Jews and Christians Together. A. Christian van Gorder
none of the Torah’s 613 laws prohibits atheism. Nicholas de Lange explains that Jewish atheism has its roots in the Haskalah (השכלה), the Hebrew Enlightenment of nineteenth-century Europe, which “shared the antireligious and anticlerical sentiments of the European Enlightenment in general.”37 This movement was active in advancing the cause of Zionism. One rabbi, Adam Chalom, said that one of the primary goals of this movement, which focuses on cultural identification over theological unity, was to “strengthen the community overall.”38
God Described
There are countless ways that various Jews or Christians describe their view of God’s nature. In fact, the notion of a systematic view of “theology” is far more of a Christian idea than a traditional Jewish one. Leffler and Jones suggest that Christians in conversation with Jews replace the term “theology” with the term “religious ideas” since the two fields of concern, while similar in many ways, are not identical; confusion arises when terms are used interchangeably, allowing for incorrect assumptions.39 Throughout history, for example, Jewish religious leaders (apart from Maimonides) have rarely systematized their religious assumptions into strict theological categories.
While many assume that both traditions pray to the same God, throughout history there have been thinkers, both Jewish and Christian, who have questioned this underlying premise (for example, the second-century heretical dualist Marcion, who claimed that the Gods of the two testaments were distinct). Moses Maimonides, one of Judaism’s most renowned theologians, argued that Christians were not monotheists who worshipped the God that was revealed to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Maimonides believed that Christians were idolaters and that Jews should avoid business dealings with them for this reason. He thought that Jews had much more in common with Muslims than with Christians when it came to describing the unity of God’s nature. Maimonides concluded that the Christian doctrines of the Trinity and the incarnation of Christ associate (Hebrew, shittuf [שתוף]) another being (Jesus) with God, which meant that Christians were claiming that there was another being who shared in the divine nature.
Variant views about the nature of God among Christians and Jews provide opportunities for energetic discussions of how these differences relate to other shared ideas. David Ellenson states: “Jewish views of God diverge, in several significant ways, from Christian conceptions. Christian worship is not a viable religious choice for Jews. Indeed, there is no reason it should be.”40 For Jews, God is Ribbono Shel Olam (ריבונו של עולם), the Master of the Universe who is also the essence of all righteousness (Ps 19:2, 8). Samuel Sandmel explains that, in traditional Jewish theology, “God was not a physical being but was intangible and invisible.”41 Both faiths agree that God alone is the sovereign of the universe and has all power. The divine is all-knowing and all-present. God is zealous for justice and calls followers to a life of moral purity. At the same time, the fact that God has all power also means that God is responsible for creating all that is in the world, both good and evil (Isa 45:7).
Jewish and Christian scholars have taught, albeit in different ways, that God is an indivisible unity who is distinct and apart from humanity. At the same time, according to Jacob Neusner, “Judaism locates God’s concerns within the realm of human society, and mundane issues such as worship are elevated to questions of divine moment.”42
Both traditions affirm that God is known by various names, and each of these helps us to know more about the divine nature. The Bible teaches that God is compassionate (Ps 145:8–9) and like a parent to a child-like humanity (Ps 103:13). There is no other God (Isa 45:22) and this God is close to all who call out in prayer (Ps 145:18). God will help us when we are in trouble (Ps 121:1–2) and guide us for eternity (Ps 48:14). These affirmations not only explain something about God but also provide an ethical portrait of how holiness should be expressed within our daily lives of faithful devotion.
Judaism and Christianity teach that God is holy and creates humanity in the divine image so that humanity will strive towards ethical and moral holiness. The divine is met within history; human encounters with God call individuals to a more reverential pathway of worship. The worship of any other “god” will lead to an individual straying from the truth and falling into error. In both traditions, when one speaks of God, they should speak with reverent measure. God’s ways are beyond human understanding and categories, such as ideas of gender or other human characteristics. Moses Maimonides, in The Guide for the Perplexed (1:59, 88), explained “if I could describe God, God would not be God.”43 Even so, individuals throughout the ages (such as Moses) have asked YHWH (the unpronounceable four-letter Hebrew name of God) to show humanity something of the divine nature (Exod 33:13–20). While humanity will never fully be able to comprehend the mysterious ways of divine providence, believers are called to trust (emunah [אמונה]) God and rely upon divine goodness for the various challenges of life.
Every act of revelation is, to quote Elliot Dorff, the “continual entry of God into the experience of each individual’s life.”44 Because God loves all within the created order, a divine desire is loose in the world to help creation transcend the temporal with that which is eternal. Judaism does not call followers to escape into fogs of escapist mysticism but to live ethical lives in concrete realities. The best way to understand the nature of God in Jewish thinking, according to the great Hasidic philosopher and writer Martin Buber, is dynamically through relationships with people and in relationship with the world around us. God is not a remote abstraction or a theoretical idea but has a unique personality and is in distinct and direct relationship with all of creation. Because we seek to honor God, we also honor each other with a willingness to live lives that are open, mutual, present, and equitable.
God’s Oneness
The declaration of the Shema Israel (שמע ישראל) (Hear, O Israel) rings out with the bold assertion that God is One (Deut 6:4). Franz Rosenzweig claims that the revelation of God’s oneness is the truth that outlives all who acknowledge it and outlives any name that can be given to God.45 Jewish monotheism is not a negotiated exercise in mystical obtrusion but a rational conviction that the oneness of God is a foundational truth revealed in scripture. God’s oneness means that there is no place for the worship of any other as a complementary or secondary deity (Deut. 4:4, 35–39). This belief is not only to be embraced intellectually but is to be “cleaved” to (Deut 4:4) in the same way that a wife and a husband cleave to each other (Gen 2:24).
Most Jews and Christians readily acknowledge that the concept of God within these two traditions is radically distinct. As mentioned earlier, some Jews throughout history have felt that the Christian doctrine of the triune nature of God (or “Trinity”) is idolatrous (avodah zarah [עבודה זרה]). Although many Jewish scholars know that Christianity speaks of the Trinity, most also appreciate that the doctrine does not portray three distinct and separate forces with different and conflicting wills. Rather, the Trinity represents three aspects of one God. While Jews are forbidden to hold such a belief, it is not avodah zara. The discussion of how idolatry relates to the concept of God is a discussion that few Christians have considered from a Jewish perspective. While teaching at Messiah College in Grantham, PA (van Gorder, 1997–2003), one of my students wrote that “because polytheists are equal to pagans, I was shocked, personally, to find out that some Jews consider some Christians to be pagans. Obviously, the belief that Christians are cannibals is a misconception, but the way some people talk about Communion it is nonetheless understandable.”46
Widely held theological assumptions can also influence relational dynamics between Jews and Christians. While many prefer a “live and let live” approach, such a view may be naïve given the negative implications of Christian supersessionist assumptions. It may even be impossible because some conservative Christians may feel that they have no choice but to obey the command of God to evangelize Jews until they accept Jesus as their Savior. One student explained how this mandate frustrated him after the rabbi visited class:
The Jews do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God sent to the world to save us and that only through him do we receive eternal life and enter into eternity. This, for me, is an incredibly tough thing to understand. Rabbi Fuller seems like an incredibly intelligent and kind man and yet he has a complete lack of acceptance of Christ as Savior. That is just mind-boggling to me. However, although I am a believer, I am also