A high proportion of conservative evangelical Christians, including those of a Reformed persuasion, are unaware of the historic roots underlying the eschatological concept of the Christian Church, as the new people of God, that has superseded the nation of Israel, and ethnic Jews in particular. This concept of dismissal or transference, in which God has supposedly forever disenfranchised national Israel, indeed Judaism as a whole, is better known as replacement or supercessionist theology The revelation from church history of the outworking of this doctrine is one which Gentile Christians will find painful to digest, despite its undeniable truth. Unless they are prepared to read of this shameful legacy, the agony of these centuries, it will be difficult to make headway in dealing with doctrinal anti-Semitism as it manifests itself today among Christians who profess a serious biblical faith.
This annotated bibliography is offered as an introduction for those who will not retreat from the truth about centuries of unsavory Christian behavior derived from Augustinian eschatology. Time and time again this writer has met sincere Christians who simply were ignorant of the following testimony. Regardless of whether these historic accounts are Jewish, Roman Catholic, evangelical, or secular, the conclusions are in general agreement.
Baron, David. The Shepherd Of Israel and His Scattered Flock. London: Morgan and Scott, 1910. This author, born in a strict orthodox Jewish home in Russia, converted to Christianity and founded the Hebrew Christian Testimony to Israel, based in London, England. His commentary on Zechariah is a classic. Here is an exposition of Psalm 80, of which vv. 4–7 are seen as a summary description of Jewish travail during this Christian dispensation. Thus pages 25–79 present a discerning panorama of this same period according to the actual events of Jewish history as they merge with Christian church history.
Brown, Michael L. Our Hands Are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the “Church” and the Jewish People. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 1992. While written in a popular and animated style, this book by a Hebrew Christian provides extensive documentation, including a comprehensive Bibliographical Supplement, that demands consultation. He states, for example (pp. 125–26),
It is a fundamental tenet of the Koran that both Israel and the Church failed. Moses was a prophet. Jesus was a prophet. But Muhammad was the seal of the prophets, the messenger of the final revelation. The Jews are not the people of God—they failed! The Christians are not the people of God—they failed! It is the Muslims who are the people of God. Of course this is preposterous. But, in the event that you are still uncertain about the calling of Israel, consider this simple truth: If God could forsake Israel, in spite of His unconditional, everlasting promises, then He could forsake the Church! If God could replace Israel, in spite of His unconditional, everlasting promises, then He could replace the Church! So, if you hold to a theology that says, “God has forsaken physical Israel,” or “The Church has replaced Israel,” you had better be extremely careful. Maybe the Koran is right!
Also refer to this author's three volumes on Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, recommended by Moishe Rosen of Jews for Jesus. Volume 1 deals with general and historical objections; volume 2 deals with theological objections; volume 3 deals with objections to Messianic prophecy.
Callan, Terrance. Forgetting the Root, the Emergence of Christianity from Judaism. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1986. As the title suggests, Rom 11:13,17–24 describes the birth of Gentile Christianity and the apostle Paul's warning that this engrafting of wild olive branches into the rich root of the olive tree should not lead to arrogance. This author concludes (pp. 107–8),
The liberal Gentile Christians forgot that they had been grafted into the root of Judaism. This forgetfulness is strikingly illustrated by a comment made by Clement of Alexandria (died c. 215). ...[He] interprets Romans 11:17 as a reference to the grafting of converts to Christianity into the Word. ...Clement's interpretation of the cultivated olive tree as the Word, and the wild olive tree as including Jews who need to be grafted into the Word, reverses Paul's use of the metaphor and shows to what extent the Jewish roots of Christianity have been forgotten. This is precisely what Paul was trying to prevent by using the image. ...To have retained this positive appreciation of Israel might have prevented much Christian anti-Semitism in the past; to retrieve it for our time might put relations between Christians and Jews on a much better foundation than otherwise supports them.
Carroll, James. Constantine's Sword. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. A former Roman Catholic priest of the Paulist order, Carroll's traumatic discovery of the substantial anti-Semitic legacy of the Roman Catholic Church led him to delve into this matter with great thoroughness while employing a style that constantly interacts with the churnings of his soul. While not conservative in his biblical presuppositions, this revelation of the unending abuse of Jews over the centuries by professing Christians is a tragic yet necessary record. Consider the significance of the following analysis (pp. 102–3, 142, 176, 368):
If the death camps [of Nazi Europe] are causally linked through two millennia to mistakes made by the first generation of Christians—and I believe they are—can they still not be acknowledged as mistakes? What difference does it make whether two years have passed or two thousand if the causal link can be made? ...Paul knew nothing of supercessionism. He remained a Jew. Indeed, his faith in Jesus was, to him, a way of being more Jewish than ever. …For Christians, the dramatic and unexpected conversion of Constantine was a proof of the Church's proclamation, but the change of fortune it led to was proof of even more. “The creation of the Christian state,” Neusner says, “claiming to carry forward the ancient Israelite state, and to appeal to its precedents, brought to a critical stage the long-term Christian claim that Christians formed the new Israel.”1 …The basis of Luther's anti-Judaism, as the historian Heiko Oberman sums it up [see this volume referenced below], was the conviction that ever since Christ's appearance on earth, the Jews have had no more future as Jews.
Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. The Crucified Jew: Twenty Centuries of Christian Anti-Semitism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997. A professor of Jewish theology at the University of Kent, Canterbury, England, this author provides a readable yet scholarly account of Judaism suffering under centuries of Christian malice (pp. 240–41).
For twenty centuries, then, Jews have suffered at the hands of anti-Semites. The injustices and pogroms inflicted on the Jewish community have been to a large degree the result of Christian contempt. Anti-Jewish attitudes in the history of the Church were not accidental—rather they were the direct consequence of Christian teaching about Judaism and the Jewish nation. ...Anti-Semitism has thus been a constant feature of the history of Christendom. As we reach the end of the second millennium of this era, it is vital that both Christians and Jews affirm that they are heirs of a fearful tradition. ...Only then will Christians and Jews fully appreciate the promise in the Psalmist's words: [Psalm 133:1–3].
Also refer to his edited volume, Holocaust Theology: A Reader (New York: New York University Press, 2002). The contributions to this volume include the writings of Edward Flannery, Graham Keith, Franklin Littell, Jacob Neusner, and David Rausch who are referenced in this bibliography. More recently Cohn-Sherbok published AntiSemitism: A History (Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton, 2002), concerning which he stated, “In an earlier study, The Crucified Jew, I focused on the Christian roots of anti-Semitism. The aim of this volume is to answer this question by surveying the history of anti-Semitism from a more global perspective” (p. vii).
Diprose, Ronald E. Israel and the Church. Waynesboro, GA: Authentic Media, 2000. This doctoral thesis presented to the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Louvain, Belgium, is a patristic and exegetical study of the origin and effects of replacement theology. Following careful analysis, the author declares (p. 168),
It is a fact of history that the Augustinian concept of a Christian theocracy is closely linked with the anti-Semitic attitudes of the medieval church and unbelievably harsh treatment of the Jewish people. Thus it is not surprising that the traditional claim of Christendom to embody the promised messianic kingdom is an embarrassment to Christians involved in dialogue with Jewish people.
The exegetical highlight may well be his study of Israel's uniqueness according to God's election in Romans 9–11, especially 11:28 (pp. 171–72):
Failure to reflect seriously on Israel in light of all the relevant biblical data has serious consequences for the entire enterprise of Christian theology. It was the neglect of relevant biblical data concerning the place of Israel in God's plan which permitted replacement theology to develop during the early centuries of the Christian era. Once replacement theology became a presupposition of theological reflection, it required that much of the Old Testament be interpreted allegorically. This involved the loss of the Hebrew world view and influenced the direction of theological reflection in areas such as ecclesiology and eschatology. Christian theology must be based on sound hermeneutical principles which presuppose the Church's essential relationship with Israel. These include taking into account the whole of the biblical Canon, taking seriously the Jewishness of Jesus and of much of the New Testament, recognizing the institutional distinctions between Israel and the Church, avoiding gratuitous allegorization of Scripture, and giving normative value to what the New Testament teaches concerning both the first and second advents of Christ.
Ellison, Stanley A. Who Owns The Land? Portland: Multnomah, 1991. From a conservative evangelical perspective, here is one of the better assessments of the biblical, historical, and political issues that arise from the ongoing tensions which are endemic concerning the Middle East. Though supportive of the biblical grounds of Israel's present and future claims upon the land, it is not without reasonable consideration of opposing opinions and the opponents of Israel. He concludes (p. 186),
Israel's basic need today is not peace with the Arabs; it is peace with God. The national turmoil and heartache of both clans is spiritual in nature rather than merely racial. Israel's deepest need is not economic, political, or military, but one she yet firmly resists—a historic tryst with her covenant Lord, similar to that of Jacob returning from exile [Gen 32–33]. That meeting will do what no military victory could accomplish—inaugurate permanent peace with good will toward all.
Flannery, Edward H. The Anguish of the Jews. New York: Macmillan, 1965. As a Roman Catholic priest, Flannery provides a helpful overview of the relationship between Christianity and Judaism over the centuries. He commences his study by recounting (p. xi),
One evening several years ago, I walked north on Park Avenue in New York City in the company of a young Jewish couple. Behind us shone the huge illuminated cross the Grand Central Building displays each year at Christmas time. Glancing over her shoulder, the young lady—ordinarily well disposed toward Christians—declared: “That cross makes me shudder. It is like an evil presence.” This disturbing comment evoked many questions in me, not least of which was: How did the cross, the supreme symbol of universal love, become a sign of fear, or evil for this young Jewess? It soon became clear that her fearful reaction to it was the fruit of a knowledge which she, but not I, had—a knowledge of the immense suffering undergone by her people at the hands of Christians for many centuries. It was my first introduction to the problem of anti-Semitism. Later discussions of the incident with both Jewish and Christian friends led me to a further discovery. Jews generally are acutely aware of the history of anti-Semitism, simply because it comprises so large a portion of Jewish history. Christians, on the contrary, even highly educated ones, are all but totally ignorant of it—except for contemporary developments. They are ignorant of it for the simple reason that anti-Semitism does not appear in their history books. Histories of the Middle Ages—and even of the Crusades—can be found in which the word “Jew” does not appear, and there are Catholic dictionaries and encyclopedias in which the term “anti-Semitism” is not listed.
Gager, John G. The Origins Of Anti-Semitism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. This scholarly work proposes that anti-Semitism surged following the birth of Christianity, principally because of conflict among Christians with the result that the opponents of Judaism triumphed. Thus modern anti-Semitism is not a uniquely modern phenomenon; it is not paganism in a modern dress or that pagan anti-Semitism which influenced early Christianity. Furthermore, Paul was totally outside the mainstream of early Christian anti-Judaism. He viewed Christ as the fulfillment of God's promise to redeem the Gentiles. In Paul's thinking, Christ represents neither an abrogation of God's covenant with Israel nor the replacement of Jews by Christians as the chosen people of God.
Goldhagen, DanielJonah. Hitler's Willing Executioners. New York: Random House, 1997. This Harvard University professor brings to the public the fruits of his acclaimed doctoral dissertation. In simple terms, with regard to responsibility for the Holocaust, Germans in general were culpable, especially in the light of exposed myths such as supposed ignorance and reluctance. While German nationalism, which mushroomed from the nineteenth century onward, was the distinctive incubator for “eliminationist antisemitism” of the twentieth century, the antecedents of this historic atrocity streamed forward from the early centuries of Christianity (pp. 49, 51, 53, 72, 74, 79):
From the earliest days of Christianity's consolidation of its hold over the Roman Empire, its leaders preached against the Jews, employing explicit, powerfully worded, emotionally charged condemnations. ...From the time of John Chrysostom until the modern period, the attitudes and treatment of Jews in the Christian world underwent frequent adjustment, as did Christian doctrine and practice. Yet while all the changes in Christians' theology and practice were taking place, the underlying belief in the divinity of Jesus remained firm. So too was anti-Semitism. ...The medieval European hatred of Jews was so intense and so divorced from reality that all calamities in society could be and were attributed to the Jews' malfeasance. The Jews stood for everything that was awry, so that the reflexive reaction to a natural or social ill was to look to its supposed Jewish sources. Martin Luther's anti-Semitism was ferocious and influential enough to have earned him a place in the pantheon of anti-Semites. This did not matter to the Church that Luther was fighting, for the Church denounced him and his followers as heretics and Jews. The ubiquitous anti-Semitism that existed in 1800 and in 1850 became, if anything, more intense and certainly more deadly as the century was drawing to a close, as Germany became more economically and technologically advanced. ...By the end of the nineteenth century, the view that the Jews posed extreme danger to Germany and that the source of their perniciousness was immutable, namely their race, and the consequential belief that the Jews had to be eliminated from Germany were extremely widespread in German society. The tendency to consider and propose the most radical form of elimination—that is, extermination—was already strong and had been given much voice. ...The fact was that as the 1920s and then the Nazi takeover approached, the German people were more dangerously oriented towards Jews than they had been during any other time since the dawn of modernity.
Gorday, Peter. Principles Of Patristic Exegesis: Romans 9–11 in Origen, John Chrysostom, and Augustine. New York: E. Mellen Press, 1983. How did these three influential church fathers understand the most important passage in the New Testament concerning the relationship between Christianity and Judaism? Insofar as disregard for national Israel in the Christian dispensation is concerned, there was unanimity of opinion.
Concerning Origen he states (pp. 91, 100),
Origen's summary statement [in his exegesis of Romans] is “...through the whole text of the epistle ...the Apostle has taught how the highest religion has been transferred from the Jews to the Gentiles, from circumcision to faith, from the letter to the spirit, from shadow to truth, from carnal observance to spiritual observance.” ...The “letter” of the Old Testament text is always for Origen pointing in some way to its “spirit,” i.e. the specifically Christian transformation of the Old Testament content. This may take the form of a Christological application or of a refining in some way of the ethical and inner-spiritual horizon of the text by means of a New Testament reference. Along the way a fair amount of anti-Jewish polemic takes place as Origen reflects on the relation of the church and the synagogue.
Concerning Chrysostom he states (pp. 129–30),
The event of Christ and the New Covenant for the Gentiles have divested the Jews as a people of any special standing before God. But finally it is the unbelief of the Jews and their rejection of Christ that constitute their supreme offense; for these there is no forgiveness, only the hope that God in his providential mercy will one day move their hearts to conversion. Thus Chrysostom finds consistent denunciation of the Jews in chapters 2, 3, 4 and 9–11 of Romans, as he senses in Paul's polemic a fundamental critique of the privileges and prerogatives of Judaism. This perspective on the Jews is held consistently throughout Chrysostom's writings, and down to the present day has been one of his best known and most ignominious characteristics. He frequently polemicized against “Judaizing” and freely encouraged repressive measures against the synagogues.
Concerning Augustine he states (pp. 171, 333),
[In Romans 11] some Jews have believed in Christ, and they are the remnant of the natural olive and fulfillment of the divine promises to historical Israel. ...The “Israel” that will ultimately be saved are the predestined elect, drawn into a unity out of Jews and Gentiles. ...Judaism is simply relegated to the latter [non-elect] category, and its status in salvation-history assigned to the pre-Christian past.
Grosser, E and Edwin Halperin. The Causes and Effects of Antisemitism: The Dimensions of Prejudice. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel, 1979. This account of 1900 years of anti-Semitic attitudes and practices includes a preface by F. H. Littell. The authors' declared purpose is to increase awareness and understanding of anti-Semitism's historical magnitude and continuity, and its deep infection of the Western world. The method involved the concise listing, in chronological order, of anti-Semitic incidents. There is also a compilation, analysis, and synthesis of the causes and theories of anti-Semitism that are apparent from the catalogue. The authors explain (p. 3),
The extent of anti-Semitism in Western history has never, to say the least, been common knowledge. And today there is a tendency to assume that the problem of Jewish security and the attitudes of Jews toward their survival grow from the experience of the Holocaust alone. The actions of the Nazis and their collaborators are of such a scale and horror as to obscure the long history of anti-Semitism. Often lost in appraisals of anti-Semitism is the fact that the underlying spirit of the Holocaust is almost 2,000 years old. The genocide carried out by a civilized and cultured nation in the mid-twentieth century was an extreme manifestation of this spirit, but not an isolated one.
Gruber, Dan. The Church and the Jews: The Biblical Relationship. Hagerstown, MD: Serenity, 1997. This significant book is highly commended as seminal by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. The unveiling from history concerning how the Christian church has mistreated Israel is comprehensive and compelling. Particularly enlightening is the comfortable relationship that existed between the historian Eusebius and the Emperor Constantine by means of which state sanctioned anti-Judaism came to the fore. It emphasizes that God made the new covenant with the house of Judah and the house of Israel; the Church does not have its own covenant with God. The Bible does not mention any covenant that God has made with the Church, though according to Romans 11, the Church is incorporated into the new covenant that God made with Israel. The author concludes (p. 324),
The greatest obstacle to the salvation of the Jewish people is the Church designed by men. The greatest means of bringing salvation to the Jewish people is the church designed by God. Paul warned the Gentile believers not to be arrogant towards the Jewish people, nor ignorant of God's faithfulness to them. Yet it is this very arrogance that generally characterizes the Church's traditional theology and behavior.
Hay, Malcolm. Thy Brother's Blood. New York: Hart, 1975. This Roman Catholic historian was commended by Walter Kaufmann for his intellectual honesty. This concerns the author's unveiling of the dishonesty of great religious figures, that is, their disdainful regard for and mistreatment of the Jews over the centuries of church history. For example (p. 27),
The violence of the language used by St. John Chrysostom in his homilies against the Jews has never been exceeded by any preacher whose sermons have been recorded. Allowances must, no doubt, be made for the custom of the times, for passionate zeal, and for the fear that some tender shoots of Christian faith might be chilled by too much contact with Jews. But no amount of allowance can alter the fact that these homilies filled the minds of Christian congregations with a hatred which was transmitted to their children, and to their children's children, for many generations. These homilies, moreover, were used for centuries, in schools and in seminaries where priests were taught to preach, with St. John Chrysostom as their model—where priests were taught to hate, with St. John Chrysostom as their model.
Heer, Friedrich. God's First Love: Christians and Jews over Two Thousand Years. London: Phoenix Giant, 1970. The author, a professor at the University of Vienna, explains that this book, “by an Austrian Catholic, is dedicated to the Jewish, Christian and non-Christian victims of the Austrian Catholic, Adolf Hitler.” In raising the question of the positive guilt of Christianity in fostering anti-Semitism throughout its history, Heer shows that the concepts of Jew-hating and Jew-killing were based on Christian theology, taught by the most eminent fathers of the church.
Keith, Graham. Hated Without A Cause? A Survey of Anti-Semitism. Carlisle, Cumbria: Paternoster, 1997. This is a serious study of Israel in relation to the Christian Church written by a conservative evangelical with a British touch. Less disturbance about the fruit of supercessionism concerning heirs of the Reformation appears in the comment that “most churches have acknowledged that Christians bear some responsibility for anti-Semitism” (p. 279). He writes of “eminent Christians like John Chrysostom or Martin Luther, whose piety is unquestioned and whose opposition to the Jews clearly derived from their piety” (p. 268). He supports John Murray's exegesis of Romans 11. The issue of the return to and repossession of the land of Israel, from a biblical perspective, is skirted. Though quite erroneously, according to history, it is in the main identified with Zionism, dispensationalism, and the uncritical support of Americans. He concludes (p. 283),
Clearly it is as difficult today as at any time for the Gentile churches to hold in balance the two elements of Paul's perspective in Romans 11:28. Yet, they must strive to do so. If they forget that the Jewish people are beloved of God and their election is irrevocable, inevitably they will slip into anti-Semitic attitudes and practices. On the other side of the coin, to ignore the reality of Jewish unbelief and the fact that it makes them enemies of God means that the Jewish people will be deprived of the greatest service the Gentile Christians can give them—the testimony to Jesus of Nazareth as the Savior of Israel.
Larsen, David. Jews, Gentiles and the Church: A New Perspective on History and Prophecy. Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1955. The author, a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, is unabashedly pro-Semitic and has provided a very readable yet comprehensive record of the relationship between Israel and Judaism over the past two millennia. As such, it is one of the best introductions to this subject. Larsen comments (pp. 84–85),
the ‘displacement theory’ by which Israel is totally and finally replaced by the church in the plan and purpose of God...may lurch dangerously toward anti-Semitism. Any careless implication that the Jews are superfluous or unrelated to the divine scheme of things is dangerous.”
Lindsey, Hal. The Everlasting Hatred: The Roots of Jihad. Murieta: Oracle House, 2002. As a prolific and popular writer and commentator on eschatology from a dispensational perspective, this volume is especially relevant. The easy reading style does not cloud an enlightening exposé of the contemporary conflict between Jews and Muslims that reaches back over 4,000 years and yet is presently attaining white-heat proportions. The following excerpt gets to the heart of the matter and at the same time calls upon the western world, Christians in particular, to wake up to the imminent threat that such tensions present (pp. 129–30):
Israel's victories over the “armies of Allah” in five wars have placed the Koran in jeopardy, for it promises the forces of Islam victory in “holy wars.” Devout Muslims fervently believe this is something that must be rectified. Nothing can remove this insult to Allah but a final military defeat of Israel. …As Mohammad said, “War is deception.” He set the example for negotiating peace with an enemy until you are strong enough to annihilate him. It is called “the Quraysh Model.” This was the ten-year peace treaty Mohammad signed with the Quraysh tribe of Mecca, which within a year he broke by destroying them. This is how he conquered Mecca and made it the holiest site in Islam—through treachery.
Littell, Franklin. The Crucifixion of the Jews. New York: Harper, 1975. A United Methodist Church minister, Littell is also an ecumenicist, a former professor at Temple University, a Holocaust scholar, and a friend of Israel. This volume is a vigorous polemic that calls Gentile Christians to honestly face the shameful legacy of theological anti-Semitism which cannot be divorced from the fact of the Holocaust. He begins by explaining (p. 2),
The cornerstone of Christian anti-Semitism is the superseding or displacement myth, which already rings with the genocidal note. This is the myth that the mission of the Jewish people was finished with the coming of Jesus Christ, that “the old Israel” was written off with the appearance of “the new Israel.” To teach that a people's mission in God's providence is finished, that they have been relegated to the limbo of history, has murderous implications which murderers will in time spell out. The murder of six million Jews by baptized Christians, from whom membership in good standing was not (and has not yet been) withdrawn, raises the most insistent question about the credibility of Christianity. The existence of a restored Israel, proof positive that the Jewish people is not annihilated, assimilated, or otherwise withering away, is substantial refutation of the traditional myth about their end in the historic process. And this is precisely why Israel is a challenge, a crisis for much contemporary Christian theology.
Mussner, Franz. Tractate on the Jews: The Significance of Judaism for Christian Faith. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984. This Roman Catholic NT theologian confesses that, regarding his relationship to Judaism, he was no different from the vast majority of Christian scholars, filled with undisturbed prejudices against Judaism. Then, with Vatican II and its aftermath, he underwent a metanoia (repentance) and ventured forth on the rereading of the Scriptures with new eyes as far as Judaism is concerned (p. xi):
“Tractates against the Jews” were written in the time of the church fathers, and the anti-Jewish spirit of these tractates has its effect even in our own times; thus, as the churches undertake a comprehensive rethinking of their relationship to Judaism, it is appropriate and timely for us to produce a “tractate for the Jews.” ...Behind this book lies a learning process of many years, a true changing of the mind, and I would like to invite the reader to enter into this learning process and to think newly and differently about Israel, the elder brother and the “root” of the Church.
Oberman, Heiko. The Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Age of Renaissance and Reformation. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984. This recognized work is by a former professor at Harvard University and the University of Tübingen, West Germany. Focusing on the founders of modern Europe (Reuchlin, Erasmus, Luther, and Calvin), he concludes that their achievements, at best ambiguous in contemporary Jewish eyes, did little to make the sixteenth century anything more for the Jews than a bleak extension of the Middle Ages. Hence, the roots of anti-Semitism were laid long before the Reformation (p. xi):
Hatred of the Jews was not an invention of the sixteenth century. It was an inherited assumption. Far from acquitting the age of Renaissance and Reformation, we should recognize that this same age which so consciously scrutinized the medieval traditions simultaneously passed on, with new strength, whatever withstood the test of inspection. This is what stamps the character of the age and determines its significance for the modern era.
Parkes, James. The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue: A Study in the Origins of Antisemitism. New York: Athaneum, 1969. This Ph.D. thesis submitted to Oxford University by a Church of England clergyman is an exhaustive study of the roots of anti-Semitism in the first eight centuries of the Christian era. Convinced that the hostility of the Roman world to the Jew offers no explanation of the creation and survival of this scourge, the author was persuaded that it was in the conflict of church with synagogue that the real roots of the problem lay. Parkes explains (pp. 371, 373),
In the passage of the eight centuries reviewed in the previous chapters of this book we have seen the laying of the foundations of modern anti-Semitism. At times the ancient legislation itself has an appallingly modern ring in its very phraseology. With Leo and Charlemagne the curtain rings down upon the first act. The second act takes us up to the Reformation: the third act is still upon the stage. But it is an act of the same play, and can be explained only in the light of what has preceded it. Our interpretation of the first act is, therefore, no academic question, but the means by which we can understand what is passing before our eyes. …At the end of the [first] century the leadership of the Church was already passing into Gentile hands. Gentile congregations were powerful and numerous. Any compromise on the ceremonial law had been completely rejected. …The hardening of Judaism is a result, not a cause, of the separation. But whether through the influence of Paul, or, more likely, through the misunderstanding of him by Gentile successors, the issue had gone much deeper, and the entirety of the religious conceptions of Judaism as proclaimed in the Old Testament was rejected as superseded by the Church.
A companion volume is Parkes' Whose Land? A History of the Peoples of Palestine (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971). Also refer to the more recent edition of End of an Exile: Israel, The Jews and the Gentile World (Marblehead, MA: Micah, 1982). For a consideration of anti-Semitism as it relates to the past one hundred and fifty years, consult the author's Antisemitism (Chicago: Quadrangle, 1969).
Peters, Joan. From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine. London: JKAP, 1993. Differing claims amidst conflict between Arabs and Jews call for a studied response. Historian and journalist Joan Peters has provided such a book that both the Christian Century and National Review acknowledged as providing unrivaled clarifying thoroughness. Fierce criticism of this book by Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein has not greatly subtracted from the essential challenge that it presents to Palestinian claims, which Alan Dershowitz cautiously referenced in The Case for Israel (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2003).
Phillips, Melanie. Londonistan. New York: Encounter, 2006. As a columnist for London's Daily Mail, this author lays bare the threat that resurgent Islam presents to the United Kingdom. However, special focus is brought upon London as the hub of Muslim extremism. From here we learn how Britain sleepwalks toward cultural oblivion by means of multicultural paralysis. Even Christian leaders, by buying into replacement theology, aid the advance of Islam while at the same time expressing support for anti-Judaism and anti-Zionism. This book is an excellent supplement to Bat Ye'or's Eurabia.
Rausch, David A. Fundamentalist-Evangelicals and Anti-Semitism. Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, 1993. Rausch is a conservative evangelical historian whose writings dispel numerous fallacies concerning the mischaracterization of “fundamentalist-evangelicals,” especially in America. In particular, premillennial eschatology and its sympathy for national Israel and secular Zionism have frequently come under fire, such as from amillennialists who tilt toward an anti-Judaic eschatology (p. 206):
In spite of scholarly perceptions to the contrary, the prophetically minded fundamentalist-evangelical has been (and currently is) a firm supporter of the Jewish state. And, in an age when anti-Zionism is often indistinguishable from anti-Semitism, this fact is crucial to our study. As we have seen throughout this study, the fundamentalist-evangelical was long a supporter of Jewish restoration to the Holy Land and, to this day, has received ridicule and scorn from other Christians for pro-Israel views. In spite of numerous liberal and conservative Christian cries to the contrary, this Christian Zionism has been a positive factor in combating any anti-Semitism within the fundamentalist-evangelical community.
See also Rausch's A Legacy Of Hatred: Why Christians Must Not Forget the Holocaust (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990).
Remaud, Michel. Israel, Servant of God. London: T&T Clark, 2003. Here is another Roman Catholic, indebted to Franz Mussner, who challenges the established supercessionism of centuries while attempting to better reconcile the present reality of elect Israel and the Church, especially in the light of the Vatican II declaration, Nostra Aetate. For example (pp. 5–6, 19, 36–37),
It is well known that the [Roman Catholic] Church calls herself the ‘New Israel’, and it is regrettable that Vatican II itself made use of this expression. Now traditional in theology but nowhere to be found in the New Testament, it gives the impression that the Church has taken the place of Israel, so that from the theological point of view Israel no longer exists. Such a simplistic position, pushed to extremes, contradicts more balanced texts found in the New Testament (Rom. 9–11; Eph. 2–3). …Of all the theological documents promulgated by the Second Vatican Council, only the text on the Jews [Nostra Aetate] is without a single reference to any of the teachings of the Church, whether patristic, conciliar or pontifical. As is usual for all the declarations of the Magisterium, documents of Vatican II include references to former tradition. …The text on the Jews is the sole exception to this rule in that it refers exclusively to Scripture. …To study the horrendous history of anti-Semitism, overwhelming for us, is to perceive that nowhere did the Jews suffer more than within the Christian world. No theology of history can spare itself from deep reflection on this fact.
Sachar, Howard M. A History of Israel, from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. This is an outstanding work. Especially relevant is chapter 9, “Britain Repudiates the Jewish National Home.” Sachar is also the author of A History of the Jews in America, Israel and Europe, and editor of The Rise of Israel: A Documentary History (39 vols.). He serves as Professor of Modern History at George Washington University, is a consultant and lecturer on Middle Eastern affairs for numerous governmental bodies, and lectures widely in the United States and abroad.
Siker, Jeffrey S. Disinheriting the Jews. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1991. This revision of a doctoral thesis presented to Princeton Theological Seminary was originally titled “Disinheriting the Jews: The Use of Abraham in Early Christian Controversy with Judaism from Paul Through Justin Martyr.” This is the work of a recognized authority. The author's conclusion is that (pp. 195–97)
the various uses of Abraham from Paul through Justin Martyr show a shift in focus from Gentile inclusion to Jewish exclusion. However: Was this move theologically necessary or defensible? …Does Gentile inclusion in God's promises necessitate Jewish exclusion? Justin Martyr, Marcion, Heracleon, Barnabas, and Ignatius apparently did equate Gentile inclusion with Jewish exclusion. …Only Paul seems clearly to have had problems with such an equation, in fact rejecting it implicitly in Romans 4 and explicitly in Romans 9–11. …Paul did not equate Jewish rejection of the gospel with God's rejection of the Jews. Nor would he allow such an equation to be inferred. Rather, Jewish rejection of the gospel served God's purpose of Gentile inclusion within the gospel. The Jews became enemies of the gospel so that Gentiles might be included within the gospel. Thus the Gentiles were saved by their enemies. This situation is the utter paradox and mystery of the gospel for Paul. …For Paul, non-Christian Jews continue to be included within God's promises simply because of God's covenant faithfulness to Abraham and other patriarchs. …Paul would not affirm the theological doctrine that became entrenched among later generations of Christians, namely, that Gentile inclusion necessitates Jewish exclusion.
Vlach, Michael J. The Church as a Replacement of Israel: An Analysis of Supersessionism. This doctoral dissertation was presented to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Included are assessments of Justin Martyr, Origen, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Immanuel Kant, Friederich Schliermacher, and Karl Barth. He argues that although supercessionism was the dominant view of the church throughout most of its history (pp. xv-xvi), “the Scriptures do not support the view that the New Testament church is the new Israel that has forever superseded national Israel as the people of God.”
White, Derek C. Replacement Theology, Its Origin, History, and Theology. Teddington, Middlesex: Christian Friends of Israel, 1997. This booklet of only 30 pages is an excellent introduction to and summary of the nature and role of replacement theology in church history. White states (p. 2),
One of the greatest tragedies to befall the Church was the severance from her Jewish roots, a rift which has been a cause of many heresies, of monasticism and departures from Biblical truth and lifestyle. The very descent of the Western Church into the dark middle ages—the period of intellectual and spiritual darkness in Europe from the fifth to the (possibly) fifteenth centuries—was almost certainly the result of this separation, not the least as a divine judgment on the Church for the anti-Semitism which was part of this severance.
Williamson, Clark M. Has God Rejected His People? Nashville: Abingdon, 1982. Designed as an introduction to the history of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, this author provides an excellent resource, although lacking expression of conservative evangelical views. As to the roots of anti-Semitism that pervaded Hitler's Germany, the author concludes (p. 134),
All the literature one reads on the final solution leaves the clear impression that the pervasiveness of classical Christian anti-Jewish theology was a significant factor in the success of Hitler's program. Where it did not directly contribute to support for Hitler's policies—and it often did—it created an apathy toward Jews that was equally decisive in permitting the Holocaust. The great majority of the German people did not actively support or actively oppose Hitler: they were merely indifferent.
Wilson, Marvin R. Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000. This is an excellent corrective to the widespread ignorance that pervades Christendom concerning its Jewish heritage. The author concludes (pp. 84, 101),
Though the break between Synagogue and Church had now essentially been made, the struggle between the two was far from over. A triumphalist and arrogant Church, largely Gentile in makeup, would now become more and more de-Judaized—severed from its Jewish roots. This de-Judaizing developed into a history of anti-Judaism, a travesty which has extended from the second century to the present day. …We must emphasize in conclusion that the Holocaust did not happen in a vacuum. Though it was devised in a country with an enviable reputation for brilliant culture and intellectual sophistication, the seeds of anti-Semitism had been planted much earlier. The Holocaust represents the tragic culmination of anti-Jewish attitudes and practices which had been allowed to manifest themselves—largely unchecked—in or nearby the Church for nearly two thousand years. Perhaps the most important reason the Holocaust happened is that the Church had forgotten its Jewish roots.
Wistrich, Robert S. Antisemitism, The Longest Hatred. New York: Pantheon, 1991. This is a companion volume to the excellent Thames Television video production The Longest Hatred, 150 minutes, also released in 1991. With the encouragement of Simon Wiesenthal, Wistrich has provided a broad, scholarly sweep of anti-Semitism from a Jewish perspective that is approvingly referenced in Graham Keith's Hated Without A Cause? Of particular interest is “Part 1, From the Cross to the Swastika.”
Yee, Tet-Lim N. Jews, Gentiles and Ethnic Reconciliation: Paul's Jewish Identity and Ephesians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. This revised doctoral thesis presented to Durham University, with James Dunn as advisor, provides a detailed study of Eph 2:1–22 from the “new perspective” which reconsiders the epistles of Paul through the distinctive focus of first century Judaism. Although Yee does not assume Pauline authorship of Ephesians, he does not deny it. He concludes that the author of Ephesians “is at heart a (Christian) Jew,” who “never ceased to be a Jew” (pp. 33, 70). He concludes a detailed exegesis of Ephesians 2 with some important results for the issue of Jewish-Christian relations. For instance (pp. 217, 221–222,228),
It may be fairly claimed that the ‘Christianity’ represented by the author of Ephesians is a movement of renewal breaking through the boundaries within one Judaism (not all) of the first century which is marked characteristically by covenantal ethnocentrism. That being said, it would be wrong to suggest that Ephesians represents the abandonment of Judaism in favor of Greek triumphalism over ethnic Israel. Rather, we should speak of a Jewish messianic inclusivistic movement which transcends covenantal ethnocentrism: the Messiah Jesus, who is portrayed as a peace-maker in Ephesians, has come to preach peace to the ‘far off’ and the ‘near.’ He has surmounted the social distance between Jew and Gentile so that ‘both’ can gain access to the God of Israel in a common spirit.
This well represents the essential thrust of Judeo-centric eschatology.
Ye'or, Bat. Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis. Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2005. The Arabic word dhimmi refers to a non-Muslim who is under harsh terms of subjection within a Muslim society. Particularly since the defeat of the combined Arab military by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Muslim states, especially those with substantial petroleum resources, have focused upon a different strategy. The exchange of European technology, both economic and military, for Middle Eastern oil, has come with the added price of recognition of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's territorial claims as well as an anti-American and anti-Israel and anti-Christian and anti-Western agenda. Hence, for over 30 years, European capitulation to these demands has resulted in “Eurabia: The Land of Dhimmitude,” that is, the gradual subjection of Europe in general to spreading Muslim influence without ideological capitulation to the West in return, as well as increasing anti-Judaism. In parallel with this intended penetration of western society, there has also come about an increase in the influence of strident Christian anti-Judaic supercessionism as represented by Anglican Stephen Sizer and Islamophile literature represented by Anglican Bishop Kenneth Cragg. Ye'or's book is essential reading for those who would better understand the present Muslim resurgence along with, especially in Europe, the increase in anti-Judaism.
1. J. Neusner, Judaism and Christianity: the New Relationship (New York: Garland, 1993), 58. Martyn Lloyd-Jones made a significant and related comment concerning the Puritans: “Were they not too much influenced by the analogy of the Old Testament and of Israel? Here, it seems to me, was the source of the trouble, that they would persist in taking the analogy of Israel in the Old Testament and applying it to England. Was not that the real error? In the Old Testament and under that Dispensation of the State (of Israel) was the church (Acts 7:38), but the State of England in the sixteenth century was not the church. In the Old Testament the two were one and identical. But surely in the New Testament we have the exact opposite. The church consists of the ‘called out’ ones, not the total State.” (The Puritans: Their Origins And Successors [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1987], 64–65).