Posted on 03/24/2005 5:47:34 PM PST by Crackingham
Passover and Easter are upon us, and so is a book with a fascinating title and audacious subtitle: David Klinghoffer's "Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History" (Doubleday, 2005).
On the title's crucial theological point: Klinghoffer, an orthodox Jew, rightly takes to task the "well-meaning Christian" seeking to improve Jewish-Christian relations by saying that Jesus' teaching was very close to that of the rabbis of the time. He also jumps past "New Perspective on Paul" theologians who do not find "substantial points of disagreement between Jesus and his contemporaries."
Both groups err, the author notes, by not taking into full account the doctrine of the "oral Torah" that was sweeping through Judaism 2,000 years ago: "What Jesus rejected was the oral Torah that explains the written Torah. Essential to rabbinic Judaism, this concept of an oral Torah recognizes the Pentateuch as a cryptic document, a coded text. It posits that the Bible's first five books were revealed to Moses along with a key to unlock the code." That key was purportedly passed on orally throughout the generations.
Christians today learn that the New Testament explains certain previously mysterious Old Testament passages; proponents of the "oral Torah" (written down as the Talmud) claimed the same for their teaching. Jesus said, in essence, sola scriptura, the Bible alone: He allowed his followers to pluck grain on the Sabbath, which was perfectly fine according to the Bible but wrong according to the code. The code said that Jews should not wash their faces on fast days, but Jesus taught the opposite.
As Klinghoffer notes, "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.' ... This explains why he felt it was appropriate to teach solely on his own authority, rather than by citing previous sages." Some Christians today believe they have figured out the Bible's secret code. Some Jews 2,000 years ago felt the same way, but Jesus flatly told them that there was no code: Just read and pray.
The author has many other valuable insights. For example, he writes: "The oral Torah values sociability and thus calls upon the individual to pray in company with a minimum of 10 men (a minyan, or quorum). Jesus advised his followers, 'When you pray,' to pray by yourself, 'in secret.'" Christianity values community worship but emphasizes the role of the individual, and much of Western culture emerges from that emphasis.
Klinghoffer thus explains well "why the Jews rejected Jesus." But what about his subtitle, "the turning point in Western history"? He argues that if more Jews had embraced Jesus, believers would have stayed within Judaism and continued to emphasize circumcision and kosher food rules. They would have required abstaining from sex for a week after menstruation, and so on: "The Jesus movement might have remained a Jewish sect. ... Christianity would not have spread wildly across the Roman Empire and later across Europe, as it did."
Also, Happy Purim to Jewish friends.
I'm reading an interesting book now entitled "Our Lost Heritage" about the Jewish roots of Christianity. While it doesn't try to equate the teachings of Jesus with his Jewish contemporaries, it laments the cultural loss of so much Jewish heritage in Christianity, largely due to the spread of Christianity through Rome and other societies who worked hard to eliminate traces of Judaism in modern Christianity.
I've been doing a similar study for a few years, including a look into known authors of the various books, ratification of the New Testament, comparisons of the various texts, and so on. ...very interesting.
Scholarship in any form is wonderful. I am Sefard, FWIW, and enjoy this discussion.
Hmm. I always wondered why Christians never celebrated Jewish holidays in addition to the Christian ones.
Part of the book I'm reading goes into great detail on all the traditional Jewish holidays, and why we should honor them too.
A lot of the early church fathers were anti-Semitic. They wrote all manner of trash against the Jews, shunned the biblical Jewish holidays, and "Christianized" existing pagan holiday in an effort to lure pagans to Christianity. The Puritans were one group along the way who knew the importance of Israel and studied the Jewish roots of Christianity.
I think Mr. Olasky is wrong to imply that the teachings and teaching methods of Jesus were not similar to those of the Pharisees. He didn't have any use for the traditions of men when they made the Law of no effect, it's true, but He was not completely out of step with them.
Jesus taught on his own authority because he is God! BTW, he moved the prophets by his inspiration to write the scriptures, so he arguably knows what the intent is.
Incidentally, the reason the Jewish leaders killed Jesus was because he, "...a mere man, claim(ed) to be God" - John 10:33.
He did not deny it!
Hyam Macoby, Reovlution In Judaea.
Jesus was teaching that the Kingdom of God is not from this world, that Redemption is to reconcile men with God and not to give them political freedom or prosperity. He told his followers to respect Roman rule and to pay taxes, etc ...
I even misquoted the title of my book, it's "Our Lost Legacy". Age can do that to ya.
God's message, through Jesus
"I forgive you."
Period. End of sentance.
He came down amongst us AS ONE OF US. He presented himself as His Son. He didn't fake this. He was His Son.
He allowed us to kill His Son / Himself. In that culture, at that time (as in all human history, even in this debased time today) the most horrible crime imaginable.
He still forgives us.
Believe that.
You don't have to convince Him.
You have to believe it so that you won't hide in shame when you learn the truth at the seat of judgement.
Believe Him. He forgives you.
You must forgive yourself.
Christian. Jew. Muslim. Buddhist. et al.
He is GOD. He loves us. He forgives us.
We must believe that and forgive ourselves. He won't let us hide from the truth in happy ignorance. He is merciful, but not indulgent.
Interesting.
Last Supper was a Passover meal.
What books would you recommend? Do you encourage following Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox interpretations of such Scripture?
Apparently one of the first things one does when starting a different sect is to differentiate it from others. The admonishion not to eat milk and meat at the same meal comes from the Jews differentiating from another sect at the time that did cook the meat in its mother's milk. Thus a whole second set of cookware is needed in a Jewish house. (And what about circumcision, that made one different too.) So it is not surprising that many things in early Christianity are different from the similar things in Judaism. Different Sabbath, different food protocols, new set of holidays...
And Mohammand came later and did the same thing, differentiate. And the Mormons...
I'm not knowledgeable enough about Judaism to make such a recommendation. I only know that I also serve the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, and I was named after a great king, David. And my Lord, who is Jewish, is a pretty nice guy :-)
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