The title of this article may seem
unfamiliar to you. That is likely because it is not used. I know I’ve never
seen it used. We religious folk of a certain persuasion are known to use the
term Judeo-Christian traditions when talking about the history and theology of
our faith which comes from the Old and New Testaments. But is has occurred to
me recently it is a woefully inaccurate statement, and is also exclusive and
does not paint the full picture of our religious traditions.
What is distinctive about the
Judeo-Christian-Muslim* tradition is the belief is a single God. All other
religious and spiritual philosophies for the most part have multiple deities or
no deity at all. If you look at Egyptian religion you can put almost any two or
three letters together and you have the name of some Egyptian God. The Greeks
and Romans had very human like gods for various purposes and seem an irascible bunch
the fought together a lot often and the expense of people. Buddhists find the
way to enlightenment, but a god is not necessary for that path. Scientology
again is a method of getting “clear” making the most of how you are by
yourself, of course, with the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard.
But Moslems, Jews and Christians believe in
a single God, whose ways are not like our ways but loves us with passion and wants
good things for us. (One of those being that we not fight with each other all
the time; but that’s people not the teachings of those belief systems.) And it
is the same God we believe in. We use different names: Jehovah (bad translation
of Yahweh), Elohim, El, Allah, Adonai, Elyon, El Shaddai, Ar-Rahim, Al-Malik,
Al-Jabbar, Al-Gaffar etc. One Islamic exercise is to use all 99 names for God
(the exact list is not agreed upon). But when all is said and done, we believe
in one God, even if Christians say that one is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The point I am trying to make is that
theologians and laity in the Judeo-Christian tradition have done ourselves and
our Moslem brothers and sisters and injustice by not being more inclusive and
accurate in labeling our tradition.
Go talk to your pastor or religious friends
and ask if they feel they are in the Judeo-Christian-Muslim tradition and if
they don’t get it tell them they need some remedial education. I know I do.
Our God is the God of Abraham and of Isaac
and of Ishmael.
There is but one God and his name is…
*or should I say the Judeo-Christian-Isalmic or the Judeo-Christian-Moslem traditions?
Judeo-Christian-Muslim are monotheistic, and trace roots to the old testament. Other than that, the variations (theological is out of
ReplyDeletemy ken) between beliefs, morals and world perception are broad. Among Christianity we note
the Westboro bunch, evangelicals, catholics and unitarians-a broad mix; the Shiite-Sunni conundrum in Islam...and even the state of Israel there are problems between the utlra-
orthodox and the mainstream. Monotheists, yes..
of the same cloth, nope...
The term I've heard used to describe this grouping is the "Abrahamic" religions, since tradition has it that this is the common 'ancestor' of all three -- Jews and Christians descending from Isaac, Muslims in turn descending from Ishmael.
ReplyDeleteThere are certainly other religions that are 'monotheistic' but which are not Biblically derived, albeit many of them rather obscure to our ears:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Monotheistic_religions
Excellent comments my friends. The practitioners of religions inevitably give their religion a bad reputation when they go flying off in strange directions. I rather like the line from West Wing when one character tried to explain the differences between Moslem sects (sunnis and shittes/extremists) and said comparing them was like comparing the KKK to Christianity.
ReplyDeleteA Christian by definition is one who sees Jesus as Lord and savior, a Jew proclaims there is but one God (Shema) and Islamic folk say there is but one God and his name is Allah. These are all statement of belief. As to the practice of the morality taught by these religions, while similar, the practitioners go can reach extremes to the detriment of the faith. But it does not make them less adherents to that faith, just poor practitioners. Today, as a member of a so called "mainline" Christian tradition, I find that I am often embarrassed by the public image of my faith by whackos in it that the media reports, and which even may be the majority of it current followers.
As to my use of a new term, I could have been more specific in saying major current religions religions in speaking about monotheism and I rather like the Abrahamic term. But my intent remains the same, to show our connections and commonality in or to reflect the unity that exists between us and yet is rarely acknowledge. Such nomenclature as I advocate I think leads in that direction. I am especially interested in the connections we fail to see and under stand with our Islamic cousins; same history, same ancestor, same God, same savior, same prophets (excepting Mohammed)and for the most part same moral teachings. What separates us the most in all these groups is our varying polity; but that is a whole other story.