Anti-Semitism

This a series of posts explores anti-Semitism, its origins, the motivations behind it, its various manifestations, its consequences, and its possible future. The series also proposes a method for determining when an act or statement is anti-Semitic and concludes with some suggestions for remedying the consequences of anti-Semitism. A series of discussion questions is also included.

Review of the previous post.

The previous post, post number 14 of 33, was the third post in a series of eight posts discussing other causes of anti-Semitism and focused on Christian teaching.

Preview of this post.

This post, post number 15 of 33, is the fourth third post in a series of eight posts discussing other causes of anti-Semitism and focuses on the New Testament.

Other Causes

The New Testament Account

In the letters of Paul^[1], which are regarded by historians to be the oldest works of the New Testament (written 10 to 20 years after Jesus’ death), Paul mentions, almost in passing, “the Jews who killed the Lord, Jesus” (I Thessalonians 2:14-15). While probably not central to Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ life and death, the idea that the Jews bear primary responsibility for the death of Jesus figures more prominently in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which have slightly different accounts of Jesus’s life.

In the Book of Luke, and the Book of Acts (the first history of Christianity in the New Testament and since it is at the center of the Christian Bible, it should be considered as the “official” history,) the history of the birth of Christianity has Jesus first breaking with the foundations of Judaism and annulling Judaism whereby Judaism was invalid and was rejected; Paul carried this idea of nullifying Judaism forward and the Law of Moses brought sin and since all humanity was in sin, the only redemption could be through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and salvation could only be through Him; and God had rejected the Jews and replaced them with gentiles; from the beginning, Jews resisted and despised Jesus and the Jews put him to death for which they were punished by the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E.; from then on, Jews and Christians were at odds with each other; the early Christians were severely resisted and persecuted by the Jews of Jerusalem; Paul was severely persecuted by Jews on his way to Rome; Paul’s final message was that God predicted and had now enacted the rejection of the Jews and their replacement by a new people of God. This basic teaching of rejection-replacement is found in the basic text of Christianity^[2].

Matthew, the best-known gospel, describes the unfair trial of Jesus arranged and presided over by the Jewish high priest who scours the land to find anybody who would testify against Jesus. Eventually, the high priest concludes that Jesus is guilty of blasphemy and asks the Jewish council what the penalty should be. “They answered, ‘He deserves death.’ Then they spat in his face and struck him” (Matthew 26:57-68). Matthew’s description of Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross (referred to by Christians as Jesus’ “passion”) has become scurrilous the basis for many books, plays, and musical compositions over the years, and is prominent in Christian liturgy, particularly for Easter.

All four gospels suggest either implicitly or explicitly that because the Jews were not allowed to punish other Jews who were guilty of blasphemy, they had to prevail on the reluctant Romans to kill Jesus. Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, is described as basically sympathetic to Jesus but unable to withstand the pressure from the Jews who demanded Jesus’ execution. This idea is expressed most clearly in the gospel of John: “Pilate said, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him according to your own law.’ The Jews replied, ‘We are not permitted to put anyone to death'” (18:31).

In the most controversial verse in all the passion narratives, the assembled members of the Jewish community tell Pilate, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25). This is the source for the Christian belief that later generations of Jews are also guilty of deicide, the crime of killing God.

As discussed above, many of the anti-Semitic attitudes can be traced to the founding books of a religion, the Christian religion included. One of the most fundamental teachings in the Christian Bible is the Sermon on the Mount, principally found in the Gospel of Matthew. In this Sermon, Jesus preached:

“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)

“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” (Matthew 5:27-28)

“Then came his disciples and said unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they hear this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly father hat not planted shall be rooted up.” (Matthew 15:12-13

Also, see Matthew 12:34, 39 in which the Pharisees are depicted as evil and their questioning of Jesus Satan-like.

The Pharisees are the spiritual fathers of Judaism. They were blue-collar Jews who adhered to the Oral Torah which was inviable and was to be strictly applied as opposed to the law of the Written Torah developed by the rabbis later after the destruction of the first Temple; law from the Written Torah can be applied using the principles of equity. The point being that the Pharisees were denigrated in the Sermon on the Mount and depicted as evil in that sermon as well as in the Gospel of Matthew containing the Sermon, and the Pharisees were the precursors of Judaism. Hence, it can be concluded that the seeds of Jew hatred were planted in the most sacred passage of the most sacred text of the Christian religion.

The elders of the church used this teaching for their homilies and teachings of their flocks. Add to this the art forms through the ages. See for example, Christopher Marlowe’s “The Jew of Malta,” Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” and various Passion Plays, and it is easy to see how the seeds of Jew hatred planted in the Christian Bible can flourish and blossom through the ages to full anti-Semitism and finally into a Holocaust.

Preview of the next post.

The next post, post number 16 of 33, is the fifth post in the series of eight posts discussing other causes of anti-Semitism and focuses on Christian church fathers.

[1] It should be noted that Paul is a hugely controversial figure with both friends and enemies, but whose writings have been interpreted in many ways so as to produce great animosity between Christians and Jews. Paul was a zealous Pharisee, who is viewed as the father of Christian anti-Judaism. Many consider Paul the father of Christian anti-Judaism. However, as will also be discussed in this essay, it is entirely possible that Paul had no anti-Jewish intent and it is only those who came later who used his writings and interpreted them according to the narrative that they were pushing in a manner that Paul did not intend but which fit their anti-Jewish narrative and their viewpoint thereby misinterpreting, misattributing (anachronistic reasoning in which it is assumed that since the Church leader at the time was anti-Jewish, then the initial spokesman for the religion, Paul, must have originated that view) and misusing Paul’s letters and his intent.

[2] Replacement theology (AKA supersessionism) teaches that because Jews denied the divinity of Jesus, all God’s promises to them were transferred to Christians which exiled Jews from God’s love and made them party of the Devil. See the above discussion under the title “The New Testament Account”.