Posted on 03/13/2007 12:40:46 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
The Pontifical Household Preacher Fr Raniero Cantalamessa has said the theory suggesting that Jesus was a typical Jew of the time is "historically indefensible."
In a reading during Sunday’s liturgy Fr Cantalamessa said Jesus’ words regarding John the Baptist (Luke 7:28 and Luke 16:16) tell of a “qualitative leap” between Judaism and Christianity.
“Here we see how historically indefensible is the thesis of those who want to enclose Jesus in the world of the Judaism of his time, making him a Jew just like the others, one who did not intend to make a break with the past or to bring anything substantially new.
“This would be to set back the historical research on Jesus to a stage that we left behind quite some time ago,” Fr Cantalamessa.
Well, duh! He was the only Jew who was God born in the flesh.
Roses are red
Violets are bluish
If it wasn't for Jesus
We'd all be Jewish.
That *is* a joke, BTW...
If he wasn't a jew he would not have left the temple at Jeruselem alive. It was death for a non-jew to enter.
When He rose from the dead, he staightened it all out and made salvation available to everyone.
I think he is missing something very big here. Jesus wasn't a Jew 'like the others' if one says the others were limited to the Herodian installed Pharisaical priesthood. He was, however, in the mold of the Maccabee priests one finds in the Apocrypha & the Essene teachers (of whom it is argued, John the Baptist was one.)
Jesus was a Jew, but he wasn't a part of the political structure of Herodian Jews. He was bringing back the classical sense of bridging the gap of the people & God.
I guess, what I am saying is it wasn't Jesus who went against Jewish tradition, it was the Herodian Pharisaical sects who were in charge.
It is also of an interesting historical context to note that shortly after Jesus, the Jewish religion went through a similar upheaval when the Temple was destroyed and the Rabbinical form of Judaism came to fruition- again, based on a relationship w/ God versus going through the temple.
If Mary was a Jew, so was her son!
Correct! When Yeshua railed against the so called rulers of the Jews He was aiming at the Hellenized rulers, after all, Nicodemus is a Greek name. Read the Prodigal son (Luke 15) with this in mind, the older brother is Judaism, the younger Christianity. Ouch!
So if he wasn't a Jew, what was he? A Hindu? This is just plain silly.
If Mary was a Jew, so was her son!
And what religion is God?
In traditional Jewish law, Jewish identity is inherited through the mother only.So, according to traditional Jewish law, Jesus was a Jew since His mother was Jew, even though His Father was not (He is God).
[snip]
Further, once a person is Jewish - either by having a Jewish mother or by converting to Judaism - he or she is considered Jewish for life. Though such people may sin by rejecting Judaism, they cannot "convert out."
[snip]
Things are a bit different in Reform Judaism. The Reform Movement tends to give more weight to individual choices in matters of identity - including the choice to convert to a different religion.
Also, the Reform Movement does not follow the tradition of recognizing inheritance of Jewish identity solely through the mother. The position of most Reform rabbis is to accept the Jewish identity of a person with only one Jewish parent (a mother or father) only if he or she was raised as a Jew with appropriate public rituals of Jewish identity (a Jewish baby naming, for example).
In Judaism, it is the maternal parent that determines the indisputable jewishness of the child.
Really? Every day I learn something new, especially here on FR!. Thanks silverleaf!
What part of "just like the others" and "make a break with the past or to bring anything substantially new" is so hard to read and understand?
This is just plain silly.
Isn't there also something in Leviticus about being adopted into a Jewish household? One could say that Joseph 'adopted' Jesus into his household, thus a double whammy.
"So if he wasn't a Jew, what was he? A Hindu? This is just plain silly."
Both Our Lord and His Mother are Catholic!
You're thinking of the Sadducee's who ran the Temple along Herodian guidelines. The Pharisees descended from the Hasidim, and bore the piousness of the Jewish masses as well as facilitating the ordination of rabbis, of whom Jesus was one. Moreover, phariseeism is most commonly traced to the origins of modern Judaism.
Hyam Maccoby, Revolution In Judaea: Jesus and the Jewish Resistance.
Good catch.. you are right, thanks for correcting my 'brief mental breakdown'...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.