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An open letter to six academics
Dear sirs:
Since your commendation of Steven Katz' book The Holocaust in Historical Context (Oxford University Press) is prominently featured on the book's dustjacket, I thought I would take the liberty of pointing out a defect in what is in some respects a very impressive book.
Professor Katz has certainly demonstrated with detailed scholarship what should have been already evident to anyone who approached the subject objectively - that the attempt to exterminate European and ultimately world Jewry is unique in the annals of the world's horrors.
He has also done a real service in pointing out that Naziism was fundamentally different from, and indeed hostile to, Christianity. His point that in all of the preceding centuries when Christianity was dominant there was no attempt to exterminate all of the Jews is of great importance.
Nevertheless, in his comments on Christianity in Vol. I (in the subsection entitled "New Testament Foundations: The Origin of the Myth"), Professor Katz has revealed a lack of familiarity with some of the most basic elements of the Christian message, and has ignored some compelling verses. The verses that he has examined, he has explicated improperly - at least from the point of view as someone such as myself, who considers the New Testament message to be true.
In Professor Katz' book, Paul's comments on the inability of Jews to obtain salvation by keeping the law are referred to as "poisonous," because they are a fundamental attack on Judaism's spiritual worth. Many comments of Jesus' about the Pharisees are evidence of Christianity's hatred of Jews. Even Steven's comments in the book of Acts, that the Jews are stiffnecked and resist the Holy Spirit, are evidence of "antisemitism."
In the Gospels, Pilate's handwashing is called a "sinister" tale that shows the guilt of the Jews and the innocence of the Gentiles in Christ's death. The Jewish murder of Christ is stressed as showing the wickedness of the Jews, and "the deep anti-Jewish animus" of the New Testament is highlighted.
Thus, the New Testament and the teachings of Christ and the apostles are blamed for centuries of hatred and cruelty, culminating (admittedly, with the addition of modern secular influences) in the death camps and the Final Solution.
Unfortunately, this book (which has received a great deal of favorable comment from academic circles) seems to have met with little or no response from the Christian community. Major charges have been levelled against the Christian faith, which is called inherently sinister, false, and conducive to cruelty and evil - and the church is silent. Perhaps, in the appropriate time and place, some Christian can be found who will make some of the following observations in response to Professor Katz.
To begin with, prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and even Moses himself had, like Steven, much to say about the stubbornness and wickedness of the Jews. Were they then the originators of antisemitism? The Jews are in fact a sinful, stubborn, stiffnecked and rebellious people - and the New Testament plainly teaches that this is the problem of the entire human race. It is a human problem, not a "Jewish" one.
Secondly, the New Testament plainly teaches that murderers will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal.5:21 and Rev.21:8). There are many New Testament commandments about how Christians are supposed to walk in holiness and righteousness before God. These are found not only in the Gospels ("Blessed are the peacemakers") but also in the letters. Is the bible to blame for people who ignore its plain teachings?
Thirdly, Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, not to the Jewish people as a whole. To say that opposition to a corrupt and dishonest Jewish religious leadership is opposition to the Jewish people as a whole shows a profound misreading of Christ and of the Gospels - or is the Jewish leadership to be exempt from criticism to such an extent that any criticism of it, no matter how justified, is automatically linked to the Holocaust?
Another example of Professor Katz' misinterpretation of scripture (a very common one I might add) is found in his analysis of Pilate's handwashing. He views this as transferring all of the guilt upon the Jews, but one of Protestantism's most highly respected commentators, Matthew Henry [www.ccel.org/h/henry/mhc2/MHC00000.HTM], has made the obvious observation that Pilate knowingly handed an innocent man over to death - the theatrical act of handwashing did not absolve him of his guilt. In fact, as Matthew Henry points out, and as all serious Christians believe, the Gentiles did have a hand in Christ's death. This is fitting and appropriate, as he died for the sins of the entire world.
Finally, Paul's "poisonous" statements about the inability of the Jews to earn salvation by keeping the law are, far from being an attack on Judaism's fundamental spiritual worth as Professor Katz claims, applicable not only to the Jews, but also to the entire human race. No one, Jew or Greek, can earn salvation by keeping the rules. This is not an indictment of Judaism, but of earning salvation by the law, and applies equally to many Christians who think they can go to heaven because they were baptized into the church as infants and follow the church rules. Thus, the problem of the Jews, their inability to earn forgiveness by our good works, is the problem of us all. And, what was Paul's response to both Gentiles and Jews in their unbelief? Hatred? Persecution? True Christians recognize that we have all sinned, and that we as followers of Christ are entrusted not with the gospel of wrath and punishment, but of reconciliation.
So-called "Christian" antisemitism is itself completely contrary to the gospel of Christ, and the actions of corrupt, cruel, and worldly power structures have nothing to do with the New Testament concept of the church as a body of believers. Those who persecuted Jews or anyone else in the name of Christ missed the entire essence and spirit of New Testament Christianity. No matter if they had the name of Christians, and sincerely considered themselves to be such - their evildoing will meet with an appropriate response on the day of judgement. Jesus plainly referred to those who called him "Lord" but did not follow his teachings, and will be turned away on the day of judgement. Those whom God has according to the Christian message redeemed are to show his love and light to the world, "Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I hope in his further analyses of the origins of the Holocaust, Professor Katz will direct his attention to a book called The Antichrist, written by Friedrich Nietzsche, if he has not already done so. I greatly appreciate his recognition of the uniquely modern elements in the Holocaust. In The Antichrist we see the Jews described as poisonous blood-sucking vermin who are fundamentally hostile to life, the masters and manipulators of all forms of decadence - much of the philosophical basis of Hitler's antisemitism lies there. Daniel Gasman's excellent book The Scientific Origins of National Socialism sheds much more light on these matters than do explorations of Roman Palestine.
In closing, I would like to make the obvious observation that in almost 400 years of Protestant Christianity, from 1517 to 1914, in all of the Protestant countries of Northern Europe and the New World, there was not one Inquisition, not one Crusade, not one pogrom - I don't count the Hep riots in 19th century Germany as a pogrom. There were countless millions of Christians in many countries in that period who never harmed a Jew or wanted to. I would also like to point out the obvious fact that in WWII the situation of Jews in strongly Protestant countries such as Denmark and Holland was vastly different from the situation of Jews in strongly Catholic Poland. Perhaps the problem with Poland was not Christianity but Polish Christianity.
To link Christianity in any way with the death camps, even indirectly, shows a profound misreading of the New Testament. It was not the teachings of the New Testament, but rebellion against and failure to follow the teachings of the New Testament, that led to the Holocaust.
In the event that you would like to see a more detailed response to Professor Katz' book (in the context of an extended analysis of Christianity and the Holocaust) I invite you to look at the section "Answering some objections" at www.bedfordgaol.com.
Thanks for your time and consideration,
Sincerely,
Joe Keysor
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