An Introduction to Judaism in the Middle Ages

 It is no surprise to anyone knowledge of history that the Jewish people have been the most persecuted group of ethnicity for thousands of years. Antisemitism is still common in our culture. While the subject of Judaism is a broad one, I have written this post in preparation as n introduction to future post on the history of the Hebrew people throughout the Medieval World.  As a Protestant Christian, I find more and more that many Christians are ignorant of the history and theological beliefs of Judaism. In future posts I will attempt not only through history and theology to write of why I and so many others believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah that the Jews waited so long for, but why understanding Judaism is pivotal to anyone that professes the Christian faith. 

In future posts, I will also discuss how Christianity has sometimes been misused as violence towards the Jewish people. There were certainly instances in the First Crusade and later in the Protestant Reformation, where Christians resorted to hatred of the Jewish people. I will also discuss ways Antisemetism can be brought to an end.  

Jewish theology reflected many similarities and differences to Christianity. As an example, Jews have historically rejected the doctrine of original sin. Jews also believe in free will, a concept that brought them more at odds with Martin Luther and John Calvin than that of the Catholic Church. At the same time, Jews have historically aligned with Protestants more in icolnolasm than the reverence for images and icons practiced by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Communions. Jews, as well as Christians, have also never had a universal agreement over what books are in Holy Scripture.

But the biggest differences between Judaism and Christianity are concerning the revelation of God in Holy Scriptures, and concerning the role, or lack of, of Jesus Christ in salvation. The Talmud calls the Trinity blasphemy, and considers Jesus Christ to be damned. To Jews, the Messiah prophesied of in the Old Testament was not fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Much like Christianity, Judaism has its own denominations. Mainstream Judaism, also known as Rabbinic Judaism, includes three major branches to its adherence. Those in Rabbinic Judaism consider The Talmud to also be authoritative besides the books of The Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament. Reform Jews are accepting of women ordination and homosexuality. Their philosophy tends to be very humanistic with an emphasis more on ethics than on theology itself. Orthodox Jews on the contrary, remain much more largely unchanged by the theology of their ancestors as they hold and trace to Abraham, and to the Pharisees in particular. Conservative Jews tend to follow in between both of these camps. Reconstructionist Jews don't fall into Rabbinic Judaism and don't see themselves exclusively as God's chosen people.

Samaritans are sometimes included within the Jewish faith. It has been said that they are descendants of Joseph from the Book of Genesis. The Samaritans are said to be descendants of pagans and Jews that intermarried, hence, the Jews rejected them. Not placing emphasis on Jerusalem for the sight of their sacrifice and worship of God, the Samaritans unto this day worship God with their sacrifices of animals on Mt. Gerizim. The mountain is sacred to the Samaritans as they consider it to be the place at which God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Like the Sadducees, the Samaritans only accept the Torah as authoritative.  

The Sadducees were the succors of the Hebrew priesthood line from throughout the Old Testament. Their origins, like the pharisees, are from the 2nd century B. C. during some Jewish internal conflicts. The Sadducees rejected the role of the Talmud and affirmed only the first five books as authoritative.

The Holy Scriptures have been preserved by the Jews for thousands of years. It is pretty wild to think that long before Christ, just how much Judaism saw the Torah preserved for at least 1200 years before Christ. The frequent criticism of the accuracy of the Bible by modern skeptics is quite refutable. They often refer to the fact that we don't have the original books of the Bible but only translations or later manuscripts by scribes. The skeptics often point towards variation in Bible manuscripts.While Biblical manuscripts vary some, they most certainly agree for the most part that the Holy Scriptures preserve  the message of salvation. what is talked about even less by the secularist is that there are more manuscripts of the Bible from the ancient world than all the works of Plato, Aristotle, Julies Caesar, and others, combined. Over 20,000 Bible manuscripts of the Old Testament alone, still exist from the ancient world. But how about evidence for Julies Caesar existence? Roughly only 12 manuscripts. God has preserved the Holy Scriptures through the works of both Jews and Christians for thousands of years. The preservation of the Masoretic Text by the followers of Judaism shows us not simply the accuracy by which Jews have preserved much of the Holy Scriptures, but also brings us to a new topic.

It is sometimes claimed that the Roman Catholic Church gave Protestants the Bible and therefore Protestants should be Catholic and trust the church of Rome's interpretation of the Scriptures. This view is problematic not only because it assumes the Catholic Church was the only church that gave Protestants the Bible, but for the principle fact that Judaism gave Catholicism the Old Testament, which Jews call the Hebrew Bible.

 Roman Catholics assume by their argument that Eastern Orthodox were not the ones that gave Protestants the Bible. Actually, the King James Bible derives largely from Byzantine Type texts that were used by Eastern Orthodox. Also, many of our oldest Bible manuscripts are from the Coptic Christians. Yet again and again, many Catholic apologist seem to think their church was the only one that gave Protestants the Bible. They also often wrongly assume that even if the Catholic Church had been the only church to predate Protestantism, that still doesn't mean it is guaranteed the infallible right to interpret it always faithfully.

But perhaps most striking and significant however is that the Old Testament is derived from the Jews. Yes, you read that right! Protestant Christians owe more credit to the Jews for giving us the Old Testament than we do to Roman Catholics.

By the argument Catholics use on who gave us the Bible, we should all be converts to Judaism The Catholic Church would not have the Bible if Judaism had not preserved it for them. See how the Roman Catholic argument falls into its own shekels? I don't know why I never thought of this before, but I did today.

While Protestants should be grateful to Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians for preserving the Holy Scriptures for 2000 years, that should not be used against Protestantism in way to somehow disprove it. Indeed, men in great theological errors can still preserve the Word of God, for which we owe them much credit. Further, Eastern Orthodox also claim to be the true church and can just as much as claim they gave Protestants the Holy Scriptures, and therefore Protestants should trust their judgement of them.

Catholic Apologist base so much of their argument for the superiority of Catholicism over Protestantism on this irrelevant argument that perhaps it is a little embarrassing for them. They seem to not acknowledge Judaism as being authoritative over them as it preceded Catholicism just as Catholicism precedes Protestantism.

Judaism precedes Roman Catholicism so Catholics should convert to Judaism if they are looking  for what faith gave us the Old Testament. Long before the papacy, there were Pharisees and Sadducees for example.

How we determine what is right and wrong is not by looking at what religion or priesthood is the oldest. The Christian faith is to be based off of the Holy Scriptures. A true faithful interpretation of Scripture is one in which we read the Word without presumptions of any doctrines we currently hold and formulate our theology from the texts themselves. Christians have been criticized by Jews for reading the Old Testament as pointing towards the New Testament without a presupposition that the New Testament is already true. In light of all these things, we should more closely examine the debates between Judaism and Christianity.

Further Sources: Compact Bible Dictionary by Ronald F. Youngblood and F. F. Bruce and R. K. Harrison, What do Jews Believe: The Spiritual Foundations of Judaism by David S. Ariel.