There's a pop culture narrative of this Old/New testament divide regarding "Fire and Brimstone"... but you don't see "Fire and Brimstone" sermons coming out of

There's a pop culture narrative of this Old/New testament divide regarding "Fire and Brimstone"... but you don't see "Fire and Brimstone" sermons coming out of the Jewish history of teaching. The old testament is also not particularly concerned with the impact our actions have on an after life (again, Jewish religious groups are almost never concerned with "heaven" or an after life). If anything the most important theme of the old testament is the struggle to do what is right. After all Jacob becomes Israel (meaning "wrestles with God") by literally wrestling with a divine being, against impossible odds, in order to receive a blessing. In many ways all of the complexity and contradictions of the old testament can be summed up by that one act. The real divide is all in the New Testament, it boils down to Paul vs. pretty much everything else. The strong sexual purity and aggressive condemnation of moral transgressions pretty much all comes from Paul. This is also where you get the strong imperative to proselytize. Of course Paul himself is full of interesting "contradictions" (I use quotes because it's theologically a bit more interesting). Especially considering the wildly different tones between Corinthians and the "faith to eat all things" aspects of Romans. Contemporary American Christian extremism can be pretty easily found by just reading Corinthians.