After learning about the Holocaust, I’ve asked myself many times how this could have happened. Why would anyone believe it’s acceptable to massacre an entire people? This is my reasoning for writing my paper on how Christian theology influenced anti-Semitism. Much of the Holocaust appears to have it’s beginning with Christian theology. I will begin my paper with the early writings of Christians and continue chronologically until after World War II.
The Apostle Paul was one the first people to criticize the Jewish people. At first, he tried to explain to the Christians not to adopt a superior attitude towards the Jews.
IF THE PART OF THE DOUGH OFFERED AS FIRST FRUITS IS HOLY, THEN THE WHOLE BRANCH IS HOLY; AND IF THE ROOT IS HOLY, THEN THE BRANCHES ARE ALSO HOLY…DO NOT BOAST OVER THE BRANCHES. IF YOU DO BOAST, REMEMBER THAT IT IS NOT YOU THAT SUPPORT THE ROOT, BUT THE ROOT SUPPORTS YOU.
[ROMANS 11]
At one point this appeared to be Paul’s feeling towards the Jews and the Christians. His sentiment appeared to change, according to Christian suppressionists. In the text Romans, many of Paul’s statements were misinterpreted by those Christians to make themselves appear more superior to the Jewish people.
…INCLUDING US WHOM HE HAS CALLED, NOT FROM THE JEWS ONLY BUT ALSO FROM THE GENTILES? AS INDEED HE SAYS IN HOSEA, "THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE I WILL CALL ‘MY PEOPLE,’ AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED I WILL CALL ‘BELOVED.’" "AND IN THE VERY PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’ THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED CHILDREN OF THE LIVING GOD,"
…GENTILES, WHO DID NOT STRIVE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, HAVE ATTAINED IT, THAT IS, RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH FAITH; BUT ISRAEL, WHO DID STRIVE FOR THE RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT IS BASED ON THE LAW, DID NOT SUCCEED IN FULFILLING THAT LAW… [ROMANS 9]
"In proclaiming his Christian message Paul stressed that the Jewish nation had been rejected by God, and the new Covenant had superseded the old," said David Cohn-Sherbok, in his book The Crucified Jew. "In these ways the New Testament laid the foundations for later Christian hostility to the Jewish nation…and served as the basis for the early Church’s vilification of the Jews." (Cohn-Sherbok)
Another early Christian writing which may have encouraged Jewish hatred is the Gospels of John. Sch...
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This essay will review Daniel Goldhagen’s controversial moral inquiry, ‘A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair’, published in 2002. Goldhagen attended Harvard University as a graduate, undergraduate and assistant professor until he was denied tenure in 2003; this possibly indicates his limited status as an academic. Goldhagen notes that he is ‘indebted’ to his father, a Holocaust survivor, for some of his findings on the Holocaust. This personal connection to the Holocaust on the one hand allows Goldhagen to write more passionately. On the other hand, it obscures his ability to view evidence objectively, evident in this book under review. Goldhagen status rose to notoriety due to the controversial nature of his first book, ‘Hitler’s Willing Executioners’ published in 1996. This received much criticism and perhaps more importantly to Goldhagen, plenty of publicity. The contentious assertions of the book, whether academically valid or not, established the relative novice amongst historians. This is evident in the abundance of secondary literature that comments on Goldhagen’s work including that edited by F. Littell and F. Kautz. Goldhagen’s credentials as a controversial author explain the extremist content of his second book, ‘A Moral Reckoning’. Goldhagen’s academic background in political science is evident in the books emphasis on the church as a ‘political institution’ and the pope as a ‘political leader’ (p. 184). . This limits his work as a historian as he fails to fully examine the role of the individual.
This anti-Jew sentiment would further be sensationalized by rumors, political movements, and the biased, fabricated newspaper reports of the
With Jerusalem destroyed, Paul and others followers of the Jerusalem Church, which was a section of Judaism, began to spread the word of Jesus throughout Rome and the surrounding area to Gentiles. No one had a greater effect on spreading Christianity than Paul did, Paul was actually quite radical as he preached the teachings of Jesus Christ to Gentiles as they too could get God’s salvation. This can also be seen by looking at The New Testament as fourteen of the twenty-seven books in The New Testament have been linked to Paul. With Paul and other apostles spreading the word of Jesus after his death and resurrection the Early Church and Judaism began to clash which then caused the teachings of Jesus to break off. In short the Roman Jewish War gave the teachings of Jesus Christ the ability to take hold in ancient Europe which allowed those teachings to break off and form a new religion,
When one reads the New Testament, a contradiction appears in reading Paul and James’ teachings concerning ‘faith’ and ‘works’. There is also question about the word ‘justified’ as to its meaning. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Paul writes this “16 yet we know that a person is justified[a] not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.[b] And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ,[c] and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law,” in 2:16. (NRSV) And in Galatians 3:6-7 says this, “6 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” 7 so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham.” (NRSV) Paul also stated in Romans a similar idea, “28 For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law,” in 3:28. In chapter 4 of Romans, Paul uses Abraham as an example from
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Harris calls Paul “the most influential apostle and missionary of the mid-first-century CE church and author of seven to nine New Testament letters” (H G-33). It would be quite an accolade to receive such recognition, but what makes it even more remarkable is that Paul, or Saul, (Saul was his Judean name and Paul was his Roman name (footnotes B 1943)) originally persecuted the ekklesia or “church”. Paul went from persecuting the ekklesia or “church” to being its “most influential apostle and missionary”. Why and how did Paul make such a drastic change? The answer to the question can be found in various books of the New Testament including some of the letters that Paul wrote. This answer also aids in the explanation of how and why Paul argue with the Ioudaioi.
In Peter M. Marendy’s essay, "Anti-Semitism, Christianity, and the Catholic Church: Origins, Consequences, and Responses," one can learn how Christians have harbored a hateful relationship towards Jews for nearly two millennia. Marendy explains how Christian Gospels, mainly those of Matthew and John, when taken out of context can not only justify the hate and persecution of Jews, but also call for it. His essay explains how both Gospels blame all Jews for the death of Jesus, the key figure of Christianity, and how they also, according to the essay, even have Jesus himself cursing the Jews. In Peter’s essay he sights a passage from the Gospel of John were Jesus says of the Jews, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do"(Jn 8:44) pg. 3 Marendy
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Dwork, Deborah, and R. J. Van Pelt. Holocaust: a History. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.
Hello and welcome to this special edition of ‘World in Focus.’ Tonight we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Shoah (also known as the Holocaust). I’m Audra Kahill and I thank you for joining me tonight. In our program we have Eliezer Wiesel, a holocaust survivor, sharing his experiences. We will also focus on the Catholic Church’s struggles throughout the Shoah and discuss reasons for changed emphasis between Pope Pius XII’s Christmas address to the 1965 Papal Document on Non-Christian Religions. We will also explore how the teachings of Jesus and the Catholic Social Teachings are modelled through André Trocmé, a rescuer of the Jews.
One of the most important books of the Bible Paul ever wrote was the book of Romans. Romans is considered by most christians today, the summarization of why we believe what we believe and why Christ died on the cross. The book of Romans was written in the time of Paul who was going all throughout the world and the places God called him to to spread the news of the Gospel. The book of Romans was written for both Jews and Gentiles. It was written for the Gentiles to break the idea that only Jews were worthy of a relationship with God. It was a way for the Gentiles to be freed of the idea that there was a class system in the kingdom of God. It was to let them know they could be saved and brought into paradise just by faith. Conversely, the book
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.