Christianity and anti-Semitism
According to differing points of view, Christianity is considered to be either a divergence from Judaism, an amendment to Judaism, or a philosophical maturation of Judaism. Despite a common origin, growing differences between Christians and Jews often developed into hostilities, and have contributed to the view of "Jew" as "outsider" which has contributed to modern anti-Semitism. Ironically, Jews would come to face hostilities from those that revered the teachings of a crucified Jewish man.
Early origins
Christians began to show philosophical differences with Judaism at the early outset of Christianity. The Apostle Paul is largely credited with being the father of Christianity by breaking with the original Apostles,' who did not believe that Jesus abrogated the Hebrew covenant with God. Debates among Paul, other Jewish Christians (e.g. Nazarenes and Ebionites), and other Jews revolved around a unique feature of Judaism: it claimed to worship a universal God through a particular religion. In other words, Judaism claims that its God is the God of all, but does not require non-Jews to follow Jewish law in order to worship that God. Since Jesus was Jewish, the question facing early Christians was whether gentiles had to follow Jewish law in order to follow Jesus.
Paul argued not only that gentiles did not have to follow Jewish law; he argued that Jews ought no longer to follow Jewish law. The establishment of Paul's views led to a break between Christianity and Judaism:
The Roman Empire viewed Christianity as intolerant, and as long as Christians were marginal within the empire they were persecuted; however, as Jewish pluralism conformed to Roman pluralism, the Empire protected Judaism. Once Christianity was established as the official religion of the Empire, however, Christian persecution of Judaism increased.
The assimilation of Jews into majority non-Jewish culture is perhaps the single issue where Christians and Jews differ most sharply. The "conversion" of a Jewish born person to Christianity may be seen by Jews as a scourge ("silent Holocaust") and by some Christians as a "blessing from God" for the "salvation" of a non-Christian for their conversion to Christianity. In the reverse situation, though perhaps more rare, similar sentiments among partisans might also apply.
This article begins by describing passages in the New Testament that some feel are anti-Judaist, as well as anti-Judaist statements and acts by the Church Fathers. It goes on to discuss developments in the 20th century, both promoting and opposing anti-Semitism.
During the past 1800 years, many Christians have had anti-Jewish attitudes. Some historians and many Jews hold that for most of its history, most of Christianity was openly anti-Semitic and that the severity, type and extent of this anti-Semitism have varied much over time; the earliest form was theological anti-Judaism.
Few Jews consider the New Testament anti-Semitic as such. The main concern of most Jews today is how the New Testament has been used to legitimate or provoke anti-Semitism, which is a modern phenomenon. However, a number of elements of the New Testament are anti-Jewish. This takes several different forms:
These elements of the New Testament have their origins in first and second century history. Christianity began as a branch of Judaism. Virtually all of Jesus' followers during his life were Jews, and it was even a matter of controversy, many years after his death, as to whether non-Jews could even be considered Christians at all. There is considerable evidence that Jesus himself considered himself a reformer in the prophetic tradition, and did not intend to set up a new religion. (See for example the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 5 verses 17-19).
Although the Gospels offer accounts of confrontations and debates between Jesus and other Jews, such conflicts were common among Jews at the time. Scholars debate the historicity of the Gospels, and have offered different interpretations of the complex relationship between Jewish authorities and Christians before and following Jesus' death. These debates hinge on the meaning of the word "messiah," and the claims of early Christians.
The Gospels make several claims about Jesus: that he was a preacher, faith healer, messiah. The first two claims describe roles popular in first century Judea; were Jesus principally a preacher and healer, there is no reason to think he would have come into conflict with Jewish authorities. The claim that he was the messiah, however, is more controversial. The Hebrew word mashiyakh (משיח) typically signified "king" - a man, chosen by God or descended from a man chosen by God, to serve as a civil and military authority. If Jesus made this claim during his life, it is not surprising that many Jews, weary of Roman occupation, would have supported him as a liberator. It is also likely that Jewish authorities would have been cautious, out of fear of Roman reprisal.
At the time the Romans held the high priest responsible for keeping the peace; if the Jewish authorities did not arrest anyone liable to provoke a riot or uprising, they would risk being sent to Rome for execution or other punishment. In the Gospels, moreover, Jesus refers to God as his "father," although this was common among Jews at the time. Others refer to Jesus as "lord;" historians debate whether such passages were added after Jesus' death.
Christians believe that the New Testament indicates that Jesus is literally God's son. However, Hebrew and Jewish texts from the pre- and post-exilic period most often use such phrases in other ways (for example, in the Hebrew Bible "son of God" is used to refer to angels, kings, and the Children of Israel generically; in post-Biblical sources the phrase is often used to describe a just man); Jesus could have used the phrases in these senses.
For most Jews, the death of Jesus would have been sufficient proof that he was not a messiah. For most Christians, the belief that he was resurrected was sufficient proof that he was.
It is possible that some early Christians did not claim that Jesus was the messiah, but continued to celebrate his wisdom and teachings (much as Jews continue to celebrate the teachings of the prophets); such followers of Jesus would not have faced opposition from other Jews. However it is clear that Jesus was considered by Christians to be the Messiah, certainly by the time of Paul's writings, and very probably during Jesus' life. Some scholars, however, have argued that the Gospel understanding of messiah developed only after Jesus' death, as a way for followers to maintain their claims that he was the messiah. If this were the case, and early Christians preached that Jesus was about to return, it is virtually certain that Jewish authorities would have opposed them out of fear of Roman reprisal. Such fears would have been well-grounded: Jews revolted against the Romans in 66 CE, which culminated with the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE; they revolted again under the leadership of the professed messia Simon Bar Kokhba in 132 CE, which culminated in the expulsion of the Jews from the Land of Israel, which Hadrian renamed into Palestine to wipe out memory of Jews there.
Another source of tension between early Christians and Jews was the question of observance of Jewish law. Early Christians were divided over this issue: Jesus' brother James believed that Christians had to be Jews and observe Jewish law, while Paul argued that Christians did not have to observe all of Jewish law, and did not have to be circumcised, which was a requirement for male Jews. Most scholars (influenced by Martin Luther) have interpreted Paul's writings as rejecting the validity of Jewish law. A small number of of historians suggest that Paul accepted the authority of the law, but understood that it excluded non-Jews. This is not a generally accepted view.
Although Gentiles could convert to Judaism and thus be included, the point remained that people could enter this covenant with God only by being Jewish. By replacing the written law (the Torah) with Christ as the sign of the covenant, Paul sought to transform Judaism into a universal religion. It is evident that Paul saw himself as a Jew, but other Jews rejected this abstract universalism; after Paul's death, Christianity emerged as a separate religion, and Pauline Christianity emerged as the dominant form of Christianity, especially after Paul, James and the other apostles agreed on a compromise set of requirements (Acts 15). Some Christians continued to adhere to Jewish law, but they were few in number and typically considered heretics by the Church. One example is the Ebionites, which, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, were "infected with Judaistic errors" (language which Jews find offensive); for instance, they denied the virgin birth of Jesus, the physical resurrection of Jesus, and most of the books that were later canonized as the New Testament.
Many New Testament passages criticise the Pharisees; these passages have shaped the way that Christians have viewed Jews. Like most Bible passages, however, they can and have been interpreted in a variety of ways.
During Jesus' life and at the time of his execution, the Pharisees were only one of several Jewish groups such as the Sadduccees, Zealots, and Essenes; indeed, some have suggested that Jesus was himself a Pharisee (although this seems unlikely). Arguments by Jesus and his disciples against the Pharisees were almost certainly examples of disputes among Jews and internal to Judaism that were common at the time (Lutheran Pastor John Stendahl has pointed out that "Christianity begins as a kind of Judaism, and we must recognize that words spoken in a family conflict are inappropriately appropriated by those outside the family.")
After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, however, the Pharisees emerged as the principal form of Judaism (also called "Rabbinic Judaism"). All major modern Jewish movements consider themselves descendants of Pharasaic Judaism; as such, Jews are especially sensitive to criticisms of "Pharisees" as a group.
At the same time that the Pharisees came to represent Judaism as a whole, Christianity came to seek, and attract, more non-Jewish converts than Jewish converts. Within a hundred years or so the majority of Christians were non-Jews without any significant knowledge of Judaism (although until about 1000, there was an active Jewish component of Christianity). Many of these Christians read these passages not as internal debates among Jews but as the basis for a Christian rejection of Judaism and Jews. By this time, Christians were theologically rejecting any and all groups who rejected the Christian claim that Jesus was God, which of course included the Jews, along with Greekss and Romans who worshipped the traditional Greek and Roman gods, most gnostics, and others.
Moreover, it was only during the Rabbinic era that Chrtistianity would compete exclusively with Pharisees for converts and over how to interpret the Hebrew Bible (during Jesus' lifetime, the Sadducees were the dominant Jewish faction). Some scholars have argued that some passages of the Gospels were written (or re-written) at this time to emphasize conflict with the Pharisees. These scholars observe that the portrait of the Pharisees in the Gospels is strikingly different from that provided in Rabbinic sources, and suggest that New Testament Pharisees are a caricature and literary foil for Christianity. At a time when Christians were only seeking converts, and had no political power in the Roman Empire, such a caricature may not have been in any meaningful sense "anti-Judaist." But once Christianity was established as the religion of the Empire, and Christians enjoyed political domination over Europe, this caricature could be used to incite or justify oppression of Jews.
Some have also suggested that the Greek word Ioudaioi could also be translated "Judaeans", meaning in some cases specifically the Jews from Judaea, as opposed to people from Galilee or Samaria for instance.
In recent years teachers in a few Christian denominations have begun to teach that readers should understand the New Testament's attacks on Jews as specific charges aimed at certain Jewish leaders of that time, and upon attitudes displayed by many, inside and outside Judaism.
The following statements have been used to justify persecution of Jews. Many of the following people were recognized as saints by the Church; none of them explicitly advocated physical violence or murder, sometimes arguing, like Augustine, that the Jews should be left alive and suffering as a perpetual reminder of their murder of Christ.
Assimilation
See main article Assimilation (sociology).Anti-Judaism
Perhaps best described as 'religious anti-Semitism,' anti-Judaism is a manifestation of a religious hostility toward Jews, that claims to base itself in Christian religious doctrine. Although some Christians have considered anti-Judaism contrary to Christian teaching, it has historically been expressed by most Christian leaders and laypersons. In many cases, the practical tolerance towards the Jewish religion and the Jewish people prevailed. Some Christian groups, particularly in recent years, have condemned verbal Anti-Judaism. Anti-Semitism in the New Testament
Main article: Jews in the New Testament
The Church Fathers
Catholic Encyclopaedia entry on Ambrose
Augustine deems this scattering important because he believes that this is a fulfillment of certain prophecies, thus proving that Jesus was the Messiah. This is because Augustine believes that the Jews who were dispersed were the enemies of the Christian Church. He also quotes part of the same prophecy that says "Slay them not, lest they should at last forget Thy law".
Ephraim the Syrian and his polemics against Jews
- In his Dialog of Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew, the Christian scholar Justin Martyr advanced arguments for the truth of Christianity and wrote to his imaginary Jewish opponent: "You think that these words refer to the stranger and the proselytes, but in fact they refer to us who have been illumined by Jesus. For Christ would have borne witness even to them; but now you are become twofold more the children of Hell, as He said Himself."[1]
- Saint Jerome (374-419 CE) - He denounced Jews as "Judaic serpents of whom Judas was the model." In his The Jews in the Roman Empire (Les Juifs dan L'Empire Romain) [Is this really a work by Jerome, or a modern history?] he wrote: "The Jews seek nothing but to have children, possess riches and be healthy. They seek all earthly things, but think nothing of heavenly things; for this reason they are mercenaries."
- Saint John Chrysostom (ca 344 - 407 CE) - wrote of the Jews and of Judaizers in eight homilies Adversus Judaeos, Against The Jews (or Against the Judaizers) [1]. These quotes are translations from the original Greek posted by Paul Halsall: other researchers give slightly different translations.
- Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (467-533 CE) - In his "Writings", written about 510 CE, he states "Hold most firmly and doubt not that not all the pagans, but also all the Jews, heretic and schismatics who depart from the present life outside the Catholic Church, are about to go into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (See also: Extra ecclesiam nulla salus.)
Later Christian Writers
- Thomas of Monmouth, a monk in the Norwich Benedictine monastery, wrote a detailed anti-Semitic tractate holding that Jews tortured to death Christian children during Passover. His tractate was called The Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich, 1173.
- Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274) preached that the Jewish people were damned because they had slain Jesus, and the only way they could be saved was to renounce their faith and be baptized as Christians.
- Geoffrey Chaucer (?1343-1400) wrote in "The Prioress's Tale" of his Canterbury Tales of a devout little Christian child who was murdered by Jews affronted at his singing a hymn as he passed through the Jewry, or Jewish quarter, of a city in Asia:
- Martin Luther, founder of Protestant Christianity, was at first very friendly towards the Jews, believing that the evils of Catholicism had prevented their conversion to Christianity. When he discovered that Jews did not find the Protestant form of Christianity any more congenial, he became very hostile to them instead and preached, in his book On the Jews and their Lies, that they were "venomous beasts, vipers, disgusting scum, canders, devils incarnate. Their private houses must be destroyed and devastated, they could be lodged in stables. Let the magistrates burn their synagogues and let whatever escapes be covered with sand and mud. Let them force to work, and if this avails nothing, we will be compelled to expel them like dogs in order not to expose ourselves to incurring divine wrath and eternal damnation from the Jews and their lies."
- Pope Clement VIII (1536-1605). "All the world suffers from the usury of the Jews, their monopolies and deceit. They have brought many unfortunate people into a state of poverty, especially the farmers, working class people and the very poor. Then, as now, Jews have to be reminded intermittently that they were enjoying rights in any country since they left Palestine and the Arabian desert, and subsequently their ethical and moral doctrines as well as their deeds rightly deserve to be exposed to criticism in whatever country they happen to live."
Reverend Jerry Falwell gave a statement (January 14, 1999) that caused concern in the Jewish community. He stated that "the Anti-Christ is probably alive today and is a male Jew. Is he alive and here today? Probably. Because when he appears during the Tribulation period he will be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course he'll be Jewish. Of course he'll pretend to be Christ. And if in fact the Lord is coming soon, and he'll be an adult at the presentation of himself, he must be alive somewhere." Falwell later expressed astonishment at the idea that Jews would find this anti-Semitic, and offered an apology for hurting anyone's feelings, but stood by his position. He was making these statements according to a view of Christian eschatology called premillennial dispensationalism, which anticipates the appearance of a false Messiah. They expect this anti-Christ to deceive the world by at first seeming more perfectly than Jesus to fulfill the scriptural promises of a coming prophet and king of the Jews. The same view of eschatology teaches that the curse of God will come against anyone who curses the Jewish people, and that of all people in the world the Jews alone will not be deceived by the anti-Christ. Nevertheless, the majority of Jews, both religious and secular, feel that such claims are hostile to them.
Edward I of England expelled all the Jews from England in 1290 (only after ransoming some 3,000 among the most wealthy of them).
In 1481, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, the rulers of Spain who financed Christopher Columbus' voyage to the New World just a few years later in 1492, declared the Spanish Inquisition. All Jews in their territory were compelled to convert to Christianity or flee the country. While some converted, many others left for Morocco and North Africa. Estimates are that between four and eight thousand secret Jews (morraños) were burnt alive, as well as many Moriscos. It is arguable whether this constitutes anti-Semitism in the racist sense, since it was directed at recent converts from Judaism.
Many historians hold that Nazi policies towards Jews were based in traditional Christian culture and teachings. The following are examples of Christian beliefs towards Jews that became Nazi policy
There was little in the way of organized resistance to the Nazis' anti-Semitic policies by any Christian group during the 1930s in Germany, whether Catholic, Orthodox Christian, or Protestant. However, there were many individual Christian clergy and laypeople of all denominations who publicly and actively opposed the Nazis' anti-Semitic policies. The Catholic Church officially condemned the Nazi theory of racism in Germany in 1937 with the Encyclical "Mit Brennender Sorge", signed by Pope Pius XI.
Amongst Christian clergy who actively preached against Antisemitism in Germany there was the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, though in the end his opposition cost him his life, and the Catholic parson of Berlin Cathedral, Bernhard Lichtenberg, who also died. By the 1940s, fewer Christians were willing to oppose Nazi policy publicly, but many secretly helped save the lives of Jewish people. There are many sections of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Museum, Yad VaShem, dedicated to honoring these "Righteous Among the Nations".
The isolation of Jews as a special case may be a partial cause of both beneficial and detrimental special treatment of the Jews. This special case treatment can be seen from very early times, into the present in both, politics and religion.
One principle which arises directly from Christian teaching, for example, is that, to know God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ is eternal life: "No other name under heaven is given among men, by which they must be saved". To the service of this exclusivist religious motive, Christian rulers adapted and applied the same tools of Empire under which Christians had formerly, occasionally suffered as a persecuted minority. The Christian rulers argued that those who take away the possibility of eternal life should be prevented by force; especially apostates from the Christian faith or those who drew converts away from the Church, since this would be worse than murder or any purely temporal evil. Therefore, at times, no public displays of any non-Christian religion were allowed, and proselytizing to convert people away from Christianity was also forbidden: sometimes purely for reason of Empire, sometimes more directly arising from the power and authority of the Church. These intolerant practices have had mixed results throughout Christian history. Many religions faded away in the regions where the Christian Empire dominated, but others simply retracted their public presence, or asserted themselves covertly within the Christian context.
However, a special case had always been reserved for the Jewish religion. Christians have believed that the Jewish practices were prefigures of the Christian ones, and that they may not be forcibly stopped (although Christians never ceased from attempting to convert Jewish people). This singling out of Jews had the negative side-effect of isolating Jews into a special class, as a group excluded from the general rule.
For example, Christian law forbade Christians to lend money and reclaim it with interest; Jewish law likewise had the same restrictions. But during the middle-ages, European Christian nobility often forced Jews to take on this role; over time, some Jews naturally played an important role in the economies of the Middle Ages. On many occasions, when their high-powered debtors decided they did not want to pay back their debts, they relied on the "Christ's murderers" tradition to expel the Jews and default on their obligations. To many, this would appear to be a case of misuse of Scripture and tradition to justify actions that would otherwise be condemned.
An almost automatic respect is often accorded to a Jewish convert to Christianity, which goes hand in hand with a special contempt for Jewish apostasy from Christianity. Especially strong fascination with Jews and Judaism, both positive and negative, has typified Christianity from the beginning. No family lineage has the significance to Christianity that belongs to every Jew, simply by being born Jewish. Special interest in their history and religion has occasionally produced among Christians a special interest in winning their conversion; the dark side of which, is that an especially virulent disdain has been reserved for ethnically Jewish converts to Christianity who practice Judaism after conversion to Christianity, or revert to Judaism. Jewish rejection of Christian claims has been felt with unique disappointment, sometimes erupting into hatred and violence toward them, for reasons that would not even remotely apply to any other ethnic group. This has been the important cause of Christian anti-semitism for centuries, and especially during the Inquisition.
As with any other religion, Christianity is transmitted through the voices of men. The shape of anti-Semitism in the Christian world has changed so much according to place and time that, on nearly anyone's account, it is unfair to say Christians per se have taught anti-Semitism. But again, on nearly anyone's account, it can certainly be said that Christian anti-Semites have often turned to Christian scripture to justify their actions.
Allegedly Anti-Semitism in some European countries still remains a substantial problem. The entry on Religious freedom in Poland discusses the current state of religious tensions in predominantly Catholic Poland. Anti-Semitism exists to a lesser or greater degree in many other nations as well, including: mostly countries with immigrants from Muslim countries. While in a decline since the 1940s, there is still a measurable amount of anti-Semitism in the United States of America as well, although acts of violence are quite rare. The 2001 survey by the Anti-Defamation League reported 1432 acts of anti-Semitism in the United States that year. The figure included 877 acts of harassment, including verbal intimidation, threats and physical assaults ([1]).
Some Jews consider any attempt to convert Jews to another belief is a form of anti-Judaism.
It has been the viewpoint of Evangelical Christians that all people must accept Jesus Christ as their Savior in order to find salvation. It follows that from their point of view all people should be given the chance to convert to Christianity, regardless of race, colour or current creed. Not to evanglize Jews would be tantamount to discrimination.
The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant Christian denomination in the U.S., has explicitly rejected suggestions that it should back away from seeking to convert Jews, a position that critics have called anti-Semitic but that Baptists see as consistent with their view that salvation is found solely though faith in Christ. In 1996, the SBC approved a resolution calling for efforts to seek the conversion of Jews "as well as for the salvation of 'every kindred and tongue and people and nation.'"
Most Evangelicals agree with the SBC position, and some have similarly been supporting efforts specifically seeking Jews' conversion. At the same time these groups are among the most pro-Israeli groups. Among the controversial groups that has found support from some Evangelical churches is Jews for Jesus, which claims that Jews can find their Jewish faith become complete by accepting Jesus as the Messiah.
By contrast, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Canada and the Roman Catholic Church have ended their efforts to convert Jews. Most Jews see evangelism directed specifically at Jews as anti-Semitic.
The Christian Identity movement, the Ku Klux Klan and other White supremacy groups claim to be very strongly Christian in nature; they are vehemently anti-Semitic, as well as racist. The Klan is also demonstrably anti-Catholic. A racial belief common among these groups, but not universal, is an alternative history doctrine, sometimes called British Israelism. In some forms this doctrine absolutely denies that modern Jews have any racial connection to Israel of the Bible. Instead, according to extreme forms of this doctrine, the true racial Israel and true humans, are the Adamic (white) race.
In recent years there has been much to note in the way of reconciliation between some Christians groups and the Jewish people. Most of this reconciliation has occurred between the Jewish community and the Catholic Church, and some liberal Protestant Christian organizations. See the article on Christian-Jewish reconciliation for more details
See also:
20th century Christian statements
The Jews' expulsion from England
The Jews' expulsion from Spain
Church teachings and Nazi Germany
Christian opposition to the Holocaust
Reasons that anti-Semitism continued
Anti-Semitism in modern-day nations
Current attempts to convert Jews to Christianity
The "White Power" Movement
Reconciliation between Judaism and Christian groups
External links
Research material