Apologetics For The Jews

[sweens8403]

Generally I can hold my own with protestants, but I haven't got the foggiest idea how to evangelize a jew. Any tips?

[CatherineM]

We have a Jewish man in RCIA this year. He was brought in by his wife. There's a woman on EWTN who is a Jewish convert, and I think she wrote a book. They probably have it on their website. There is also a group called Jews for Jesus. It's not Catholic, but might have some usable stuff.

[MithLuin]

There are a few things to keep in mind. One - there are different varieties of Judaism, so all Jews are not the same. With anyone, you have to listen to the thoughts and beliefs of the person you are actually talking to, not assume that they fit your understanding of Jewish thought.

Not being Christians, Jewish people are generally looking for something different out of religion - the concept of Jesus saving us from our sins so we can go to heaven, and the devil being an evil tempter...these concepts may be rather alien to a Jew. Certainly, God becoming a human being makes [i]no[/i] sense at all.

If you want to learn about the Jewish faith, have conversations with Jewish people about what they believe and why they practice what they do. It should be illuminating.

[Era Might]

I think the main thing would be to show them how and why Our Lord is the Messiah. Show them how he fulfills the Old Testament prophecies. It would also be good to show them how the New Testament is rooted in the Old Testament. The Apostles were all Jews, so they knew the Old Testament very well, and their knowledge and familiarity with the Old Testament is reflected in their writings, especially St. Paul and St. Matthew.

[CatherineM]

I'd also read the books that are in our Old Testament, but not the Protestant version. Those were removed from the Jewish Canon after the destruction of the Temple. They are the most Messianic in tone, and that was a driving reason the Jewish leaders in Jamnia removed them, kind of their version of the Council of Trent.

[Hassan]

[quote name='MithLuin' post='1759940' date='Jan 24 2009, 12:49 AM']There are a few things to keep in mind. One - there are different varieties of Judaism, so all Jews are not the same. With anyone, you have to listen to the thoughts and beliefs of the person you are actually talking to, not assume that they fit your understanding of Jewish thought.

Not being Christians, Jewish people are generally looking for something different out of religion - the concept of Jesus saving us from our sins so we can go to heaven, and the devil being an evil tempter...these concepts may be rather alien to a Jew. Certainly, God becoming a human being makes [i]no[/i] sense at all.

If you want to learn about the Jewish faith, have conversations with Jewish people about what they believe and why they practice what they do. It should be illuminating.[/quote]

I think this is the best advise I have seen.

to the OP
Rather than just go in, just seeing them as nothing more than a potential Catholic, why not just honestly try to learn from them? The Jewish faith a very rich and deep and you may learn a lot. Don't offer them cheep apologetics, just try to honestly present your view to them. No Sophistry, just an honest exchange. I know that personally whenever a religious group just tries to “recruit me” I immediately just kind of nod polity and tune them out. Christian and Muslim apologists come up and regurgitate some talking points and there is no discussion, they just see me as a potential Christian or a potential Muslim and that's a bit annoying. On the other hand if they are simply trying to have an honest discussion with me about Islam or Christianity I’m much more willing to listen to what they have to say. Just something to keep in mind when you are trying to convert them:)

[sweens8403]

You're right Hassan, cultivating a more conversational type of atmostphere as opposed to a recruitment type atmosphere would more likely result in a better outcome even if nobody switches sides. No uncle sam posters.

Since I don't know any Jewish folks this is all hypothetical. But I want to at least be knowledgable concerning what our common ground is so that I'll be able to hold up my end of the conversation when it happens.

[Ziggamafu]

There are three major categories of Jews:

1. Liberal Jews (the majority; "cultural Jews" to the point that some of them are even atheists)
2. Orthodox Jews (roughly equivalent in religious attitude to what we would call an orthodox Catholic)
3. Hasidic Jews (think of the Catholic rad-trads)

Each category will require different forms of evangelism.

Arguments surrounding the Messiah / Temple are superfluous to the liberal Jews, in my experience (a close friend of mine is a liberal Jew). I've found that they must be treated as agnostics.

I bet that arguments from the Messiah would be best for the orthodox.

I bet arguments from the fulfillment of the Temple and Kingdom would be best for the Hasidics.

[sweens8403]

Do the Hebrew scriptures contain the deuterocanonicals?

So then for the Hasidic Jews things like the keys of the kingdom from Isaiah 22 would be useful? What other portions of scripture would be useful?

[Ziggamafu]

[quote name='sweens8403' post='1760194' date='Jan 24 2009, 01:44 PM']Do the Hebrew scriptures contain the deuterocanonicals?

So then for the Hasidic Jews things like the keys of the kingdom from Isaiah 22 would be useful? What other portions of scripture would be useful?[/quote]

No, they ditched the deuteros when they ditched the Septuigint ("LXX") in favor of the Hebrew-language-only scriptures in 90AD (after the destruction of the temple). To them, it was a way of affirming what was left of their culture (Hebrew instead of Greek).

Yeah, the kingdom theology would probably be good, as would an in-depth presentation of the Sacrifice and liturgies of Catholic Church as fulfilling the temple-worship of the Jews. But this is speculative on my part. I have no experience in talking with a devout Jew.

[CatherineM]

One of the reasons they said they excluded those is that they hadn't originally been written in Hebrew. Since then, every one of those books has been discovered in Hebrew. Archeology is seriously cool. I'm waiting for the day they dig up a copy of the Q materials.

[Hassan]

[quote name='Ziggamafu' post='1760063' date='Jan 24 2009, 07:59 AM']There are three major categories of Jews:

1. Liberal Jews (the majority; "cultural Jews" to the point that some of them are even atheists)
2. Orthodox Jews (roughly equivalent in religious attitude to what we would call an orthodox Catholic)
3. Hasidic Jews (think of the Catholic rad-trads)

Each category will require different forms of evangelism.

Arguments surrounding the Messiah / Temple are superfluous to the liberal Jews, in my experience (a close friend of mine is a liberal Jew). I've found that they must be treated as agnostics.

I bet that arguments from the Messiah would be best for the orthodox.

I bet arguments from the fulfillment of the Temple and Kingdom would be best for the Hasidics.[/quote]

I would also ad that you must remember that Judaism is a lot more than {Christianity-Jesus=Judaism }. They are going to have very different interpretations and understanding of their scripture than you do. I’d recommend taking some time to really read about Judaism and try to understand Judaism as Jews do. I think if you really immerse yourself in the “Jewish paradigm” you would be a lot more successful.

Be carefull around Hasidics. I mean while it's not often in the news religious fanaticism is not just in Christianity and Islam. I know the Israeli government has had trouble with fundamentalist Jews throwing stones at cars driving on the Sabbath or throwing acid on girls not dressed modestly. I'm just saying doing a lot of "open air preaching" in a staunchly Hasadic community can get you into trouble

[tinytherese]

[quote name='CatherineM' post='1759931' date='Jan 23 2009, 11:41 PM']There's a woman on EWTN who is a Jewish convert, and I think she wrote a book. They probably have it on their website.[/quote]

That's Rosalind Moss.

There are some books called, "Honey from the Rock: Sixteen Jews Find the Sweetness of Christ" and "Salvation Comes From the Jews."

Also, there's Stephen Ray's Footprints of God episode called, "Moses: Signs, Sacraments and Salvation."

[cmotherofpirl]

[url="http://www.israelcatholic.com/content/view/20/103/lang,en/"]http://www.israelcatholic.com/content/view/20/103/lang,en/[/url]


[url="http://www.hebrewcatholic.org/"]http://www.hebrewcatholic.org/[/url]

[Ziggamafu]

I have all of the books mentioned by Tinytherese if you want to borrow them, Sweens.