Download Kyle Elmer Professor Marino Theology 1 3 February 2016 Interview I

Kyle Elmer
Professor Marino
Theology 1
3 February 2016
Interview
I am delighted to be able to do this interviewing assignment. Within this assignment I
was able to understand the course issue, the idea that Christianity is based on a God that comes
from ethnic Judaism, and apply that over to discussing this with a person different from me. This
essay will cover two parts the research part and the cultural interview aspect.
Research
Briefly, I will look at two scholarly articles that I researched on the topic; the first was on
Judaism being ethnic by Neusner, and the second, was I look at Jews and Judaism in a
contemporary Europe by Johnathan Webber. Here are a few remarks as to Judaism and
Christianity, (Jacob 1995, 1-10);

“That Judaism treated as ethnic what Christianity reshaped in universal terms.”

“Most scholarship takes as its starting point the position that "Israel" in the Judaism of
that time is ethnic, but the Gospel, universal.”

“For nearly all Christian theology, therefore, it follows that Christianity improved upon
Judaism by bringing to all the peoples of the world what had originally been kept for only
one people alone; that is what is at issue between Peter and Paul.”

“That comparison always leaves Christianity in the position of the universalist religion,
Judaism in that of the particularist religion.”

“Christianity began as a movement of renewal breaking through the boundaries first
within and then round the Judaism of the first century.”

“At its historic heart Christianity is a protest against any and every attempt to claim that
God is our God and not yours, God of our way of life and not yours, God of our
"civilization" and not yours.”

“Ethnic identity is transmitted genealogically, but so far as the Torah is concerned a place
in Israel is reserved for every Gentile who accepts the unity of God and the yoke of the
Torah, God's revealed will for humanity.”

“A mission to Gentiles forms an ongoing and important conception in rabbinic Judaism
(as in other Judaisms), and once the Gentile is converted, he or she becomes a wholly
new creation, fully part of Israel, in a supernatural community, an Israel that stood for
humanity sanctified by the Torah as against the humanity subject to the same divine
command but sinful by reason of disobedience.”
Cultural Interview
I sat down and spoke with a friend of mine from the university, Brian Batres, on several
aspects of his Hispanic cultural and spirituality. For Brian, his Ecuadorian culture was mainly
formulated from what he picked up from his mother, who migrated from Ecuador and from the
church body as he grew up. He shared that most of his people come over to have a better life, are
passionate, and take life very seriously. He discussed how family is a major key player to
Ecuadorians and how everything is done together. Spirituality, he talked about how most of his
people are catholic and very little are charismatic Pentecostals. But those that are embrace it to
the fullest extent as his culture lends itself to being very spiritual, loud, and free moving in the
service.
Reaction
In reaction to this assignment, I have felt that I have learned so much and here are some
interesting notes and feelings. I have learned that regardless of the culture the gospel is for all.
As well as, that the gospel was formed and transformed over the centuries to its present state. It
has been an enriching experience for me to get to know my brother in Christ in a deeper way as
we talked over his culture and spirituality. I was stretched to look at things from a different angle
to see that in the end we are still all one body in Christ.
Works Cited
Neusner, Jacob. "Was Rabbinic Judaism Really 'Ethnic'." The Catholic Biblical
Quarterly 57.2 (1995): 281-305. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. Web. 4 Mar.
2016.
Webber, Jonathan. "Jews And Judaism In Contemporary Europe: Religion Or Ethnic
Group?." Ethnic & Racial Studies 20.2 (1997): 257-279. Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full
Text. Web. 4 Mar. 2016.