Review of “On the Jews and Their Lies”
Original topic subject: Review of On the Jews and Their Lies
Talk Reformation Era: History and Literature
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1geoffreymeadows
Luther wasn’t always right. This book of his is a quintessentially bad example of how Christians should feel about the Jews. A closer reading of Paul seems to be the solution to its error. That, and not reading hate literature about those who are different from you, would also help. In Luther’s Jews: A Journey into Anti-Semitism the author, Thomas Kaufmann, conveys that most of what Luther knew, or thought he knew, about the Jews came from anti-Semitic literature. Some of the titles involved were, “The Entire Jewish Faith” (1530) by Anton Margaritha and “Against the Sabbatarians,” (1538). It is through these books that Luther is instructed to believe that Jews poisoned wells, kidnapped children and ritually sacrificed them, and that Jews cursed Christians every week in their synagogues on the Sabbath. There are a lot of slanderous accusations given here by Luther that are taken as fact.
But Luther takes it a step further. Not only does he believe that Jews are constantly blaspheming and slandering God, Christ, and Mary, but he believes Christians will be judged by God for not treating the Jews severely for it. That is why he proposes several actions against the Jews. He proposes burning their synagogues and schools. Also, their homes, he says, should be burned, so that like the gypsies they should live in people’s barns. All their prayer books and Talmudic writings should be taken from them, as well as the Bible! Safe-conduct on the highways should be taken from them. Usury, one of the contention points between Christians and Jews at the time, should be denied them. Instead, they should be forced to live lives of hard physical labor. In another place in On the Jews and Their Lies, Luther says the Jews should be forbidden to praise God, give thanks, pray, or to teach publicly among Christians. They should be forbidden to say the name of God in Christians’ hearing.
I’m interested in the story of the Jews in Europe. Where and when did anti-Semitism originate? With Luther as one vector of anti-Semitism I’m beginning to wonder if it began with Christianity itself. There is a lot more for me to investigate and explore, though, before I come to that conclusion.
Traveling back in time, I guess I had to go back to the beginning, to Scripture. One Scripture that had me worried was Matthew 27: 24-25, where the Jewish crowd at the sentencing of Jesus cried out not only, “Crucify him!” but also, “His blood be on us and on our children!” This Scripture seems to set up the Jews for perpetual punishment and also seems to encourage Christian anger and hatred for the Jews. Sometimes you have to be careful though. Is this Scripture teaching Christians to hate Jews? Most people who love the Bible I think would agree that the Bible doesn’t teach and cannot teach hate. Hate is a misreading of the Scriptures. So, how are we supposed to be reacting to this verse here?
I believe the answer comes in the writings of Paul. In Romans 9:1-5, Paul, the great evangelist, testifies to his own sense of grief that the Jews had not accepted Christ. Grief is maybe a part of the answer. Christians should be concerned about the Jews, maybe even grieved, but not hateful. In another passage in Romans, Romans 11, Paul talks about how the Gentiles have been grafted onto the tree which was once Judaism, and how the Gentiles should be humble about that and not proud. How many errors in Luther’s, On the Jews and Their Lies, could have been avoided if he had just kept an attitude of Christian humility towards the Jews? And finally, in Romans 2:4, Paul talks about how it’s the kindness of God that leads you to repentance. Not hate! Not severity. It’s kindness that is the beginning of the evangelistic process, and that is given freely and generously, without any expectation of results or getting something back in return. (Note: Luther wanted something back.) It’s surprising to me how Luther, otherwise such an expert on Paul, could skip over these verses.
Some Biblical commentators maintain that the primary audience for Matthew’s Gospel was probably Jewish Christians, anyway. These Christians would probably not be as tempted as Gentiles to react to Matthew 27: 24-25 with anger and hate, as they would have been hating their own people. Thus, their reactions may have been more in line with Paul’s, that of grief and concern.
So, I think we have some options in interpreting Matthew 27:24-25. Elsewhere in the New Testament there are passages about the conflict between Judaism and Christianity in the first century. At that time the conflict was intense, as you can read for yourself. But I think Scripture still can guide Christians as to how to approach the problem now.
For everyone else, be assured, most Christians would agree, anti-Semitism is not a Christian worldview. If Christianity has ever partaken of anti-Semitism, it has done so in error.
Admittedly, we are judging Luther now according to modern truths and values. Heiko Oberman in his, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, points out that Luther was not basing his anti-Semitism solely on race, like the Nazis - (never-the-less, the Nazis did utilize Luther’s book for their own purposes) - but on a desire to see a homogeneous, prosperous Christian Europe. His vision was of a wholly Christian Europe, united around the Scriptures and the gospel. To him, the Jews were just a hindrance to that. Perhaps we should be careful in our day, what our foundational or pre-foundational truths and assumptions are. They could be used not in the service of a better world or of God, like this book by Luther.
But Luther takes it a step further. Not only does he believe that Jews are constantly blaspheming and slandering God, Christ, and Mary, but he believes Christians will be judged by God for not treating the Jews severely for it. That is why he proposes several actions against the Jews. He proposes burning their synagogues and schools. Also, their homes, he says, should be burned, so that like the gypsies they should live in people’s barns. All their prayer books and Talmudic writings should be taken from them, as well as the Bible! Safe-conduct on the highways should be taken from them. Usury, one of the contention points between Christians and Jews at the time, should be denied them. Instead, they should be forced to live lives of hard physical labor. In another place in On the Jews and Their Lies, Luther says the Jews should be forbidden to praise God, give thanks, pray, or to teach publicly among Christians. They should be forbidden to say the name of God in Christians’ hearing.
I’m interested in the story of the Jews in Europe. Where and when did anti-Semitism originate? With Luther as one vector of anti-Semitism I’m beginning to wonder if it began with Christianity itself. There is a lot more for me to investigate and explore, though, before I come to that conclusion.
Traveling back in time, I guess I had to go back to the beginning, to Scripture. One Scripture that had me worried was Matthew 27: 24-25, where the Jewish crowd at the sentencing of Jesus cried out not only, “Crucify him!” but also, “His blood be on us and on our children!” This Scripture seems to set up the Jews for perpetual punishment and also seems to encourage Christian anger and hatred for the Jews. Sometimes you have to be careful though. Is this Scripture teaching Christians to hate Jews? Most people who love the Bible I think would agree that the Bible doesn’t teach and cannot teach hate. Hate is a misreading of the Scriptures. So, how are we supposed to be reacting to this verse here?
I believe the answer comes in the writings of Paul. In Romans 9:1-5, Paul, the great evangelist, testifies to his own sense of grief that the Jews had not accepted Christ. Grief is maybe a part of the answer. Christians should be concerned about the Jews, maybe even grieved, but not hateful. In another passage in Romans, Romans 11, Paul talks about how the Gentiles have been grafted onto the tree which was once Judaism, and how the Gentiles should be humble about that and not proud. How many errors in Luther’s, On the Jews and Their Lies, could have been avoided if he had just kept an attitude of Christian humility towards the Jews? And finally, in Romans 2:4, Paul talks about how it’s the kindness of God that leads you to repentance. Not hate! Not severity. It’s kindness that is the beginning of the evangelistic process, and that is given freely and generously, without any expectation of results or getting something back in return. (Note: Luther wanted something back.) It’s surprising to me how Luther, otherwise such an expert on Paul, could skip over these verses.
Some Biblical commentators maintain that the primary audience for Matthew’s Gospel was probably Jewish Christians, anyway. These Christians would probably not be as tempted as Gentiles to react to Matthew 27: 24-25 with anger and hate, as they would have been hating their own people. Thus, their reactions may have been more in line with Paul’s, that of grief and concern.
So, I think we have some options in interpreting Matthew 27:24-25. Elsewhere in the New Testament there are passages about the conflict between Judaism and Christianity in the first century. At that time the conflict was intense, as you can read for yourself. But I think Scripture still can guide Christians as to how to approach the problem now.
For everyone else, be assured, most Christians would agree, anti-Semitism is not a Christian worldview. If Christianity has ever partaken of anti-Semitism, it has done so in error.
Admittedly, we are judging Luther now according to modern truths and values. Heiko Oberman in his, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, points out that Luther was not basing his anti-Semitism solely on race, like the Nazis - (never-the-less, the Nazis did utilize Luther’s book for their own purposes) - but on a desire to see a homogeneous, prosperous Christian Europe. His vision was of a wholly Christian Europe, united around the Scriptures and the gospel. To him, the Jews were just a hindrance to that. Perhaps we should be careful in our day, what our foundational or pre-foundational truths and assumptions are. They could be used not in the service of a better world or of God, like this book by Luther.
