Abstract
While many church bodies condemned race-based antisemitism, both during and immediately after the Holocaust, the repudiation of theological anti-Judaism (e.g., the deicide charge and supersessionism) and renunciation of anti-Jewish writings by prominent theologians (e.g., Luther) required decades of intense study and negotiation. In Germany, in particular, activists in the Jewish-Christian dialogue understand the destruction of Jewish religious life in Europe as a turning point in Christian teachings on the Jewish future. In Dresden, for instance, the campaign to rebuild the destroyed Frauenkirche was tied to the construction of a new Jewish synagogue as a penitential act of restitution.
Highlights
Both the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible use imagery of pollution and defilement that must be purified
Traditional religious rituals of purification use water, blood, fire and smoke to remove impurities caused by transgressions against the sacred order
Water and sacrificial blood are the preferred methods of purification
Summary
The second metaphor for guilt involves weights and burdens that must be born or can be lifted. The scapegoat ritual is the most prominent text that suggests that the sins of the community are transferred and carried into the desert in order to rid individuals and the community of personal and communal guilt: Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all Their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness (Lev 16:20-22) This ritual visualizes sin and guilt as a burden that can be loaded and eased.
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