Page 15 Summary and Expansion

Christianity has always interested me.  I am a Christian, so I understand the main doctrines involved in this religion.  I was intrigued, however, to understand what separated Christianity from other religions.  This is why I am going to summarize the core value of Christianity that distinguishes it from other religions.  I am then going to expand on this topic to include a brief look into Judaism and Islam.  I am specifically looking at what makes each one unique from Christianity.  I will summarize with one novel and then expand on this topic with four additional resources.  These resources include two other books and two websites from the Internet.

I will summarize why Christianity is different from other religions.  The reason Christianity is distinguishable from other religions is because it has a different religious object than other faiths. This religious object is the reason Christianity exists and is unique from other doctrines. Christianity's religious object is the Christ. He is the same as God. Because of this belief, the Christian faith is distinguishable from Judaism. Judaism emphasizes God alone and does not involve Christ. Because Christianity involves both God and Jesus, Maurice Goguel says, "Its conception of Christ and of God had therefore to be reconciled in such a way that they remained united without being confused" (1). Also, to make sure all followers of this faith understand what is involved in the Church's beliefs, theologians must formulate a doctrine that is clearly understandable to all followers. These followers must not only be able to keep alive this concept of the religious object, Christ, but they must also be able to have feelings of love for this religious object.  As the author has demonstrated, this is what separates Christianity from other religions.

While I only summarized the topic of Christianity above, I expanded on the concept with some additional research.  I found the book "Jewish and Christian Self-Definition" edited by E. P. Sanders which deals with the same content as the first book.  It talked about how an obvious way to recognize and separate Christianity from other religions is by identifying what is to be considered Christian doctrine.  One essential element that allows Christian doctrine to be unique is martyrdom.  This is because “readiness to obey the call to martyrdom is the distinguishing mark of the Christian, what separates him from the multitudes of those who neither valued it nor were exposed to its threat” (2).  Christianity’s emphasis on the New Testament is also what separates Christianity from Judaism and other religious sects.  I also found the book “Introducing Early Christianity” by Laurie Guy which involves the same topic of Christianity.  It mentions how to non-Christians, it may be difficult to distinguish Christianity and Judaism because “Christianity at first appearance seemed to be a sect within Judaism” (3).  This is understandable because both of these religions share common traditions and Scriptures.  What has separated these two faiths is the Christian church’s priority on preaching the gospel which also influenced the structure and organization of the church.  By examining both Judaism and Christianity, one can see how Christians had different leaders, such as bishops, deacons, apostles, prophets, etc.  This also gives distinction between Christianity and Judaism.  These differences allow for this distinction to occur.

 I also expanded my research by using the Internet.  According to the first website I used, Judaism is not the only religion comparable to Christianity.  According to the first website, the religion, Islam, could be compared to Christianity because “both believe in prophecy, God’s messengers (apostles), revelation, scripture, the resurrection of dead, and the centrality of religious community” (4).  What distinguishes these two religions and makes Christianity different is the emphasis placed on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  Islam does not accept the Trinity which demonstrates the differences between the two faiths.  Judaism, Christianity, and Islam could all be comparable; however, Christianity involves a unique emphasis, unlike the other religions listed.  I also discovered a second website that included a chart that shares similar content as the other resources regarding Christianity.  According to the chart found on the second website, Christianity has “no dietary restrictions” (5).  Both of these websites involve similar ideas to previous resources in regards to Christianity and what makes this faith unique.

The initial book that I used to conduct my research talked about how what makes Christianity unique from other religions is its emphasis on its religious object, which is the Christ.  I summarized this talk and then proceeded to expand my research with two other books.  All of the additional sources assisted in the expansion of the topic of what makes Christianity unique from other religions.  The first book talked about martyrdom, and the second book mentioned how Christianity could be mistaken for Judaism.  I continued this expansion with two websites from the Internet.  The first website mentions how Islam is similar to Christianity, and the second website contains a chart that compared the three religions that were mentioned.  What began as a summary of what is the core of the Christian faith expanded into showing how it is both similar and different to different religions.

Works cited:
(1) Goguel, Maurice "The Birth of Christianity", George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London 1933 translated from the French original Jesus et les origines du christianisme, Paris 1932. Page 15
(2) Sanders, E. P. Editor "Jewish and Christian Self-Definition", Fortress Press, Philadelphia 1980. Page 5
(3) Guy, Laurie "Introducing Early Christianity: A Topical Survey of Its Life, Beliefs, and Practices", InterVarsity Press, Illinois 2004. Page 13
(4)http://www.answering-islam.org/Intro/comparison.html/ visited 10-1-13
(5)http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/fattah/courses/islampolitics/threereligions.htm/ visited 10-1-13