Judaism

As the first great religion in God’s providence, Judaism holds a unique place among the world’s religions. In ancient times, in an age darkened by idolatry, God called the Israelites and made with them an eternal covenant. Many Jews today are zealous to keep the laws of the covenant out of an intense faith and awe at God’s favor and their special destiny as the chosen people.

Yet this uniqueness has always been balanced by a conviction that Judaism has a universal mission. The prophets declared that the Jews were not chosen for their own sake, but to bear the light of God’s truth to all nations. Amidst this tension between universalism and ethnocentrism that runs throughout Jewish history, Father Moon consistently calls on Judaism to take a global perspective.

The Jews have also suffered more than any other people. For two thousand years they wandered without a nation, oppressed and persecuted, culminating in the Holocaust of six million. How could they continue to cling to God in the midst of their suffering? What meaning could it have in the context of God’s saving history? Father Moon addresses this question in several ways: it is God’s course of training to make them strong; it is to unify the Jewish people and draw them closer to God; it is to make them fit to lead the world to God.

Christians have always had difficulty coming to terms with Judaism, on account of its rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for Christian anti-Semitism, particularly since Jesus and the disciples were themselves Jews.

Still, the genuine anguish of Saint Paul, who never ceased to care for his Jewish brethren even though in his view they lost their way by not receiving Christ, is echoed in Father Moon’s teaching.

However, unlike Paul, Father Moon does not emphasize the conversion of the Jews. He teaches that Jews can fulfill God’s contemporary Will through interfaith solidarity, whereby Judaism, Christianity and Islam each retain their identity even as they forgive each other, love each other, and unite for world peace.

Father Moon is supportive of the modern State of Israel as a particular homeland for the Jewish people, but not at other people’s expense. He teaches that Israel’s survival and prosperity is possible only in the context of genuine peace and reconciliation with its Arab neighbors—thereby resolving a conflict with deep historical roots extending back to Israel’s biblical origin. Consistent with his restorationist approach, he calls for Jews and Arabs to extend themselves to each other in love, going beyond self-interest.