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Maiju Lehmijoki-Gardner
An Introduction to Theology
Loyola University Maryland

Lecture summary 3 (From

Judaism to Christianity)
Christianity is an Abrahamic religion it
builds upon the Judaism. The New
Testament may be read as homage to the
wisdom of Judaism and the Old Testament.
Yet, Jesus life, teaching, and death
established a decisively new approach to
faith. The belief in the incarnation, the
Trinity, Christian mission, and the afterlife
are just a few examples of tenets that
moved Christianity away from Judaism.
Nonetheless, the decisive differences do
not erase the indispensable fact that the
Christian Scripture is made of the Old and
New Testaments in order to understand
Christianity we have to examine its Jewish
foundations.

The Judaism of the Old Testament

Gods interaction with his

people
o Seen in the narratives of
Adam and Eve, Cain and
Abel, Noah, Abraham and
Sarah, and others
Moses and the Ten
Commandments
o Also revealed in
prophesies
o God is manifested in his
actions and through his
words
Interactive God,
communicating
God, verbal God
The ancient histories and
narratives concerning the Jewish
history

A small and at times

oppressed nation
surrounded by giants
such as ancient
Mesopotamia, Assyria,
Persia, and Egypt
o The Jewish kingdoms and
dynasties in the historical
Palestine
o A central question: What
does it take to establish a
civilization?
The centrality and
challenge of
agriculture,
knowledge, and
family dynasties
Establishment of the
monotheism
o Belief in the covenant
o The Ten Commandments
The laws of purity
o Purity as an
organizational principle
Creating order
Separating the
Jews from
surrounding
societies
o Laws concerning foods,
holy days, and physical
culture
Especially the
Sabbath
o The laws of purity give
birth to the notion of
kosher
Messianic expectation among
some groups
o Messiah as the divinely
established good ruler
o Messiah as a Savior from
oppression
o The belief in afterlife was
not strongly stated
o

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One example of
exception is the
Pharisees at the
time of Jesus
Judaism is a non-proselytizing
faith
o Ethno-religious identity
o Male circumcision as the
rite of initiation

From Judaism to Christianity

Jesus lived between ca. 6 or 4

B.C. and ca. A.D. 30
o His mission was centered
in Galilee (historical
northern Palestine)
o Jesus < Hebrew, The
Savior
o Christ < Hebrew,
Messiah, the
Anointed
o Jesus was an educated
Jew
His followers
addressed him as
Rabbi
Archeological and other
historical evidence concerning
Jesus is scarce
Christianity builds upon the
foundation of Judaism
o The Old Testament as the
key reference for Jesus
and the first Christians
Christians form their own
churches toward the middle of
the first century
o Proselytizing faith
Religious
communities
challenge the
religious primacy
of families

Baptism of men and

women becomes the rite
of initiation
o The communal agape
meals develop toward the
celebration of the
Eucharist
o Christians become active
in defending the beliefs
and customs (cf.
apologetics)
Strong belief in the afterlife and
Christs second coming
o Seen in Jesus teachings
o Seen in the Book of
Revelation
o Seen in the Christian
Creeds
o The earthly life as a
passage
o Jesus power was
manifested in his victory
over death (not in his
earthly might)
o Resurrection of the body
Individuality:
intellect, soul, and
body
Communicating Jesus, verbal
Jesus, Jesus who leaves his
disciples with a task
The new covenant
o The customs of purity
lose their significance
o The law of love
o Christ-centered
understanding of life and
salvation
o

Some Basic Concepts concerning

The Trinity

Christological questions
o Theologically difficult task
of synthesis based on the

Bible and Christian

tradition
Debated by the patristic
writers and expressed in
the creeds of the fourth
century

o
o

The Triune God

o Teaching unified during
the Apostolic Councils &
by the patristic writers
o Seen in the Nicene Creed
325/381
God the Creator
o Transcendence
Omnipotence
Omniscience
o Immanence
Omnipresence

Pneumatology (Gr.
pneuma, the spirit)
Double Procession
Holu Spirit
proceeds from God
and Christ
This teaching
emerged in the
Western
Christianity during
the sixth century
(is not accepted by
the Eastern
Orthodox
Christians)
The so-called
filioque
-controversy

The Church Ecclesiology

Jesus the Redeemer

o Christology
o Fully Human
Gr. kenosis
Son of Man
o Fully Divine
Homoousios (Gr.)
with God
The Holy Spirit the Sanctifier
o Operates through
Sacraments and the
Church & its people

< Gr. ekklesia

The Communion of People
The Institutions

Interested to know more?

Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz,
Historical Jesus. A Comprehensive
Guide. Transl. John Bowden. Fortress
Press 1998.
Richard McBrien, Catholicism. Third
Edition. Geoffrey Chapman 2000.