Expert: D.S - 10/19/2010

Question
Hi there,

I have a question about Christianity and how similar Judaism is. To what
extent was early Christianity continuous with Judaism?

Thanks Ben

Answer
My point of view there were no similarity between the two ways of worship after Pentecost.Christianity believed in the resurrection and although Judaism at that time believed the resurrection of the dead and rejected the concept of the immortality of the soul as Christianity today immortality of the soul is accepted by all factions of Judaism, the resurrection of the dead is not.

Judaism had the Old Testament and the law but rejected the writings of the new testament and the Talmud was influenced by Hellenism.

Judaism have always placed great importance on God’s personal name they maintained it is too holy to be pronounced.


They of course believed in the coming of a Messiah at that time but they rejected Jesus,today modern Judaism between the 18th and 19th centuries, many Jews ended their passive waiting for the Messiah.

Finally, with the Nazi-inspired Holocaust, many lost their patience and hope. They began to view the Messianic message as a liability and so reinterpreted it merely as a new age of prosperity and peace. Since that time, although there are exceptions, Jews as a whole can hardly be said to be waiting for a personal Messiah instead the Republic of Israel is clearly not a theocratic nation.

There was disunity in that the Pharisees taught that God had given Israel a twofold law, part written and part oral. It was on the basis of this oral law that they recognized the legitimacy of the high priestly line even after the traditional line was broken. The Sadducees, on the other hand, denying the existence of an oral law, claimed that only a direct descendant of Zadok could serve as high priest.

In contrast the Christians were all in agreement as to theology and doctrine.