JUDAISM and CHRISTIANITY: differences and similarities

After the decline of polytheistic religions with the fall of Rome, the world was filled with a series of different religions that in many cases had only one deity. Two of the major religions were the jewish and the christian, occupying a large part of world beliefs from that moment until today. To understand two of the major religions of the last centuries, in this lesson from a Teacher we must talk about the differences and similarities between Judaism and Christianity.

Index

1. What is Judaism?
2. What is Christianity?
3. Differences between Judaism and Christianity
4. Similarities between Judaism and Christianity

Judaism is the own religion of the Jews and the oldest of the big three monotheistic religions of the planet, although currently it is the one that has the least faithful of these three beliefs from Abraham.

Not all branches of Judaism are the same, but we must understand that, in theory, they all come from the Torah scriptures, this being one of the books of which the Old Testament.

Among the various branches of the Jews we find the orthodox, reformists and conservativesAll of them being different ways of seeing the Torah and having more or less adherence to Jewish norms.

The great importance of Judaism lies largely in being forerunner of Christianity and Islam, being therefore responsible for the existence of the three great monotheistic religions in the world. You could say that judaism is the key religion to understand today's world.

The Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the scriptures of Jesus of Nazareth, being the religion with the largest number of believers in the world and possibly the most influential in the history of mankind. In fact, it is the religion that caused dozens of conflicts during the Middle and Modern Ages.

The existence of Christianity for so many years and its great importance in the Western world has caused them to originate numerous branches within Christian beliefs, finding ramifications such as the Catholicism, the Protestantism wave orthodoxy that currently characterize different countries. The ramifications of Christianity have led to the religion being extremely different between the different areas due to its great current differences.

The rise of Christianity was key to the relevance of Judaism declined, causing it to go from being the most important religion to one with a number of believers far less than that marked by Christianity. This made them happen numerous clashes for centuries among the believers of both religions and many Jews being persecuted for it.

Judaism and Christianity have a common origin, both coming from Abraham's beliefs and Christianity being from Judaism. But both religions have great differences that make them very different religions. These big differences are as follows:

• Judaism bases its beliefs in the Torah, while Christianity is based both on the Old Testament as in the New Testament.
• The monotheism absolute Judaism clashes with the idea of Holy Trinity Christian, who believes that God has three forms.
• Some sacraments such as Eucharist It is frowned upon by Jews, and there are great differences between the rituals of both religions.
• The founders of Judaism are considered Moses and Abraham, while the founder of Christianity is considered Jesus, although both come from the teachings of Abraham.
• Jews consider that, in the future, the Messiah will appear, while Christianity considers that already appeared on Earth and it was Jesus of Nazareth.
• The place of worship of Judaism is the synagogue, while that of Christianity is considered to be the church.
• In Judaism, the devil is not so present in Christianity.
• The Christian hierarchy based on Pope it does not exist as such in Judaism, there are religious positions, but not a central one.
• The Judaism does not seek conversion of other people, while Christianity for years has sought the evangelism of many nations.
• Judaism's day of rest is Saturday, while that of Christians is the Sunday.
• In judaism there is no original sin from Adam and Eve so relevant in Christian beliefs, so the theme of the cure of sins of baptism does not exist in Judaism.

Image: Comparison Chart

To finish this lesson, we must talk about the similarities between Judaism and Christianity, that is, the elements of both religions that are similar and that show that at a certain moment both beliefs arose from some similar ideals. The similarities between the two religions are as follows:

• Both are monotheistic religions with a single supreme God, being in the case of both the same God, but in the case of Christianity adopting three forms.
• Both come from the doctrine of Abraham and therefore of the same original religious texts, except that Christians have a greater number of religious texts.
• They both believe in arrival of a messiah that he will rescue the world, although Christianity considers that it has already arrived.
• The classical prophets of Judaism such as Abraham or Moses also have their appearance in Christian texts.
• Both religions were born in the Middle East, transferring its influence over the years to the West.
• The basic ideas of religion such as the love of neighbor they are maintained in both religions.

If you want to read more articles similar to Judaism and Christianity: Differences and Similarities, we recommend that you enter our category of Story.

• Armstrong, K., & Villegas, F. (2004). The origins of fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Tusquets.
• Chevitarese, A. L., & Cornelli, G. (2007). Judaism, Christianity and Hellenism. Annablume.
• Fernández, E. M., & Fernández, E. M. (1980). Judaism and Christianity: Roots of a Great Historical Conflict (Vol. 71). AKAL editions.