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Christianity began as a movement within Second Temple Judaism, but the two religions gradually diverged over the first few centuries of the Christian Era. Today, differences of opinion vary between denominations in both religions, but the most important distinction is Christian acceptance and Jewish non-acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition. Early Christianity distinguished itself by determining that observance of halakha was not necessary for non-Jewish converts to Christianity. Another major difference is the two religions' conceptions of God. The Christian God consists of three persons of one essence, with the doctrine of the incarnation of the Son in Jesus being of special importance. Judaism emphasizes the Oneness of God and rejects the Christian concept of God in human form. While Christianity recognizes the Hebrew Bible as part of its scriptural canon, Judaism does not recognize the Christian New Testament.
Judaism is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion. It comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jewish people, having originated as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Contemporary Judaism evolved from Yahwism, the cultic religious movement of ancient Israel and Judah, around the 6th/5th century BCE, and is thus considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of observing the Mosaic covenant, which was established between God and the Israelites, their ancestors. Jewish religious doctrine encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization.
Jews for Jesus is an international Christian missionary organization headquartered in San Francisco, California that is affiliated with the Messianic Jewish religious movement. The group is known for its proselytism of Jews and promotes the belief that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. It was founded in 1970 by Moishe Rosen as Hineni Ministries before being incorporated under its current name in 1973.
Messianic Judaism is a modernist and syncretic movement of Protestant Christianity that incorporates some elements of Judaism and other Jewish traditions into the Christian movement of evangelicalism.
Carol Harris-Shapiro is a lecturer at Temple University in the Intellectual Heritage Department. She has written a controversial book on Messianic Judaism, a belief system considered by most Christians and Jews to be a form of Christianity, adhered to by groups that seek to combine Christianity and Judaism.
Most adherents of Judaism believe that Jesus of Nazareth was not the Messiah nor "the Son of God". In the Jewish perspective, most will argue that the way Christians see Jesus goes against monotheism, a belief in the absolute unity and singularity of God, which is central to Judaism; the worship of a person is seen by them as a form of idolatry. Therefore, considering Jesus a deity is forbidden according to Judaism. Judaism's rejection of Jesus as the Messiah is based on Jewish eschatology, which holds that the coming of the true Messiah will be associated with events that have not yet occurred, such as the rebuilding of The Temple, a Messianic Age of peace, and the ingathering of Jews to their homeland.
A number of religious groups, particularly Christians and Muslims, are involved in proselytization of Jews: Attempts to recruit or "missionize" Jews. In response, some Jewish groups have formed counter-missionary organizations to discourage missionary and messianic groups such as Jews for Jesus from using practices that they say are deceptive.
Most scholars who study the historical Jesus and early Christianity believe that the canonical gospels and the life of Jesus must be viewed within their historical and cultural context, rather than purely in terms of Christian orthodoxy. They look at Second Temple Judaism, the tensions, trends, and changes in the region under the influence of Hellenism and the Roman occupation, and the Jewish factions of the time, seeing Jesus as a Jew in this environment; and the written New Testament as arising from a period of oral gospel traditions after his death.
Black Hebrew Israelites are a new religious movement claiming that African Americans are descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups believe that Native and Latin Americans are descendants of the Israelites as well. Black Hebrew Israelites combine elements to their teaching from a wide range of sources to varying degrees. Black Hebrew Israelites incorporate certain aspects of the religious beliefs and practices of both Christianity and Judaism, though they have created their own interpretation of the Bible, and other influences include Freemasonry and New Thought, for example. Many choose to identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than Jews in order to indicate their claimed historic connections.
Religion in Israel is manifested primarily in Judaism, the ethnic religion of the Jewish people. The State of Israel declares itself as a "Jewish and democratic state" and is the only country in the world with a Jewish-majority population. Other faiths in the country include Islam, Christianity and the religion of the Druze people. Religion plays a central role in national and civil life, and almost all Israeli citizens are automatically registered as members of the state's 14 official religious communities, which exercise control over several matters of personal status, especially marriage. These recognized communities are Orthodox Judaism, Islam, the Druze faith, the Catholic Church, Greek Orthodox Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Armenian Apostolic Church, Anglicanism, and the Baháʼí Faith.
The Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC) is an international Messianic Jewish organization which supports Messianic Jewish congregations. It is based in Florida, US.
The Hebrew Roots Movement (HRM) is a syncretic religious movement that advocates adherence to the Torah and believe that Jesus, whom they often refer to by the Hebrew name Yeshua, is the Messiah. The movement emphasizes and promotes the belief that the Law of Moses was not abolished by Jesus and is, therefore, still in effect for his followers. Because HRM believes the Mosaic law is still active, it advocates the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath; biblical feasts; laws of Kashrut; and circumcision. Some HRM followers also choose to wear tzitzit and other Jewish religious items. However, HRM followers do not follow Judaism or embrace the Talmud.
The Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) is a Messianic Jewish denomination with roots in the Hebrew Christian movement. Founded in 1915 as the Hebrew Christian Alliance of America, it adopted its present name in 1975. It follows on from the International Hebrew Christian Alliance between the Hebrew Christian Alliance of Great Britain and that of America.
Two House theology primarily focuses on the division of the ancient United Monarchy of Israel into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Two House theology raises questions when applied to modern peoples who are thought to be descendants of the two ancient kingdoms, both Jews and the ten lost tribes of the Kingdom of Israel. The phrase "the two houses of Israel" is found in the Book of Isaiah.
The Hebrew Christian movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries consisted of Jews who converted to Christianity, but worshiped in congregations separate from denominational churches. In many cases, they retained some Jewish practices and liturgy, with the addition of readings from the Christian New Testament. The movement was incorporated into the parallel Messianic Jewish movement in the late 1960s.
This is a glossary of terms used in Christianity.
The Church's Ministry Among Jewish People (CMJ) is an Anglican missionary society founded in 1809.
Christ Church, Jerusalem, is an Anglican church located inside the Old City of Jerusalem, established in 1849 by the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. It was the original seat of the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem until the opening of St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem in 1899; the compound also included the 19th century British Consulate. From its inception, Christ Church has been supporting a form of Christianity focused on Jesus' Jewishness, offering Christian texts translated into Hebrew by its own leaders.
Some Christian groups incorporate Jewish holidays into their religious practice, typically altering and reinterpreting their observation to suit a supersessionist theology.
Arnold Genekowitsch Fruchtenbaum is a Russian-born American theologian. He is a leading expert in Messianic Judaic theology and the founder and director of Ariel Ministries, an organization which prioritizes the evangelization of Jews in an effort to bring them to the view that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. He lectures and travels widely.
References
- ↑ "British Messianic Jewish Alliance". Archived from the original on October 1, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
- ↑ "Introduction: Overview, history, books". Religioustolerance.org. Retrieved 2015-05-06.
- ↑ "CONCISE ACCOUNT OF THE LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONGST THE JEWS". Lcje.net. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
- ↑ Ariel, Yaakov S. (2000). "Chapter 20: The Rise of Messianic Judaism" (Google Books). Evangelizing the chosen people: missions to the Jews in America, 1880–2000. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-8078-4880-7. OCLC 43708450 . Retrieved December 11, 2010.
Even before the rise of messianic Judaism, there were groups that promoted the creation of congregations of Jewish believers in Jesus. …In the nineteenth century many attempts were made in the United States to create Hebrew Christian Brotherhoods, designed as centers for Jews who converted to Christianity. Jewish converts established their own organization in Great Britain as early as 1860 and in the United States in 1915.
- ↑ Messianic Judaism/Jewish Christianity, Division of Religion and Philosophy at the University of Cumbria Archived 2011-01-10 at the Wayback Machine , (retrieved January 10, 2011)
- ↑ Jan A. B. Jongeneel Jesus Christ in world history 2009 Page 242 - "The International Hebrew Christian Alliance, established in 1925, was launched as a result of initiatives of the Hebrew Christian Alliance of America (1915) and the Hebrew Christian Alliance of Great Britain, successor of the Hebrew Christian Prayer Union (1882).