On The Relationship Between Early Christianity And Judaism

As we all know, Christianity is one of the three major religions in the world, it has an indivisible connection with Judaism. Judaism is the earliest thorough monotheist religion in the world, the monotheistic ideas of which exerted a great influence on the birth and development of Christianity and Islam. Although Christianity originated from Judaism, it ultimately separated from Judaism and became a brand-new religion, which gradually developed into a predominant religion and made a significant impact on the civilization of the world. This paper portrays a picture of the development of early Christianity in relationship with Judaism and explores the Jewish origins of Christianity. This paper is divided into four parts.The first part concentrates on the analyses of the formation of Judaism as well as the basic religious teachings of Judaism. The Initial stage of Judaism could be traced back to Abraham, but actually Moses was regarded as the real creator of Judaism, who received The Ten Commandments given by the God on Sinai Mountain. The Ten Commandments is the basic religious beliefs of Judaism, which signifies the birth of Judaism."Monotheism","Covenant","The Chosen People","The Promised Land"and"eschatology"are all the basic doctrines of Judaism. It is Judaism that plays an inestimable role in maintaining national identity and in upholding national cohesion of the Jewish People.The second part probes into the disintegration of Jewish society and the rise of Christianity. Hellenism and the conquest of Roman gave rise to the disintegration of Jewish society, and Judaism split into different sects, among which Essenes had quite an effect upon Christianity. Christianity, however, is not created overnight, but has its deep roots in the essence of Judaism, Oriental mysterious religions, Greek and Roman philosophy. The author also traces the life of Jesus and his theologies. More emphases are placed on theological theories of Paul and the key role Paul played in the rise of Christianity. The third part focuses on the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. At first, the author delves into the inheritance and innovation of Christianity from Judaism. and r draws the conclusions: Christianity perpetuated some central aspects of Judaism unchanged; it altered some of what it inherited; it rejected large potions of its legacy; it created its own materials and embellished these creations.On the fourth part, much attention is paid to the internal and external cause that led to the severance of Christianity from Judaism. The difference of the religious teachings was the important cause of the separation. The different understanding of Messiah and the distinction of ceremonies also resulted in the severance. The uprising of Simeon Bar Cocheba finally completed the process the separation.The fifth part deals with the accepted fact that the root of Christianity originates mainly from Judaism. We can find out in Bible that Early Christianity acknowledged Judaism to be its origin, as can be learned in some scholars'works. But the racial hatred arising out of the different religious teachings made Christians and Jews feel a strong antagonism towards each other. Anti-Semitism in the Christian world led to brutal persecution and mass killing of Jews. After World Warâ…¡, in order to introspect the Holocaust, Christianity sought to have a dialogue with Judaism."Vatican Conferenceâ…¡"marked Jewish-Christian relation the beginning of a new era. In this conference, Christianity reaffirmed its Jewish roots.The paper ends with a concise conclusion. Though to some extent Jewish-Christian dialogue has accomplished great achievements, yet they haven't reached a consensus on the issue if Jesus was Messiah. Consequently, these two religions are contradictory at deep level and the tension between them cannot be reconciled .The author then envisages the future of Jewish-Christian relation. It requires both sides to respect each other, and to seek common ground while reserving differences, and to be peaceful coexistence. Only doing so will promote to reach the ideal harmony of Christianity and Judaism.