Christianity and Judaism: Two Faiths Talking About Different Things (English Edition)

The earliest Christians were Jews and saw their religion, Judaism, as normative and authoritative. A natural question troubling believing Christians, therefore, is why Judaism as a whole remains a religion that believes other things, or, as Christians commonly ask, "Why did the Jews not 'accept Christ'?" or "Why, after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is there Judaism at all?" Often asked negatively, the question turns on why the Jews do not believe, rather than on what they do believe. Yet it is a constructive question even in the context of description and analysis, not religious polemic. For the question leads us deeper into an understanding not only of the differences between one religion and the other but also of the traits of the religion under study. In other words, it is a question of comparison--even though the question is not properly framed.