Judeo-Christian ethics

==Responses==

Some theologians warn against the uncritical use of "Judeo-Christian" entirely, arguing that it can license mischief, such as opposition to secular humanism<ref name="Marty">Martin E. Marty (1986), [http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=188 A Judeo-Christian Looks at the Judeo-Christian Tradition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706162150/http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=188 |date=2017-07-06 }}, in ''[[The Christian Century]]'', October 5, 1986</ref> with scant regard to modern Jewish, Catholic, or Christian traditions, including the liberal strains of different faiths, such as [[Reform Judaism]] and [[liberal Christianity|liberal Protestant Christianity]].

Two notable books addressed the relations between contemporary Judaism and Christianity. [[Abba Hillel Silver]]'s ''Where Judaism Differs'' and [[Leo Baeck]]'s ''Judaism and Christianity'' were both motivated by an impulse to clarify Judaism's distinctiveness "in a world where the term Judeo-Christian had obscured critical differences between the two faiths."<ref>Sarna, p281</ref>

Reacting against the blurring of theological distinctions, Rabbi [[Eliezer Berkovits]] wrote that "Judaism is Judaism because it rejects Christianity, and Christianity is Christianity because it rejects Judaism."<ref>Disputation and Dialogue: Readings in the Jewish Christian Encounter, Ed. F. E. Talmage, Ktav, 1975, p. 291.</ref>

Theologian and author [[Arthur A. Cohen]], in ''The Myth of the Judeo-Christian Tradition'', questioned the theological validity of the Judeo-Christian concept and suggested that it was essentially an invention of [[Politics of the United States|American politics]], while [[Jacob Neusner]], in ''Jews and Christians: The Myth of a Common Tradition'', writes, "The two faiths stand for different people talking about different things to different people."<ref>Jacob Neusner (1990), ''Jews and Christians: The Myth of a Common Tradition''. New York and London: Trinity Press International and SCM Press.  p. 28</ref>

Law professor Stephen M. Feldman, looking at the period before 1950, chiefly in Europe, sees the concept of a Judeo-Christian tradition as [[supersessionism]], which he characterizes as "dangerous Christian dogma (at least from a Jewish perspective)", and as a "myth" which "insidiously obscures the real and significant differences between Judaism and Christianity."<ref>Stephen M. Feldman (1998), ''Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas: A Critical History of the Separation of Church and State''</ref>