Bearing Faithful Witness

Anti-Judaism and antisemitism can arise in a variety of ways. It happens, for example, when we

• emphasize and illustrate Christian teaching by negatively contrasting it with Jewish teaching;
• use Scripture to illustrate behaviour that is sinful for Christians by using Jews as examples;
• apply Jewish self criticism (in the Psalms or prophets) to condemn Jews rather than to stimulate our own self examination;
• speak of the church as having displaced or superseded Israel in its election, as in speaking of the church as the "New Israel";
• blame Jews for the death of Jesus;
• deny historical events such as the Holocaust;
• speak of Jews as children, pawns or servants of the devil (cf. John 8:42-46).

"Anti Judaism" is the negative stereotyping of Jews and Jewish beliefs. It is still current in Christian thinking and teaching and found in many approaches to the New Testament. It includes the idea that the Jews were rejected by God and replaced by the Church. It singles out some Jewish leaders as the killers of Jesus. A person who is anti Jewish would see conversion to Christianity and baptism as a "remedy" for Jewishness.

"Antisemitism" is hatred of Jews. Conversion and baptism are not enough to "remedy" Jewishness, according to an antisemite. Jewishness is a permanent, inborn characteristic which cannot be removed. Denial of the Holocaust, thinking of Jews today as responsible for the death of Jesus, claiming that Jews (just by being Jews) are demonic, these are all acts of antisemitism.

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