To what extent is Christianity a product of Judaism? How and why did early Christians differentiate themsel?

lebronshaq10: To what extent is Christianity a product of Judaism? How and why did early Christians differentiate themsel?
To what extent is Christianity a product of Judaism? How and why did early Christians differentiate themselves from Jews?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Noah D
Because they killed the dude who started Christianity…

Answer by hedgy
to the extent of the fact in my opinion that Jesus was resurected from the grave making him truly the son of God christians believe that Jesus was the son of God and Jewish people Say no one even comes close to God

Answer by Lona
That’s hard to say in that they even changed the order and meaning of the big 10.

In order to follow Paul and his new religion.
They added original sin, a devil, and hell.
We do not have these concepts.
They also redefined words to support their belief system.

Answer by Mailman Fred
The earliest Christians were Jews, but they found themselves at odds with a different kind of Christianity espoused mainly by Paul. Paul proclaimed a hybridized form of Christianity which relied heavily on Greek thought. This hybridized form eventually beat out the older, more Jewish Christianity. Do an internet search on “ebionite.”

Answer by Manhattan
If I’m not mistaken- there was very little difference in the 1st century between Jews and Christians. Christians still abstained from foods and attended temple. In fact the Romans and much of the area saw them (Christians) as just another Jewish sect, like Sadducees and Essenes

Answer by philosophyangel
Christianity developed from multiple sources. Some historians believe that Christianity evolved out of philosophies of a mystical Jewish sect called the Essenes. At the turn of the 1st millennieum, there were 4 main groups of Judaism: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Essenes. We only hear mention of the the first two in the NT, and the Zealots are treated as some rebel guerilla group. The Zealots, in fact, were very political. The Essenes were a mystical and very ascetic group of people. John the Baptist is basically depicted as an Essene in the Bible. Strangely, the word Essene is not mentioned in the Bible. Like references to magianism (miracle working, divination, and sorcery) certain ideas or references may have been whitewashed out of official Christianity because they were not “politically correct.” Hermeticism, Gnosticism (both pagan and Christian) and Neoplatonism also were very prevalent during the same time that Christianity was developing and ideas played off each other. Greek and Roman intellectuals took and interest in Christianity at a certain point and began to shape it and then ultimately censor competing doctrines and ideas. Very early Christians didn’t call themselves that–they were Nazareans or followers of the Nazarean, something like that. Also, interesting, the Romans called Christians “pagans.”

Answer by David Mesirow
Jesus was Jewish and many Christians respect the Jewish religion, almost to the extent that they consider Jews to be quasi-Christians or God’s “chosen people” as designated by scripture, even leading many Christians to support the State of Israel, which may also have its roots in political motivations. Part of the reason for the alliance between many Jews and Christians is that the Old Testament, which makes up the first half of the Christian Bible, is also used by the Jews in their religion. Because Christians and Jews share much of their theological beliefs due to this scriptural overlap, the two religions share many religious customs and traditions. One example is that both religions employ a belief in the validity of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, which leads to many similar ideas about morality. However, because Jews do not use the New Testament, there is also some tension between the two religions when it comes to this discrepancy, specifically the belief about whether Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. Many Christians have to a large degree used this belief about Jesus as Lord and Savior as a centerpiece of their religion, stating that in order to obtain eternal salvation, one must come to a genuine belief in this principle.

Answer by Crazy Pirate
modern christianity has nothing to do with judaism, it follows the teaching of saul/paul about jesus, not the teaching of jesus

very early christianity was a sect of judaism

they split around 70ce when the christians ran for the hill, deserting their jewish brothers, because they thought it was the end of days and jesus was supposed to come back

Answer by HRM Brian
Christianity, like Islam, is an example of a figure influencing a certain group of Jews into believing that there is a new covenant.

The details are sketchy and, quite clearly, engineered to appear as though Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and did all sorts of “holy” things. The thing is that these descriptions are written by his followers, so he could have very well been just a man who said a few things and they got exaggerated into something else, or perhaps he didn’t even exist.

Christianity is very little like Judaism, actually, except for certain aspects of monotheism they are very, very different faiths.