zionism_unsettled_scan

These attacks were not racial or ethnic. Christianity
prided itself on including women and men of all
races, classes, and cultures, declaring, as the apostle
Paul put it,"there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians
3:28) At the same time however, Adversus Judaeos
literature (" against the Jews" or "against the Judeans")
created a tradition that would later become
racial-ethnic in tone and provide a justification for
the persecution of Jews in the centuries to come.
The aggressive, hostile tone of this anti-Jewish
literature shocks us today. Scholars say it was the
conventional rhetorical form known as "blame
rhetoric" (Greek: psogos, meaning blame) and used
to vilify opponents.
THE LITERARY GENRE ADVERSUS JUDAEOS
Four writings in the Adversus Judaeos tradition serve
to illustrate this early Christian-Jewish conflict.
Many of these accusations against Jews and Judaism
have roots in New Testament texts.
1. The Epistle of Barnabas, written by an unknown
author 130-140 c.E., addresses Judaizing Christians
insisting on a complete separation of Gentile
Christians and observant Jews. The central message
of the epistle is that the Christians are the only true
covenant people and that the Jewish people had
never been in a covenant with God.
2. In his Dialogue with Trypho, written 155-161
CE., the Christian philosopher Justin Martyr stages
a fictitious two-day debate between himself and a
Jewish veteran of the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132-135
CE. The debate Intends to answer Jewish and pagan
criticisms of Christianity and to laud the superior
qualities of Christianity while leveling the accusation
of "Christ-killers" at Jews as a people. Again, the
intended audience is Judaizing Christians, those participating
in both Christian and Jewish cultic practices.
Quoting Leviticus 26:40-41, Justin tells Trypho,
the vanquished warrior, that the Jewish exile from
Jerusalem and Judea is God's punishment"justly
imposed upon you, for you have murdered the Just
One, and His prophets before Him .... "4
3. Mileto, Bishop of Sardis in Asia Minor, levels
similar charges against Jews in his treatise "On the
Passover"written between 160-170 CE.:
72. This one was murdered. And where was
he murdered In the very center of Jerusalem!
Why Because he had healed their lame, and had
cleansed their lepers, and had guided their blind
with light, and had raised up their dead. For this
reason he suffered.
73. Why, 0 Israel did you do this strange injusticeYou
dishonored the one who had honored
you. You held in contempt the one who held
you in esteem. You denied the one who publicly
acknowledged you. You renounced the one who
proclaimed you his own. You killed the one who
made you to live. Why did you do this, a Israel5
4. The homilies of John Chrysostom from the
late fourth century (386-387) are perhaps the most
egregious of the Adversus Judaeos literature. These
were probably preached to Judaizing Christians
in Chrysostom's own congregation in Antioch. In
a series of eight anti-Jewish sermons Chrysostom
described the synagogues as "homes of idolatry and
devils" and declared that the Jews "do not worship
God but devils" and that" all their feasts are unclean."
God hates the Jews, said Chrysostom, and has always
hated them. But since their murder of)esus God allows
them no possibility of repentance. Jews pretend
that their misfortunes are due to Rome, but
it was not by their own power that the Caesars
.did what they did to you: it was done by the
wrath of God, and His absolute rejection ofyou. 6
Such anti -Semitic theology did not disqualify
Chrysostom from becoming Archbishop of Constantinople
and, shortly after his death, a saint. In the
1930s James Parkes, a British Anglican priest, scholar,
Although
contemporary
Christians are
not responsible
for the sins of
our spiritual
ancestors, we are
responsible for
combating the
perpetuation
of those sins in
our time.
(
I._r-:O.
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ZIONISM UNsETTLED