Sins of the past: Christians and questions of Jewish evangelism
Regrettable history inhibits continuing mission
Is it wrong for Christians to attempt to convert Jews to Christianity? Yes, concludes a task force of the United Church of Canada in a document, Bearing Faithful Witness. Championed by UCC moderator Bill Phipps, the document is now being circulated and recommended for study in congregations across the country.
In unequivocal terms, Bearing Faithful Witness "rejects and repudiates all mission and proselytism seeking to convert Jews to Christianity." This follows naturally from its conclusions that God’s covenant with Israel has not been displaced or replaced; that "God’s action in Christ and in the Church" has not been superseded in any way.
It’s easy for a person of evangelical conviction to take issue with the UCC document. Indeed, a statement attached to it acknowledges that "some evangelical or fundamentalist churches still seek to evangelize Jews," but delineates a careful distance. "The United Church does not support this activity," it states. "The United Church dialogues with Jews for purposes of mutual understanding, not conversion."
Many Christians are reluctant to relinquish a sense of mission quite so readily. Most would affirm inter-faith dialogue to better understand and to be enriched by the wisdom and perspective of others. But dialogue that demands total "openness" and suspends convictions concerning the truth of the gospel is seen to destroy one’s integrity as a Christian.
Sensitivities
With that in mind, I approached the report in much the same way it approaches the Scriptures–with heightened sensitivity towards passages that might offend. It was most encouraging to see that a major reason for producing the document is to combat anti-Semitism and to confront Christian complicity in pogroms, the Holocaust and other horrors against Jewish people. This is commendable and, unfortunately, a necessary exercise for all-too-many followers of Christ.
But I failed to recognize my own Christian background in some of the other reasons cited by the authors, such as "because in our churches Jesus is rarely referred to as a Jew." The Jewishness of Jesus is frequently affirmed in my worship circles, as is the right of Jewish people to a just and peaceful existence both in Israel and in their communities around the world.
Much of the document itself comprises a tour of the New Testament books with a special focus on "problematic passages," i.e. verses with anti-Judaism potential. Some of these discussions, I discovered, reveal as much about contemporary UCC theologizing as they do about the texts themselves. For example:
• Matthew: When the Jewish crowd turns against Jesus, the people shout: "His blood be on us and on our children" (Matt. 27:25). The report’s authors refer to this statement as a "horrible saying, undoubtedly a creation of the writer..."
• Mark: "There are different ways of reading Mark’s gospel. In the United Church of Canada, we tend to downplay references to the demonic."
• Luke: "Luke offers the least anti-Judaic passion story in the gospels."
• John: "The picture painted of Pontius Pilate is historically incorrect."
• Acts: Peter’s comment that "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12) is dismissed as "the speech of an enthusiastic preacher..."
• Paul: Paul’s comments in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 are cited for their "vindictiveness."
Mandate to evangelize
Quite a different way of looking at the matter is set forward in the Willowbank Declaration on the Christian Gospel and the Jewish People, a document produced in 1989 under the auspices of the World Evangelical Fellowship and supported by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. The declaration articulates a penitent and gracious approach to Jewish-Christian relations, but it resists the temptation to abandon Christianity’s mandate to evangelize.
Willowbank begins by acknowledging Christianity’s "immense debt of gratitude to the Jewish people," stating that the gospel is the good news that Jesus is the Christ, the long-promised Jewish Messiah, who by his life, death and resurrection saves from sin and all its consequences. Those who worship Jesus as their divine Lord and Savior have thus received God’s most precious gift through the Jewish people. Therefore they have compelling reason to show love to that people in every possible way."
The declaration "repudiates past persecution of Jews by those identified as Christians," and pledges "to resist every form of anti-Semitism." It observes that "some church leaders have retreated from the task of evangelizing Jews as a responsibility of Christian mission" and embraced a theology that makes salvation in Jesus needless so far as the Jews are concerned. This it disputes. In a lengthy list of affirmations and denials, Willowbank unequivocally upholds an understanding of the gospel that yearns to include all people–including the Jewish people.
Sins of the past
The UCC does well to promote serious Bible study and communicate the reality that issues surrounding Jewish-Christian relations are complex and the history full of regrettable episodes. But the denomination does its members a disservice by abandoning the call to Christian mission. Those who believe salvation is offered through faith in Jesus Christ have been commissioned to share the good news. As Kenneth Kantzer stated when the Willowbrook Declaration was released: "We should take our responsibility to evangelize seriously and not withdraw because of a sort of inferiority complex, or our own guilt feelings, or the seeming impossibility of the task."
Axel Torm, who headed the Danish Israel Mission from 1945-1975, put it this way: "In earlier times the church disparaged Judaism in order to elevate Christ. It was a sin the church committed. Today there are people in the church who disparage Christ in order to glorify Judaism. Is that better?"
Doug
Koop
Editor
