Eschatological Views of Judaism and Christianity - Essay Example

Eschatological views of Judaism and Christianity Judaism and Christianity are two closely related religions that are in some ways similar to each other and in other ways fundamentally different in theology and practice. The eschatological views of both religions include many aspects connected not only with the End of World beliefs but also with the origins of Christianity and Judaism, their main beliefs and concepts. It is very important to understand that neither religion is monolithic; there is no single "Judaism"as there is no single "Christianity". Instead, there are wide variations on a theme concerning belief and practice both among individual Jews and Christians and between different Jewish and Christian groups. The mythos, the raison d'tre, of Christianity is to provide all human beings with the only valid path to salvation. Christians believe people are by nature sinful. Christians believe that Jesus was both the Son of God and God the Son, God made incarnate; that Jesus' death by crucifixion was a sacrifice to atone for all humanity's sins, and that acceptance of Jesus as the Christ saves one from sin. Judaism's raison d'tre is to give concrete form to the covenant between God and the Jewish people. The Torah (teaching) tells the story of this covenant, and provides Jews with the terms of the covenant. The Torah thus guides Jews to walk in God's ways, to help them learn how to live a holy life on earth, and to bring holiness into the world and into every part of life so that life may be elevated to a high level of sanctity. Judaism does not see the afterlife as a core part of this, or a major factor needed to justify why it is necessary. Ideally a faithful life and good deeds should be ends in themselves, not means (Lodahl 57-98). As for the concepts of God, it should be said that both Jews and Christians believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for Jews the God of the Tanakh, for Christians the God of the Old Testament, the creator of the universe. Both religions agree that God shares both transcendent and immanent qualities. How these religions resolve this issue is where the religions differ. Most of Christianity posits that God is the Trinity; in this view God exists as three distinct entities which share a single divine essence, or substance. In those three there is one, and in that one there are three; the one God is indivisible, while the three entities are distinct and unconfused: Abba God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It teaches that God became especially immanent in physical form through the Incarnation of Jesus, who is believed to be at once fully God and fully human. By contrast, Judaism sees God as a single entity, and views trinitarianism as both incomprehensible and a violation of the Bible's teaching that God is one. It rejects the notion that Jesus or any other object or living being could be "God", that God could have a literal "son" in physical form or is divisible in any way, or that God could be made to be joined to the material world in such fashion. Judaism does not believe that God requires the sacrifice of any human. This is emphasized in medieval Jewish traditions concerning the story of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac. In the Jewish explanation, this is a story whereby God wanted to test Abraham's faith and willingness, and Isaac was never going to be actually sacrificed. Thus, Judaism rejects the notion that anyone can or should die for anyone else's sin (Levenson 48-53). Understanding of the Bible. Jews and Christians seek authority from many of the same basic books, but they conceive of these books in significantly different ways. The Hebrew Bible is comprised of three parts: Torah (the five books of Moses), Nevi'im (the writings of the Prophets), and Ketuvim (other writings canonised over time, such as the Books of Esther, Jonah, Ruth or Job). Collectively, these are known as the Tanakh, a Hebrew acronym for the first letters of each. Rabbinical Judaism traditionally believes that these written works were also accompanied by an oral tradition which taught how to perform commandments that are not stated explicitly in the Torah, and that it was revealed to Moses at Sinai and passed down through generations and eventually written down in the Talmud. Jews do not accept the characterization of their sacred texts as an Old Testament, nor do they believe that the New Testament has religious authority. As it seems to some Jews, Christians cite from the Old Testament commandments to support one point of view but then ignore other commandments of a similar class which are also of equal weight. At the same time, Christians reject the Jewish oral law. Many Christians reject the covenant with God embodied in traditional Jewish scriptures and oral traditions as obsolete, and thus refer to their canon of Hebrew books as the "Old Testament." Some Christians believe that God has established a New Covenant with people, and that this new covenant is established in an additional set of books collectively called the New Testament, together with the oral teachings of Jesus to the Apostles which have been handed down to this day (Knight & Tucker 90-124). In both religions, one's offenses against the will of God are called sin. These sins can be thoughts, words, or deeds. Catholicism, for instance, categorizes sins into various groups, but without salvation from sin, a person's separation from God is permanent, causing such a person to enter Hell in the afterlife. Original Sin is a slightly different concept in Christianity, it is not part of Jewish belief or philosophy. Original sin refers to the idea that the sin of Adam and Eve's disobedience (sin "at the origin") has passed on a spiritual heritage, so to speak. Christians teach that human beings inherit a corrupted or damaged human nature in which the tendency to do bad is greater than it would have been otherwise, so much so that human nature would not be capable now of participating in the afterlife with God. The Hebrew word for sin, "het", literally means "to go astray." Jews have no concept of Original Sin, and do not accept it; instead, Judaism affirms that people are born with "the good inclination" as well as with "the evil inclination". In Judaism all human beings are believed to have free will and can choose the path in life that they will take. There is almost always a "way back" if a person wills it (Levenson 102-108). Correlation between faith and good deeds differs in two religions. Judaism teaches that the purpose of the Torah is to show that good deeds are considered in holiness as much or even more important than belief in God, and that both are required of people. According to Judaism, one is enjoined to bring holiness into life (with the guidance of Gods laws), rather than removing oneself from life to be holy. Much of Christianity also teaches that God wants people to perform good works, but all branches hold that good works alone will not lead to salvation (Lodahl 154-157). Once again, Jews and Christians accept as valid and binding many of the same moral principles taught in the Torah. There is a great deal of overlap between the ethical systems of these two faiths. Nonetheless, there are some highly significant doctrinal differences. Judaism has a great many teachings about peace and compromise, but the core concept is: the avoidance of force and violence whenever possible, but the use of force when necessary to save the lives of one's self and one's people. The Sermon on the Mount records that Jesus taught that if someone comes to harm you, then one must turn the other cheek. This principle has always been a subject to discussion, but the majority of Christian nations and groups have not adopted this theology, nor have they followed it in practice (Hoekema 119). Both Christianity and Judaism believe in some form of judgement. The Christian view is very well defined - every human is a sinner, and nothing but being saved by God's grace (and not through any merit of ones own actions) can change the damnatory sentence to salvation. There is a judgement after death, and Christ will return to judge the living and dead. Those positively judged will be saved and live in God's presence in heaven, those who are negatively judged will be cast to eternal hell (or in some versions, annihilated). Jewish teaching is somewhat ambivalent on Judgement. Initially indeed there was no such concept in Judaism, however over time, and especially as exposed to other cultures' concept that every wrong must be somehow balanced by punishment in the end, and vice versa, a mixture of concepts and philosophies entered Judaism. At heart though, Jews do not look for an afterlife as a reward or motivation. The reward for a good life is simply the pleasure it gives God, and the rightness of doing one's duty and living a holy life in his ways. Little emphasis is given in Jewish life to the struggle for a place in the afterlife (Knight & Tucker 178). That is why there is very little Jewish literature on Heaven or Hell as human destinations. Jewish depictions of Heaven as a place where humans go upon death are few, and depict it as a place where Jews spend eternity studying the Written and Oral Torah. Jewish depictions of Hell as a place humans go upon death are even fewer. According to most depictions, upon death, Jews who have sinned spend twelve miserable months in Gehenna before going to Heaven, although some accounts suggest that certain classes of sinners never go to heaven. In short, Judaism does not have a notion of hell as a place ruled by Satan (God's dominion is total, and Satan is but one of God's angels), and does not have a notion of eternal damnation. The reason sinful Jews spend eleven months in gehenna is not so much a form of punishment but rather a period of purification necessary before entering heaven, or before being physically resurrected in the Messianic Age. Christians in general hold that Hell is a fiery place of torment that never ceases. A small minority believe it is not permanent and that those who go there will eventualy be extinguished. Those who hold that it never ceases also believe that those who die go directly to Heaven or hell, whereas those who see it as transitory believe that the dead are unconscious until the judgment day after which some inherit immortality and live on the restored earth (paradise) and reprobates go for a period of torment in hell. Many Christians see heaven and hell as rewards and punishments necessary to motivate good and bad behavior. Although the Pharisees and Rabbis believed that good people would be rewarded in a "world to come", the notion that this promise should motivate good behavior is anathema in Judaism (Levenson 199, 208-214). The figure of Messiah is very important in both systems of eschatological views. Jews believe that a descendant of King David will one day appear to restore the Kingdom of Israel. Jews refer to this person as Moshiach, translated as messiah in English and Christos in Greek. The Hebrew word "Moshiach" (Messiah) means "anointed one," and refers to a mortal human being. The Moshiach is held to be a human being who will be a descendant of King David, and who will usher in an era of peace, prosperity, and spiritual understanding for Israel and all the nations of the world. The traditional Jewish understanding of the messiah is fully human, born of human parents, without any supernatural element. The Christian view of Jesus goes beyond such claims. Although Jews and Christians both refer to biblical prophecies concerning the coming of the messiah, they interpret them differently. For Christians, the messiah, Jesus Christ, is fully human and fully divine. In this view, Jesus offers salvation to all humans by his self-sacrifice. He is the divine Word of God who clothes himself in our humanity, so that human beings can be participants in divine life. Jesus sits in heaven at the right hand of God and will judge humanity by his very presence in the end of days. The liberation and peace brought by the messiah, in Christian terms, is primarily the result of his manifesting the truth of God in all spheres of life. Prophetic references to the future glory of Jerusalem are not interpreted in merely political or geographical terms, but as indications of the restoration of all creation that his unveiled presence will bring about. Christian readings of the Hebrew Bible find hundreds of references to Jesus. This takes the form in some cases of specific prophesy, but in most cases of foreshadowing by types or forerunners. Traditionally, most Christian readings of the Bible maintained that almost every prophecy was actually about the coming of Jesus, if read corectly. In other words, Christianity traditionally has taught that the entire Old Testament of the Bible was a prophecy about the coming of Jesus. Catholicism traditionally taught that "there is no salvation outside the Church", Eastern Orthodox Christianity emphasizes a continuing life of repentance, which includes an increasing improvement in thought, belief and action. Judaism holds that whatever salvation may exist is found only through good works and heartfelt prayer. The majority of Jewish works on this subject hold that one's faith or beliefs alone play a minimal role. The Biblical conception of God is that his covenant is with the Jewish people, not individual Jews. In the context of this covenant, the death of individual Jews is inconsequential and various older Biblical passages suggest that individual death is final. It is the continued existence of the Jewish nation that is emphasized and the way that a human life should be led (Hanson 34, 66, 175-179). Finally, the belief in end times. In Judaism, the end of the world is called the "acharit hayamim" ("end of days"). Tumultuous events will overturn the old world order, creating a new order in which God is universally recognized as the ruler over everyone and everything. According to Jewish tradition, the end of the world will see: ingathering of the scattered Jewish exiles to geographic Israel; defeat of all of Israel's enemies; building of the third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and the resumption of the sacrificial offerings and Temple service; revival of the Dead, or the Resurrection; at some point, the Jewish Messiah who will become the anointed King of Israel. He will divide the Jews in Israel into their original tribal portions in the land. During this time Gog, king of Magog, will attack Israel. Who Gog and the Magog nation are is unknown. Magog will fight a great battle, in which many will die on both sides, but God will intervene and save the Jews. This is the battle referred to as Armageddon. God, having vanquished this final enemy once and for all, will accordingly banish all evil from human existence. After the year 6000 (in the Jewish calendar), the seventh millennium will be an era of holiness, tranquility, spiritual life, and worldwide peace, called the Olam Haba ("Future World"), where all people will know God directly (Hanson 123-167). In Christian theology, eschatology is the study of the destiny of created things, especially of humankind and of the Church, according to the purposes of God. Catholics refer to the 25th chapter of Matthew's Gospel in which Christ says that "no one knows the hour or the day," except the Father. While Catholics believe the prediction of dates or times is futile, many believe that Jesus foretold of signs which would indicate that the "end of days" was near. Some of these signs include natural disasters, civil problems, and other catastrophes. Of the precise time, however, it will come like a "thief in the night." There are various controversies concerning the order of events leading to and following the return of Jesus and the religious significance of these events. Some Christians, notably followers of Eastern Orthodoxy but also members of other sects, regard most popular discussion of this topic to be fundamentally and dangerously false. Theologians from a number of traditions point out that the Book of Revelation was included late in the Biblical canon, because of lingering questions regarding its usefulness. Nearly all traditions of Christianity believe that suffering, disease, injustice and death will continue until the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. The Christian hope will not be realized in this lifetime, and instead has the practical purpose of instructing the Christian to pray and work for a fuller measure of those blessings now. However, there are dissenting traditions, which teach it to be an ethical or moral principle that all suffering ought to be eliminated prior to Christ's return. After Armageddon, Satan is bound and believers enter the Millennium. Following the thousand year reign of Christ there is a final battle with Satan, the destruction of the cosmos and recreation. In Christianity, those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior have eternal life,salvation is a free gift available to all willing to receive it. So, Jesus will come to rescue Israel, defeat the Antichrist, judge the nations and the wicked in Israel, and rule over the messianic kingdom (Collins 24-39). Thus, having analyzed the material above one can understand that Christianity and Judaism both believe in one God who is almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal, and infinite. Both religions believe in a God who is holy, righteous, and just - while at the same time loving, forgiving, and merciful. Christianity and Judaism share the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) as the authoritative Word of God, although Christianity includes the New Testament as well. Christianity and Judaism have basically the same ethical code. At the same time Christianity and Judaism have different concepts of Heaven and Hell. The all-important difference between Christianity and Judaism is the Person of Jesus Christ. Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of a coming Messiah. Judaism often recognizes Jesus as a good teacher, and perhaps even a prophet of God but Judaism does not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. What is more, both religions contain the idea of the End of the World, though the emphases there are put on different aspects, and, paradoxically, this similarity makes these Judaism and Christianity so different. Words cited 1. Collins, John J. "Apocalyptic Eschatology as the Transcendence of Death." The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 36.1 (January 1974): 21-43. 2. Hanson, Paul D. The Dawn of Apocalyptic: The Historical and Sociological Roots of Jewish Apocalyptic Eschatology. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979. 3. Hoekema, A. A. The Bible and the Future. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979. 4. Knight, Douglas A. and Gene M. Tucker, editors. The Hebrew Bible and its Modern Interpreters. Philadelphia: Fortress Press; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1985. 5. Levenson, Jon. The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism: Jews and Christians in Biblical Studies. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993. 6. Lodahl, Michael E. Shekhinah/Spirit: Divine Presence in Jewish and Christian Religion. A Stimulus Book. New York/Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1992. Read More