Modern Jewish Thought

Abstract

In the modern period a number of Jewish theologians have been anxious to explore the origins of Christianity, its subsequent development, and the relationship between the Jewish and Christian faiths. The Central European writer, Max Brod, for example, admired Jesus as a Jewish teacher. Yet he was critical of Paul’s view that God’s revelation was manifest in a single historical event — the life of Christ; in addition, he argued that as the Christian faith developed it became corrupted by pagan features. In his opinion the only hope for the human race is Judaism. The German Jewish theologian Franz Rosenzweig was not concerned with the life of Jesus; rather he was preoccupied with theological truth. According to Rosenzweig, paganism does not offer a viable approach to God; Judaism and Christianity on the other hand provide a true path to the Divine. Judaism, he believed, expresses the relationship between God, humanity and the world — nonetheless Christianity has the capacity to spread the universal message of monotheism to all peoples. A positive endorsement of the Christian faith was similarly affirmed by the German Jewish leader Leo Baeck who attempted to reclaim Jesus as an authentic Jewish figure despite Baeck’s criticism of Pauline Christianity and the subsequent development of Christian theology.