Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"Jews" are the descendants of Abraham through Sarah and can be considered a widely dispersed "tribe", if you will. (Jews often refer to world Jewry as "the tribe".) "Judaism" is the religion of the tribe. Traditionally, a "Jew" is any child born to a Jewish mother. Whether or not that child is raised in the faith of Judaism is another matter. A Jew may convert to another religion but his/her genetic inheritance will not be changed.
I would have to say you probably can't be of Judaism and Christianity at the same time. Traditionally this was generally Christian understanding too and even "Judaizing" was discouraged. An early exception to that were "The Ebionites" who deemed themselves to be Christian and Jewish. I think they may have even seen Jesus as more like "The Final Prophet" and rejected him as divine.
Which leads to the only case I could see possible confusion. Could someone be of a kind of "Unitarian Christianity", that sees Christ as the ultimate role-model or even Messiah yet not divine, while being of Judaism? I might have, at one time, thought that was possible but when I look into it that doesn't even seem too plausible. Judaism isn't built on rejecting Christ or anything, but as it's been defined since the second century or earlier it doesn't seem to allow much for him as even a fully-human Messiah. I'm not even sure it would allow for Jesus as a "great Prophet" as I think Judaism teaches the prophetic age ended with Malachi, but I might be mistaken there.
I would think a person could be culturally and ethnically Jewish while being Christian. Traditional Judaism may have deemed apostates "dead" and all, but I don't think most modern Jews are like that. If a Jewish convert to Christianity remained very active in Jewish causes and charities I imagine they could still be somewhat embraced by their community. I think Benjamin Disraeli is still, sort-of, embraced by some Jewish conservatives as I think he did try to better the lot of the Jewish people to some extent and defended them. Jewish Christians who died in the Holocaust seem to cause some controversy, but I think there's a willingness to embrace say Edith Stein so long as you assert that she died for being Jewish and not for being a Catholic in the Netherlands. (Which is probably correct, to an extent, but the Catholic Church in the Netherlands was fairly defiant of the Nazis. They punished Jewish converts for that the most, but her being attacked for the Dutch Bishops actions is plausible.)
"Jews" are the descendants of Abraham through Sarah and can be considered a widely dispersed "tribe", if you will. (Jews often refer to world Jewry as "the tribe".) "Judaism" is the religion of the tribe. Traditionally, a "Jew" is any child born to a Jewish mother. Whether or not that child is raised in the faith of Judaism is another matter. A Jew may convert to another religion but his/her genetic inheritance will not be changed.
This is a good way to put it and when the old question arises, "Is Judaism a race or a religion?" I always feel the wrong question will never get the right answer.
Judaism is best described as a tribe. It is a people with a shared worldview of which race (descent) and religion are a part but not the whole. Just like someone can be a German but not a Christian, or Chinese, but not a communist. In fact, I would say that it is fair to describe a lot of nationalities as tribes, with the fact that nations have become states something that clouds the issue.
The thing about tribes, it should be noted, is that they are based on a genetic community, but not genetically exclusive. Thus, an outsider can, theoretically, be accepted into the tribe.
For example, in Judaism, entrance to the tribal community is through conversion to the religion. Entrance into to a 'national' tribe is through adoption of it language, history, ethics, and acquiring its citizenship.
Believing that Jesus was the Messiah is faaaaaaaaaaaar from the only difference between Judaism and Christianity, and it's kind of insulting to insinuate that it is.
In a nutshell, Judaism is a religion that emphasizes DOING rather than BELIEVING. Christianity seems to be the other way around, i.e. you can be the worst person on Earth but as long as you believe that Jesus was the Messiah, you're somehow square with G-d.
Believing that Jesus was the Messiah is faaaaaaaaaaaar from the only difference between Judaism and Christianity, and it's kind of insulting to insinuate that it is.
In a nutshell, Judaism is a religion that emphasizes DOING rather than BELIEVING. Christianity seems to be the other way around, i.e. you can be the worst person on Earth but as long as you believe that Jesus was the Messiah, you're somehow square with G-d.
"Jews" are the descendants of Abraham through Sarah and can be considered a widely dispersed "tribe", if you will. (Jews often refer to world Jewry as "the tribe".) "Judaism" is the religion of the tribe. Traditionally, a "Jew" is any child born to a Jewish mother. Whether or not that child is raised in the faith of Judaism is another matter. A Jew may convert to another religion but his/her genetic inheritance will not be changed.
A Jew is also one who converts through the process and rituals of conversion to Judaism.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
