[September 1998 journal entry]
I recently began prompting a weekly Bonhoeffer reading group. I am guiding them through Bonhoeffer’s December 1942 essay – “After Ten Years”. The following thoughts stem from a discussion with the reading group about anti-Semitism:
My earliest experience with someone Jewish was my friendship with Joe a schoolmate and fellow football player in my small hometown in Western Kentucky.
I recall little or no discussion of anti-Semitism -- especially in relation to the beginnings/history of Christianity – in my youth. The religious language and perspective in which I was raised disenfranchised the Jewish community (e.g., “Old Testament” rather than ‘Jewish/Hebrew scripture’, Jews referenced harshly as “them”, comments that “they rejected/killed Christ”, . . .) and left anti-Semitic comments unaddressed or, if expressed, unchallenged.
My sensitivity re Jewish history/experience deepened/broadened when the methodology for my study of history began to be critical in a scholarly way during my final two undergraduate years at Murray State University and matured during my doctoral work. My ongoing study of Bonhoeffer since 1976 has ‘kept open the Jewish question’ (adapting one of his phrases). My special/centering relationship with my very close friend Shelly Korones, MD, (whose Jewish roots reach back to his grandparents’ flight to the United States from Czarist Russia) since 1985 is the defining experience for me.
‘Pharisees’ are presented in reductionist and biased ways in the Synoptic Gospels, as are ‘the Jews’ in the Gospel of John and in the Acts of the Apostles. Note how such writings (which, as canonical, enjoy authority within the ‘religious’ sphere), if considered uncritically and without attention to the wider historical context/resources, lead either to anti-Semitic attitudes/behavior or permit such to develop/occur unchecked.
Are there any individuals/groups it is theologically/ethically justified to isolate, segregate, attack, eliminate? Note that to answer this question a decision has to be made re the nature and use of Jewish scriptures and Christian scriptures. In other words, if one takes a ‘flat’ view, such violence will not be questioned. If one takes a more critical view, such violence will be questioned.
I would propose (1) to protect and assure every individual’s/group’s freedom of speech, but (2) to restrict, discipline, and prohibit discriminatory behavior (including verbal abuse and exploitation as well as violence) in the public/common domain. I would support doing so re economic and political as well as religious variations on fundamentalism. This proposal implies confidence in the outcome of open and free thought (which in turn implies cultivation of the ability to think).
I recently began prompting a weekly Bonhoeffer reading group. I am guiding them through Bonhoeffer’s December 1942 essay – “After Ten Years”. The following thoughts stem from a discussion with the reading group about anti-Semitism:
My earliest experience with someone Jewish was my friendship with Joe a schoolmate and fellow football player in my small hometown in Western Kentucky.
I recall little or no discussion of anti-Semitism -- especially in relation to the beginnings/history of Christianity – in my youth. The religious language and perspective in which I was raised disenfranchised the Jewish community (e.g., “Old Testament” rather than ‘Jewish/Hebrew scripture’, Jews referenced harshly as “them”, comments that “they rejected/killed Christ”, . . .) and left anti-Semitic comments unaddressed or, if expressed, unchallenged.
My sensitivity re Jewish history/experience deepened/broadened when the methodology for my study of history began to be critical in a scholarly way during my final two undergraduate years at Murray State University and matured during my doctoral work. My ongoing study of Bonhoeffer since 1976 has ‘kept open the Jewish question’ (adapting one of his phrases). My special/centering relationship with my very close friend Shelly Korones, MD, (whose Jewish roots reach back to his grandparents’ flight to the United States from Czarist Russia) since 1985 is the defining experience for me.
‘Pharisees’ are presented in reductionist and biased ways in the Synoptic Gospels, as are ‘the Jews’ in the Gospel of John and in the Acts of the Apostles. Note how such writings (which, as canonical, enjoy authority within the ‘religious’ sphere), if considered uncritically and without attention to the wider historical context/resources, lead either to anti-Semitic attitudes/behavior or permit such to develop/occur unchecked.
Are there any individuals/groups it is theologically/ethically justified to isolate, segregate, attack, eliminate? Note that to answer this question a decision has to be made re the nature and use of Jewish scriptures and Christian scriptures. In other words, if one takes a ‘flat’ view, such violence will not be questioned. If one takes a more critical view, such violence will be questioned.
I would propose (1) to protect and assure every individual’s/group’s freedom of speech, but (2) to restrict, discipline, and prohibit discriminatory behavior (including verbal abuse and exploitation as well as violence) in the public/common domain. I would support doing so re economic and political as well as religious variations on fundamentalism. This proposal implies confidence in the outcome of open and free thought (which in turn implies cultivation of the ability to think).
