[The Volokh Conspiracy] Two more brief items about Jews for Jesus:

[Eugene Volokh]

Just a few more items that flowed from messages that I got several days ago, and that I felt I ought to briefly respond to before I dropped this: A couple of people suggested that Jews for Jesus are much more alien to Judaism than, say, Reform Jews are, because they accept certain theological doctrines such as the Trinity, which diverge from the hard-core monotheism of Judaism.      I hesitate to get into the whole "Is belief in the Trinity incompatible with monotheism debate?," given how much blood (literally) has been spilled over it. But it seems far from obvious to me that an acceptance of such a belief makes one vastly alien to traditional Judaism, while a rejection of the kosher laws, the Sabbath rules, the sexual purity laws, and a wide range of other rules -- a hallmark of many Reform Jews -- is not thus alien. Some people argued that adding new doctrines means the creation of a different and incompatible religion, while rejecting traditional doctrines does not; but that just doesn't strike me as particularly persuasive.      This having been said, I agree that people can conclude that Christianity is theologically incompatible with Judaism -- just as others can conclude that Reform Judaism is theologically incompatible with Judaism. Judgments of when theological differences render two doctrines fundamentally alien to each other are quite subjective. But the case for this just doesn's strike me as terribly persuasive. Jeff Sterling has a detailed post responding to my original post; I want to respond to just one item: [W]e Jews are a community, one that transcends -- when we are our better selves -- differences of observance, of nationality, of language. Whether yankees fans or red sox fans (or, non-baseball fans pu pu pu), we are all one people. Becoming a Jew for Jesus is not just a bothersome difference of opinion over a matter of observance; it is a very public renunciation of membership in the community. Indeed, Jews for Jesus are without exception people who feel no connection to the Jewish people, and don't want one. Actually, it seems to me that the situation is not quite so. As best I can tell, Jews for Jesus do claim to feel a connection to the Jewish people (I don't know how I could figure out whether they think so deep down inside, but I see no reason not to take them at their word for this). They would like to be members of the community. They don't think that their religious beliefs should exclude them from membership in this community, just as they see that Reform Jews aren't excluded from the community, and just as they see that even secular Jews aren't excluded from the community. Rather, it seems to be the mainstream Jewish community that is trying to exclude them -- to tell them that they aren't really Jews any more.      Naturally, Jews are entitled to do so, just as Orthodox Jews would be entitled (if they chose to, though as I understand most don't) to say that Reform Jews aren't practicing something that can legitimately be called "Judaism," or as Protestants would be entitled to say that Catholics or Mormons aren't really Christians. But none of these claims strike me as particularly persuasive.      The two things that seems pretty clear is that, given pretty broadly accepted Jewish teachings, Jews who accept Christ are still members of the Nation of Israel; and that they are also maintaining a set of beliefs that are not consistent with Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox Judaism (Jews for Jesus believe, for instance, that the Messiah has already come, whereas the other streams do not). The claim, though, that "Jews for Jesus" is an oxymoron, even if "Jews" is meant in the sense of "people who subscribe to a form of Judaism," where "Reform Jews" is not an oxymoron (and I should stress that I have nothing against Reform Jews), doesn't seem to me to be proven. -- Posted by Eugene Volokh to The Volokh Conspiracy at 9/10/2003 09:27:42 AM Powered by Blogger Pro