Friday, April 29, 2016

Judaism's Role in Medieval Christianity


Definition: Jewish people in the Medieval Ages were not highly regarded. In fact, when Christians were on their way to the Holy Land to expel Muslims from Jerusalem, they passed through a Jewish town and decided to raid the Jews. The mentality was that Jews were the ones who killed Jesus Christ were therefore deserving of the vengeance delivered by the Christians (Peters 126). On the other hand, there arose a notion that Jews played an important role in the validation of Christianity. Judaism is needed to give Christianity its purpose and foundation. If the Jews do not fill their role of Old Testament realization, then the Christian ideology of salvation cannot be achieved (Cohen 2).


Importance: It is interesting to see how various religions interact with each other. While Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all share similar beginnings and even some of the same religious history, there has seemingly been animosity between the three for centuries. What Jeremy Cohen does by associating Judaism with the truth of Christianity instead of being a rejection of Christianity, he shares a compelling perspective on coexistence between religions.  He does not present Judaism as a religion of people who refuse to see Christ; he shows them as being necessary for the existence of Christ.

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