Jewish roots of Christianity

Jewish roots of Christianity June 19, 2021

Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, interviewed me this week on our new book on Jewish Roots.

Here is an excerpt.

Tooley: Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity. So, Gerry, why is such a book needed right now? Why do Christianity’s Jewish roots matter? And please outline the basic themes of your book.

McDermott: Well, it matters because so many Christians for much of the last 2,000 years have thought that the Jewish roots of Christianity don’t really matter. Evangelicals, particularly at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, have been told that the basic outline of the gospel story is creation, fall, and Jesus, skipping over the vast majority of the Bible, 77% of the Protestant Bible and 80% of the Catholic Bible, the Old Testament, skipping over the history of Israel as if the history of Israel is irrelevant to the Christian story. So, this myth, this heresy, is called supersessionism–that the Christian church, the Christian gospel, supersedes Judaism and replaces Judaism.


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