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Philosophy and the Abrahamic Religions

   

Added on  2020-05-08

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Running head: PHILOSOPHYPHILOSOPHYName of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor Note

1PHILOSOPHYThe term covenant is derived from the Latin word con venire meaning assemblingtogether. It is referred to as the formal agreement or alliance of humanity or a religiouscommunity with God. This idea is the central to Abrahamic religions. It may be noticed thatmuch of the belief of the Jewish religion revolves round the idea of a covenant who is anintermediator between the Jewish people and the Almighty God. This essay aims to explain thebasis of the theory keeping in mind the traditional beliefs of the Jews about the Supreme Beingand the bond shared by the mortals and the Almighty.The oldest Abrahamic religion of the world, Judaism has over 15 million followers allover the world (Silverstein, Stroumsa and Blidstein 2015). The followers of this religion areknown as Jews. Judaism is one of the oldest religions that preach the existence of a single God.This religion practices monotheism and bears similarities with both the religions of Islam andChristianity. The religion accepts the belief in the theory of a single God. The followers of thereligion abide by the moral teachings of the Old Testament of the Holy Bible that is inclusive ofthe Torah. Judaism derives its teachings and laws from the first five books of the Hebrew Bible,the Torah and the oral traditions. A number of these were the first traditions that were orallydeveloped and the others were documented in the Talmud, the Mishnah and other works of holyimportance. The Torah is considered to be one of the most important holy books of Judaism.Every book included in the Torah are separated into parts known as parshiyot (Robinson 2016).Judaism is the oldest and the first among the three great monotheistic religious faiths ofthe world (Leitane 2013). The most important belief of the religion is the existence of only onegod. In the opinions of this religion the Supreme Being is considered merciful and just. Thefollowers of the religion are expected to treat all the human beings with respect and dignity asthe religion believes that all human beings were created in the model of the Almighty Himself.

2PHILOSOPHYThe Jewish offer their servings to God through their prayers, studies and by following thecommandments that are set forth in their holy book Torah. Judaism, unlike other religions, do notbelieve in the fact that the world faces judgement due to the deeds that people establish and notby their creeds (Mfa.gov.il 2017). Thus, the religious view in discussion is not considered anactive missionary religion. The Jewish community accepts converts from other religions basedon the decision of the appropriate religious authorities of the community and not only throughthe process of personal self-identification.Judaism consider the land of Israel to be the holy land. The Old Testament of the Bible isthe principal religious text followed by the Jews. This contains the Torah, the Writings and theProphets. According to the Jews, there had been an agreement between the Gods and the earlyancestor of the Jews, Abraham (Hattstein and Charlesworth 2013). According to the Holy Bible,the Supreme Being had made a promise to bless Abraham and his successors if they remainedfaithful and worshipped the Lord. The Almighty is said to have made the same covenant with theson, Isaac, and grandson, Jacob, of Abraham. Jacob was given another name by the SupremeBeing, the name of Israel. Thus the descendants of Jacob came to be known as the Israelites orthe “Children of Israel”. The Torah is believed to be handed over to the Jews by the Jewishreligious leader Moses. There is a belief that states that the whole world was created by theAlmighty from a mountain in Jerusalem, Mount Moriah located in the present day Israel(Loewenberg 2013). According to the Jewish belief, the Lord is, at all times, closest to theIsraelite land. The belief further goes on to state that God the Almighty had asked the Jews,whom he had chosen, to build the society in the land of Israel and offer their services to theDivine Being. Several commandments in the Torah provide references to the land of Israel as theholy Land.

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