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 17 of 33,was the sixth post in the series of eight posts discussing other causes of anti-Semitism and focused on Jewish teaching.

Preview of this post.

This post, post number 18 of 33, is the seventh post in a series of eight posts discussing other causes of anti-Semitism and focuses on the Jewish view of Paul.

Other Causes

(2) Teaching in Judaism

Jewish View of Paul

Since Paul is generally considered the father of anti-Judaism, the way he is viewed by Jews is important.

A notable discussion of Paul (aka Saul) from a Jewish perspective comes from Jacob Taubes in his 1987 Heidelberg lectures^[1] in which Traubes appears to reclaim Paul as being a Jew. Paul began his life as a zealous Pharisee and as a heretic to Jesus followers but he transformed himself and became a hero to those followers and became an outcast to the non-followers. As might be expected of such a personage, there is a great deal of anti-Paul Jewish literature.

In recent times, some Jews such as as Ben Choren, Michael Wyschogrod and Ishay Rosen-Zvi, have re-assessed their views of Paul and have begun to accept him as Jewish. In fact, there have been many publications suggesting that Paul was, in fact, a loyal and observant Jew who defended his fellow Jews^[2] against a hostile Christianity^[3]. There have been scholars, such as G.F. Moore, Charlotte Klein and Michael Wyschogrod^[4]  who suggest that Judaism did not disappear once Christianity came on to the scene as suggested by the rejection-replacement theory; in fact, there is scholarship proving that the Jewish community welcomed Christians into their synagogues^[5].

Perhaps Jewish acceptance of Paul might lead Christians to accept Paul’s Jewishness and re-evaluate the writings and teachings which misinterpreted and misused Paul’s writings for the purpose of supporting a narrative that is anti-Jewish. Such a reevaluation of Paul (and a corresponding reevaluation of the Gospel of Matthew as being a Jewish text), could form the basis of rejecting the anti-Jewish teachings that have been attributed to him thereby undermining the basis for anti-Semitism. In this way, perhaps Jews themselves could lead the way to a rejection of anti-Semitism. An acceptance of a Jewish Paul might lead Christians to conclude that anti-Judaism and supersessionism is un-Pauline, un-Biblical and un-Christian^[6]. Again, it is quite difficult to believe that Christian leaders, who have been taught and have taught all their lives that Paul taught anti-Jewish rejection- replacement ideas and on which their power rests, will reverse course and teach a Jewish Paul. Such a reevaluation might require a re-evaluation of the New Testament itself. Not a replacement of the New Testament, that would be inconceivable for the Christian Church, but a re-reading of that text so that the past misreading which has Paul espousing and teaching rejection-replacement concepts is expunged and replaced by a Jewish Paul who sought to protect Jews while still following Jesus. Such a re-evaluation and attribution of a Jew-loving Paul in place of a Jew-hating Paul might go a long way towards expunging anti-Semitism from Christian teaching and actions.

Preview of the next post.

The next post, post number 19 of 33, is the eighth post in a series of eight posts discussing other causes of anti-Semitism and focuses on Muslim teaching.

[1] See the published version titled The Political Theology of Paul (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004).

[2] Perhaps Paul’s urging of a separation of Christians from Jews is intended to protect Jews from persecution by Christians and was not anti-Jewish at all, but actually the opposite.

[3] See, for example, Stanley Stowers, A Rereading of Romans: Justice, Jews and Gentiles (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), 327..

[4]  Wyschogrod writes “Through the Jew Jesus, when properly understood, the gentile enters into the covenant and becomes a member of the household, as long as he or she does not claim that his or her entrance replaces the original children.” S. Meissner, Die Heimholung des Ketzers: Studien zur jüdischen Auseinandersetzung mit Paulus (Tübingen: Mohr, 1996).

[5] Martin Goodman, “Proselytizing in Rabbinic Judaism,” in Epstein, Readings, 34-35; see also B.Z. Wacholder, “Attiduteds Toward Proselytizing in the Classical Halakah,” in Epstein, Readings, 15-32..

[6] Also, accepting a Jewish Paul might lead Jews to accept Christians as well.