Question

Jewish and Christian worldviews, as well as their views of each other, grew increasingly divergent in the second and third centuries. Which of these statements exemplify a Jewish worldview during this time period, and which exemplify a Christian worldview?

Christian View|
Jewish View|

1. Our religion is a continuation of theirs, but now we are God’s new chosen people.
2. Unlike them, our religious practice is protected by the Roman government.
3. Just like the cults of Mithras or Isis, their religion is unimportant to us.
4. The connection between us is obvious: their prophets all foretold the coming of our savior.

Answer 1

Christian View:
1. Our religion is a continuation of theirs, but now we are God’s new chosen people. — (Christian supersessionist claim that Christianity continues and fulfills Israel; Christians saw themselves as the new elect.)
4. The connection between us is obvious: their prophets all foretold the coming of our savior. — (Christian reading of Hebrew Scriptures as prophecy pointing to Jesus.)

Jewish View:
2. Unlike them, our religious practice is protected by the Roman government. — (Judaism had recognized legal standing as a tolerable, ancestral cult in the Roman system; Christianity did not at this time.)
3. Just like the cults of Mithras or Isis, their religion is unimportant to us. — (Many Jews regarded the Christian movement as a marginal sect or heretical offshoot, comparable in their view to other minor cults.)