Subject: Re: Jews
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 01:38:52 GMT
From:  (Nigel B. Mitchell)
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian,aus.religion

On Thu, 14 Jan 1999 01:03:55 +0900, Michael Smith
<> wrote:

>As I will be unable to make it to Perth this Sunday, I thought I'd make
>a couple of points by news/email.  

They are welcome, as you would be if you ever find yourself on
the sunny side of the country.

>In the Pharisees Web page which I pointed out a little while ago, there
>is a discussion on the Hillel and Shammai Pharisees.  The suggestion
>there is that many of the very negative comments about Jews in the NT
>were directed specifically at the Shammai Pharisees, and that they were
>in fact deserved.  At the time you seemed to agree with the general
>thrust, however your recent comments seem to contradict that -
>attributing the NT writers' negative attitude to less noble motives. 
>Have I misunderstood you here?  

When writing/speaking about a topic like this, it is not possible
to say everything about everything all at once. You raise an
issue which is outside the specific issue I am addressing, but it
is a fair point.

The key to reading the criticism of "the Jews" in the NT is that,
in almost every case, they were said/written _by_ Jews against
_other_ Jews. We are not reading the objective account of the
wickedness of the Jews as a racial and/or ethnic and/or national
grouping. We are rather reading _one side_ of an argument between
Jews.

It is true that a very large proportion of the teachings of Jesus
was already contained in the teaching of the Pharisaic school of
Hilel. So much so, in fact, that it has been suggested that Jesus
may have studied at the feet of Hilel himself, or been a disciple
of his school. But by the time the Gospels were written, this
distinction had been lost (for the Christian), and it was
expedient to portray 'the pharisees' as a group in a negative
light. In fact Nicodemus, Paul, and quite probably many other of
the early Christians had been Pharisees. 

BTW - just as an aside. Has it occured to you that whenever the
phrase "tax collectors and sinners" appears in the Gospels, the
evangelists are talking about themselves - but the account is
usually sanitised with 'and his disciples were also there' or
words to that effect.

>Secondly, let me challenge your emphasis on the NT as a reason for
>anti-semitism.  Let me suggest that, while it is often an excuse, it is
>less often a reason (though I wouldn't say "never").

I agree with your comments in the next three paragraphs. The NT
authors were not anti-semitic; they were mostly Jews themselves.
But history shows that since the earliest days of the Church,
some of the (Jew vs Jew) hyperbolae in the NT has been
selectively quoted, particularly in Passiontide, to provide the
religious justification for anti-semitism.

It is a great pity, and one for which the Jewish people have paid
a great price in the last two millenia, that the Biblical authors
were not more careful with their language. Nevertheless, as you
probably know, there is a strong movement (in which I play a
humble part) to rehabilitate the New Testament by teaching modern
readers of the Bible to read those passages which seem to be
anti-semitic in a more accurate light.

>Wherever you see well defined sub-groups within a society, those
>sub-groups are often perceived as "outsiders" and become convenient
>scapegoats.  The Chinese suffered greatly from this early in Australia's
>history, and to a lesser extent throughout our history.  They are also
>suffering from it to a great extent in modern Indonesia.  Latin
>Americans have seen some of this in the US.  Examples of greater and
>lesser degrees of sub-group persecution have always abounded in history.
>
>The Jews are particularly vulnerable to this.  For most of the last two
>millenia they have not had a homeland - thus they have been scattered
>through many parts of the world.  Their culture and religion tend to
>discourage intermarriage, and so they are very slow to "blend in".  The
>Jews are often seen to have an excellent work ethic, and to take care of
>their own - frequently leading to prosperity.  This leads others to view
>them not only as "outsiders" but as "prosperous outsiders".  Just as the
>poverty stricken Indonesians have been reacting with violence against
>the more prosperous Chinese, so many people have become jealous of the
>Jews over the years.
>
>Lets there be any misunderstanding, let me emphasise that I am not
>criticizing the Jews here.  Hard work, and looking after your kin, can
>hardly be seen as a crime.  Rather the fault is with human nature, where
>anybody different is a target for persecution, and anybody prosperous is
>a target for jealosy.
>
>If you listen to the average southern American paranoid, they are not
>(generally) crying out about the Jews treatment of Jesus - they are
>worried that the Jews are infiltrating high places and bidding to take
>over the world.  It's not usually religious fanaticism, but Garden
>variety paranoia.  Sure, they will add "Christ killer" to the list of
>insults, but it's an excuse rather than a reason.  The reason is human
>prejudice.
>
>Do you really believe that Hitler was concerned with the New Testament? 
>He was an opportunistic, power-hungry, maniac.  He needed a scapegoat
>and the Jews provided a convenient one.  He also persecuted blacks,
>gypsies, the handicapped and many other groups - but they were less
>numerous in Germany at the time.  The Jews were there, and they gave him
>a rallying point.  

There is some debate over how much Hitler was influenced by his
Christian heritage. He certainly used the _rhetoric_ of Christian
anti-semitism as part of his campaing against the Jews.Christian
anti-semitism was a strong influence in German and European
history. Hitler played up to that. As long as people repeat the
rhetoric of Christian anti-semitism, as Greg was doing in his
post earlier this week, it continues the Christian culpability in
this area.

>I agree with you that anti-semitism is evil and indefensible.
>
>I agree that misunderstanding the NT certainly fuels the evil that is
>anti-semitism.
>
>However I think that above all, it is (gender non-specific)mankind's
>foolishness and sinfulness which is at the root of the problem.

True. I reject the claim, which is made by some Jewish and other
non-Christian scholars and commentators, that Christianity is
inherently anti-semitic. But I acknowledge that Christians have
mis-used the New testament to fuel, sometimes deliberately and
sometimes inadvertently, anti-semitism. I think it is important
that we recognise these past sins, and ensure that we do not
repeat them.

Cheers

N+

Nigel B. Mitchell