The law he was charged with breaking.... "blasphemy" I believe...
who charged him?
The New Testament and Christian antisemitism[edit]
Main article:
Christianity and antisemitism
A. Roy Eckardt, a pioneer in the field of Jewish-Christian relations,
[15] asserted that the foundation of antisemitism and responsibility for the Holocaust lies ultimately in the New Testament.
[11] Eckardt insisted that Christian
repentance must include a reexamination of basic theological attitudes toward Jews and the New Testament in order to deal effectively with antisemitism.
[16]
According to Rabbi Michael J. Cook, Professor of Intertestamental and Early Christian Literature at the
Hebrew Union College, there are ten themes in the New Testament that are the greatest sources of anxiety for Jews concerning Christian antisemitism:
- The Jews are culpable for crucifying Jesus - as such they are guilty of deicide
- The tribulations of the Jewish people throughout history constitute God's punishment of them for killing Jesus
- Jesus originally came to preach only to the Jews, but when they rejected him, he abandoned them for gentiles instead
- The Children of Israel were God's original chosen people by virtue of an ancient covenant, but by rejecting Jesus they forfeited their chosenness - and now, by virtue of a New Covenant (or "testament"), Christians have replaced the Jews as God's chosen people, the Church having become the "People of God."
- The Jewish Bible (the so-called "Old Testament") repeatedly portrays the opaqueness and stubbornness of the Jewish people and their disloyalty to God.
- The Jewish Bible contains many predictions of the coming of Jesus as the Messiah (or "Christ"), yet the Jews are blind to the meaning of their own Bible.
- By the time of Jesus' ministry, Judaism had ceased to be a living faith.
- Judaism's essence is a restrictive and burdensome legalism.
- Christianity emphasizes excessive love, while Judaism maintains a balance of justice, God of wrath and love of peace.
- Judaism's oppressiveness reflects the disposition of Jesus' opponents called "Pharisees" (predecessors of the "rabbis"), who in their teachings and behavior were hypocrites (see Woes of the Pharisees).[17]
Cook believes that both contemporary Jews and contemporary Christians need to reexamine the
history of early Christianity, and the
transformation of Christianity from a Jewish sect consisting of
followers of a Jewish Jesus, to a separate religion often dependent on the tolerance of Rome while proselytizing among Gentiles loyal to the Roman empire, to understand how the story of Jesus came to be recast in an
anti-Jewish form as the
Gospels took their final form.
[18]
Some scholars assert that critical verses in the New Testament have been used to incite prejudice and violence against Jewish people. Professor
Lillian C. Freudmann, author of
Antisemitism in the New Testament (
University Press of America, 1994) has published a study of such verses and the effects that they have had in the Christian community throughout history.[
need quotation to verify] Similar studies have been made by both Christian and Jewish scholars, including, Professors
Clark Williamsom[
need quotation to verify] (
Christian Theological Seminary),
Hyam Maccoby[
need quotation to verify] (
The Leo Baeck Institute),
Norman A. Beck (Texas
Lutheran College),[
need quotation to verify] and
Michael Berenbaum[
need quotation to verify](
Georgetown University).
Jewish-Christian conflict in the New Testament[edit]
There are some verses in the New Testament that describe Jews in a positive way, attributing to them
salvation[John 4:22] or
divine love.
[Romans 11:28] In the story of the
crucifixion, meanwhile, Jews prompt
Jesus' execution and say "His blood be on us, and on our children",
[Matthew 27:25] referred to as the
blood curse. In the
Gospel of John, Jesus calls certain
Pharisees "children of
the devil".
[John 8:44]
According to the New Testament
Gospels, Jesus, on his fateful entry into Jerusalem before Passover, was received by a great crowd of people. Jesus was arrested and
tried by the Sanhedrin. After the trial, Jesus was handed over to
Pontius Pilate, who duly tried him again and, at the urging of the people, had him
crucified.
The New Testament records that Jesus' disciple
Judas Iscariot,
[Mark 14:43-46] the Roman governor
Pontius Pilate along with Roman forces
[John 19:11][Acts 4:27] and the leaders and people of
Jerusalem were (to varying degrees) responsible for the death of Jesus.
[Acts 13:27-28]
Antisemitism and the New Testament - Wikipedia