Israel and the Christian
Church: Heritage, History,
and Hope
Dr. Robert C. Kurka, Professor of Theology and Church in Culture, Lincoln Christian University
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Bradley University
2016
Lecture #3: “How Has the Church Treated the
Jewish People?: Some Shameful—and Saintly
Examples
 Let us revisit our four theological models on the nature of the Israel/Christian
Church relationship:
There is no argument that even prior to AD
70, Christianity and Judaism were at odds…
 In Acts 2-5: Jewish-Christians begin to share their faith in Jesus with fellow
Jews, their Jewish neighbors were not so hospitable
* Some conversions to Christianity
* Persecution
* Executions
* Expulsion from the synagogue
* Denunciation as “heretics” by Jewish leaders
Early Christian Sentiments About
Judaism…
 2nd century: Marcion’s New Testament(anti-Jewish) Canon: edited version of
Gospel of Luke, 10 Pauline epistles [Marcion taught that the OT God and NT
God were two completely different deities]
 2nd century: Justin Martyr: “(Christians) are the true Israelite race, the spiritual
one, that of Judah and Jacob and Abraham” (Dial. 11:5)
 4th century: Roman Emperor Constantine makes Christianity the official religion of
the Roman state (321). Jews are forbidden from making converts, serving in the
military, holding high office
 4th century: John Chrysostom: “The synagogue is a brothel and a theater…a
den for unclean animals…Never has a Jew prayed to God…They are all
possessed by the devil.”
 6th century: Byzantine Emperor Justinian decrees that Jewish Passover must be
celebrated after Easter
Does the New Testament (especially the
Fourth Gospel) affirm an “Anti-Semitism”?
 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would
love me, for I have come here from God. I have not
come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language
not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I
say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want
to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer
from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is
no truth in him…Yet because I tell the truth you do not
believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God
says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not
belong to God.” –John 8:42-47
 60x John refers to “the Jews” often in opposition to Jesus
Middle Ages: A Time of Christian
Intolerance for the Jewish People
 Jews were largely excluded from the culture of European Christendom
 This social, economic, and ecclesiastical alienation, in turn, forced them to live behind
ghetto walls
 They were permitted to practice usury, however (in violation of Jewish law) which brought
charges that they were a “pariah people” from the Christian society
 They were forced to wear distinctive hats or patches on their clothing
 They were accused of having a peculiar smell—as opposed to the “odor of sanctity”
 They were regularly maligned as “Christ-killers”
 They were accused of desecrating the host, murdering Christian infants for their blood
 They were blamed for the “Black Plague”
 They were accused of poisoning wells and being “sucklers of sows”
and there is more…
 During the First Crusade, numerous Jews committed mass suicides to avoid
forced baptism
 Towards the end of the Middle Ages, many Jews had become homeless
wanderers
 They faced numerous expulsions: from England (1290); from France (1306);
and in subsequent years from cities in Spain, Germany, and Austria
 In 1492, the Spanish Inquisition brought expulsion, thousands of tortures,
burnings at the stake, and forced conversions
The Sixteenth-Century European Reformation: The
“Theological Triumph” of Supersessionism
 Supersessionism: Belief that Christianity has superceded (replaced)the
relationship between God and Israel through its embrace of Jesus the
Messiah. In other words, the Gentiles (Church) have become the true heirs
of the divine promises given to Abraham in Genesis.
 “The predominant scholarly view of the sixteenth century stresses the
Reformation intensified a process, under way since the later Middle Ages,
of more strictly defining the markers of Christian identity. Thus the
Reformation did not create substantially new ideas about the limits of
Christianity; it simply intensified sentiments already in place…The process of
reevaluation of Christian beliefs and social arrangements led to the
creation of notions of identity and defensive boundaries directed both
against members of other religions and against other Christians.”
 —Susan Boettcher, “Insiders and Outsiders,” in Reformation Christianity, Peter
Matheson, ed.
Church replaces Israel…
Synogoga
Typical Reformation Era artistic image: Ecclesia et
Synagoga
and then there was Martin Luther…
 In a 1523 pamphlet, Luther showed a remarkable (for his day) tolerance
towards the Jews, criticizing superstitious beliefs about them, as well as
persecutions against them. He had an evangelistic purpose: A more “Christ-like
Church” would be more attractive to them.
 However, in 1543 (he died in 1546), Luther authored the infamous work, On Jews
and Their Lies, expressing sentiments like these:
“They (Jews) must be driven from our country…”
“If God were to give me no other Messiah than such as the Jews wish
and hope for, I would much, much rather be a sow than a human
being…”
“My essay, I hope, will furnish a Christian (who in any case has no
desire to become a Jew) with enough material not only to defend
himself against the blind, venomous Jews, but also to become the foe
of the Jews…they are surely possessed by all devils…”
Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522): A Lonely
Advocate for the Jews
 German humanist scholar who was Roman Catholic (but in his latter years
seamed to be leaning Protestant
 Championed the study of the Hebrew Bible; published a landmark Hebrew
grammar and lexicon
 Promoted the study of Hebrew among Christian scholars (which would lead
to a more critical reading of the Vulgate and yield new, vernacular
translations)
 Challenged the popular notion that all Jewish books should be confiscated
and burned (allegedly because they defamed Christianity)
--Most Jewish books did not attack Christianity (and those that did were not
accepted by Jewish scholars)
Post-Reformation Europe was not
much better for the Jews…
 1648-58: 500,000 Jews are killed in Poland due to being in the middle of a
bloody revolt against the Cossacks
 Continued to be viewed with contempt—or persecuted—in other
European countries
 19th -20th centuries: Czarist Russia conducts series of pogroms against its
large Jewish population (approx. 6 million) leaving 1000’s dead
 1880-1910: More than 2 million Jews immigrate to US through New York City
…and then along came Adolf Hitler
“ The best characterization is provided by the product of this religious
education, the Jew himself. His life is only of this world, and his spirit is inwardly
as alien to true Christianity as his nature two thousand years previous was to
the great founder of the new doctrine. Of course, the latter made no secret of
his attitude toward the Jewish people, and when necessary he even took the
whip to drive from the temple of the Lord this adversary of all humanity, who
then as always saw in religion nothing but an instrument for his business
existence. In return, Christ was nailed to the cross, while our present-day party
Christians debase themselves to begging for Jewish votes at elections and
later try to arrange political swindles with atheistic Jewish parties—and this
against their own nation.” --Mein Kampf (1925)
20th Century Holocaust: Did the Church
Do Enough?
 Pope Pius XII: Complex and conflicting responses to the Nazi anti-Semitism:
Public repudiation, advocacy for Jewish refugees, providing housing to Jewish
children…and silence. How much did the Vatican know about the holocaust?
Opinions vary: Pius has been criticized by many Jewish scholars, defended by
Catholics. However, in 2012, Pope Benedict began to slow a process that would
lead to Pius’ sainthood.
 Dietrich Bonhoeffer: 1933 Essay, “The Church and the Jewish Question” in which
he boldly criticizes Hitler’s persecution of the Jews on the basis of human rights
and political injustice but also reveals a supersessionist theology that views this
as part of a conversion narrative
Practical Christian Advocacy:
The Netherlands’ Ten Boom Family: Hiding Persecuted
Jewish Neighbors
 “In this household, God’s people are always welcome” (Casper Ten Boom)
Twentieth Century Establishment of the
State of Israel…
 1896: Jewish agnostic, Theodor Herzl, published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish
State)advocating that a “new” Jewish nation be created in Palestine in the
belief that anti-Semitism was inescapable apart from a Jewish homeland.
While his intentions were secular, the majority of Herzl’s followers were
Orthodox southeastern Europeans
 70,00 Jews settled in Palestine after Herzl’s death in 1904. In 1917, Britain
issued the Balfour Declaration endorsing the establishment of a Jewish
national home
 Major episodes of Jewish persecution in the 20th century (i.e., Russian
pogroms, Nazi Holocaust) contributed to wide support for a Palestinian
homeland among the world’s powers (USA and USSR) and the United
Nations
 May 14, 1948: State of Israel was formally recognized
…and “Christian Zionism”
 Growth of Dispensationalism among Protestant Conservatives in the early 20th
century brought –and its belief that ethnic Israel would be restored—created a
“Christian Zionism” that further argued that the Jewish people had an inherent right
to the land. The establishment of national Israel in 1948 was seen as a miraculous,
prophetic fulfillment.
 Liberal Protestants called for the “internationalization” of the city of Jerusalem while
these conservatives contended that biblically, it belonged to the Jewish people.
After the 1967 Six-Day War, the National Council of Churches denounced Israel’s
annexation of the old city while Christian Zionists hailed it as an act of God.
 1976: Bicentennial Congress of Prophecy in Philadelphia issued a proclamation in
support of Israel signed by 11 key evangelical leaders. Thousands signed this
document which was presented to the Israeli ambassador to the US.
 1977: Billy Graham calls for the US to rededicate itself to the safety of Israel
 2006: Evangelist John Hagee forms the largest US pro-Israel organization, “Christians
United for Israel”
The State of Israel and American
Conservative Christians: An On-going
Coalition
However, Christian Zionism may be receding—especially
among the Next Generation of Evangelicals due to
concerns about peace, justice, morality, and faith…
 “In October 2010, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted a major survey of
evangelical leaders attending the Third Lausanne Congress of World Evangelization in
Cape Town, South Africa. When asked with which side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
they sympathized, these leaders answered as follows:
 All Evangelicals (Global)
Sympathize with Israel—34%
Sympathize with the Palestinians—11%
Sympathize with Both Equally—39%
 American Evangelicals
Sympathize with Israel—30%
Sympathize with the Palestinians—13%
Sympathize with Both Sides Equally—49%”
--David Brog, “The End of Evangelical Support for Israel?” Middle East Quarterly Spring 2014
Restoration of Israel: Hearts…and
Home
 “For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all
the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will
sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will
cleanse you from your impurities and from all your idols. I will
give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove
from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my
decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in
the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I
will be your God.”
--Ezekiel 36:24-28 [NIV]
Lecture #4: “Towards a Healthy Jewish-Christian Dialogue:
Critically (and charitably)Affirming Points of Similarity and
Difference”
 Our course of study enables us to make the following observations:
 Christian Church is deeply indebted to Ancient Israel: Its Story, Scriptures, and Savior
come “from the Jews.”
 There are genuine differences between Judaism and Christianity largely centering on
the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth. For Christians, he is imperative to any
discussion of the monotheistic nature of God and the goal of biblical revelation.
 .“Israel” (and “Jew”?)has several layers of meaning on Scripture ( in both OT and NT):
ethnicity, geographic location, spiritual condition—and these should be kept in some
relation to each other
 Persecution has come from both directions—although after AD 70, the overwhelming
numerical (and social and political) size of Christianity has made it the major
aggressor

Anti-Semitism –even in its “soft” forms—has contributed to a tolerance (and even
approval) of negativity and mistreatment of the Jewish people
 “Replacement” Theology has tended to foster a spiritual superiority
among Christians towards their Jewish neighbors—an
“acceptance” of Jewish persecution a (as a divine
remedial/conversion instrument)
 Christian Zionism—due to its view of predictive prophecy-- on the
other hand, can tend to assess the actions of present-day Israel in
an uncritical fashion by excusing its spiritual apathy and
political/social injustices to its Palestinian neighbors
 Biblical, balanced, and Christ-like understanding of the relationship
between Israel and the Christian Church will most likely come from
some “hybrid” of the “Four Views;” a delicate balance of continuity
and discontinuity