Something that struck me in my study of Judaism was the coincidence of the development of written text by the Jews and the destruction of the second temple. Even more fascinating to me is the fact that after the destruction of the temple, the Jewish people continued writing texts that were also central to Judaism.
Having been born and raised in Christianity this is a starkly noticable contrast in the two religions. Christians typically hold the Bible as absolutely sacred, and the idea that "none shall add to or take away from" it is strictly adhered to. I realize that Judaism does not actually end and is not wholly contained in the Hebrew Bible, although the Torah is indispensable to all Jewish religious thought and is the foundation upon which all other studies are based.
It is interesting that the Jewish people began writing their oral traditions after the building of the Second Temple. Perhaps the remembrance of the destruction of the First Temple was their inspiration. Perhaps they instinctively knew that it would be necessary to preserve their traditions. Either way, it proved indispensable to the preservation of the religion.
The books that would be accepted into the Hebrew canon were finished by about 200 b.c.e. The destruction of the temple occurred around 70 c.e., which marks the emergence of rabbinical Judaism. The definite marked shifts in this emergence were the end of the power of the priesthood, a shift away from temple ritual and toward a central focus on scripture and scriptural interpretation.
It was the destruction of the second temple that spurred the reverence for written religious text, and inspired Jewish rabbis to canonize what is now known as the Hebrew Bible, and is called the Old Testament by Christians. This canonization was completed in 90 c.e. (Note that this is after the birth and death of Jesus.) The existence of a canon of scripture, which could be copied and carried anywhere brought victory out of apparent defeat.
After the Hebrew Bible, Jews continued to write interpretations of the first scripture, which came to be known as the Mishnah, completed in 200 c.e. Next came the Palestinian Talmud in 400 c.e. and the Babylonian Talmud in 600 c.e.
The Mishnah is a philosophical discussion of specific biblical laws and their application. By 400 c.e. it was supplemented by the Gemara and the result was the Palestinian Talmud, which is interpreted to mean the study of the Land of Israel. Further commentary by religious scholars in Babylonia resulted in the compilation of the second most important body of Jewish literature next to the Bible. It was completed around 600 c.e.
Moses Maimonides (called Rambam 1135-1204) wrote a work titled "The Guide of the Perplexed" in which he argued that Judaism was a rational religion and that faith and reason were complimentary. He wrote this work in Arabic in order to make it accessible to a wide readership.
On the other hand, plenty of scholars were more interested in Jewish mysticism, and produced "Kabbalah", the whole body of Jewish mystical literature. Out of Kabbalah emerged the "gematria," a special key that transposes words into numbers in order to bring to light the mystical interpretation of sacred writings. The Zohar, written by Rabbi Moses de Leon is the most famous books of the Kabbalah and was likely to have been written in 1280 c.e.
Much later, with the emergence of Reform Judaism in Germany a philosopher named Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) emphasized the necessity for Judaism to evolve within the surrounding culture, and began to question the necessity for strict adherence to ritual and specific literal Jewish law, instead focusing on values such as religious tolerance, assimilation into civil culture, human dignity, equality, individual liberty, democracy, secular education, and the development of science.
This is a core disagreement within in the Jewish community today. Nonetheless, the Jewish community has benefited from original thought of different individuals throughout history. It is the ability of the Jewish tradition to respond to changing cultures, periods of time, populations and oppression that has allowed it to remain a viable and triumphant culture despite multiple obstacles and challenges.
about the history of Judaism? Just curious.
"How can we win where fools can be kings" Muse
You can read my blog
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
What did Jesus say about throwing stones?
I will grant you that your findings on Judaism are well researched (I actually do have a problem with how the Ashkenazi carry on, making up rules that were never in the Torah).
But apparently, you aren't very familiar with your own religion's history. The canon of the bible wasn't finalized until well after the death of Jesus. Even still, various churches continue to add or delete from it. For example, the Gospel of Mark originally ended with the women seeing that Jesus's tomb was empty and didn't tell anyone. Of course, this ending did not satisfy the Catholic church (and subsequent protestant churches as well), so they changed it so that the women did tell someone, thus making it possible for Mark (and the followers of Mark's Gospel who eventually wrote it down) to have gotten wind of this story.
The quote that you cited about not adding or taking away from the scripture was from the book of Revelations, which was John's apocalypse story, first written in 200 AD, at which point the Christian Jews had been excommunicated from the temple. However, at this time, the scriptures were in no way a canon. In fact, they were only five of over 40 gospels all preaching a very different message about the life and meaning of Jesus.
In addition, certain epistles of Paul weren't written by Paul at all but were actually forged by the Catholic church in the Middle Ages (according to most religious scholars) including Titus and 1 & 2 Timothy.
As well, many of Paul's letters were changed from the original wording to cater to the patriarchy of the church. For instance, in one letter, Paul was naming various apostles and included the name "Unia" which is a common woman's name in antiquity. However, many bibles have the name "Unius" which never existed as a name, but fit the opinion of the church in the Middle Ages that women cannot be part of the church (as perscribed in various Old Testament texts). The letter that it comes from escapes me at the moment (I have a feeling that it was either one of the Corinthians or Romans, but I'm not sure).
I'm not saying that your faith in Christianity is wrong. Far from it. I'm merely stating that Christianity has done (and on occasion continues to do) what the Ashkenaz do with the texts of the scriptures.
--Mike
That's some great info. You seem to have misunderstood me.
I never said I am a Christian. I said I was raised a Christian.
I was talking about the canon of the Tanakh, not the Bible.
The canonization of the Tanakh was not completed until after the death of Jesus. The writings were under construction until 200 b.c.e.
The Jews were trying to play catch up for centuries of oral tradition when they wrote the creation story.
Rabbinical Judaism refers to a schism that occurred separating a large amount of the Jewish population from the Second Temple, the home base of Orthodox Judaism. That split created a new branch of Judaism, the one I described here. I admit, I shifted into Reform Judaism without giving it distinct respect. Reform Judaism could be considered a twig from the branch of Rabbinical Judaism.
The Azhkenazi Jews are trying to revive the Orthodoxy.
You are making my point for me. The reason religious intolerance still exists is because there is a thick wall between people's perceptions of religion as a faith vs. religion as a history of human behavior. Studying it provides me with an accurate understanding of why hate exists in this world.
Please see my blog: http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/49231-how-religion-keeps-us-god
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
The Ashkenaz are the ones at the forefront at transforming Judaism into rabbinical Judaism.
My point is just that this phenomenon isn't exclusive to Judaism.
--Mike
I 'd like to know more about that. I don't know very much about the Ashkenazi Jews, except what I shared on my blog "Who Is A Jew?" mvenus929 and I had a little bout of confusion about them. I'd love it if you would share your knowledge about them.
Of course the process of canonization is similar with any religious text. The point of contrast I keyed in on personally was the fact that Christians have one holy book, the Jews have several. I think that's cool, personally.
And yes, I know that the Christian Bible and the Catholic Bible are different. The Catholic cannon includes the Apocrypha and other books that are not in the Christian Bible.
Personally, I find the Gnostic Gospels most interesting, but you won't find them anywhere near the Bible.
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
1. The Ashkenaz are Jews who emigrated to Europe during the diaspora (when the Romans pretty much kicked the Jews out of Israel). Since then, there have been two main sects of Judaism: Ashkenazi and Safartic. The major difference between the two is that the Ashkenazi have made a point to create as many stupid rules as possible based on idiotic interpretations of the Torah and apocrypha. So they now have rules like you can't eat meat and dairy within 4 hours of each other (even though the original doctrine was that it is abominable to cook a calf in its mother's milk). They were also the ones to pioneer the "Kosher for Passover" rules, particularly the one stating that cornmeal is not Kosher for Passover.
2. The Christians do not have one holy book. They have a canon of holy books, just like the Jews. The only difference is that the Christian canon is printed in one volume. Every book of the bible (besides the first five) are completely different authors with completely different messages writing at completely different times.
3. There is no such thing as the "Christian Bible" as you put it. There are scores of versions of the bible, each with its own interpretation and set of texts. Most versions of the bible (actually every one that I know of) include apocrypha.
4. There are no "Gnostic Gospels" as such. There are gospels that were embraced by the Gnostic tradition of Christianity, but none preached Gnosticism. The Gnostic tradition is a way of interpreting the texts, just like Catholicism, Baptism, etc. For instance, the gospel of John was embraced by the Gnostics.
--Mike