Gentiles in the context of "Christian views on the Old Covenant"

Pauline Christianity or Pauline theology (also Paulism or Paulanity), otherwise referred to as Gentile Christianity, is the theology and form of Christianity which developed from the beliefs and doctrines espoused by the Hellenistic-Jewish Apostle Paul through his writings and those New Testament writings traditionally attributed to him. Paul's beliefs had some overlap with Jewish Christianity, but they deviated from this Jewish Christianity in their emphasis on inclusion of the Gentiles into God's New Covenant and in his rejection of circumcision as an unnecessary token of upholding the Mosaic Law.

Proto-orthodox Christianity, which is rooted in the first centuries of the history of Christianity, relies heavily on Pauline theology and beliefs and considers them to be amplifications and explanations of the teachings of Jesus. Since the 18th century, a number of scholars have proposed that Paul's writings contain teachings that are different from the original teachings of Jesus and those of the earliest Jewish Christians, as documented in the canonical gospels, early Acts, and the rest of the New Testament, such as the Epistle of James, though there has been increasing acceptance of Paul as a fundamentally Jewish figure in line with the original disciples in Jerusalem over past misinterpretations, manifested through movements like "Paul Within Judaism".

The circumcision controversy in early Christianity played an important role in Christian theology.

The circumcision of Jesus is celebrated as a feast day in the liturgical calendar of many Christian denominations, while the teachings of the Apostle Paul asserted that physical circumcision was unnecessary for the salvation of Gentiles and their membership in the New Covenant. The first Council of Jerusalem (c. 50) declared that circumcision was not necessary for new Gentile converts (as recorded in Acts 15); Pauline Christianity was instrumental in the split of early Christianity and Judaism and eventually became Christians' predominant position. Covenant theology largely views the Christian sacrament of baptism as fulfilling the Jewish practice of circumcision, as both serve as signs and seals of the covenant of grace.

Dual-covenant or two-covenant theology is a school of thought in Christian theology regarding the relevance of the Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament.

Most Christians hold that the Old Testament has been superseded by the New Covenant, although the moral law continues to apply (cf. covenant theology); in contrast, a minority hold that the Mosaic covenant has been abrogated. Dual-covenant theology is unique in holding that the Mosaic covenant remains valid for Jews while the New Covenant only applies to non-Jews or gentiles.

In Kabbalah, the animal soul (Hebrew: נפש הבהמית, nefesh habehamit) is one of the two souls Jews possess, and the only one that gentiles have. The animal soul animates the living body and is the source of both animalistic desires and inherent Jewish traits like kindness and compassion, as noted in Tanya, a primary text of the Chabad movement and much of Hasidism, in general. While its primary inclination is to seek worldly, physical pleasures, the animal soul can be trained to primarily pursue spiritual pleasures with the guidance of the divine soul.