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Since the Jewish faith and adherents thereto seem to be of great interest to many Christians (the majority religious group in the U.S.,) I think it is worthwhile to take a moment to define some terms relating to discussions of Judaism and Christianity vis a vis one another.
As mentioned elsewhere, Judaism's definitions of "who is a Jew" includes a hereditary definition. If one's mother is Jewish, one is a Jew, regardless of one's own belief. This is true whether one's mother was "born Jewish" or not. If your mother was Jewish when you were born, you are a Jew. The stand of all branches of Judaism is "once a Jew, always a Jew."
Within Judaism, then, there is a special case for the "apostate," or one who abandons the religion, despite his Jewish heredity. (http://www.answers.com/topic/jews-in-apostasy) Regardless of the broad negative regard in which apostasy is held, apostates are nonetheless Jewish.
In that Christianity is a historically and theologically distinct religion from Judaism, one can not call Christianity Judaism any more than one can call Buddhism Islam. One certainly can not pass off evangelical protestant theology as Judaism. That is why we have two different words for them.
I've read a great number of opinions here with various degrees of critical or sympathetic outlook. One which is wholly unsupportable is the notion that one is being Jewish by being Christian.
One is being Christian by being Christian. In some Christian re-formulations, one is being a good exemplar of a Christian idea of what a Jew should be, by being Christian. But believing in or practicing Christianity is not identical to believing in or practicing Judaism.
The historical record and scholarly record are so extensive and undisputed on this point, from the late first century C.E. onward, that I will not deign to debate it. It's a matter of constitutive definition.
Of the various frauds perpetrated in the name of proselytic zeal, this is perhaps the most pernicious: the attempt to denude another religion of its distinct identity, while simultaneously pursuing that religion's extinction (in this particular case, the hoped-for extinction would be of the idea of Judaism, at least in theory. Historically, that has not been the limit of the actions religious zealots have taken to remove the theologically inconvenient people who happen to actually practice or believe in Judaism.)
A Jewish convert (or apostate) to Christianity is just that. He is Jewish by heredity, and Christian by faith. This neither makes him right nor wrong; that is for God to decide, if indeed He splits hairs about such matters as we debate endlessly here.
But it does make the doctrine espoused by the convert Christianity, not Judaism -- whichever you adhere to.
Thanks for your time,
PFnV
As mentioned elsewhere, Judaism's definitions of "who is a Jew" includes a hereditary definition. If one's mother is Jewish, one is a Jew, regardless of one's own belief. This is true whether one's mother was "born Jewish" or not. If your mother was Jewish when you were born, you are a Jew. The stand of all branches of Judaism is "once a Jew, always a Jew."
Within Judaism, then, there is a special case for the "apostate," or one who abandons the religion, despite his Jewish heredity. (http://www.answers.com/topic/jews-in-apostasy) Regardless of the broad negative regard in which apostasy is held, apostates are nonetheless Jewish.
In that Christianity is a historically and theologically distinct religion from Judaism, one can not call Christianity Judaism any more than one can call Buddhism Islam. One certainly can not pass off evangelical protestant theology as Judaism. That is why we have two different words for them.
I've read a great number of opinions here with various degrees of critical or sympathetic outlook. One which is wholly unsupportable is the notion that one is being Jewish by being Christian.
One is being Christian by being Christian. In some Christian re-formulations, one is being a good exemplar of a Christian idea of what a Jew should be, by being Christian. But believing in or practicing Christianity is not identical to believing in or practicing Judaism.
The historical record and scholarly record are so extensive and undisputed on this point, from the late first century C.E. onward, that I will not deign to debate it. It's a matter of constitutive definition.
Of the various frauds perpetrated in the name of proselytic zeal, this is perhaps the most pernicious: the attempt to denude another religion of its distinct identity, while simultaneously pursuing that religion's extinction (in this particular case, the hoped-for extinction would be of the idea of Judaism, at least in theory. Historically, that has not been the limit of the actions religious zealots have taken to remove the theologically inconvenient people who happen to actually practice or believe in Judaism.)
A Jewish convert (or apostate) to Christianity is just that. He is Jewish by heredity, and Christian by faith. This neither makes him right nor wrong; that is for God to decide, if indeed He splits hairs about such matters as we debate endlessly here.
But it does make the doctrine espoused by the convert Christianity, not Judaism -- whichever you adhere to.
Thanks for your time,
PFnV