I am writing a book chapter dealing with how the World Council of Churches and the Lausanne Consultation on World Evangelization theologize about and relate to the Jewish people and the Jewish State. The chapter is fifty pages long and counting: I am not done yet!
But I thought I would share with you some of my findings from about midway in the chapter. This chapter selection does not deal with the Lausanne Movement, hence no logo! The references below to Vancouver, Uppsala and Nairobi refer to three different Assemblies of the World Council, which meet every six years.
I am sorry if the writing is a little high brow: this book is being written for a somewhat high brow crowd. But I am confident you all can handle it! Read on.
At Vancouver in 1983, the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches took positions about interfaith dialogue and mission, but said nothing about the Jewish people as such. Instead, the theology evident at Uppsala and Nairobi intensified, centering in a concern for peace and justice through standing with the poor and oppressed. Again we see in place a liberal tendency to prefer the general to the specific, an antipodal antipathy to particularism, and surely, to Jewish particularism. Israel is assumed to be the destabilizing factor in the region.
We also note an antipathy toward, and stereotyping stigmatization of what is commonly termed Christian Zionism, any theological enthusiasm for the Jewish state and its eschatological significance. This is why the Introduction of the Assembly’s Statement on the Middle East laments how “historical factors and certain theological interpretations have often confused Christians outside in evaluating the religious and political developments in the Middle East.”[1] This is code language for disparaging and stigmatizing Christian Zionism as an unhelpful source of confusion and instability. It seems clear that the World Council of Churches feels obligated to side with the (Arab) churches in the Middle East and how their leaders represent themselves, their people and their plight. It also seems clear that Israeli Jews would do well to look elsewhere than to the World Council for fairness, support and understanding. This would include the many Israeli Jesus believers whose protest against such World Council construals of the situation remain unaddressed.
It would be naïve to imagine that World Council of Churches irritation concerning the Jewish State is solely due to Israeli governmental policies and actions. At its root, the problem lies with the dissonance between supersesssionism and Israel redivivus. The State of Israel is for supersessionist Christianity an inconvenient and unacceptable symbol a Jewish strength. ‘
From long experience, the Church knows how to deal with Jewish weakness, neediness, and suffering: it does not know how to deal with Jewish strength. The Church has learned to deal with Jewish impotence, but not Jewish virility. Apart from keeping these things in mind, analyses of the root of Christian concern about “the sins of the Jewish State” will always be flawed.
[1] David Gill, ed., Gathered for Life: Official Report, Sixth Assembly, World Council of Churches (Geneva: WCC, 1983), 147 ff.
This goes to the heart of mainstream Christian teaching beginning with the church fathers, especially Augustine who taught that the Jews must remain as a witness of God’s punishment, taking Ps 59.11 out of context and applying it to the Jewish people.
It was the teaching of the church triumphant over the Synagogue, to this day that culture prevails, the world is happy with the Jew in the history book but not the one alive today, romantic notions of the ghetto, of exile and victimhood (the underdog). The world can handle that, but the Jews in their own land and thriving? no that will not do!
Sadly, we agree. While you were writing your comment, I was reading a footnote about St. Augustine of Hippo’s Reply to Faustus the Manichean in which he stated, in part, “Here no one can fail to see that in eery land where the Jews are scattered they mourn for the loss of their kingom, and are in terrified subjection to the immensely superior number of Christians. . . . [Like Cain, the Jews may not be killed] for whoever destroys them in this way shall suffer sevenfold vengeance, that is, shall bring upon himself the sevenfold penalty under which the Jews lie for the crucifixion of Christ. So the end of the seven ays of time, the continued preservation of the Jews will be a proof to believing Christians of the subjection merited by those who, in the pride of their kingdom, put the Lord to death” (XII, 120).
Happily and ironically, my research is demonstrating conclusively how, since the promulgation of the Papal Declaration Nostra Aetate, October 28, 1965, the Roman Church has been at the vanguard of awareness and correction of Christian anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism. Pope John Paul II of Blessed Memory dedicated himself to unpacking the implications of the document, and his many speeches, comments and writings in this process remain startling, thrilling, moving, and prophetic. It is chastening in the extreme for Protestants, both evangelical and liberal, to acknowledge that the Roman Catholic Church is light years ahead of them in historical awareness and in awakening to the imperative to theologize anew about the Jewish people, their relationship with them, and how all of this fits in with the mission of God, or as I read this morning, to “move forward with Jews as partners in God’s unfolding plans.” See Philip A. Cunningham, et al., eds., Christ Jesus and the Jewish People Today: New Explorations of Theological Interrelationships (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), xxvi.
It’s very sad to see how replacement theology was spread by the Vatican thoughout history, infiltrating almost every Christian denomination, brainwashing mainstream Christianity – and today the Vatican is seeking to have its own Vatican state in the middle of Jerusalem – in cooperation with the UN!!! What has begun with replacement theology will end with the anti-Messiah :-\ !
Erika, you are precisely wrong, and have been unfortunately propagandized by conspiratorialists. The truth is the opposite of what you have been told. The Roman Catholic Church is light years ahead of the other Churches in repentantly acknowledging Christian sins against the Jews, and the dignity of the Jewish people’s continuing role in the outworking of God’s will in the world. I know I must sound to you like I drank the Kool Aid, but I respectfully urge you to read for example, Pope John Paul II, Spiritual Pilgrimage: Texts on Jews and Judaism 1979-1995, Eugene J. Fisher and Leon Klenicki, eds. (New York: Crossroad, 1995). This book was produced by the Anti-Defamation League, and underscores the leaps and bounds the Catholic Church has been making in its attitudes and relations with the Jews. Also, go on line and read Section 4 of Nostra Aetate, the ground breaking document on the Church and the Jews issued October 28, 1965 by Vatican II. It is fifteen sentences long, but is rightly considered the most groundbreaking document on Christian Jewish relations since Romans 9-11.
The Vatican is an experienced chameleon in ecumenical matters. I haven’t read your recommended text, although I’ve read JP2′s 1998 ‘we remember’ and followed his other statements. I certainly wouldn’t agree they are light years ahead of the many Puritan, Anglican, Baptist and Presbyterian lovers of Zion – many of whom paved Herzl’s way for him some centuries before him, (Blackstone and Hechler to name but two). Kertzer’s Unholy War is an illuminating guide to former often hidden relations between the Vatican and Jewry. Why the delay to recognising Israel as a nation? Why the active support of Palestinian nationalism, often turning a blind eye to its support of terror? As a lover of Yeshua do you agree with the Nostra Aetate’s apparent repudiation of Rom 11.15,17?
Mr Soper,
I hope you can see how unlikely it is that anything I can say is going to influence your opinions on these matters. From your very first sentence, you evidence an implacable animosity to the Roman Catholic Church that seems unable to acknowledge any redemptive change by this institution. Bear in mind that I, as a Jew, am deeply aware of the historic sins of the Church. I am neither naive nor uninformed. Rather, the very darkness of the Church’s past vis a vis the Jews makes the changes since October 28, 1965 (when Nostra Aetate was promulgated) that much more dramatic. I am well aware of and appreciative of the philo-Semites you mention. I will be posting some blog posts on the developments I allude to here. While they will not portray the Roman Catholic Church as being all that we would want them to be, these quotations will be startling for anyone not predisposed to find fault. As for Romans 11:15, 17, I do not catch your point. I do note that in Nostra Aetate, the Church references Romans 11:17 in words which few if any would find problematic,s saying of the Church: “Nor can she forget that she draws sustenance from the root of that well-cultivated olive tree onto which have been grafted the wild shoots, the Gentiles.” I fail to find the repudiation you reference in your note.
Yes, I have heard about these recent changes inside of the catholic church, but are they not made just for ecumenical reasons? Of course I also cannot exclude that the individuals who have written these documents were really sincere. But why does the Vatican try to own so much property in the old city of Jerusalem?
“Just for ecumenical reasons,” what does that mean, Erica? I remember when, in the circles in which I traveled, “ecumenical” was a dirty word, It actually comes from the Greek term meaning “household,” and applies to those who are sensitive the idea that the people of God is a diverse and far ranging household: nothing sinister here. As for “the individuals who have written these documents (being) really sincere,” these documents are not mere opinions, but tectonic shifts in the doctrine and practice of the Roman Catholic Church. In the case of Nostra Aetate, the document comes out under Pope Paul VI’s name and authority. These are not mere opinions of sincere people, but authoritative shifts in what the Church will henceforth teach and hold itself accountable for!
As for the Roman Catholic Church’s land holdings in the Old City, they do see themselves to be the custodians of an historical/theological legacy, and Jerusalem is a city holy to them and not only to the Jews (whose claim to the city is more foundational). The church is wealthy, and real estate has always been a significant component of its wealth. While there are some who see an end-time conspiracy in all of this, I confess to being weary of such a mentality. It makes for good book sales (Dan Brown, anyone? Jerry Jenkins? Tim LaHaye?) but it is fanciful and produces far more heat than light.
Find the book I mentioned. Get informed. You might also look up the book edited by Philip Cunningham, which I recommend to Christos in another comment here.
Be well.
Thank you Mr. Dauermann, for the reply. I know “ecumenical” can be used for good and bad. The good ecumenism is under the Messiah (not necessarily with the ones who call Him “Lord Lord” but with the ones who do His Will).
Yes, I see that these were not mere opinions of some people, the Catholic church stood behind it. But I still think that there could be a bigger plan behind all of this. You know, I have studied some materials of Gary Kah, I don’t know what you think about him.
Yes, the Catholic church is wealthy and tries to gain that land for political reasons – that’s why I’m so wary of this whole thing. I’m not God in heaven – but I’m not convinced either that this Jew-friendly period of the Catholic church might not be used by some for their own purposes.
Dear Erika, Beware of conspiratorialism: it is a self-replicating virus that never stops eating away at things. It is just this kind of thinking that keeps anti-Semites in the business of talking about a world Jewish conspiracy to control the monetary market, etc. And sadly, conspiratorialism is addicting. I think its addictive power is due to people’s feeling powerless, and therefore feeling that someone else has all the power which they attained and maintain illegitimately. Flee from this, please.
You can find on the Internet references to the think tank Hashivenu which I founded, linking us to a One World Religion conspiracy. The conspiracy exists in one place: in the fevered minds of conspiratorialists.
FLEE FROM THIS KIND OF THINKING. Don’t get addicted.
Mr. Dauermann, have you met Gary Kah already? Or do you seriously think that anyone who adresses that topic is a conspiratorialist?
What I seriously think is what I said: no more, no less.
OK, thank you.
And by the way – I really don’t like to be put in the same cathegory with people who think the Jews control the world etc. This kind of stuff is around to detract people from reality – and I want reality, not the detraction from it.
Erica,
I am not putting you in any category! I AM saying that the psychological mechanism of conspiratorialism has the same characteristics whether in Christian space, or in areas which we would all find odious. Thirty years ago or more I happened to read an autobiographical book by Tommy Tarrants III. He was a bright young man from Alabama who was a Goldwater Republican while still in High School. From those circles he got involved with the John Birch Society, then a group called the Minutemen, and finally, with the Mississippi Knights of the Ku Klux Clan. He was very bright, and genuinely believed that America was in imminent danger of a takeover coordinated by the blacks, the Jews, an the Communists, He was imprisoned after being apprehended planting a bomb in a Jewish community leader’s driveway in Meridian, MIssissippi. He escaped, and was recaptured. While in prison, he remembered a philosophy prof telling him that it was the obligation of people to lay aside preconceptions and follow the truth wherever it leads. He took this attitude and began reading the Bible afresh, laying aside his former grids. He also read some good Christian literature and was soundly converted, and transformed. Eventually he was released from prison, and spoke on the same platform as Eldridge Cleaver in his post Panther days. Now here is the point. Tarrants pointed out the mechanism of conspiratorialism when he said that once a person becomes radicalized to a given conspiratorial world view, they interpret all seemingly affirming evidence as evidence of the conspiracy, and all contrary evidence as a smokescreen from the conspirers. In other words, conspiratorialism is a self sustaining phenomenon. I simply caution you against getting hooked.
Are there conspiracies in the world? Undoubtedly! But are there as many as Christians postulate? NO! But those who are the “true believers” are usually the last to know.
Tarrants’ book is called “Conversion of a Klansman.” It is only 88 pages long. Try and get a copy. It is gripping reading.
I will be posting a blog about conspiratorialism soon. Look for it.
Yes, I’d like to see the book you are writing, or writing a chapter in.
I recently read about how one of the early Palestine liberation organizations (PLFP or something– Pal. Liberation Front ?) worked hard and intentionally in the years just after the Six Day War, with Palestinian Christians, to convince main line churches and the World Council that it was wrong to support Israel. Perhaps it wasn’t a hard sell, but they were nearly 100% successful.
My biggest concern at this time in history is that Palestinian Christians (except for a small minority of highly persecuted Arab Christians who support Israel) are working overtime (with the help of some American Christian theologians) to convince the Evangelical church, that bastion of Christian Zionism, of the same stance. Groups like the Bethlehem Bible College and their “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference, the Kairos Palestine document, and the resurgence of the social justice movement in evangelical mega-churches such as Willow Creek and the Vineyard movement, are working hand in glove with lefty politicos and academics (some Jewish) to convince the American evangelicals that Israel has no Biblical nor political right in the Land, and that the Israelis are persecuting their Palestinian Christian brothers.
There is much more to be said about this but I am just mentioning it here. The familiar stench of lies and deception about the Jews has been released and is finding more and more acceptance among formerly Christian Zionist churches.
Supersessionism is surely implanted in the very “deep grammar” of Christian theology. Some Christians are working nobly to uproot it, but for the majority (so it seems) that anti-Jewish root can rebud and reblossom at any time, and just behind it follows antisemitism and eventually Jew-killing.
Unfortunately this is becoming part of the platform of the growing social justice wave in this country. We need to use our Messianic corporate voice to point out this grave error to churches and individual Christians.
Rachel,
I agree, and there is of course more to say. Unfortunately our “Messianic Jewish corporate voice” is hard to assemble and unify. Ours is such a factionalized movement. We should talk about this some time. It is one of my great griefs. But I think we need to mount an even greater voice of protest. I was talking to Michael R. of Chicago about this within the past 24 hours.
I will keep you in mind as I complete this chapter, which you might write better than I did!
Regards to Michael.
Michael and I have also spoken with Rydelnik about this. He sees it first hand among Christian academics. We see it first hand among pastors in our city, pastors who have been friends and supporters.
You are right that is it not easy to raise a Messianic corporate voice, but perhaps that in itself is not a bad thing. An easy and ready corporate voice may indicate a degree of demagoguery. However, in cases like this it seems it would be useful. I think I will talk to Michael about putting this into the agenda for the next Borough Park Symposium (he’s on the committee). It may be one of the few issues we can all agree on! And, indeed, perhaps the most important — standing with, and, more, fighting for our people in time of need.
Thank you for the recommendation, I have a book by Philip A Cunningham called ‘Sharing Shalom’ (hope to get round to it one day) . I like to read from the Mishnah because I find it very helpful and encouraging especially for understanding the Bible and Jewish history.
A book that I think you will find interesting by a Jewish Catholic is called ‘Salvation is from the Jews’ by Roy Schoeman, please accept my apologies if you have already heard of it.
Dear Mr. Dauermann, thank you again for taking the time to reply. I may have sounded somewhat simplistic in my first statement (English is not my first language, I’m German, and not very talkative on top of that). But I suggest that you take a day or two to meet Mr. Gary Kah one day – he is American, and I think that this could provide for a quite interesting conversation.
Shalom and all the best to you,
Erika
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I just heard some statements from John Paul Jackson about conspiracy theories that really got straight to the heart of the matter, as far as I’m concerned, and it is this:
Conspiracy theories always arise when man thinks that he is able to fix this world again by changing man kind. But man kind can only be changed by God – by Him alone. So true.
And here my own addition: As long as man thinks that he can fix this world again without God and therefore does not submit to God, he will automatically by subject to the “prince of this world” – if he likes it or not. There IS an answer to the mess in this world – and the answer is God!
Erika,
It all sounds good, but the facts of life show that even people who claim to have submitted to God do evil things, major evil things. Yes, God does transform human lives. But also yes, there are people who have never named the name of Christ in faith whose moral lives put to shame those who claim him.
I have lived long enough to distrust formulaic statements that sound “orthodox” but simply don’t match the facts.
Jesus Himself said that the sons of this world are wiser in their generation than the sons of light . . . not all the time, but without a doubt, sometimes.
What this calls for is for those of us who make Big claims to make major efforts to live up to them, and for us to acknowledge morality, sacrifice, and kindness wherever we see it.
“But also yes, there are people who have never named the name of Christ in faith whose moral lives put to shame those who claim him.”
I totally agree with you on that, Mr. Dauermann. In fact – that was what I stated in the comment above that still is awaiting moderation (when saying that very often it is Israel that does Yeshua’s Will – versus the church)
In my opinion the big question is that of Yeshua’s identity. We don’t follow Him by claiming His Name verbally, we follow Him doing His Will. Remember that story in Matthew 21:28-31?
So I too am trying to live up to our great calling. Shabbat Shalom!
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