Christianity and antisemitism

Early differences

Christianity and Judaism differed in their legal status in the Roman Empire : Judaism, restricted to the Jewish people and Jewish proselytes , was exempted from the obligation to the Roman imperial cult and since the reign of Julius Caesar enjoyed the status of “religion religion” , though there were also occasional persecutions, for example in 19 Tiberius expelled the Jews from Rome, ^[7] as Claudius did again in 49. ^[8] Christianity, however, was not restricted to one people, and as Jewish Christians were excluded from the synagogue (see Council of Jamnia), they also lost the protection of the status of Judaism, though said protection did have its limits (see for example Titus Flavius ​​Clemens (consul) , Rabbi Akiva , and Ten Martyrs ).

From the reign of Nero onwards, who is said by Tacitus to have blamed the Great Fire of Rome on Christians, Christianity has been considered to be illegal and has been frequently subjected to persecution , differing regionally. Comparably, Judaism suffered the setbacks of the Jewish-Roman wars , remembered in the legacy of the Ten Martyrs . Robin Lane Fox traces the origin of much hostility to the period of persecution, where the common test by the authorities of a suspected Christianity was to be paid to the deified emperor. Jews were exempted from this requirement as long as they paid Fiscus Judaicus, and Christians (many or mostly of Jewish origins). This has been confirmed by the local Jewish authorities, who are likely to refuse to accept the Christians as Jewish, often leading to their execution. ^[9] The Birkat haMinim was often brought forward for this charge that the Jews were responsible for the Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire . ^{[ Citation needed ]} In the 3rd century systematic persecution of Christians Began and Lasted up to Constantine ‘s conversion to Christianity. ^{[ citation needed ]} In 390 Theodosius Imade Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire . While pagan cults and Manichaeism were suppressed, Judaism retained its legal status as a religion, though anti-Jewish violence still occurred. In the 5th century, some legal measures worsened the status of the Jews in the Roman Empire (now more properly called the Byzantine Empire since relocating to Constantinople ). ^{[ quote needed ]}

Issues arising from the New Testament

Jesus as the Messiah

Jesus Was regarded by Christians to be the Messiah , while MOST Jews for the death of Jesus Would Have Sufficient proof beens That He Was not the Jewish Messiah. The fact that Jesus had been a Jew and Christianity emerged from Judaism played a pivotal role in the way Christians perceived Jews and Judaism. Because Jews did not believe Jesus was the son of God and rejected Christian beliefs such as the Eucharist (the bread being the body of Jesus and the wine being his blood), this provided an existential dilemma within Christianity. If Christianity had come from Judaism and Jesus was a Jew, how and why did the Jews reject such core elements of Christianity? The most widely held explanation has been that the Covenant of God has been taken into consideration by the United States, and has been condemned to the rest of the world on earth, a symbol of degradation and sub-humanity. It was because of this belief that many Medieval Europeans rulers protected the Jews,^[10]

Criticism of the Pharisees

Many New Testament passages criticize the Pharisees and it has been argued that these passages have formed the way Christians viewed Jews. Like most Bible passages, however, they can be interpreted in a variety of ways.

Mainstream Talmudic Rabbinical Judaism today directly descends from the Pharisees who Jesus often criticized. ^[11] [12] During Jesus’ life and at the time of his execution, the Pharisees were only one of several Jewish groups such as the Sadducees , Zealots , and Essenes who mostly died not long after the period; ^[13] indeed, Jewish scholars like Harvey Falk and Hyam Maccobyhave suggested that Jesus was himself in Pharisee. Arguments by Jesus and his followers against the Pharisees and what they saw in their hypocrisy were most likely examples of disputes among Jews and local people at the time, see for example Hillel and Shammai .

Recent studies on antisemitism in the New Testament

Professor Lillian C. Freudmann, author of Antisemitism in the New Testament ( University Press of America , 1994), has published a detailed study of the description of Jews in the New Testament, and the historical effects of such passages in the Christian community throughout history. Similar studies of such verses have been made by both Christian and Jewish scholars, including Professors Clark Williamsom (Christian Theological Seminary), Hyam Maccoby (Leo Baeck Institute), Norman A. Beck (Texas Lutheran College), and Michael Berenbaum (Georgetown) University). Most rabbis feel that these are antisemitic, and many Christian scholars, in America and Europe, have reached the same conclusion. Another example isJohn Dominic Crossan’s 1995 Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus .

Some biblical scholars have also been accused of holding antisemitic beliefs. Bruce J. Malina , founding member of the Context Group , has come under criticism for the future of Israelis. He then ties this back to his work on first century cultural anthropology. ^[14]

Church Fathers

After Paul ‘s death, Christianity emerged as a separate religion, and Pauline Christianity emerged as the dominant form of Christianity, especially after Paul, James and the other apostles agreed on a compromised set of requirements. ^{[Acts 15]} Some Christians continued to adhere to aspects of Jewish law, but they were few in number and often considered heretics by the Church. One example is the Ebionites , who seem to have denied the virgin birth of Jesus, the physical resurrection of Jesus , and most of the books that were later canonized as the New Testament . For example, the Ethiopian Orthodoxstill continues Old Testament practices such as the Sabbath . As late as the 4th century Church Father John Chrysostom complained that some Christians were still attending Jewish synagogues.

The Church Fathers identified Jews and Judaism with heresy and declared the people of Israel to be extra Deum (lat, “outside of God”). Saint Peter of Antioch referred to Christians who refused to worship religious pictures as having “Jewish minds”. ^[15]

Patristic bishops of the patristic era Such As Augustine argued que la Jews shoulds be left alive and Suffering as a perpetual reminder of Their murder of Christ . Like his anti-Jewish teacher, Ambrose of Milan , he defined Jews as a special subset of those damned to hell . As ” Witness Peoples “, he sanctified collective punishment for the Jewish deicide and enslavement of Jews to Catholics: “Not by bodily death,` shall the ungodly race of carnal Jews perish … ’em scatter abroad, take away Their strength And bring. them down O Lord ‘ “.

Augustine claimed to “love” the Jews as a means to convert to Christianity. Sometimes there is no Judgment and the doctrine (together with St. Cyprian ) that there was no salvation outside the Church. ^[16]

Other Church Fathers, such as John Chrysostom , went further in their condemnation. The Catholic editor Paul Harkins wrote that St. John Chrysostom’s anti-Jewish theology is no longer tenable (..) For these objectively unchristian acts he can not be excused, even if he is the product of his times. John Chrysostom held, “Most Church Fathers Did, That the Sins of All Jews were Communal and Endless,” to “His Jewish Neighbours” were the collective representation of all alleged crimes of all preexisting Jews. All Church Fathers applied the passages of the New Testament concerning the alleged advocation of the crucifixion of Christ to all Jews of the day, the Jews were the ultimate evil. HOWEVER,in human flesh, Christ, they have been killed: “grew fit for slaughter.” In quoting the New Testament, ^{[Luke 19:27]} he claimed that Jesus was speaking about those who said, “for those enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me. ” ^[16]

St. Jerome identified Jews with Judas Iscariot and the immoral use of money (“Judas is cursed, that in Judas the Jews may be accursed … their prayers turn into sins”). Jerome’s homiletical assaults, which may have served as a basis for the anti-Jewish Good Friday liturgy , contrasts Jews with the evil, and that “the ceremonies of the Jews are harmful and deadly to Christians”, whoever keeps them to the devil : “My enemies are the Jews, they have conspired in hatred against Me, crucified Me, heaped evils of all kinds upon Me, blasphemed Me.” ^[16]

Ephraim the Syrian wrote polemics against Jews in the 4th century, including the repeated accusation that Satan dwells as a partner. The writings were directed at Christians who were being proselytized by Jews. Ephraim feared that they were slipping back into Judaism; thus, he portrayed the Jews as enemies of Christianity, like Satan, to emphasize the contrast between the two religions, namely, that Christianity was Godly and true and Judaism was Satanic and false. Like John Chrysostom, his objective was to dissuade Christians from reverting to Judaism by emphasizing what he saw as the wickedness of the Jews and their religion. ^[17] [18]

However, there are also positive remarks from the Church Fathers on the issue, such as Eusebius of Caesarea (circa 263-340 AD) in his Ecclesiastical History, who said, “The race of the Hebrews is not new, but is honored among all men for its antiquity and is well-known to all. ”

Middle Ages

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), a Doctor of the Catholic Church, said, “They are not to be persecuted, killed, or even put to flight. ” ^[19]

Jews Were subject to a wide-range of legal disabilities and restrictions in Medieval Europe. Jews are excluded from many trades, the occupations vary with place and time, and determined by the influence of various non-Jewish competing interests. Often Jews were barred from all occupations but money-lending and peddling, with even these at times forbidden. Jews’ association to money lending would carry on the history in the stereotype of Jews being greedy and perpetuating capitalism.

In the later medieval period, the number of Jews permitted to reside in certain places was limited; they were concentrated in ghettos , and were not allowed to own land; They Were subject to Discriminatory taxes they Reviews entering cities or districts other than Their Own, ^{[ citation needed ]} The Oath More Judaico , the form of oath required from Jewish Witnesses, In Some gold weird Developed seats humiliating forms, eg in Swabian law of the 13th century, the Jew would be required to boast a bloody lamb. ^{[ quote needed ]}

The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 was the first to proclaim the requirement for Jews to wear them as Jews (and Muslims the same). On many occasions, Jews have been accused of a blood libel , the alleged drinking of blood of Christian children in mockery of the Christian Eucharist . ^{[ quote needed ]}

Sicut Judaeis 

Sicut Judaeis (the “Constitution for the Jews”) was the official position of the papacy regarding Jews throughout the Middle Ages and later. The first bull was issued in 1120 by Calixtus II , intended to protect Jews who suffered during the First Crusade , and was reaffirmed by many popes, even until the 15th century, they were not always strictly upheld.

The bull forbade, besides other things, Christians from coercing Jews to convert, or to harm them, to their property, or to disturb the celebration of their festivals, or to interfere with their cemeteries, on pain of excommunication. ^[20]

Popular antisemitism

Antisemitism in popular European Christian culture escalated beginning in the 13th century. Blood libels and host desecration drew attention and led to many cases of persecution against Jews. Many believed Jews poisoned wells to cause plagues. In the case of blood libel it was widely believed that the Jews would kill a child before they died. The Church often added to the fire by the dead child as a martyr who had been tortured Sometimes the children were even made into Saints. ^[10] Antisemitic imagery such asJudensau and Ecclesia and Synagoga recurred in Christian art and architecture.

In Iceland, one of the hymns repeated in the days leading up to Easter includes the lines, ^[21]

The righteous Law of Moses

The Jews here misapplied,

Which their deceit exposes,

Their hatred and their pride.

The judgment is the Lord’s.

When by falsification

The foe makes accusation,

It’s His to make awards.

Persecutions and expulsions

During the Middle Ages in Europe, persecution and formal evictions of Jews should be allowed to occur, although it should be noted that this is also the case for other minority communities, regardless of whether they were religious or ethnic. There were particular outbursts of riotous persecution during the Rhineland massacres of 1096 in Germany accompanying the lead-up to the First Crusade , many involving the crusaders as they traveled to the East. There have been many local expulsions from cities by local rulers and city councils. In Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor is one of the most popular people in the world. In theEdict of Expulsion , King Edward I expelled all the Jews from England in 1290 (only after ransoming some 3,000 among the most wealthy of them), on the charge of usury and undermining loyalty to the dynasty. In 1306 there was a wave of persecution in France, and there were widespread Black Death Jewish persecutions as the Jews were blamed by many Christians for the plague, or spreading it. ^[22] [23] As late as 1519, the Imperial city of Regensburg took advantage of the recent death of Emperor Maximilian I to expel its 500 Jews. ^[24]

Expulsion of Jews from Spain

Much the Largest expulsion of Jews Followed the Reconquista gold reunification of Spain Preceded and the expulsion of the Muslims Who Would not convert, Whose Were religious rights protected by the Treaty of Granada (1491) . On 31 March 1492 Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile , the rulers of Spain who pays Christopher Columbus ‘ voyage to the New World in a few months later in 1492 the country. While some converted, many others left for Portugal , France , Italy (including the Papal States), Netherlands , Poland , the Ottoman Empire , and North Africa . Many of those who had fled to Portugal were later expelled by King Manuel in 1497 or left to avoid forced conversion and persecution .

Renaissance to the 17th century

Cum Nimis Absurdum

On 14 July 1555, Pope Paul IV Issued papal bull Cum nimis absurdum qui revoked all the rights of the Jewish community and Placed religious and economic restrictions on Jews in the Papal States , Renewed anti-Jewish legislation and Subjected Jews to various degradations and restrictions on their personal freedom.

The bull established the Roman Ghetto and Required Jews of Rome, which had existed as a Christian Times and which numbered about 2,000 at the time, to live in it. The Ghetto was a walled quarter with three gates that were locked at night. Jews were also restricted to one synagogue per city.

Paul IV’s successor, Pope Pius IV , the most popular ghettos in his country, and his successor, Pope Pius V , recommended them to other bordering states.

Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther at first made overtures towards the Jews, believing that the “evils” of Catholicism had prevented their conversion to Christianity. When his call to his version of Christianity was unsuccessful, he became hostile to them. ^{[25] [ citation needed ]}

In his book On the Jews and their Lies , Luther excoriates them as “venomous beasts, vipers, disgusting scum, canders, incarnate devils.” He provided detailed recommendations for a pogromagainst them, calling for their permanent oppressionand eviction, “Their private houses must be destroyed and devastated, they should be allowed to stay the same, and let them be forced to work. , we will be compelled to expel them like dogs in order to expose ourselves to incurring divine wrath and eternal damnation from the Jews and their lies. ” At one point he wrote: “… we are at fault in not slaying them …” a passage that “may be termed the first work of modern antisemitism, and a giant step forward on the road to the Holocaust .” ^[26]

Luther’s harsh comments about the Jews are seen by many as a continuation of medieval Christian antisemitism. In his final sermon shortly before his death, however, Luther preached: “We want to treat them with Christian love and to pray for them, so that they might become converted and would receive the Lord.” ^[27]

18th century

In accordance with the anti-Jewish precepts of the Russian Orthodox Church , ^[28] : 14 Russia’s discriminatory policies towards Jews intensified when the partition of Poland in the 18th century resulted, for the first time in Russian history, in the possession of land a large Jewish population. ^[28] : 28 This land was designated as the Pale of Settlement from which Jews were forbidden to migrate into the interior of Russia. ^[28] : 28 In 1772 Catherine II , the empress of Russia, forced the Jews to live in the Pale of Settlement to stay in their shtetlsand forbade them from returning to the towns that they occupied before the partition of Poland. ^[29]

19th century

Throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century, the Roman Catholic Church still has strong antisemitic elements, an increase in anti-Judaism and racial anti-Semitism. Pope Pius VII (1800-1823) had the walls of the Jewish ghetto in Rome rebuilt after the Jews were emancipated by Napoleon , and Jews were restricted to the ghetto through the end of the Papal States in 1870. Official Catholic organizations, such as the Jesuits, banned candidates “who are descended from the Jewish race unless their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have belonged to the Catholic Church” until 1946.

Brown University historian David Kertzer , working from the Vatican archive, has argued in his book The Popes Against the Jews in the 19th and early 20th centuries the Roman Catholic Church adhered to a distinction between “good antisemitism” and “bad antisemitism”. The “bad” kind of hatred of Jews because of their descent. This was considered a Christian because the Christian message was intended for all of humanity regardless of ethnicity; anyone could become a Christian. The “good” type of criticized Jewish conspiraciesto control newspapers, banks, and other institutions, Many Catholic bishops wrote articles criticizing Jews on such grounds, and when they were accused of Jews, they would say they condemned the “bad” kind of anti-Semitism. Kertzer’s work is not without criticism. Scholar of Jewish-Christian relations Rabbi David G. Dalin , for example, criticized Kertzer in the Weekly Standard for using evidence selectively.

20th century

WWI to the eve of WWII

In 1916, in the midst of the First World War , American Jews petitioned Pope Benedict XV on behalf of the Polish Jews.

Nazi antisemitism

On April 26, 1933 Hitler proclaimed during a meeting with Roman Catholic Bishop Wilhelm Berning  ( de ) of Osnabrück:

“I have been attacked because of my handling of the Jewish question. The Catholic Church considered the Jews pestilent for fifteen hundred years, put them in ghettos, etc., because it recognized the Jews for what they were. In the epoch of liberalism the danger was no longer recognized. I am moving back to the time in which a fifteen-hundred-year-long tradition has been implemented. I do not set race over religion, but I recognize the representatives of this race for the state and for the Church, and perhaps I am doing doing Christianity in a very good way by pushing them out of schools and public functions.

The transcript of this discussion contains no response by Bishop Berning. Martin Rhonheimer does not consider this unusual, in his opinion, for a Catholic Bishop in 1933 there was nothing particularly objectionable in this historically correct reminder. ^[30]

The Nazis used Martin Luther’s book, On the Jews and Their Lies (1543), to claim a moral righteousness for their ideology. Luther even went so far as to advocate the murder of those who refused to convert to Christianity, writing that “we are at fault in not slaying them”. ^[31]

Archbishop Robert Runcie HAS Asserted That: “Without centuries of Christian antisemitism, Hitler’s passionate hatred Would never-have-been so fervently echoed … because for centuries Christians-have Held Collectively Jews responsible for the death of Jesus is Good Friday Jews, in times-have. past, cowered behind locked doors with fear of a Christian mob seeking ‘revenge’ for deicide, without the poisoning of Christian minds through the centuries, the Holocaust is unthinkable. ” ^[1] : 21 Dissident Catholic priest Hans Künghas written that “Nazi anti-Judaism was the work of godless, anti-Christian criminals.But it would have been possible without the almost two thousand years’ pre-history of ‘Christian’ anti-Judaism …” ^[2] : 169

The document Dabru Emet was issued by over 220 rabbis and intellectuals from all branches of Judaism in 2000 as a statement about Jewish-Christian relations. This document states,

Christianity, Christianity, Christianity, Christianity, Anti-Judaism, and Christian violence against Jews, Nazi ideology could not have been taken Other Objectives of the Christianity of the Third World: “But Nazism itself was not an inevitable outcome of Christianity.”

According to American historian Lucy Dawidowicz , antisemitism has a long history within Christianity. The line of “antisemitic descent” from Luther, the author of The Hitler is “easy to draw.” In her The War Against the Jews , 1933-1945 , she contends that Luther and Hitler were obsessed by the “demonologized universe” inhabited by Jews. Dawidowicz writes that the similarities between Luther’s anti-Jewish writings and modern antisemitism are no coincidence, because they derive from a common history of Judenhass , which can be traced to Haman’s advice to Ahasuerus .nationalism and the liberal revolution of 1848, Christian antisemitism she writes is a foundation that was ugly by the Roman Catholic Church and “upon which Luther built.” ^[3]

Collaborating Christians

• German Christians
• Gleichschaltung
• Hanns Kerrl , Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs
• Positive Christianity (the approved Nazi version of Christianity)
• Protestant Reich Church

Opposition to the Holocaust

The Confessing Church was, in 1934, the first Christian opposition group. The Catholic Church officially condemned the Nazi theory of racism in Germany in 1937 with the encyclical ” Mit brennender Sorge “, signed by Pope Pius XI , and Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber led the Catholic opposition, preaching against racism.

Many individual Christian clergy and the people of all denominations had to pay for their opposition to their life, including:

• Catholic priest, Maximilian Kolbe .
• Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• the Catholic parson of Berlin Cathedral, Bernhard Lichtenberg .
• the mostly Catholic members of the Munich resistance group White Rose around Hans and Sophie Scholl .

By the 1940s fewer Christians were willing to oppose the Nazi policy. There are many sections of Israel Holocaust Remembrance Museum, Yad Vashem , dedicated to honoring these ” Righteous Among the Nations “.

Pope Pius XII

Before becoming Pope, Cardinal Pacelli addressed to the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest on 25-30 May 1938, where he made reference to the Jews “whose lips curse [Christ] and whose hearts reject him even today”; At this time, antisemitic laws were in the process of being formulated in Hungary. ^[32] : 92

The 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge was issued by Pope Pius XI , ^[33] but drafted by the future Pope Pius XII ^[34] and read from the pulpits of all German Catholic churches, it condemned Nazi ideology and has been characterized by scholars as the “first great official public document to be confronted and criticized Nazism ” and “one of the greatest such condemnations ever issued by the Vatican.” ^[35]

In the summer of 1942, Pius Explained à son College of Cardinals The Reasons for the great gulf That Existed entre Jews and Christians at the theological level: ” Jerusalem HAS Responded to His call and to His grace with the Sami rigid blindness and stubborn ingratitude That He has gone on the path of guilt to the murder of God. ” Historian Guido Knopp describes these comments of Pius as being ” incomprehensible ” at a time when ” Jerusalem was being murdered by the million “. ^[36] This traditional adversarial relationship with Judaism would be reversed in Nostra aetate issued during the Second Vatican Council. ^[37]

Prominent members of the Jewish community have contradicted the criticisms of Pius and spoke highly of their efforts to protect Jews. ^[38] The Israeli historian Pinchas Lapide interviewed war survivors and concluded that Pius XII “was instrumental in saving at least 700,000, but probably as many as 860,000 Jews from certain death at Nazi hands”. Some historians dispute this estimate. ^[39]

“White Power” movement

The Christian Identity movement, the Ku Klux Klan, and other White supremacist groups have expressed antisemitic views. They claim that their antisemitism is based on the purported Jewish control of the media, international banks, radical left-wing politics , and the Jews’ promotion of multiculturalism , anti-Christian groups, liberalism and perverse organizations. They rebuke charges of racism and claim that they share their ideology maintain membership in their organizations. A racial belief common among these groups, is an alternative history doctrine, which is sometimes calledBritish Israelism . In some of its forms, this doctrine absolutely denies the view that modern Jews have any racial connection to the Israel of the Bible . Instead, according to extreme forms of this doctrine, the true racial Israel and the true humans are the members of the Adamic ( white ) race. These groups are often rejected Christian groups by the mainstream Christian denominations or the vast majority of Christians around the world. ^[40] [41]

Post World War II antisemitism

Antisemitism in Europe remains a substantial problem. Antisemitism exists to a lesser or greater degree in many other nations, including Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the frequent frequent tensions between some Muslim immigrants and Jews across Europe. ^[42] [43] The US State Department reports that antisemitism has dramatically increased in Europe and Eurasia since 2000. ^[44]

While in the 1940s, there is still a measurable amount of antisemitism in the United States of America, although acts of violence are rare. For example, the influential evangelical preacher Billy Graham and then-president Richard Nixon were captured in the early 1970s discussing matters of how to address the Jews’ control of the American media . ^[45] [46] This belief in Jewish conspiracies and the domination of the media was similar to those of Graham’s mentors: William Bell Riley Graham to succeed him as the second president of Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School and Evangelist Mordecai Hamled the meetings where Graham first believed in Christ. Both held strongly antisemitic views. ^[47] The 2001 survey by the Anti-Defamation League Reported 1432 acts of antisemitism in the United States That year. The figure included 877 acts of harassment, including verbal intimidation, threats and physical assaults. ^[48] A minority of American churches engages in anti-Israel activism, including support for the controversial BDS ( Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions ) movement. While not directly indicative of anti-semitism, this activism often conflicts with the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians with that of Jesus, thus promoting the anti-semitic doctrine of Jewish guilt . ^[49]Many Christian Zionists are also accused of anti-Semitism, such as John Hagee , who argued that the Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves by angering God. ^[50]

Anti-Judaism

Many Christians do not consider anti-Judaism to be anti- Semitism . ^{[ according to whom? ]} They look anti-Judaism as a conflict of religiously sincere people with the tenets of Judaism, while regarding antisemitism as an emotional bias or hatred not specifically targeting the religion of Judaism. Under this approach, anti-Judaism is not regarded as anti-Semitism and it does not include the religious ideas of Judaism and does not involve actual hostility to the Jewish people. ^{[ quote needed ]}

Others see anti-Judaism as the rejection of or opposition to beliefs and practices because of their source in Judaism or because a belief or practice is associated with the Jewish people. (But see supersessionism )

The position that “Christian theological anti-Judaism is a phenomenon distinct from modern antisemitism, which is rooted in economic and racial thought, so that Christian teachings should not be held responsible for antisemitism” ^[6]has been articulated, among other places, by Pope John Paul II in ‘We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah ,’ and the Jewish Declaration on Christianity, Dabru Emet . ^[6] Several scholars, including Susannah Heschel, ^[6] Gavin I Langmuir ^[51] and Uriel Tal ^[6] have challenged this position, arguing that anti-Judaism led directly to modern anti-Semitism.

Although Christians in the past did not consider it to be contrary to Christian teaching, this view was not popularly expressed by leaders and lay people. In many cases, the practical tolerance towards the Jewish religion and Jews prevailed. Some Christian groups, particularly in early years, condemned verbal anti-Judaism. ^{[ quote needed ]}

Jewish converts

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant Christian denomination in the US, has explicitly rejected suggestions that it should be backed up to view that salvation is found only through faith in Christ. In 1996 the SBC approved a resolution calling for efforts to seek the conversion of Jews “for the salvation of” every kindred and tongue and people and nation. ”

Most Evangelicals agree with the SBC position, and some support for seeking Jews’ conversion. At the same time these groups are among the most pro-Israeli groups. ( For more, see Christian Zionism .) Among the controversial groups that evangelical churches for Jews , which claims that Jews can “complete” their Jewish faith by accepting Jesus as the Messiah.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) , the United Methodist Church , and the United Church of Canada have completed their efforts to convert Jews. While Anglicans do not, as a rule, seek converts from other Christian denominations, ^[52] the General Synod has affirmed that “the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ is for all and must be shared with all other people. it would be to institutionalize discrimination “. ^[53]

The Roman Catholic Church has traditionally had religious congregations specifically aimed at the conversion of Jews. Some of these were founded by Jewish converts themselves, like the Community of Our Lady of Zion, which was composed of nuns and ordained priests . Many Catholic saints were noted for their missionary zeal in converting Jews, such as Vincent Ferrer . After the Second Vatican Council, many missionary orders aimed at converting Jews to Christianity no longer in motion (or proselytize ) among Jews. Traditionalist Roman Catholicgroups, congregations and clergymen, however, continue to support missioning Jews according to traditional patterns, sometimes with success ( eg , the Society of St. Pius X which has notable Jewish converts among its faithful, many of whom have become traditionalist priests).

Some Jewish organizations have described evangelism and missionary activity directed specifically at Jews as antisemitic . ^{[54] [55] [56]}