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Christianity began as a movement within Second Temple Judaism, but the two religions gradually diverged over the first few centuries of the Christian era.Today, differences of opinion vary between denominations in both religions, but the most important distinction is Christian acceptance and Jewish non-acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition.
The three largest Jewish denominations—Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism—maintain the belief that the Jews have been chosen by God for a purpose. Sometimes this choice is seen by believers as charging the Jewish people with a specific mission—to be a light unto the nations , and to exemplify the covenant with God ...
Even though members of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam do not all claim Abraham as an ancestor, some members of these religions have tried to claim him as exclusively theirs. [12] For Jews, Abraham is the founding patriarch of the children of Israel. God promised Abraham: "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you."
Most historians agree that Jesus or his followers established a new Jewish sect, one that attracted both Jewish and gentile converts. According to New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman, a number of early Christianities existed in the first century CE, from which developed various Christian traditions and denominations, including proto-orthodoxy. [13]
In Judaism, "chosenness" is the belief that the Jews, via descent from the ancient Israelites, are the chosen people, i.e., chosen to be in a covenant with God.The idea of the Israelites being chosen by God is found most directly in the Book of Deuteronomy, [4] where it is applied to Israel at Mount Sinai upon the condition of their acceptance of the Mosaic covenant between themselves and God.
The traditional religious view of Jews and Judaism of their own history was based on the narrative of the ancient Hebrew Bible. In this view, Abraham, signifying that he is both the biological progenitor of the Jews and the father of Judaism, is the first Jew. [23] Later, Isaac was born to Abraham, and Jacob was born to Isaac.
According to McGrath, Jewish Christians, as faithful religious Jews, "regarded their movement as an affirmation of every aspect of contemporary Judaism, with the addition of one extra belief – that Jesus was the Messiah." [52] Conversely, Margaret Barker argues that early Christianity has roots in pre-Babylonian exile Israelite religion. [53]
The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's recognition of Jewish scripture to constitute the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, or values supposed to be shared by the two religions.