One God, Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Lecture 13 - Worshipping God

Introduction:

God requires public and formal worship—that’s what liturgy means—and

despite some direct hints in Scripture, each community has interpreted that

requirement in sometimes similar, and sometimes very different ways.

The Protestant Reformation changed the forms of worship of God away

from a public institutionalized process into a private and individual

addressing of God. This private worship, while it exists in all three reli-

gions, has not been the fundamental type. Since these are religious com-

munities, their formal worship has been public and often social.

A. Jewish Worship

1. Sacrifice as Worship
   a. In the Torah, God specifically says how He wants to be worshiped.
   This includes the time, place and most importantly the sacrifice. This is
   the basic form of worship defined in the Bible.
   b. The rohens or priests are appointed to handle this important aspect.
   They had the important responsibility of going into the holy place and
   dealing with holy things. God is high voltage, and these priests have
   the perilous task of drawing close to the presence of God.
   c. The priesthood is governed by very strict guidelines and prescribed
   purity. Women are excluded because of their vulnerability to ritual
   impurity like menstruation, which is an inevitable period of impurity.
   d. After David and Solomon built the temple a decree was issued in 621
   that only at the temple in Jerusalem could a Jew offer a ritual sacrifice.


2. Prayer as Worship: Synagogue
   a. After 70 CE, temple sacrifice is replaced with prayer as the chief
   form of worship among Jews. Prayer is conducted in another build-
   ing known as a synagogue. This institution may have been devised
   during the Babylonian Exile. It existed side by side with the temple
   from 520 BCE through the destruction of the temple in 70 CE.

Before beginning this lecture you may want to...

Read F.E. Peters’ Judaism,Christianity and Islam: The Works of theSpirit

Volume III, Chapter 1.

Consider this...

1. What are the fundamental similarities in worship among the Monotheists?


2. What are the differences?


3. Why have the differences evolved?

LECTURE THIRTEEN