Judeo-Christian – What is it?

Post by Fr David Neuhaus SJ | 7 September 2026

Judeo-Christian – What is it?

I watched Ezra Klein’s very interesting and perceptive commentary on Christopher Nolan’s latest movie “The Odyssey”. I recommend not only the movie itself but also Klein’s remarks, however I do have misgivings about Klein’s use of the adjective “Judeo-Christian”, a word he uses to describe what he seeks to promote against the forces that are destroying our world. The term “Judeo-Christian” repeats itself often in the discourse of those seeking to describe the contemporary civilization of the “West”.

Nobly aware of the exclusion of the Jewish people and Jewish tradition from how “Western” civilization has been defined, many now reject references to “Christian civilization”, “Christian values”, or other exclusive language. They recognize the enormous contribution made by the Jewish people and their values to all that we are and all that we seek to be, much of it rooted in the Scriptures that Jews and Christians share.

However, there is a shadow side to the terminology of “Judeo-Christian civilization”. It is worthwhile examining how this language evolved in the modern era and how it obscures aspects of who we are.

The development of a European/North American discourse proposing a “Judeo-Christian civilization” was indeed posited as an uprooting of anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic attitudes. This was particularly important after the Shoah. In the new discourse, adopted also at the Second Vatican Council, particularly in the document on interreligious dialogue, Nostra aetate, the Jewish tradition, and especially the Torah and other writings in the Old Testament, are seen at the very root of the civilization Jews and Christians share.

At the same time, this new formulation redraws lines of division rather than pushing for ever-greater openness and dialogue. While placing Jews and Christians on the same side of the barricade, they, Jews and Christians now in alliance, are too often pitted against common foes: atheism, secularism, Communism, and especially in recent times Islam. “Judeo-Christian” then becomes a battle cry against those others who are defined as hostile and are quickly essentialized, stereotyped, and caricatured. These strategies, so often used against Jews, are now applied to a new array of enemies, in recent times especially against Muslims.

According to this argument, Christian dialogue with the Jewish people is perceived as sui generis, and because it is unique, it is isolated from other avenues of interreligious dialogue. Jesus is now rightly celebrated as a Jew, as are his first disciples. It is pointed out that Jews and Christians share a discourse rooted in the first part of the Christian Scriptures, the Old Testament. Pope John Paul II offered theological reasoning for the unique status of the dialogue with the Jewish people during his 1986 visit to the synagogue in Rome. “The Jewish religion is not “extrinsic” to us, but in a certain way is “intrinsic” to our own religion. With Judaism therefore we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers and, in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers.”

As luminous as this might sound, and it is certainly far better than the abominable “teaching of contempt” for Jews in the past, it has become itself a language of exclusion. Jews are now seen as fully included, indeed fully “White”, “almost Christian”. But what of those left out by this terminology?

The first excluded group that comes to mind is Muslims. They too share our world. The adjective “Judeo-Christian” not only does not include them but is often mobilized against them. Yet, their religious system, discourse, and values, are intimately intertwined with the development of our world. What would our philosophy, science, literature, and architecture look like without the contributions of Muslims? And what about all the “others” that share our world and basic human values, whatever religion they belong to or do not belong to?

Furthermore, to what extent is this terminology of “Judeo-Christian” heritage mobilized in order to keep Palestinians (and many others too) in the margins of our power equations? The state of Israel is defined as belonging to this Judeo-Christian club. Palestinians (defined as Muslims, even terrorists) do not belong. To what extent does this explain the silence of world powers, who proudly proclaim “Judeo-Christian” values, while refusing to sanction Israel in its genocide in Gaza, its ethnic cleansing on the West Bank, and its discrimination against the non-Jewish citizens inside Israel?

And to return a moment to Ezra Klein. He nobly proclaims that, “Nolan has smuggled the core of Judeo-Christian ethics into the Odyssey” (minute 5:37 in the video). He refers to “loving your neighbour as yourself”. He then quotes the Old Testament (Leviticus 19), the Rabbinic tradition (Hillel), and the New Testament (Jesus in Matthew). I want to add a parallel from the Quran: “Serve God, and join not any partners with Him; and do good – to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess” (Quran, Surat al-Nisaa 4:36). And a word from Mohammad, the prophet of Islam, recorded in both volumes of the sayings of Mohammad, Bukhari and al-Sahih: “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”

I do want to reiterate Klein’s inspiring line that sums up one part of The Odyssey and much of our present world: They are not fighting the barbarians, they have become them.”

Watch the Ezra Klein review of The Odyssey