I think you’re forgetting about Orthodox Jews, who have the Catholics beat on pretty much all counts (age, complexity, and at least arguably “reason”). Of course, it’s all mere rationalization—the bottom line has already been written. And the Orthodox tend to reason within their framework rather than trying to justify their framework to outsiders, presumably because they’re not seeking converts.
Catholicism has probably spent a heck of a lot more money on complex proselytizing than Orthodox Judaism. Also Catholics were competing with the Protestants—rabbis have no real competition, since their only audience is Orthodox Jews. But mostly, my point is just that there’s this huge, worldwide organized Church that has spent who knows how many equivalent billions of dollars on theology. It’s amazing how little they’ve accomplished, really, given how much they’ve spent and how many geniuses it wasted (theology was the string theory of its day), but they still did end up with something. Probably an equivalent amount of raw genius, if not money, was wasted on Orthodox Judaic halacha, but in a much less competitive, outside-world-facing way.
The remarkable thing about halacha is that an effective legal system grew out of it. When Jews in Europe didn’t have access to the mainstream legal system, rabbinical courts worked well enough.
I think you’re forgetting about Orthodox Jews, who have the Catholics beat on pretty much all counts (age, complexity, and at least arguably “reason”). Of course, it’s all mere rationalization—the bottom line has already been written. And the Orthodox tend to reason within their framework rather than trying to justify their framework to outsiders, presumably because they’re not seeking converts.
Catholicism has probably spent a heck of a lot more money on complex proselytizing than Orthodox Judaism. Also Catholics were competing with the Protestants—rabbis have no real competition, since their only audience is Orthodox Jews. But mostly, my point is just that there’s this huge, worldwide organized Church that has spent who knows how many equivalent billions of dollars on theology. It’s amazing how little they’ve accomplished, really, given how much they’ve spent and how many geniuses it wasted (theology was the string theory of its day), but they still did end up with something. Probably an equivalent amount of raw genius, if not money, was wasted on Orthodox Judaic halacha, but in a much less competitive, outside-world-facing way.
+1
The remarkable thing about halacha is that an effective legal system grew out of it. When Jews in Europe didn’t have access to the mainstream legal system, rabbinical courts worked well enough.
Even a broken clock...