Reflecting on Anti-Judaism in 2018

I was invited by the English and Theatre Department in my college to give a book talk this past week. As I was preparing the talk I was focusing on the great extent to which the New Testament christological hymns reflect a deep engagement with Jewish traditions, especially the Wisdom tradition and the prophetic promises of renewal of God’s people in the new age. I began to realize that I could not speak about the Jewish dimensions of these early hymns without also speaking to the rise of anti-Semitism that has been forcibly brought into our consciousness as a nation, and especially here in Pittsburgh. Below are some of the ways I have reflected on this reality and some of what I included in my talk this week:

In my writing and speaking to date, I generally gloss over the complicated relationship that developed between Christians and Jews in the first century and beyond. I had kind of assumed that, as people of good will in the 21^st century, “we” were beyond anti-Semitism and one did not need to write or speak directly against. Fair-minded and careful reading of ancient Jewish and early Christian writings demonstrates a sensitivity and respect that we all, whether scholars or lay people, should bring to the study of religious texts. But the horrific shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, less than 3 miles from this location, means that there is still work to do to promote a responsible understanding of the relationship of Christianity and Judaism in antiquity. On top of that, the FBI released a report yesterday detailing a 37% increase in hate crimes against Jews over the last 3 years; hate crimes against Jews were already the highest proportion of religious hate crimes. 

All of this is very disturbing, and in our climate of increasing hate and animosity, people of faith must remind ourselves of the sacredness of all creation—meaning that every person, regardless of background, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity—everyone we encounter is, according to Jesus, our neighbor, our brother, our sister, part of our human family. Those of us who believe that need to affirm it; and beyond affirming it, we now must also speak up where we can about these issues. 

Within our view of the human family as people created by God there is no room for racism or anti-Semitism. However, it is a sad fact that in history Christian biblical interpretation has at times played a part in devaluing Judaism. Anti-Judaism, as it is called, is unfortunately common in biblical interpretation, when Christians create a caricature of early Jewish belief and practice, and use that as a negative foil against which to present Jesus as bringing something new and better. It is often unintentional, but even something as simple as characterizing the Christian Old Testament (supposedly representing Judaism) as promoting law, wrath, and judgment—while claiming that the New Testament is a message of love, grace, and forgiveness—is in reality an expression of anti-Judaism. There are three serious problems about such portrayals of early Judaism. First, such over-simplifications are just flat out wrong: the Jewish Scriptures, rightly understood, are full of mercy, forgiveness, and grace; as is Judaism. Christians did not invent those concepts; they are Jewish through and through, as was Jesus. Second, those erroneous views of early Judaism have been used throughout history to justify abuse and mistreatment of Jews. Third, such simplistic views actually implicitly undermine the very teaching of the Scriptures which Christians claim to promote. We must stand against anti-Judaism and caricatures of people of faiths other than our own. 

Yes, we must also acknowledge that Christianity and Judaism are two very different religious traditions. But they share a great deal in common. At the very least, when reading the New Testament, Christians are obligated to be careful to understand the nature of the conflicts within first-century Judaism. It was not simply Jesus the loving Christian against the legalistic, mean-spirited Jews. It is rather Jesus the Jewish teacher engaging with his fellow Jews, wrestling with how to understand the promises of God for their day, and how best to live within the new age that God was initiating. 

The New Testament christological hymns [the subject of my book talk] show us that the earliest followers of Jesus saw Jesus as fully in line with the Jewish expectations that God would fulfill the ancient promises and redeem humanity. God was fulfilling God’s promises, and doing so through Jesus. Whether one accepts that Jesus was God’s agent in fulfilling these promises is, of course, the crux of the matter for Christian belief. But the early hymns show us that Jews and Christians alike can acknowledge the shared vision of renewed humanity that derives from the first century Jewish context and the shared biblical tradition. 

Further, like other Jewish resistance poetry, the New Testament hymns take aim not at Jewish belief. Instead, they take aim at the Roman emperor who had been elevated to divine status that belonged only to the one true God.

With those acknowledgements and cautions in view, I then concluded my talk pointing out the ways in which the New Testament christological hymns engage deeply with Jewish ideas, while also countering Roman imperial claims.

There are many good resources that address issues of anti-Judaism in Christian biblical interpretation, and I hope to engage further with those in future posts. Amy-Jill Levine’s work is a great starting point, both her books and her more popular writing. For now, I wanted to at least share these thoughts on the blog as I continue to reflect on the responses we are obligated to make to these disturbing rise of hate in our days.