Christianity can be considered a continuation of Judaism because the foundational belief systems are the same. Both religions believe in the same God and follow essentially the same books of the Old Testament. Jesus and all his prophets considered themselves Jews and had been raised within the Jewish community. In addition to his lineage, there are a number of ways that Jesus is said to have fulfilled the Jewish prophecy for a Messiah who would lead his people to spiritual righteousness. Although he is the son of God, Jesus is said to have been descended from David, thus fulfilling part of the prophecy, through his mother. Many of the actions of his life are traced back to Old Testament prophecies such as in John 6: 4, 11-14 in which Jesus performs the miracle of multiplying the loaves on the eve of Passover. This miracle was foretold in 2 Kings 4: 43 and symbolizes his purpose for existing.
However, Christianity also represents a definitive break from Judaism in that its lessons are sometimes contradictory to established Jewish law. This began with a number of incidents in which Jesus had disagreements with the Jewish leaders. For example, in Matthew 21: 12-13, Jesus is said to have entered the temple and driven out all of the people there who were engaged in commerce of any kind. Although this was apparently considered appropriate use under the eyes of the Jewish leaders, Jesus is seen to enter and ‘purify’ the temple, again claiming it as a house of prayer and worship. This practice was perhaps not as bad as it might seem because these commercial stalls were established in order to provide believers with the essential materials they needed to make the required sacrifices or offerings as payment for their requests. Under Christianity, these sacrifices were no longer necessary because Jesus himself became the sacrifice for all. Through many of his teachings, Jesus is said to be correcting or contradicting the Old Testament and the degree to which others took his words literally or spiritually had a significant impact on how the religion based on Jesus’ teachings differed from the teachings of the Jewish leaders.
Even though all Christianity is based upon the same book, the faith has divided into a number of different denominations mostly because no one has ever fully agreed upon the interpretations of the text or the meanings of the miracles. This relates back to the earliest days of Christianity when the faith hadn’t yet fully separated from the Jewish faith. As is demonstrated in discussions about Christianity’s break from Judaism, the break wasn’t smooth, even, brought about at a specific single moment in time or as the result of a single event. As the church developed, there were a lot of factors that affected its direction. Each individual responsible for interpreting the messages of the Bible approached it from their own unique perspective. Jesus instructed largely in parables, which leaves a great deal of room for individual interpretation in the same way that short stories can be analyzed as having a number of different themes. In addition, the areas of the Bible concentrated on and the emphasis given to them can shift the understanding of the parishioners in hearing while the number of interpreters also increases the number of interpretations possible. The Bible became more widely available to a greater number of individuals as more people received an education, the Bible was translated into more common and contemporary languages and more Bibles were available because of the printing press. This only gave rise to more interpretations as corruption within the established churches was discovered and as worldly leaders and others bent religious doctrine to their own, usually secular, interests.