Download Judaism and Christianity

What do you KNOW about
Judaism and Christianity?

The Big Idea

Students will
understand that Judaism
and Christianity share a
great deal and helped
shape ideas in history.
Lesson #1: The Covenant
Objectives

1. Identify the Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible
and their parts, and recognize their importance to
Jews and Christians.
2. Understand Abraham’s covenant with God and
his role as patriarch for Jews, Christians, and
Muslims.
How was Earth made?

What is the meaning of life?

What happens to us when
we die?

Human beings have asked
these questions for
centuries and many have
found answers in the form
of religious faith.
Vocabulary

 Scripture – sacred writings that are believed to be the word of
God.
 Bible – simply means “book”
 Covenant – a relationship in which two parties agree to depend
on each other
 Monotheism – the religious belief that there is only one divine
being
 Sacrifice – to kill a living creature as an offering to a god
 Patriarch – a man who is a founder or father of a group of
people
The Bible

 Most of what we know
about Judaism and
Christianity comes
from the bible.
 The bible is a collection
of sacred writings, or
Scripture, that is
important to Jews and
to Christians as well.
The Bible

 Christians and Jews
both possess the Bible,
but in different forms.
 For Jews, the Bible,
which they call the
Tanach, consists only of
those writings that
Christians call the Old
Testament.
The Bible

 The Jewish Bible is a
collection of books
written over a period of
about a thousand years.
 It includes the laws,
history, poetry, letters,
and legends of the
ancient Hebrew, or
Jewish, People.
The Bible

 For Christians, the
Bible contains, besides
the Old Testament, the
New Testament, which
consists of Christian
writing added after the
time of Christ
The Beginning of Judaism

 The first book of the
Bible, Genesis, tells the
story of a man name
Abraham who lived
many years agoaround 3,500 – 4,000
years ago.
Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Covenant with God

Abraham and Isaac

Abraham and Isaac

Why the Sacrifice?

The Legacy of Abraham

The idea of a covenant
between God and a people
has lasted for centuries. It has
been the basis for three major
religions and has changed the
way millions of human
beings have thought of
themselves.
Review Questions

1. What is Scripture?
Review Questions

2. What Scripture is sacred to
Jews?
Review Questions

3. What Scripture is sacred to
Christians?
Review Questions

4. What does the New Testament
contain?
Review Questions

5. How did God and Abraham enter
into a covenant with each other?
Review Questions

6. How did Abraham prove his
faith in God?
Lesson #2: The Commandments
Objectives

1. Describe the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt.
2. Explain the Ten Commandments and how God
revealed them to Moses.
3. Understand the content of the Torah, or
Pentateuch.
10 rules in order to make the
world a better place

Vocabulary

 Torah – the first five books in the Bible; also known
as the Books of Moses and the Pentateuch
The Legacy of Abraham

Canaan to Egypt

Moses

Moses

Moses

The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments

The Torah

Abraham and Moses

Review Questions

1. What was the Exodus?
According to the Bible, who
was responsible for helping the
Hebrews in it?
Review Questions

2. Where does the Bible say that
God revealed the Ten
Commandments to Moses? How
did God reveal them to him?
Review Questions

3. What do the Ten
Commandments represent to
Jews?
Review Questions

4. What five books comprise the
Torah?
Review Questions

5. What is the Pentateuch and what
are some of the things contained in
it?
Lesson #3: The Prophets
Objectives

1. Understand the role of Prophets such as Amos
and Isaiah in Judaism.
2. Understand what happened to the Jewish people
during the almost 1,000 years between David’s
Kingdom and the coming of Roman rule.
The Prophets

Warned their fellow
Jews about religious
failings and social
injustices.
Vocabulary

 Prophet – in the Bible, a person who is inspired by
God
 Messiah – the anointed one; an agent of God who
comes to set things right for God’s people
The Kingdom of Israel

The Hebrews, or the
Israelites, as they
now became known,
fought many wars
with the other
peoples and tribes
who lived in
Canaan.
David and Goliath

David had a
powerful faith in
God.
His only weapons
were his slingshot
and his faith.
King David

David went on to
become Israel’s king
and one of it
greatest heroes.
King David

David was also a
talented musician,
and he is said to
have written a
number of Psalms,
or sacred hymns, in
honor of God.
Twenty-third Psalm

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down green pastures;
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul;
He guideth me in straight paths for His
name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
The shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
For Thou (God) art with me;
Twenty-third Psalm

Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the
Presence of mine enemies;
Thou anointest (blessed) my head with oil;
My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow
Me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the
Lord for ever.
King Solomon

When King David
died his son
Solomon became
king.
The Sorrows of Israel
and Judah

Destruction of
Solomon’s Temple

The Prophets

Throughout these centuries of turmoil,
the Jewish people connected their belief
in God’s fairness with their own
expectations of themselves.
If God was just and cared for people, then
he expected people to care for one
another as well.
Religious offense

One religious
offense that
angered the
prophets was the
early Jews’
tendency to forget
the covenant and
begin worshiping
other gods.
They would set up idols
such as this golden calf
Amos

 Amos was a religious leader who lived in the
northern kingdom and foresaw the little state’s
conquest by might Assyria.
 He taught about justice and judgment
Isaiah

 Was from the southern kingdom of Judah
 He warned that Judah would face the same fate as
the northern kingdom if it did not treat its poor
justly.
 Urged the Jews to honor their covenant with God, in
order to bring about peace and justice on Earth.
The return to Jerusalem

About 2,500 years ago, Cyrus,
the king of Persia (a country
now known as Iran),
destroyed the Babylonian
Empire.
The conquering of the
Middle East

 Alexander the Great
 Hanukkah
 Roman Empire
Hopes for the Messiah

Ever since the time of Isaiah, more
than 500 years before, prophets had
foretold a messiah, or savior, whom
God would send to free Israel and
establish righteousness throughout
the world.
Review Questions

1. Who was the head of the unified
kingdom of Israel about three
thousand years ago? What were
some of his achievements?
Review Questions

2. What happened to the Jewish
kingdom after the death of
Solomon?
Review Questions

3. What foreign ruler restored
Jerusalem to the ancient Jews?
Review Questions

4. Who were the Jewish prophets,
and what did they do?
Review Questions

5. What did the prophet Isaiah
try to convey?
Assignment

Timeline Worksheet
Lesson #4: The Life of Jesus
Objectives

1. Understand the centrality of Jesus Christ to
Christianity.
2. Understand the content of Jesus’ teaching in
the Beatitudes, Golden Rule, parables, and
Lord’s Prayer.
The Man Called Jesus

The Christian religion began
as a movement within
Judaism.
Jesus

Jesus

Jesus

Healer and Teacher

Healing the Sick

Parables

In the Gospel
account, Jesus
often made his
points by using
parables, or
stories
The Two Great
Commandments

Sermon on the Mount

Many of Jesus’
teachings were
presented on a
famous occasion
when he addressed
a crowd from a
hilltop.
The Eight Beatitudes
Blessed are the merciful,
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of
God.
Blessed are they who are
persecuted for the sake of
righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven."
Gospel of St. Matthew 5:3-10
Final Event in Jesus’ Life

Eventually, Jesus and
some of his followers
went to Jerusalem.
The city was holy
to Jews because
God’s Temple was
there.
Final Event in Jesus’ Life

The Last Supper
Garden of Gethsemane
Pontius Pilate

Crucifixion

Was a cruel form of public
execution used frequently by
the Romans for people guilty of
what the government
considered particularly awful
crimes, especially rebellion.
Tomb

Review Questions

1. What four books of the New
Testament treat Jesus’ actions
and words?
Review Questions

2. According to the New
Testament, what miracles did
Jesus perform?
Review Questions

3. According to Jesus’ followers,
what happened after Jesus was
crucified?
Review Questions

4. In the Golden Rule, what does
Jesus urge his listeners to do?
Review Questions

5. What people do the Beatitudes
address?
Lesson #5: The Rise of Christianity
Objectives

1. Understand the spread of Christianity through
Jesus’ followers, such as Paul of Tarsus.
2. Understand the Roman persecution of Christians,
the efforts of church councils to standardize
Christianity, and the growth of Christianity as a
major religion.
The Rise of Christianity

Jesus lived during the time when
Rome ruled the ancient Middle
East. After Jesus’ execution by the
Romans, his followers (called
Christians) began to worship him
as God’s son and the Messiah, and
they spread his message
throughout the Roman Empire.
Two Religions

At first, Jesus’ followers talked
about their belief in Christ to their
neighbors in their Jewish
communities. But the Jewish
community as a whole did not
accept this idea that Jesus Christ
was the messiah who would start a
new age.
The Spread of Christianity

Paul

One of the most
important of the
early Christians was
Paul. A Jew from
Tarsus in modern
Turkey, Paul started
out hating
Christians and
persecuting them.
Paul

Paul began
preaching, trying to
persuade people to
believe in Jesus
Christ. He made
three long journeys
to start new
communities of
Christians.
The Spread of Christianity

Paul arrested

Christianity Becomes a
Major Religion

Gradually, the small communities that Paul
and other missionaries established gave
rise to Christian groups throughout the
Roman Empire.
But Christians were not always liked by
their non-Christian neighbors. Many
people thought that Christians had strange
ideas and practices.
Christianity Becomes a
Major Religion

Despite such persecution the
number of Christians continued to
increase. Over the course of the
third and fourth centuries,
Christianity became the major
religion of the Roman Empire.
Nicene Creed

By the 600s the Church was flourishing in most parts of
the old Roman Empire.
Christians had strong leaders, carefully reasoned beliefs,
and a faith that was expressed through beautiful songs
and prayers.
Review Questions

1. How did Paul try to persuade
people to believe in Jesus
Christ?
Review Questions

2. Why did Romans persecute
Christians?
Review Questions

3. What document declared that
the Christian Church could exist
in the Roman Empire?
Review Questions

4. At what council was the creed
established that declared God exists
as a Trinity?
Lesson #6: Ideas About God and
Humanity
Objectives

1. Understand that Judaism and Christianity agree
on one God, who is good and who make
everything in the universe, and that people
should be good.
2. Understand that Judaism and Christianity
disagree on question of human nature and life
after death.
Similarities and
Differences

Judaism and Christianity have
many ideas in common. Both teach
that there is one God, that he is
good, that he made everything in
the universe, including human
beings, and that he wants people to
avoid evil and do good.

Judaism
At the center of
Jewish life and
teaching is the
Torah, through
which, Judaism
teaches, God reveals
himself to human
beings.
Christianity
 Christians agree that
God revealed himself to
people through the Old
Testament, but they do
not follow all the
instructions of the
Torah.
Human Nature

Judaism
 Most Jews agree that
people can recognize
good and evil and must
use their consciences to
choose between them.
Christianity
 Christians use the story
of Adam and Eve to
shape their view of
human nature
Life After Death

Judaism
 Jews disagree among
themselves about
whether there is life
after death and, if so,
what it might be like.
Christianity
 Traditional Christians
insist that there is life
after death.
Judaism and
Christianity

Springing from the same ancient
roots, Judaism and Christianity
offer answers to basic questions
about the meaning of life that
people have always asked. Both
offer people many opportunities to
explore their faith in God.
Review Questions

1. What issues do Jews and
Christians agree on concerning
God?
Review Questions

2. How does God reveal himself
according to the Jewish faith?
Review Questions

3. How does God reveal himself
according to the Christian faith?
Review Questions

4. How do Jewish and Christian
beliefs about human nature
differ?
Review Questions

5. What different beliefs do Jews
and Christians have about the end
of the world?