Israel and the Christian Church: Heritage, History, and Hope

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Israel and the Christian Church Heritage,
History, and Hope

• Dr. Robert C. Kurka, Professor of Theology and
  Church in Culture, Lincoln Christian University
• Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Bradley
  University
• 2016

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Lecture 3 How Has the Church Treated the
Jewish People? Some Shamefuland Saintly Examples

• Let us revisit our four theological models on the
  nature of the Israel/Christian Church
  relationship

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There is no argument that even prior to AD 70,
Christianity and Judaism were at odds

• In Acts 2-5 Jewish-Christians begin to share
  their faith in Jesus with fellow Jews, their
  Jewish neighbors were not so hospitable
• Some conversions to Christianity
• Persecution
• Executions
• Expulsion from the synagogue
• Denunciation as heretics by Jewish leaders

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Early Christian Sentiments About Judaism

• 2nd century Marcions New Testament(anti-Jewish)
  Canon edited version of Gospel of Luke, 10
  Pauline epistles Marcion taught that the OT God
  and NT God were two completely different deities
• 2nd century Justin Martyr (Christians) are the
  true Israelite race, the spiritual one, that of
  Judah and Jacob and Abraham (Dial. 115)
• 4th century Roman Emperor Constantine makes
  Christianity the official religion of the Roman
  state (321). Jews are forbidden from making
  converts, serving in the military, holding high
  office
• 4th century John Chrysostom The synagogue is a
  brothel and a theatera den for unclean
  animalsNever has a Jew prayed to GodThey are
  all possessed by the devil.
• 6th century Byzantine Emperor Justinian decrees
  that Jewish Passover must be celebrated after
  Easter

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Does the New Testament (especially the Fourth
Gospel) affirm an Anti-Semitism?

• Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you
  would love me, for I have come here from God. I
  have not come on my own God sent me. Why is my
  language not clear to you? Because you are unable
  to hear what I say. You belong to your father,
  the devil, and you want to carry out your
  fathers desires. He was a murderer from the
  beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is
  no truth in himYet because I tell the truth you
  do not believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears
  what God says. The reason you do not hear is that
  you do not belong to God. John 842-47
• 60x John refers to the Jews often in opposition
  to Jesus
• John 842-45

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Middle Ages A Time of Christian Intolerance for
the Jewish People

• Jews were largely excluded from the culture of
  European Christendom
• This social, economic, and ecclesiastical
  alienation, in turn, forced them to live behind
  ghetto walls
• They were permitted to practice usury, however
  (in violation of Jewish law) which brought
  charges that they were a pariah people from the
  Christian society
• They were forced to wear distinctive hats or
  patches on their clothing
• They were accused of having a peculiar smellas
  opposed to the odor of sanctity
• They were regularly maligned as Christ-killers
• They were accused of desecrating the host,
  murdering Christian infants for their blood
• They were blamed for the Black Plague
• They were accused of poisoning wells and being
  sucklers of sows

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and there is more

• During the First Crusade, numerous Jews committed
  mass suicides to avoid forced baptism
• Towards the end of the Middle Ages, many Jews had
  become homeless wanderers
• They faced numerous expulsions from England
  (1290) from France (1306) and in subsequent
  years from cities in Spain, Germany, and Austria
• In 1492, the Spanish Inquisition brought
  expulsion, thousands of tortures, burnings at the
  stake, and forced conversions

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The Sixteenth-Century European Reformation The
Theological Triumph of Supersessionism

• Supersessionism Belief that Christianity has
  superceded (replaced)the relationship between God
  and Israel through its embrace of Jesus the
  Messiah. In other words, the Gentiles (Church)
  have become the true heirs of the divine promises
  given to Abraham in Genesis.
• The predominant scholarly view of the sixteenth
  century stresses the Reformation intensified a
  process, under way since the later Middle Ages,
  of more strictly defining the markers of
  Christian identity. Thus the Reformation did not
  create substantially new ideas about the limits
  of Christianity it simply intensified sentiments
  already in placeThe process of reevaluation of
  Christian beliefs and social arrangements led to
  the creation of notions of identity and defensive
  boundaries directed both against members of other
  religions and against other Christians.
• Susan Boettcher, Insiders and Outsiders, in
  Reformation Christianity, Peter Matheson, ed.

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Church replaces Israel

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  Typical Reformation Era artistic image Ecclesia
  et Synogoga
  Synagoga

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and then there was Martin Luther

• In a 1523 pamphlet, Luther showed a remarkable
  (for his day) tolerance towards the Jews,
  criticizing superstitious beliefs about them, as
  well as persecutions against them. He had an
  evangelistic purpose A more Christ-like Church
  would be more attractive to them.
• However, in 1543 (he died in 1546), Luther
  authored the infamous work, On Jews and Their
  Lies, expressing sentiments like these
• They (Jews) must be driven from our country
• If God were to give me no other Messiah than
  such as the Jews wish and hope for, I would much,
  much rather be a sow than a human being
• My essay, I hope, will furnish a Christian (who
  in any case has no desire to become a Jew) with
  enough material not only to defend himself
  against the blind, venomous Jews, but also to
  become the foe of the Jewsthey are surely
  possessed by all devils

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Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) A Lonely Advocate
for the Jews

• German humanist scholar who was Roman Catholic
  (but in his latter years seamed to be leaning
  Protestant
• Championed the study of the Hebrew Bible
  published a landmark Hebrew grammar and lexicon
• Promoted the study of Hebrew among Christian
  scholars (which would lead to a more critical
  reading of the Vulgate and yield new, vernacular
  translations)
• Challenged the popular notion that all Jewish
  books should be confiscated and burned (allegedly
  because they defamed Christianity)
• --Most Jewish books did not attack
  Christianity (and those that did were not
  accepted by Jewish scholars)

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Post-Reformation Europe was not much better for
the Jews

• 1648-58 500,000 Jews are killed in Poland due to
  being in the middle of a bloody revolt against
  the Cossacks
• Continued to be viewed with contemptor
  persecutedin other European countries
• 19th -20th centuries Czarist Russia conducts
  series of pogroms against its large Jewish
  population (approx. 6 million) leaving 1000s
  dead
• 1880-1910 More than 2 million Jews immigrate to
  US through New York City

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and then along came Adolf Hitler

• The best characterization is provided by the
  product of this religious education, the Jew
  himself. His life is only of this world, and his
  spirit is inwardly as alien to true Christianity
  as his nature two thousand years previous was to
  the great founder of the new doctrine. Of course,
  the latter made no secret of his attitude toward
  the Jewish people, and when necessary he even
  took the whip to drive from the temple of the
  Lord this adversary of all humanity, who then as
  always saw in religion nothing but an instrument
  for his business existence. In return, Christ was
  nailed to the cross, while our present-day party
  Christians debase themselves to begging for
  Jewish votes at elections and later try to
  arrange political swindles with atheistic Jewish
  partiesand this against their own nation.
  --Mein Kampf (1925)

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20th Century Holocaust Did the Church Do Enough?

• Pope Pius XII Complex and conflicting responses
  to the Nazi anti-Semitism Public repudiation,
  advocacy for Jewish refugees, providing housing
  to Jewish childrenand silence. How much did the
  Vatican know about the holocaust? Opinions vary
  Pius has been criticized by many Jewish scholars,
  defended by Catholics. However, in 2012, Pope
  Benedict began to slow a process that would lead
  to Pius sainthood.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1933 Essay, The Church and
  the Jewish Question in which he boldly
  criticizes Hitlers persecution of the Jews on
  the basis of human rights and political injustice
  but also reveals a supersessionist theology that
  views this as part of a conversion narrative

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Practical Christian AdvocacyThe Netherlands
Ten Boom Family Hiding Persecuted Jewish
Neighbors

• In this household, Gods people are always
  welcome (Casper Ten Boom)

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Twentieth Century Establishment of the State of
Israel

• 1896 Jewish agnostic, Theodor Herzl, published
  Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State)advocating that
  a new Jewish nation be created in Palestine in
  the belief that anti-Semitism was inescapable
  apart from a Jewish homeland. While his
  intentions were secular, the majority of Herzls
  followers were Orthodox southeastern Europeans
• 70,00 Jews settled in Palestine after Herzls
  death in 1904. In 1917, Britain issued the
  Balfour Declaration endorsing the establishment
  of a Jewish national home
• Major episodes of Jewish persecution in the 20th
  century (i.e., Russian pogroms, Nazi Holocaust)
  contributed to wide support for a Palestinian
  homeland among the worlds powers (USA and USSR)
  and the United Nations
• May 14, 1948 State of Israel was formally
  recognized

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and Christian Zionism

• Growth of Dispensationalism among Protestant
  Conservatives in the early 20th century brought
  and its belief that ethnic Israel would be
  restoredcreated a Christian Zionism that
  further argued that the Jewish people had an
  inherent right to the land. The establishment of
  national Israel in 1948 was seen as a miraculous,
  prophetic fulfillment.
• Liberal Protestants called for the
  internationalization of the city of Jerusalem
  while these conservatives contended that
  biblically, it belonged to the Jewish people.
  After the 1967 Six-Day War, the National Council
  of Churches denounced Israels annexation of the
  old city while Christian Zionists hailed it as an
  act of God.
• 1976 Bicentennial Congress of Prophecy in
  Philadelphia issued a proclamation in support of
  Israel signed by 11 key evangelical leaders.
  Thousands signed this document which was
  presented to the Israeli ambassador to the US.
• 1977 Billy Graham calls for the US to rededicate
  itself to the safety of Israel
• 2006 Evangelist John Hagee forms the largest US
  pro-Israel organization, Christians United for
  Israel

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The State of Israel and American Conservative
Christians An On-going Coalition
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However, Christian Zionism may be
recedingespecially among the Next Generation of
Evangelicals due to concerns about peace,
justice, morality, and faith

• In October 2010, the Pew Forum on Religion and
  Public Life conducted a major survey of
  evangelical leaders attending the Third Lausanne
  Congress of World Evangelization in Cape Town,
  South Africa. When asked with which side of the
  Israeli-Palestinian conflict they sympathized,
  these leaders answered as follows
• All Evangelicals (Global)
• Sympathize with Israel34
• Sympathize with the Palestinians11
• Sympathize with Both Equally39
• American Evangelicals
• Sympathize with Israel30
• Sympathize with the Palestinians13
• Sympathize with Both Sides Equally49
• --David Brog, The End of Evangelical Support for
  Israel? Middle East Quarterly Spring 2014

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Restoration of Israel Heartsand Home

• For I will take you out of the nations I will
  gather you from all the countries and bring you
  back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean
  water on you, and you will be clean I will
  cleanse you from your impurities and from all
  your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a
  new spirit in you I will remove from you your
  heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And
  I will put my Spirit in you and move you to
  follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
  Then you will live in the land I gave your
  ancestors you will be my people, and I will be
  your God.
• 
  --Ezekiel 3624-28 NIV

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Lecture 4 Towards a Healthy Jewish-Christian
Dialogue Critically (and charitably)Affirming
Points of Similarity and Difference

• Our course of study enables us to make the
  following observations
• Christian Church is deeply indebted to Ancient
  Israel Its Story, Scriptures, and Savior come
  from the Jews.
• There are genuine differences between Judaism and
  Christianity largely centering on the person and
  work of Jesus of Nazareth. For Christians, he is
  imperative to any discussion of the monotheistic
  nature of God and the goal of biblical
  revelation.
• .Israel (and Jew?)has several layers of
  meaning on Scripture ( in both OT and NT)
  ethnicity, geographic location, spiritual
  conditionand these should be kept in some
  relation to each other
• Persecution has come from both directionsalthough
  after AD 70, the overwhelming numerical (and
  social and political) size of Christianity has
  made it the major aggressor
• Anti-Semitism even in its soft formshas
  contributed to a tolerance (and even approval) of
  negativity and mistreatment of the Jewish people

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• Replacement Theology has tended to foster a
  spiritual superiority among Christians towards
  their Jewish neighborsan acceptance of Jewish
  persecution a (as a divine remedial/conversion
  instrument)
• Christian Zionismdue to its view of predictive
  prophecy-- on the other hand, can tend to assess
  the actions of present-day Israel in an
  uncritical fashion by excusing its spiritual
  apathy and political/social injustices to its
  Palestinian neighbors
• Biblical, balanced, and Christ-like
  understanding of the relationship between Israel
  and the Christian Church will most likely come
  from some hybrid of the Four Views a
  delicate balance of continuity and discontinuity

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