Abstract
This article explores the interrelationship between the two major issues that the theologians of earliest Christianity were pondering, i.e., how to explain the suspension of the eschaton, and how to understand the relation between Christ believers and the people of Israel. Whereas within a couple of decades a number of answers were already given to the former question in order to appease the questioners and marginalize the topic, the answer to the latter question has been not only formative for all Christian thinking for two millennia, but also utterly destructive for Jewish–Christian relations throughout the ages. This article recognizes that after two thousand years of supersessionism, it takes a lot of work to articulate a Christian theology which is fulfilment without supersessionism—but not as much work as the first generations of Christ believers had to devote to de-eschatologizing their message in order to be able to hand it over to future generations of Christians. They prevailed the challenge of their time—will we?
Highlights
Fulfil”: Reflections on UnderstandingIn his book The Political Theology of Paul, Jacob Taubes recounts a story about his friendKrister Stendahl.Christianity as Fulfilment withoutPresupposing Supersessionism.Religions 13: 149. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020149Academic Editor: Randall C
It took two millennia for Christians to start contesting this legacy, and it seems that this battle is constantly about to begin: in every Christian congregation, in every classroom at a theological seminary, and in every Christian theological document on the relation between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and between Judaism and Christianity
To use the library metaphor, we need to look for a third door in the biblical library. This urge takes us to the third door, behind which we find the fifteenth chapter in Romans, in which we find a program which neither downgrades Judaism to a historical phenomenon, nor upgrades it in the future to something other than it is
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Whereas within a couple of decades a number of answers were already given to the former question in order to appease the questioners and marginalize the topic, the answer to the latter question has been formative for all Christian thinking for two millennia, and utterly destructive for Jewish–Christian relations throughout the ages. This answer to the question of how the Jewish people are related to Christ believers is known as supersessionism, i.e., that the Christian Church has replaced the Jewish people. Christians seek an alternative to expressing its relation to the Jewish tradition, to what extent and in what way can Christianity be understood as “fulfilment”?
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