Religious perspectives on Jesus

Religious perspectives on Jesus
Jesus and his disciples, by Duccio, 1308-1311

The religious perspectives on Jesus vary among major world religions.[1] Jesus' teachings and the retelling of his lifestory have significantly influenced the course of human history, and have directly or indirectly affected the lives of billions of people, even non-Christians.[1][2][3]

Christian consider Jesus the Christ and believe that through his death and resurrection, humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life.[4] These teachings emphasize that as the willing Lamb of God, Jesus chose to suffer in Calvary as a sign of his full obedience to the will of his Father, as an "agent and servant of God".[5][6]

In Islam, Jesus is known as Isa and is one of God's highest-ranked and most-beloved prophets. The Bahá'í Faith consider Jesus to be a manifestation of God, who are a series of personages who reflect the attributes of the divine into the human world.

Judaism considers Jesus to have been simply a man and not the Messiah. Other world religions such as Buddhism have no particular view on Jesus, and have but a minor intersection with Christianity.

Contents

Christianity

Main articles: Jesus in Christianity and Christology
See also: Ministry of Jesus, Parables of Jesus, Miracles of Jesus, and Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament

Christian views of Jesus are based on the teachings and beliefs as outlined in the Canonical gospels, New Testament letters, the Christian creeds, as well as specific denominational teachings. These outline the key beliefs held by Christian about Jesus, including his divinity, humanity, and earthly life. Generally speaking, adhering to the Christian faith requires a belief that Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah or Christ. Jesus refers to himself as the Son of God in the New Testament.[7]

Christian consider Jesus the Christ and believe that through his death and resurrection, humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life.[8] These teachings emphasize that as the willing Lamb of God, Jesus chose to suffer in Calvary as a sign of his full obedience to the will of his Father, as an "agent and servant of God".[5][6] The choice Jesus made thus counter-positions him as a new man of morality and obedience, in contrast to Adam's disobedience.[9]

Most Christians believe that Jesus was both human and the Son of God. While there have been theological debate over the nature of Jesus, Trinitarian Christians generally believe that Jesus is God incarnate, God the Son, and "true God and true man" (or both fully divine and fully human). Jesus, having become fully human in all respects, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, yet he did not sin. As fully God, he defeated death and rose to life again. According to the Bible, God raised him from the dead.[10] He ascended to heaven, to the "right hand of God,"[11] and he will return again for the Last Judgment and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.[12]

The five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus are his Baptism, Transfiguration, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension.[13][14][15] These are usually bracketed by two other episodes: his Nativity at the beginning and the sending of the Paraclete at the end.[13][15] The gospel accounts of the teachings of Jesus are often presented in terms of specific categories involving his "works and words", e.g. his ministry, parables and miracles.[16][17]

Christians not only attach theological significance to the works of Jesus, but also to his name. Devotions to the Holy Name of Jesus do back to the earliest days of Christianity.[18][19] These devotions and feasts exist both in Eastern and Western Christianity.[19]

Islam

Main article: Jesus in Islam
A series of articles on
Jesus
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In Islam, Jesus is known as Isa and is one of God's highest-ranked and most-beloved prophets, specifically sent to guide the Children of Israel.

Unlike Christian writings, the Qur'an does not describe Jesus as the son of God, but as one of five major human messengers (out of many prophets) sent by God throughout history to guide mankind. It also states that Jesus' message to mankind was originally very similar to that of the other Islamic prophets, from Adam to Muhammad, but that it was subsequently distorted by early Christians. Jesus is said to have lived a life of piety and generosity, and abstained from eating flesh of swine (or of any animals, according to some Muslim authors, even some who were not vegetarians themselves). In the Muslim tradition, Jesus did not drink alcohol.

Muslims also believe that Jesus received a Gospel from God, called the Injeel and corresponding to the Christian New Testament. However, Muslims hold that the New Testament has been changed over time (as they also believe of the Old Testament) and does not accurately represent God's original message to mankind.

However, the Qur'an and New Testament overlap in other aspects of Jesus' life; both Muslims and orthodox Christians believe that Jesus was miraculously born without a human biological father by the will of God, and that his mother, Mary (Maryam in Arabic), is among the most saintly, pious, chaste and virtuous women ever. The Qur'an also specifies that Jesus was able to perform miracles—though only by the will of God—including being able to raise the dead, restore sight to the blind and cure lepers. One miracle attributed to Jesus in the Qur'an, but not in the New Testament, is his being able to speak at only a few days old, to defend his mother from accusations of adultery. The Qur'an also says that Jesus was a 'word' from God, since he was predicted to come in the Old Testament.

Most Muslims believe that he was neither killed nor crucified, but that God made it appear so to his enemies. The Qur'an narrates that God made it appear so that Jesus was crucified to his enemies but he was not, and lived. According to Islam, Jesus ascended bodily to heaven and is alive. Some Muslim scholars maintain that Jesus was indeed put up on the cross, but did not die on it;rather, he revived and then ascended bodily to heaven. Others say that it was actually Judas Iscariot who was mistakenly crucified by the Romans. Regardless, Muslims believe that Jesus is alive in heaven and will return to the world in the flesh to defeat the Antichrist, once the world has become filled with sin, deception and injustice, and then live out the rest of his natural life.

Judaism

Main article: Judaism's view of Jesus

Judaism rejects the idea of Jesus being God, or a person of a Trinity, or a mediator to God. Judaism also holds that Jesus is not the Messiah, arguing that he had not fulfilled the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah. According to Jewish tradition, there were no more prophets after Malachi, who lived centuries before Jesus and delivered his prophesies about 420 BC/BCE.[20]

The Babylonian Talmud include stories of Yeshu יֵשׁוּ; the vast majority of contemporary historians disregard these as sources on the historical Jesus.[21] Contemporary Talmud scholars view these as comments on the relationship between Judaism and Christians or other sectarians, rather than comments on the historical Jesus.[22][23]

The Mishneh Torah, an authoritative work of Jewish law, states in Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12 that Jesus is a "stumbling block" who makes "the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God".

Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be Messiah and was killed by the court, was already prophesied by Daniel. So that it was said, "And the members of the outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they stumbled."[Dan. 11:14] Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that all of the prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their banished ones, and strengthens their commandments. And this one caused (nations) to destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God. However, the thoughts of the Creator of the world — there is no force in a human to attain them because our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts not God's thoughts. And all these things of Jesus the Nazarene, and of (Muhammad) the Ishmaelite who stood after him — there is no (purpose) but to straighten out the way for the King Messiah, and to restore all the world to serve God together. So that it is said, "Because then I will turn toward the nations (giving them) a clear lip, to call all of them in the name of God and to serve God (shoulder to shoulder as) one shoulder."[Zeph. 3:9] Look how all the world already becomes full of the things of the Messiah, and the things of the Torah, and the things of the commandments! And these things spread among the far islands and among the many nations uncircumcised of heart.[24]

According to Conservative Judaism, Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah have "crossed the line out of the Jewish community".[25] Reform Judaism, the modern progressive movement, states "For us in the Jewish community anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is an apostate".[26]

Bahá'í

The Bahá'í Faith consider Jesus to be a manifestation of God, who are a series of personages who reflect the attributes of the divine into the human world for the progress and advancement of human morals and civilization.[27] In Bahá'í belief, the Manifestations have always been sent by God, and always will, as part of the single progressive religion from God bringing more teachings through time to help humanity progress.[28] The Manifestations of God are taught to be "one and the same", and in their relationship to one another have both the station of unity and the station of distinction.[27] In this way each Manifestation of God manifested the Word of God and taught the same religion, with modifications for the particular audience's needs and culture. Bahá'u'lláh wrote that since each Manifestation of God has the same divine attributes they can be seen as the spiritual "return" of all the previous Manifestations of God.[27] In this way, Bahá'ís believe that Bahá'u'lláh is, in both respects, the return of Jesus.

Other

Traditionally, Buddhists as a group take no particular view on Jesus, and Buddhism and Christianity have but a minor intersection. However, some scholars have noted similarities between the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha and Jesus. These similarities might be attributed to Buddhist missionaries sent as early as Emperor Ashoka around 250 BCE in many of the Greek Seleucid kingdoms that existed then and then later became the same regions that Christianity began.[29]

Jesus was seen as the savior and bringer of gnosis by various Gnostic sects, such as the extinct Manichaeism.

In the Ahmadiyya Islamic view, Jesus survived the crucifixion and later travelled to India, where he lived as a prophet (and died) under the name of Yuz Asaf.

In the Scientology view the teachings of Jesus are included among belief systems comprising those "earlier forms".[30] Jesus is classified as below the level of Operating Thetan, but as a "shade above" the Scientology state of "Clear".[30]

References

  1. ^ a b The Blackwell Companion to Jesus edited by Delbert Burkett 2010 ISBN 140519362X page 1 [1]
  2. ^ The Cambridge companion to Jesus edited by Markus N. A. Bockmuehl 2001 ISBN 0521796784 pages 156-157
  3. ^ The historical Christ and the Jesus of faith by C. Stephen Evans 1996, Oxford Univ Press ISBN 019826397X page v
  4. ^ Oxford Companion to the Bible p.649
  5. ^ a b The Christology of Anselm of Canterbury by Dániel Deme 2004 ISBN 0754637794 pages 199-200
  6. ^ a b The Christology of the New Testament by Oscar Cullmann 1959 ISBN 0664243517 page 79
  7. ^ One teacher: Jesus' teaching role in Matthew's gospel by John Yueh-Han Yieh 2004 ISBN 3110181517 pages 240-241
  8. ^ Oxford Companion to the Bible p.649
  9. ^ Systematic Theology, Volume 2 by Wolfhart Pannenberg 2004 0567084663 ISBN pages 297-303
  10. ^ Acts 2:24, Romans 10:9, 1Cor 15:15, Acts 2:31-32, 3:15, 3:26, 4:10, 5:30, 10:40-41, 13:30, 13:34, 13:37, 17:30-31, 1Cor 6:14, 2Cor 4:14, Gal 1:1, Eph 1:20, Col 2:12, 1Thess 1:10, Heb 13:20, 1Pet 1:3, 1:21
  11. ^ Mark 16:19, Luke 22:69, Acts 2:33, 5:31, 7:55-56, Romans 8:34, Eph 1:20, Col 3:1, Hebrews 1:3, 1:13, 10:12, 12:2, 1Peter 3:22
  12. ^ Acts 1:9-11
  13. ^ a b Essays in New Testament interpretation by Charles Francis Digby Moule 1982 ISBN 0521237831 page 63
  14. ^ The Melody of Faith: Theology in an Orthodox Key by Vigen Guroian 2010 ISBN 0802864961 page 28
  15. ^ a b Scripture in tradition by John Breck 2001 ISBN 0881412260 page 12
  16. ^ The Bible Knowledge Commentary by John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck 1983 ISBN 0882078127 page 100
  17. ^ The words and works of Jesus Christ by J. Dwight Pentecost 2000 ISBN 9780310309406 page 212
  18. ^ Outlines of dogmatic theology, Volume 2 by Sylvester Hunter 2010 ISBN 1146986335 page 443
  19. ^ a b Jesus: the complete guide by Leslie Houlden 2006 ISBN 082648011X page 426
  20. ^ Simmons, Shraga, "Why Jews Do not Believe in Jesus", Retrieved April 15, 2007; "Why Jews Do not Believe in Jesus", Ohr Samayach — Ask the Rabbi, Retrieved April 15, 2007; "Why do not Jews believe that Jesus was the Messiah?", AskMoses.com, Retrieved April 15, 2007
  21. ^ Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition)
  22. ^ Daniel Boyarin, Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999
  23. ^ Jeffrey Rubenstein Rabbinic Stories (The Classics of Western Spirituality) New York: The Paulist Press, 2002
  24. ^ Hilchot Malachim (laws concerning kings) (Hebrew)", MechonMamre.org, Retrieved April 15, 2007
  25. ^ Waxman, Jonathan (2006). "Messianic Jews Are Not Jews". United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Archived from the original on January 9, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080109024012/http://uscj.org/Messianic_Jews_Not_J5480.html. Retrieved January 15, 2008. "Judaism has held that the Mashiach will come and usher in a new era; not that he will proclaim his arrival, die and wait centuries to finish his task. To continue to assert that Jesus was the Mashiach goes against the belief that the Mashiach will transform the world when he does come, not merely hint at a future transformation at some undefined time to come... Judaism rejects the claim that a new covenant was created with Jesus and asserts instead that the chain of Tradition reaching back to Moshe continues to make valid claims on our lives, and serve as more than mere window dressing." 
  26. ^ Contemporary American Reform Responsa, #68, "Question 18.3.4: Reform's Position On...What is unacceptable practice?", faqs.org. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
  27. ^ a b c Cole, Juan (1982). "The Concept of Manifestation in the Bahá'í Writings". Bahá'í Studies monograph 9: 1–38. http://bahai-library.com/cole_concept_manifestation. 
  28. ^ bahai.org (2006). "The Changeless Faith of God". bahai.org. http://www.bahai.org/article-1-4-0-10.html. Retrieved 2006-11-12. 
  29. ^ Old World Encounters. Cross-cultural contacts and exchanges in pre-modern times" by Jerry H.Bentley (Oxford University Press, 1993) ISBN 0-19-507639-7
  30. ^ a b Rhodes, Ron; Lee Strobel (foreword) (2001). The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions: The Essential Guide to Their History, Their Doctrine, and Our Response. Zondervan. pp. 155, 164. ISBN 0310232171. 

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