the Priscillianists in the 4th century.
There was an official inquisition sent to question the Catharists in the 1160s, for example - 70 years before the incident so obscurely referred to in your post.
Parenthetically, there was a group of Christians who emphasized Bible study and lay instruction at around the same time. They were called Franciscans - and they were not troubled, but officially supported by the Pope.
The Waldenses were investigated for other reasons.
What exactly was the inquisition about, if not hunting heretics?
The Spanish Inquisition was about examining whether persons accused of apostasy were, in fact, apostates.
And what does it have to do with Martin Luther?
You brought up Protestants in the first place and I pointed out that the Spanish Inquisition was created years before there were any Protestants.
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