As a youth pastor / pastor of over 25 years, Julie I say bravo! Welcome back. My only disagreement (and it’s super small) is that the first gen church had already changed its day of worship to Sunday (to commemorate Christ’s Resurrection)- rather than the Saturday Sabbath (observed by Judaism). I only say that because there are some denominations who try to force their people back under the law and they worship on Saturday and look down their nose at Christians who observe Sunday - - - It’s just important to delineate between the two: Sunday: New Testament Church; Saturday: Old Testament Judaism.
Hi Julie, I absolutely loved your construction here. Quick question: I haven't studied the Council of Nicaea formally but my understanding was they did not ban Passover, simply established Easter independently of Passover because Christians had all been celebrating Easter on different days and they wanted to unify celebration of it to one day specifically. Is that not the case?
As for the "detestable Jews" comment, very, very unfortunate language from Roman Emperor Constantine but unfortunately not a new sentiment from Roman emperors...
I think you bring up a fascinating topic of discussion around how Christianity and Judaism resemble each other (and how they have diverged). One thing I think is crucial is how Judaism changed after the loss of their Temple that Our Lord foretold and wept over.
The loss of their bloodline records, the loss of a place to offer sacrifice, two catastrophic blows that fundamentally changed their religion.
But yes, I think it's very unfortunate that many Christian denominations seem to have lost their Jewish roots.
This is why I find it fascinating that Jewish scholars assert that Catholicism more closely resembles Temple Judaism than Judaism does today with its priesthood, temple/altar, tabernacle (Holy of Holies), sacrifice, sacred liturgy, vessels, rituals, etc. You can ask any Catholic priest and he can tell you from which Apostle his ordination is descended from, for example.
In case you're interested, the Jewish scholars are these: Jacob Neusner, Pinchas Lapide, David Berger, Shaye J.D Cohen.
When I came back to Christ in 2010, many of these historical and scholarly themes you have communicated are what assisted me in my return to Catholicism and ultimately back to the Eucharist. I went deep into John 6 and came to the conclusion of what Jesus' was communicating and what His followers found hard to understand and ultimately many walked away from Him at that point. Now I'm currently reading Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Brad Petrie. I love that you are sharing your journey towards Christ so openly on your platform.. I also have been trying to figure out how to share my own journey. Julie, ultimately you are so good with words. God bless you on your path.
On a not-so-different tangent, have you watched the TV show The Chosen? I'm admittedly a superfan. It depicts Jesus/Yeshua as (gasp!) actually Jewish! And they have a Catholic priest, an evangelical scholar, and a Messianic Jewish rabbi as script consultants who appear on roundtables and talk about their takes on the episodes. It's really cool stuff.
Thank you for writing this and being willing to evolve your faith out loud. I have a tremendous amount of respect for your journey. Having said that, there's a lot here to unpack, and one of these days I might respond to your thoughtful writings in a full Substack post.
Some of this journey feels very familiar to mine, but some of it diverges, and where it diverges would be from some apologetics biases I see.
I do think the work of apologetics contributes really important viewpoints to the body of theology, i just have issues with the methods. I find it tends to start with conclusions and goes and finds the evidence, instead of the other way around. I'm wondering if you asked ChattyG about the apologetics lens in your work? I remember your AI prompt had it listed as the first thing to consider. I wonder what Chat would say if you even put it as, say, third priority? Not remove it completely - there's value for apologetics as a guardrail for your reconstruction journey - I would just be curious if that's a place you're curious to look.
As a youth pastor / pastor of over 25 years, Julie I say bravo! Welcome back. My only disagreement (and it’s super small) is that the first gen church had already changed its day of worship to Sunday (to commemorate Christ’s Resurrection)- rather than the Saturday Sabbath (observed by Judaism). I only say that because there are some denominations who try to force their people back under the law and they worship on Saturday and look down their nose at Christians who observe Sunday - - - It’s just important to delineate between the two: Sunday: New Testament Church; Saturday: Old Testament Judaism.
Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Hi Julie, I absolutely loved your construction here. Quick question: I haven't studied the Council of Nicaea formally but my understanding was they did not ban Passover, simply established Easter independently of Passover because Christians had all been celebrating Easter on different days and they wanted to unify celebration of it to one day specifically. Is that not the case?
As for the "detestable Jews" comment, very, very unfortunate language from Roman Emperor Constantine but unfortunately not a new sentiment from Roman emperors...
I think you bring up a fascinating topic of discussion around how Christianity and Judaism resemble each other (and how they have diverged). One thing I think is crucial is how Judaism changed after the loss of their Temple that Our Lord foretold and wept over.
The loss of their bloodline records, the loss of a place to offer sacrifice, two catastrophic blows that fundamentally changed their religion.
But yes, I think it's very unfortunate that many Christian denominations seem to have lost their Jewish roots.
This is why I find it fascinating that Jewish scholars assert that Catholicism more closely resembles Temple Judaism than Judaism does today with its priesthood, temple/altar, tabernacle (Holy of Holies), sacrifice, sacred liturgy, vessels, rituals, etc. You can ask any Catholic priest and he can tell you from which Apostle his ordination is descended from, for example.
In case you're interested, the Jewish scholars are these: Jacob Neusner, Pinchas Lapide, David Berger, Shaye J.D Cohen.
Ahhh. So love this reflection. I will have to go back and look re: Council of Nicea.
How interesting a point you make with the priesthood, temple/altar, sacred liturgy, etc. That's so fascinating. Thank you for sharing this! xoxo
When I came back to Christ in 2010, many of these historical and scholarly themes you have communicated are what assisted me in my return to Catholicism and ultimately back to the Eucharist. I went deep into John 6 and came to the conclusion of what Jesus' was communicating and what His followers found hard to understand and ultimately many walked away from Him at that point. Now I'm currently reading Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Brad Petrie. I love that you are sharing your journey towards Christ so openly on your platform.. I also have been trying to figure out how to share my own journey. Julie, ultimately you are so good with words. God bless you on your path.
Thank you so much!
Thank you! I already replied to your email, not realizing I would be brought here to comment.
I already commented in the email!
Thank you for sharing and for going into so much scholarly depth.
Thank you!
On a not-so-different tangent, have you watched the TV show The Chosen? I'm admittedly a superfan. It depicts Jesus/Yeshua as (gasp!) actually Jewish! And they have a Catholic priest, an evangelical scholar, and a Messianic Jewish rabbi as script consultants who appear on roundtables and talk about their takes on the episodes. It's really cool stuff.
Nice one Julie! May the Holy Spirit continue to guide you on this journey.
Thank you for writing this and being willing to evolve your faith out loud. I have a tremendous amount of respect for your journey. Having said that, there's a lot here to unpack, and one of these days I might respond to your thoughtful writings in a full Substack post.
Some of this journey feels very familiar to mine, but some of it diverges, and where it diverges would be from some apologetics biases I see.
I do think the work of apologetics contributes really important viewpoints to the body of theology, i just have issues with the methods. I find it tends to start with conclusions and goes and finds the evidence, instead of the other way around. I'm wondering if you asked ChattyG about the apologetics lens in your work? I remember your AI prompt had it listed as the first thing to consider. I wonder what Chat would say if you even put it as, say, third priority? Not remove it completely - there's value for apologetics as a guardrail for your reconstruction journey - I would just be curious if that's a place you're curious to look.