Religious perspectives on Jesus

The religious perspectives on Jesus vary among world religions.[1] Jesus' teachings and the retelling of his life story 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]

Christianity teaches that Jesus is the Messiah (Christ) foretold in the Old Testament and the Son of God Incarnate. Christians 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] Christians view Jesus as a role model, whose God-focused life believers are encouraged to imitate.

In Islam, Jesus (commonly transliterated as Isa) is one of God's highest-ranked and most-beloved prophets. Islam considers Jesus to be neither the incarnation nor the Son of God. Islamic texts emphasize a strict notion of monotheism (tawhid) and forbid the association of partners with God, which would be idolatry (shirk).

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. Bahá'ís reject the idea that divinity was contained with a single human body.

Apart from his own disciples and followers, the Jews of Jesus' day generally rejected him as the Messiah, as do the great majority of Jews today. Mainstream Jewish scholars argue that Jesus neither fulfilled the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.

Other world religions such as Buddhism have no particular view on Jesus, and have but a minor intersection with Christianity. For non-religious perspectives on Jesus, see historical Jesus.

Christianity

Main article: Jesus in Christianity

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 documents outline the key beliefs held by Christians about Jesus, including his divinity, humanity, and earthly life, and that he is the Christ and the Son of God.[7]

Although Christian views of Jesus vary, it is possible to summarize the key beliefs shared among major denominations, as stated in their catechetical or confessional texts.[8] 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.[9]

Christians consider Jesus to be the Messiah (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] The choice Jesus made thus counter-positions him as a new man of morality and obedience, in contrast to Adam's disobedience.[10]

The five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus are his Baptism, Transfiguration, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension.[11][12][13] These are usually bracketed by two other episodes: his Nativity at the beginning and the sending of the Paraclete at the end.[11][13] 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.[14][15] The words of Jesus include several sermons, in addition to parables that appear throughout the narrative of the Synoptic Gospels (the gospel of John includes no parables).

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.[16][17] These devotions and feasts exist both in Eastern and Western Christianity.[17]

Incarnation

Further information: Incarnation (Christianity) and Christology

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.[18] He ascended to heaven, to the "right hand of God,"[19] and he will return again for the Last Judgment and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.[20]

Islam

Main article: Jesus in Islam

In Islam, Jesus (Isa) is considered to be a messenger of God (Allah) and the Messiah (al-Masih) who was sent to guide the Children of Israel (Bani Isra'il) with a new scripture, the Gospel.[21][22]

The Quran mentions Jesus by name 25 times—more often than Muhammad[23]—and emphasizes that Jesus was a mortal human who, like all other prophets, had been divinely chosen to spread God's message.[24] Unlike Christian writings, the Quran does not describe Jesus as the son of God, but as one of four major human messengers (out of many prophets) sent by God throughout history to guide mankind.[25] 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).

Muslims also believe that Jesus received a Gospel from God, called the Injil. However, Muslims hold that Jesus' original message was lost or altered and that the Christian New Testament does not accurately represent God's original message to mankind.[26]

Despite some major differences, the Quran 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.[27] The Quran 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.[28] One miracle attributed to Jesus in the Quran, 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.[29] It 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. With the noteworthy exception of Ahmadi Muslims who believe that Jesus was indeed put on the cross, survived the crucifixion and was not lifted bodily to the heaven, majority of Muslims believe that 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.[21]

Islam rejects the Trinitarian Christian view that Jesus was God incarnate or the son of God, that he was ever crucified or resurrected or that he ever atoned for the sins of mankind. The Quran says that Jesus himself never claimed any of these things, and it furthermore indicates that Jesus will deny having ever claimed divinity at the Last Judgment, and God will vindicate him.[Quran 5:116]

Judaism

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.[30]

According to Conservative Judaism, Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah have "crossed the line out of the Jewish community".[31] 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".[32]

Jesus in Jewish writings

The Babylonian Talmud include stories of Yeshu יֵשׁוּ; the vast majority of contemporary historians disregard these as sources on the historical Jesus.[33] Contemporary Talmud scholars view these as comments on the relationship between Judaism and Christians or other sectarians, rather than comments on the historical Jesus.[34][35]

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.[36]

Bahá'í Faith

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.[37] 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.[38] 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.[37] 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.[37] 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.[39] 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 Scientology, the teachings of Jesus are included among belief systems comprising those "earlier forms".[40] Jesus is classified as below the level of Operating Thetan, but as a "shade above" the Scientology state of "Clear".[40]

In Raëlism, Jesus and several other religious figures are considered prophets sent by an extraterrestrial race called the Elohim.[41][42] Followers of Religious Science consider Jesus to be a teacher of Science of Mind principles, but reject his unique divinity, arguing that every person is equally divine.[41][43]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 The Blackwell Companion to Jesus edited by Delbert Burkett 2010 ISBN 1-4051-9362-X page 1
  2. ↑ The Cambridge companion to Jesus edited by Markus N. A. Bockmuehl 2001 ISBN 0-521-79678-4 pages 156-157
  3. ↑ The historical Christ and the Jesus of faith by C. Stephen Evans 1996, Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-826397-X page v
  4. 1 2 Oxford Companion to the Bible p.649
  5. 1 2 The Christology of Anselm of Canterbury by Dániel Deme 2004 ISBN 0-7546-3779-4 pages 199-200
  6. 1 2 The Christology of the New Testament by Oscar Cullmann 1959 ISBN 0-664-24351-7 page 79
  7. ↑ Schreiner, Thomas R. (2008). New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ. Baker Academic. pp. 23–37. ISBN 978-0-8010-2680-5.
  8. ↑ Jackson, Gregory L. (1993). Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant: a doctrinal comparison. Christian News. pp. 11–17. ISBN 978-0-615-16635-3.
  9. ↑ One teacher: Jesus' teaching role in Matthew's gospel by John Yueh-Han Yieh 2004 ISBN 3-11-018151-7 pages 240-241
  10. ↑ Systematic Theology, Volume 2 by Wolfhart Pannenberg 2004 0567084663 ISBN pages 297-303
  11. 1 2 Essays in New Testament interpretation by Charles Francis Digby Moule 1982 ISBN 0-521-23783-1 page 63
  12. ↑ The Melody of Faith: Theology in an Orthodox Key by Vigen Guroian 2010 ISBN 0-8028-6496-1 page 28
  13. 1 2 Scripture in tradition by John Breck 2001 ISBN 0-88141-226-0 page 12
  14. ↑ The Bible Knowledge Commentary by John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck 1983 ISBN 0-88207-812-7 page 100
  15. ↑ The words and works of Jesus Christ by J. Dwight Pentecost 2000 ISBN 978-0-310-30940-6 page 212
  16. ↑ Outlines of dogmatic theology, Volume 2 by Sylvester Hunter 2010 ISBN 1-146-98633-5 page 443
  17. 1 2 Jesus: the complete guide by Leslie Houlden 2006 ISBN 0-8264-8011-X page 426
  18. ↑ 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
  19. ↑ 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
  20. ↑ cf. John 14:1-3, Acts 1:10-11, Luke 21:27, Revelation 1:7
  21. 1 2 Glassé, Cyril (2008). Concise Encyclopedia of Islam. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 270–271. ISBN 978-0-7425-6296-7.
  22. ↑ Esposito, John L. (2003). The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-19-975726-8.
  23. ↑ Aboul-Enein, Youssef H. (2010). Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat. Naval Institute Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-61251-015-6.
  24. ↑ Fasching, Darrell J.; deChant, Dell (2001). Comparative Religious Ethics: A Narrative Approach. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 241, 274–275. ISBN 978-0-631-20125-0.
  25. ↑ Annemarie Schimmel (1975). Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill:University of North Carolina Press. p. 202.
  26. ↑ Paget, James C. (2001). "Quests for the historical Jesus". In Bockmuehl, Markus N. A. Cambridge companion to Jesus. Cambridge University Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-521-79678-1.
  27. ↑ Esposito, John. What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam. New York: University Press, 2002. P31.
  28. ↑ Morgan, Diane (2010). Essential Islam: A Comprehensive Guide to Belief and Practice. ABC-CLIO. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-0-313-36025-1.
  29. ↑ Quran 19:27–33
  30. ↑ 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
  31. ↑ Waxman, Jonathan (2006). "Messianic Jews Are Not Jews". United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Archived from the original on January 9, 2008. 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.
  32. ↑ Contemporary American Reform Responsa, #68, "Question 18.3.4: Reform's Position On...What is unacceptable practice?", faqs.org. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
  33. ↑ Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition)
  34. ↑ Daniel Boyarin, Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999
  35. ↑ Jeffrey Rubenstein Rabbinic Stories (The Classics of Western Spirituality) New York: The Paulist Press, 2002
  36. ↑ Hilchot Malachim (laws concerning kings) (Hebrew)", MechonMamre.org, Retrieved April 15, 2007
  37. 1 2 3 Cole, Juan (1982). "The Concept of Manifestation in the Bahá'í Writings". Bahá'í Studies. monograph 9: 1–38.
  38. ↑ Smith, Peter (2000). "Progressive revelation". A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. pp. 276–277. ISBN 1-85168-184-1.
  39. ↑ 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
  40. 1 2 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 0-310-23217-1. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  41. 1 2 Hutson, Steven (2006). What They Never Taught You in Sunday School: A Fresh Look at Following Jesus. City Boy Enterprises. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-59886-300-0.
  42. ↑ Beyer, Catherine. "Raelian Movement". About.com. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  43. ↑ Ankerberg, John; Weldon, John. "What Does Religious Science Teach About Jesus?" (PDF). Ankerberg Theological Research Institute. Retrieved June 13, 2013.

Further reading

Slade, Darren M. (January 2014). "ARABIA HAERESIUM FERAX (ARABIA BEARER OF HERESIES): Schismatic Christianity’s Potential Influence on Muhammad and the Qur’an" (PDF). American Theological Inquiry 7 (1): 43–53. 

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