Jewish Christian Relations

While we speak about the tenuous relationship between Christians and Jews dating back to the time of Christ, the seeds for the schism within Judaism may have been planted more than 500 years prior. Jeremiah was one of a group of distinguished prophets whose works became part of the Old Testament canon. The Jewish "wisdom" prophets lectured, warned and blamed all who would listen about the sins of their own people, the resulting punishments that God had prescribed for them, and what they had to do to get back into God's good graces.
Some prophets targeted Jewish monarchs as an idolatrous distraction which prevented the people from properly hearing the Word of God. Other prophets still maintained that Jews should continue to believe that God would not abandon his chosen people. Regardless of the specific message, it was clear that the overall prophetic approach to God’s covenant with the Jewish people was changing.
"A good century after the return from Exile...the doctrine of retribution, of God's righteousness, which rewards and punishes...had been shattered," said Catholic theologian Hans Kung in his book Judaism: Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (Kung 113).
In the passage quoted from Jeremiah above, the prophet is predicting that a new covenant would be formed between God and his people, an agreement that would supersede the pact made between Moses and God upon Sinai and at the Red Sea. The first covenant, Jeremiah indicated, would become null and void because of the sins of the Jewish people. The new covenant would absolve these sins and reaffirm God's fidelity to his people.
"This famous prophecy provides the foundation and the core of the central theological teaching of the New Testament," said The Collegeville Bible Commentary on the Old Testament. "It underlies, but without explicit references, much of the 'new life' theology of St. John and is central to the teaching of Jesus in John's Last Supper discourse." (Collegeville 469).
While Jeremiah is interpreted from many perspectives, some early Christian apologists proof-texted his words as an indication that the Jews had been cast aside by God because they had not remained faithful to Him and his Mosaic covenant. Jesus of Nazareth was the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophesies, so some claimed, and the Jews would remain shunned and doom...

... middle of paper ...

...0/18/97).
In fairness, over the first 1900 years after the Jewish schism, not all of Catholic and Christian attitudes toward Jews were uniformly oppressive. For limited periods of time, there were tolerable conditions in some countries for people of the Jewish faith. There were also some Catholic leaders who found ways to show tolerance and understanding toward the Jews. It also must be noted that there was, conversely, contempt in word, writings, and deeds displayed by rabbinical Judaism toward Christians during these centuries as well.
Recent efforts by Jewish historians such as David Biale of Berkeley emphasize the success, achievements, and power bases that Jews did have at various points during this time period (Kung page 159.) Although it predominates its history, the Jewish heritage is not simply one of continual suffering, persecution, and subservience.
Nonetheless, the majority of available historical evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that theologically-fueled anti-Semitism prevailed during the nineteen centuries following Christ's death, and many of these attitudes and persecutions provided logical segues which led up to 20th century European anti-Semitic atrocities.