Excerpt from A. C. Cuza’s Nationality in the Arts

580 words [1]

Translated by V. Cetnic

The Christian faith is, to this day, seen by many as a part of Judaism – as a continuation, as a reform, or a completion of the Jewish faith – and Jesus as a Jew. And if these were true, the theory of Jewish cultural sterility would be fully denied.

Against this grave error – which darkens the understanding of things – we affirm, and will prove, in this annex:

That Jesus was not a Jew – and it is blasphemy, religiously, but also scientifically, to consider Him as such.

That the Christian faith is not part of Judaism – from which it does not develop, but, from the beginning, being against and disbanding it.

Firstly, the origin of Jesus may be considered from two points of view: the metaphysical, religious one and the physical, profane one.

From a metaphysical point of view, for all of those who believe – and he who does not believe, who does not have faith, is not a true Christian – Jesus is the “son of God,” the incarnation of the divine, from the Galilean Virgin Mary:

“And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed you are among women.’” (Luke 1:28)

The mystery of divine incarnation – a mystery only in the narrow understanding of humans – the Evangelist tried to bring closer to our understanding through philosophical interpretation: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

The divinity of Jesus, once admitted, excludes any form of nationality. In this domain, spiritually, the affirmation that “Jesus was a Jew” – being empirical – is either ignorance or blasphemy.

From a physical point of view, judging Him as human – as all of those who do not believe do – we know one thing for certain: that Jesus was a “Galilean.”

“And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.” (Luke 2:39) “And He said unto them, ‘Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum [in Galilee], do also here in thy country’.” (Luke 4:23) In Galilee He first preached the Truth. (Luke 4:44)

From Galilee were all of His disciples, from Magdala, Bethsaida, Capernaum, from the shores of Genezareth, or the “Sea of Galilee,” except one Judas Iscariot, a Jew – who betrayed Him in the end – from Kariot, fortress of the sons of Judah, near the border of Edom (Joshua 15:25). And after this, they were known as Galileans: “Then after an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying ‘Surely this fellow is also with Him, for he is a Galilean.’” (Luke 22:59)

“Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He departed into Galilee . . .” (Matthew 4:12) “And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and He would not that any man should know it.” (Mark 9:30) For it was not safe except among the Galileans: “After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.” (John 7:1)

(From A. C. Cuza, Naționalitatea în artă [Nationality in the Arts], second edition with appendices [Bucharest: Minerva, 1915], pp. 286-289.)

This text is included in the book The Teaching of Jesus: Judaism and Christian Theology [2] by A. C. Cuza. The text is copyrighted in 2017 by The Order of the Enemy. Permission is granted for the text to be reproduced online provided that this copyright is included.