Not of Abraham: A Primer on Talmudic Judaism (Part 1)

This article isn't my typical word candy, but it's necessary work that I don't see anybody else doing. Understanding the difference between Mosaic Judaism and Talmudic Judaism is necessary.

Note: This article is a Protestia Insider article, from their paid content section. In our partnership, I provide my published content there, to my subscribers at Insight to Incite here. In other words, this is my way of letting you behind their pay-wall. Enjoy.

Much of the debate in conservative evangelical social media about the place of Judaism in God's redemptive plans is caustic and vitriolic. On one hand, some evangelicals seem to border on anti-semitism. But on the other hand, some evangelicals seem to border on heresy. However, if both sides properly understood the difference between Mosaic Judaism - or the religion of the Old Testament - and Talmudic Judaism, most of that angry disagreement would subside. Defining terms is always helpful for the meeting of minds.

The debate over the question of Judaism has largely been spawned by accusations of anti-semitism toward Christian Nationalists. Christian Nationalists generally believe that America should be an explicitly Christian nation, and so far as it is possible, enforce God's laws - including prohibitions against false religion. For those who refer to America's founding as Judeo-Christian, this has become a point of contention (because the first-half of that hyphen, without Christ, is heretical).

JUDEO-CHRISTIAN

The term, Judeo-Christian, first appeared in print in 1821, but because it was referring to converts to Christianity from Judaism, it doesn't really pertain to today's context. Today, the term is used to refer to the alleged roots of Christianity in Judaism, irrespective of Jewish conversion (I say "alleged" because it is better said that the Old Testament is the foundation for Christianity, not Judaism). That use for the term didn't arise until the 1940s, as a part of war propaganda designed to convince a very isolationist America to take up the war in Europe. Essentially, convincing a war-weary America to take up the cause of the Allied Forces was difficult, but appealing to Christians on the basis that defending the Jews of Europe was a religious obligation proved effective.

One can easily fail to comprehend the historic significance of the term (and concept) of "Judeo-Christian" if they aren't careful. For the first time in world history, Christians took up the cause of Jewish people on religious grounds. Historically, Christians have been oppositional to Jews, rather than defensive of them. But a lot has changed in the last 85 years. Perhaps nowhere more so, than in evangelical churches.

Today, the nation-state of Israel - which didn't exist when the term first developed - enjoys widespread support from the American Bible Belt, sustaining the small but wealthy nation with billions in tax dollars, charitable giving, and military aid. But the most important change has been the shift in attitude of Christians towards Jews, in some part due to the development of Dispensational Premillennialism.

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