triumph of pure monotheism in the hearts and lives of all men and nations
of the world. These views, voiced by Jehuda ha Levi, Maimonides, and
Nahmanides,(1378) were reiterated by many enlightened rabbis of later
times. These point out that both the Christian and Mohammedan nations
believe in the same God and His revelation to man, in the unity of the
human race, and in the future life; that they have spread the knowledge of
God by a sacred literature based upon our Scripture; that they have
retained the divine commandments essentially as they are phrased in our
Decalogue; and have practically taught men to fulfill the Noahitic laws of
humanity.(1379) On account of the last fact the medieval Jewish
authorities considered Christians to be half-proselytes,(1380) while the
Mohammedans, being pure monotheists, were always still closer to Judaism.

2. In general, however, rabbinic Judaism was not in a position to judge
Christianity impartially, as it never learned to know primitive
Christianity as presented in the New Testament. We see no indication in
either the oldest Talmudic sources or Josephus that the movement made any
more impression in Galilee or Jerusalem than the other Messianic
agitations of the time. All that we learn concerning Jesus from the rabbis
of the second century and later is that magic arts were practiced by him
and his disciples who exorcised by his name; and, still worse, that the
sect named after him was suspected of moral aberrations like a few Gnostic
sects, known by the collective name of _Minim_, "sectarians."(1381) As a
matter of fact, the early Church was chiefly recruited from the Essenes
and distinguished itself little from the rest of the Synagogue. Its
members, who are called Judaeo-Christians, continued to observe the Jewish
law and changed their attitude to it only gradually.(1382) Matters took a
different turn under the influence of Paul, the apostle to the heathen,
who emphasized the antinomian spirit; the Judaeo-Christian sects were then
pushed aside, hostility to Judaism became prominent, and the Church strove
more and more for a _rapprochement_ with Rome.(1383) Then the rabbis awoke
to the serious danger to Judaism from these heretics, _Minim_, when after
the tragic downfall of the Jewish nation they grew to world-power as
allies of the Roman Empire. Thus Isaac Nappaha, a Haggadist of the fourth
century, declared: "The turning point for the advent of the Messiah, the
son of David, wi