The relationship between Judaism and Christianity has undergone more radical change over the last half century than in the two thousand years that came before. Since the emergence of Christianity out of Judaism, the two faiths had been content to define themselves in opposition to each other, a situation hardly conducive to mutual understanding.
When a new religion emerges from an older one, it will tend to compare itself to the worst in its predecessor. After all, if the old faith had been adequate, why would a new one be needed? But Christianity adopted an extreme version of this practice, incorporating Jews and Judaism as the dark side, the villains of its world view. According to Christian teaching, the Jews had not merely failed to recognize their own messiah when he arrived, they had actively rejected and killed him, and were thus guilty of the singular and unsurpassable crime of deicide. This toxic theory was promulgated for two millennia, exploding in an orgy of anti-Jewish violence in the medieval Crusades and laying the groundwork for the Holocaust in our day.
As the full and unprecedented horror of the Holocaust was revealed to the world, the churches which had mindlessly passed on poisonous anti-Jewish teachings for centuries were shaken to their roots by the realization of their past in preparing the way for the catastrophe. Christians vowed “never again” and began the work of cleansing their “religion of love” of the hatred for Jews it had long incorporated. Christian leaders were determined that their faith should enter the twenty-first century without this profoundly anti-Christian, anti-human baggage.
The work began slowly, following the revelations of the Shoah. In 1946 the World Council of Churches (WCC) issued a statement expressing “its deep sense of horror at the unprecedented tragedy which has befallen the Jewish people.” They called for Christians to combat antisemitism and help Jews in every way possible. They praised Christians who had helped Jews during the ordeal.
In 1948 two important church statements delved more deeply into Christian complicity in the Nazi horrors. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony admitted that the church had adopted some of the Nazi attitudes toward Jews and that baptized Christians had joined in the persecution. In the same year, the WCC took a step further, acknowledging for the first time that “the churches in the past have helped to foster an image of the Jews as the sole enemies of Christ which has contributed to antisemitism.” So it was not just Christians adopting Nazi attitudes, but traditional Christian attitudes that were toxic regarding Jews and Judaism, and which helped lead to the Shoah. This statement went on to call upon Christians to end all anti-Jewish teachings and to actively fight all forms of antisemitism.
In 1950 the Evangelical Protestant Church in Germany issued a statement denouncing all forms of antisemitism and adding one crucial additional point: “We believe God’s promise to be valid for his chosen people even after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.” That sentence is a refutation of the two thousand year old Christian claim that, by not accepting Jesus as messiah, the Jews lost their status as God’s chosen people—and could only regain that role by converting to Christianity, the faith of the new people of God. But if the covenant between God and the people Israel is still valid (in fact, eternally so), then the Jews are doing God’s will by remaining Jewish, while the church would be serving God by ending all active efforts to convert them. This unexpected, radical shift in Christian thought has been an important consequence of the church’s reappraisal of its relationship with Jews and Judaism.
Skipping to 1964 we find the first formal refutation of the deicide charge. The Episcopal Church (USA) denounced antisemitism as a “direct contradiction of Christian doctrine” and it went on to state that “the charge of deicide against the Jews is a tragic misunderstanding of the inner significance of the crucifixion . . . .The charge of a corporate or inherited curse on the Jewish people [is] false.” With these words the church rejected a nonsensical and poisonous accusation, once central to Christian teaching about Jews. The deicide charge has, in the last forty years, been so thoroughly banished from church teaching that my Christian students have never heard it and express astonishment and horror that the church ever taught such a thing.
In 1968 the Belgian Protestant Federation, moving forward in the church’s effort to rethink its position, declared that there is one people of God. It is Israel. Jews are Israel through Torah; Christians are Israel through Christ. Not only are Christians not to try to convert Jews, but they are, as Christians, participants (together with the Jews) in the mission of Israel. Jews and Christians must work together to build God’s kingdom in the human community. Thus Christians have not replaced Jews as the people of God; they have joined them in a shared mission of healing a broken world.
In the following years, one mainline Protestant church after another followed this lead, abandoning their missionary programs aimed at Jews and recognizing that their Jewish dialogue partners are already dwelling with God in an eternal covenant.
Alongside all these Protestant church statements, the Catholic Church has issued three universal church statements dealing with Jews and Judaism. In 1965, the Second Vatican Council produced Nostra Aetate to cultivate “mutual respect and understanding” with Jews. It rejected and refuted the deicide charge and the doctrine that the Jews were cut off or cursed by God. It denounced all anti-Jewish and antisemitic views and actions.
In 1974, the Church issued Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate. It advised Catholics to strive to understand Jews as Jews understand themselves and to familiarize themselves with Jewish beliefs and Jewish practices. This represented a radical change; previously, Catholics were forbidden to enter a synagogue. Now they were encouraged to attend Jewish worship services and Passover Seders, to study scripture with Jews and to work together on shared projects. Holocaust memorial services are now regularly held in Catholic churches and cathedrals. As of this writing, three popes have prayed and preached in Jewish houses of worship.
In March 2000, Pope John Paul II traveled to Jerusalem as a pilgrim and a penitent. He visited the Temple’s Western Wall, placing between its stones the following written prayer:
God of our fathers,
You chose Abraham and his descendants
to bring Your name to the nations:
we are deeply saddened
by the behavior of those
who in the course of history
have caused these children of Yours to suffer,
and asking Your forgiveness
we wish to commit ourselves
to genuine brotherhood
with the people of the Covenant
Jerusalem, 26 March 2000.
Joannnes Paulus II
In recent years spokesmen for the Catholic Church have repeatedly expressed regret for past wrongs done to Jews and pressed for a new and expanding relationship between the Vatican and Israel. The current pope, Pope Francis, refers to himself as a pope who has his own rebbe. He has co-authored a book with his friend Rabbi Skorka of Argentina. All this bodes well for the future of the Jewish-Catholic dialogue.
In 1985 the Catholic Church published Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church. It states that Judaism is “a still living reality closely related to the Church . . . [continuing] in a world-wide witness, often heroic, of fidelity to God.” Thus Judaism’s moral and spiritual work in the world is part of God’s redemptive plan for humanity.
We Jews could not have said it better. Today the Catholic Church and the mainline Protestant churches all affirm the eternal validity of the Jewish faith in a living relationship between the Holy One and the people Israel. This is a radical change from all that has gone before in our formerly troubled relationship with our sister faith. We owe it to ourselves to become fully informed regarding this welcome change of ancient attitudes and to respond accordingly.