New Testament Origins of Christian Anti-Judaism

The central ideas of early object relations theory are heavily inflected with Christian anti-Judaism, particularly as found in the work of Ian Dishart Suttie, now credited as the founder of this tradition. The critique of Freud launched by Suttie repudiates Freudian theory as a “disease” inextricably connected to Freud being a Jew. Suttie’s portrayal of Judaism both conforms to and replicates those theological commitments that privilege a triumphalist, supersessionist Christianity that breaks with Judaism, understood as devoid of love, ethics, and social justice interests. The paper argues that the elements organizing the central concepts that structure Suttie’s Christian prejudice constitute distorting ideological interests that circulate and shape important strands of contemporary object relations theory. Central to the authors discussed is a repudiation of Freud’s theory of unconscious drives on the basis of privileging love and intersubjectivity as the motivators of human psychological development made possible by Jesus and Christianity. The paper demonstrates that contemporary object relations theory remains heavily indebted to Suttie while remaining oblivious to his explicit anti-Judaism.

This chapter comprises a history of research on the question of the Pauline Christ and the Jewish messiahs, from the early nineteenth century to the present. Figures treated include F. C. Baur, William Wrede, Wilhelm Bousset, Albert Schweitzer, W. D. Davies, Nils Dahl, Werner Kramer, E. P. Sanders, Lloyd Gaston, Martin Hengel, N. T. Wright, Andrew Chester, Dieter Zeller, Magnus Zetterholm, and Stanley Stowers, among others. The question of the meaning of “Christ” in Paul has a storied history in modern scholarship, but it has usually been a stand-in for other, more urgent interpretive disputes (regarding, e.g., Christian anti-Judaism, the New Perspective on Paul). As diverse as modern accounts of Pauline christology are, however, common to almost all is the assumption that, whatever Paul’s christology is, it is not messianic.

Jesus, Judaism and Christian Anti-Judaism: Reading the New Testament after the Holocaust <i>Edited by Paula Frederiksen and Adele Reinhartz</i> Louisville, Westminster John Knox, 2002. 129 pp. $19.95

16 SHOFAR JEWS AND CHRISTIANS IN THE FIRST TWO CENTURIES: THE CHANGING PARADIGM by Anthony 1. Saldarini 'Anthony J. Saldarini received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1971 and is Professor of Theology at Boston College, specializing in Judaism and the New Testament. He is the author of Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees (1988). Research in the past twenty-five years has established and emphasized three characteristics of Judaism and Christianity in late antiquity: the diversity of groups within each community, the gradual (rather than sudden and complete) development and ascendancy of the classic forms of rabbinic Judaism and orthodox Christianity, and the constant interaction of Jewish and Christian groups with one another and with their larger cultural world. In contrast, earlier treatments of Jewish and Christian history, though acknowledging many of these phenomena, often treated them as heretical or as epiphenomena with relation to fixed, classical forms of each religion which were viewed anachronistically as normative. Consequently, alternativeforms of Christianity were neglected and the rich diversity of second- and thirdcentury Christianity was lost.1 Similarly, the vitality and variety of local Jewish communities and traditions, especially in the diaspora, were ignored or treated as insignificant deviations from a dominant normative tradition.2 IThe classic affirmation of diversity is found in Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971). 2For critiques of Christian and Jewish scholarship on Judaism, see A. T. Kraabel , "Synagoga Caeca: Systematic Distortion in Gentile Interpretations of Evidence for Judaism in the Early Christian Period," in «To See Ourselves as Others See Us": Christians, Jews, «Others" in Late Antiquity, ed. Jacob Neusner and Ernest S. Frerichs (Chico, CA: Scholars, 1985), pp. 219-46, and Jack Lightstone, "Christian Anti-Judaism in Its Judaic Mirror: The Judaic Context of Early Christianity Revised," in Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity, Vol. 2, Separation and Polemic, ed. Stephen G. Wilson Volume 10, No.2 Winter 1992 17 Talmudic Judaism and the "Great Church" tradition were often retrojected into the pre-Mishnaic and New Testament periods so that the limited power and influence of early rabbinic and church leaders was obscured and the strength of important movements and groups was diminished. True, some of the blame for this situation may be laid to the surviving sources, which were edited and preserved by the groups that eventually dominated the Jewish and Christian traditions. But, just as important, evidence for competing movements was often ignored. Within the arena of Jewish-Christian relations, the perdurance of numerous groups of Jewish believers-in-Jesus and the continued attraction of gentile Christians to Jewish worship and community activities through the fifth century and beyond are notable. Similarly, many discussions in the Talmud suggest that rabbinic leaders struggled to establish and maintain a distinct identity for the Jewish community in the face of the attractions of the Greco-Roman world, including Christianity. In light of recent strides beyond the old consensus just described, it is the goal of this survey to relate disparate discoveries and insights to one another so that the development and relationships of Judaism and Christianity may be understood according to a more adequate paradigm. This paradigm takes account of the variety of Jewish and Christian communities .in existence in the first centuries, of the close relationships (positive and negative ) among many of them, and of the long, complex process which resulted in the classical forms of each religion. Varieties ofJudaism Recent studies of the development of rabbinic Judaism after the destruction of the Temple demonstrate that the rabbis gained influence and power in Palestinian society only gradually, over several centuries. The loss of much of the national leadership in Jerusalem (the chief priests, wealthy families, Hasmoneans and Herodians) in 70 c.B. led to confusion and competition for Roman favor and authority. Various groups maneuvered for power, including surviving priests, Herodians and a variety of other less influential groups.3 Local authority, as always, remained in the hands of village elders, wealthy families, and landlords, as well as local priests, scribes, and popular leaders. Similarly, synagogues continued to be governed by local community (Studies in Christianity and Judaism 2; Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfred Laurier Press, 1986), pp. 103-32, esp.103-12. 3For...

Barmen, the Ecumenical Movement, and the Jews: The Missing Thesis

Anti-Semitism, animosity towards Jews in the broadest sense, confronts both those directly affected and observers alike with problems of definition and perceiving its manifestations. In terms of definition, we need to distinguish between four basic phenomena: first, extending from the Middle Ages into the modern era, there is a Christian anti-Judaism. A religiously motivated form of resentment against Jews, this phenomenon also includes elements which are culturally, socially and economically determined. Second, there is the racial anti-Semitism that, based on spurious scientific, anthropological and biological arguments, arose in the course of the nineteenth century and ultimately led to the Holocaust.KeywordsGerman Democratic RepublicNational Socialist StateConspiracy TheoryCommunist RuleRitual MurderThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Jesus, Judaism, &amp; Christian Anti-Judaism: Reading the New Testament after the Holocaust ? Edited by Paula Fredriksen Adele Reinhartz

It has sometimes been suggested that works on psychoanalysis, rather than being shelved in psychology sections in bookshops and libraries, should instead be listed under Studies. This is not quite as whimsical as it might seem: not only have psychoanalysts often been Jewish, but those who are not are frequently thought of as if they were. In addition, it can be argued that psychoanalysis is heavily indebted to, and informed by, Jewish perspectives, attitudes, ethics, and methodological approaches. Starting as it did with Freud, its origins were deeply embedded in the secular culture of the late nineteenth century, at a time in Europe when and other identities were being debated and undergoing radical change (Yerushalmi 1991). Anti-Semitism was a powerful political and cultural force, science was struggling with religion, romanticism was having its nostalgic last gasp, and the revolutionary movements of the twentieth century in politics, science, and the arts were being born. The Jews were both inside and outside Western society: newly emancipated and able to claim influential positions, yet still victims of social exclusion, anti-Semitic populism, and new forms of racial anti-Semitism that were gradually replacing the old Christian anti-Judaism.

Over the past several decades historians have turned a critical eye to the complicity of the German churches in fostering poisonous societal attitudes towards Jews on the eve of the Holocaust.1Emerging from this research has been the disputed relationship between Christian anti-Judaism and the intense race-based anti-Semitism of the Nazi era. Separating the content and motivation of these two forms of disparagement has allowed Christians to remove themselves from the genocidal equation linked to radical, racist attacks on Jews.2Susannah Heschel’sThe Aryan Jesustackles this issue by examining the historical backdrop and explicit content of racially motivated attacks on Jews by German Protestants in the years preceding and during the Holocaust. Targeting the Eisenach Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life together with the Institute’s leader, Walter Grundmann, her findings may well render obsolete any theoretical dichotomy between religious anti-Judaism and racial anti-Semitism.3

Christian Anti-Judaism and Jewish–Orthodox Relations among the Eastern Slavs up to 1569

It has sometimes been suggested that books on psychoanalysis, rather than being shelved in psychology sections in bookshops and libraries, should instead be listed under 'Jewish Studies'. This is not quite as whimsical as it might seem: not only have psychoanalysts often been Jewish, but those who are not Jewish are frequently thought of as if they were. In addition, it can be argued that psychoanalysis is heavily indebted to, and informed by, 'Jewish' perspectives, attitudes, ethics and methodological approaches. Starting as it did with Freud, its origins were deeply embedded in the secular Jewish culture of the late nineteenth century, at a time in Europe when Jewish and other identities were being debated and were undergoing radical change. Anti-Semitism was a powerful political and cultural force, science was struggling with religion, romanticism was having its nostalgic last gasp, and the revolutionary movements of the twentieth century — in politics, science and the arts — were being born. The Jews were both inside and outside Western society: newly 'emancipated' and able to claim influential positions, yet still victims of social exclusion, anti-Semitic populism and new forms of 'racial' anti-Semitism that were gradually replacing the old Christian anti-Judaism.KeywordsHistorical WorkJewish IdentityCultural ForceJewish StudyRevolutionary MovementThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Whether the modern term anti-Semitism, popularized by the German anti-Semitic agitator and founder of the League of Antisemites Wilhelm Marr (1819–1904), is appropriate for antiquity is controversial. Scholars have proposed to use alternative terms such as Judeophobia or hatred against Jews instead. Similarly controversial is the question whether racism existed and was directed against Jews in antiquity. Greek and Latin writers’ expression of anti-Jewish arguments and slanderous allegations against Jews need to be investigated within the respective social, political, and cultural contexts in which they occur. Several anti-Jewish writers lived in Egypt and created variant versions of a counter-narrative to the biblical exodus story. Egyptian “anti-Semitism” is usually explained by reference to relations between Jews and non-Jews in Alexandria and the Hellenistic and Roman rulers’ treatment of the different ethnic groups. Recurrent anti-Jewish arguments are directed against beliefs and practices associated with Jews, such as Jewish monotheism, Sabbath observance, circumcision, and abstinence from pork. Rather than being based on detailed knowledge of Judaism or close observance of Jewish practices, they reflect misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Some allegations were entirely fictional. Greek and Roman authors’ claims of their own culture’s superiority over Jews as an ethnic and religious minority flared up in times of rebellion and defeat. Conflicts and clashes also happened in Antioch, Caesarea, and Rome, where Jews were frequently expelled. Major Roman authors expressed hostile views of Jews and Judaism. Roman emperors’ policies shifted between submission and toleration. Not every form of conflict between Jews and others can be called anti-Semitism. When pagans became Christian, traditional pagan attitudes towards Jews merged with Christian anti-Judaism.

The scholarship on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Jews has focused on two questions: (1) To what extent did the persecution of the Jews drive Bonhoeffer's actions with respect to the Third Reich, and (2) Did Bonhoeffer's theology of Judaism and the Jewish people undergo a change as a result of the Nazi program of persecution and extermination? The work ranges from writers who reject the hagiography of a Bonhoeffer who for the sake of the Jews joined the resistance and paid the ultimate price, to those who argue that the persecution of the Jews was key in the development of Bonhoeffer's theology and his resistance to National Socialism. Bonhoeffer biographer Eberhard Bethge figured large in this second group; Bethge's work in this area coincided with his involvement in Christian post-Holocaust theology, an expression of the intensely philojudaic theology that emerged in the West following World War II. Driven by the desire to atone for millennia of anti-Jewish doctrine and action, post-Holocaust theology has exerted a strong influence on Bonhoeffer scholarship. The argument of this article is that the postwar focus on Christian anti-Judaism has led the church away from confronting the exceptionalism that persists in Christian identity and teaching. In its penitential zeal, the postwar project to renounce church anti-Judaism has instead replaced it with a Judeo-Christian triumphalism and a theological embrace of political Zionism that betray fundamental gospel principles. These run counter to the passionate opposition to the merger of hyper-nationalism and religion that informs Bonhoeffer's radical, humanistic Christology. Fashioning Bonhoeffer as a martyr for the Jews and as a forerunner of post-Holocaust theology does damage to the legacy of his theology and distorts the lessons of his life and witness. This carries implications for the role of the church in confronting the urgent issues of our time.

Reviewed by: “Good News” after Auschwitz? Christian Faith in a Post-Holocaust World Martin Rumscheidt “Good News” after Auschwitz? Christian Faith in a Post-Holocaust World, edited and introduced by Carol Rittner and John K. Roth. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2001. 215 pp. $39.95. Do an institution and a faith that have been infested almost from their beginning and for centuries since with a sense of their superiority over the Synagogue and a hostility towards the faith of Jews have anything left to speak that can be called “good news?” What options do people have whom the Holocaust has so radically alerted to that infestation but who refuse simply to abandon the Christian faith and leave the Church, knowing that doing so, or merely lamenting the sin of Christianity, preserves the status quo of Christian anti-Judaism? What commandment comes to them out of the horrors of Auschwitz which, if left unheeded, turns what the “faith of our fathers” has to proclaim into renewed assaults on Jews and Judaism? The fourteen contributors to this book, all claiming to be Christian, know that questions like these irrevocably challenge Christian faith as well as their own personal witness as followers of Jesus of Nazareth. They are convinced that the Holocaust is not an adiaphoron, a matter of no direct significance to the substance of Christian theology and faith. All are steeped in the history of the Church’s anti-Judaism, of the Western world’s antisemitism, and of how both have aided and abetted the Shoah. And however aware they are of the challenge of Auschwitz also to the faith of Jews, they are even more aware of how utterly deeply the Holocaust and all that prepared for it has compromised, if not irreparably distorted, Christianity itself and the Church as such. Six overarching foci direct the explorations and proposals of this book. First, Christians need to be honest about and remorseful for the anti-Jewish history of Christianity and the Church. Second, the Jewish origins of the Christian faith and the [End Page 168] Jewish identity of Jesus need to be clearly acknowledged, studied with much greater care, and willingly affirmed. Images or understandings of Jesus need to be presented that are free of anti-Judaism. All this in a context that upholds the unbroken vitality of the Jewish people and their traditions. Third, liturgies and scriptural interpretations that promote the infestations named earlier need to be identified and replaced. Fourth, the conviction that is at the heart of Christian faith and practice needs to be prominently upheld, namely the great commandment to love the neighbor inclusively and hospitably because, as Martin Buber renders the Hebrew: he/she is like you. Fifth, the awareness that faithfulness to God entails human responsibility needs to be intensified. And, finally, a determined commitment is required that the darkness of injustice, evil, and death will not overcome the light of justice, goodness, and life itself (pp. 190–191). The authors confess, some explicitly, others more implicitly, their own complicity in Christian anti-Judaism by acknowledging that they had learned and subsequently made use of the methods and conclusions of dominant biblical exegesis. But they also acknowledge that, as a result of long, arduous, painful but finally very fruitful work with Jewish thinkers, they have learned to be self-critical and to develop new methods and new theologies. To this reviewer, such confession and the concomitant mourning for both the actual presence of Christian anti-Judaism in the Church and one’s own personal, perhaps even unconscious, transmission of it, is a hope-filled sign, a portent of possible “good news” after Auschwitz. And the determination to unlearn and relearn but, above all, to learn new things and methods, to draw new conclusions, strikes one as truly heartening. Here, the presence of Jewish colleagues is simply irreplaceable, as all the authors confirm. As a result of such togetherness, this book urges the recognition and unreserved embrace of the fact that between Jews and Christians there is a humanly irreconcilable difference. This enjoins the deepening of fully mutual respect. Since such respect is made present and real by and in significant events and the people...

Jesus as First-Century Feminist: Christian Anti-Judaism?