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Anne
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This question has such a vast scope, I am going to largely limit my answer to Luther and his changed views, showing why he became quite antagonistic to the Jews at the last stage of his lie.

Luther had earlier believed that contemporary Jews could not be blamed for the sins of their fathers, and sympathised with why they hated Catholicism so much. I quote from a biography of Martin Luther:

“We should use toward the Jews not the pope’s but Christ’s law of love." ...When he endeavoured to proselytize some rabbis, they undertook in return to make a Jew of him. The rumor that a Jew had been suborned by the papists to murder him was not received with complete incredulity... In Luther's latter days... news came that in Moravia, Christians were being induced to Judaize. Then he came out with a vulgar blast in which he recommended that all Jews be deported to Palestine. Failing that, they should be forbidden to practice usury, should be compelled to earn their living on the land, their synagogues should be burned, and their books including the Bible should be taken away from them. Here I Stand - Martin Luther, Roland Bainton, p.379 (Lion 1978)

"Luther's main works on the Jews were his 65,000-word treatise Von den Juden und Ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies) and Vom Schem Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht Christi (Of the Unknowable Name and the Generations of Christ) — reprinted five times within his lifetime — both written in 1543, three years before his death. It is believed that Luther was influenced by Anton Margaritha book Der gantze Jüdisch Glaub Der gantze Jüdisch Glaub (The Whole Jewish Belief). Margaritha, a convert to Christianity who had become a Lutheran, published his book in 1530 (which[which would be viewed by us today as 'antisemitic')'antisemitic']. Luther read it in 1539. “The materials provided in this book confirmed for Luther that the Jews in their blindness wanted nothing to do with faith and justification through faith.” Margaritha's book was decisively discredited by Josel of Rosheim in a public debate in 1530 before Charles V and his court, resulting in Margaritha's expulsion from the Empire." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_and_antisemitism

The question, however, implies that all the first Christians were anti-Semites. The second quote I provide shows that, in the 1530s, that simply was not the case. I leave it to others to deal with those others you accuse, Justin Martyr, and Church Fathers such as Augustine. Certainly Luther became antagonistic towards the Jews as a whole in his last few years of life, and no excuse is offered for that. But it is unwarranted to imply that, therefore, "all Christians" from the start till Luther's era were "anti-Semites". As one comment points out, the first few thousand people who became Christians were Jews. After the Christian church was established, with many Gentiles only then becoming Christians, they mixed in loving harmony. A bit later, the synagogues closed to them, yet in the Church Christ builds there continues to this day fellowship between those two groups of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. If that is not seen, then one may rightly question the claim to be 'Christian' by any harbouring animosity towards fellow-Christians.

This question has such a vast scope, I am going to largely limit my answer to Luther and his changed views, showing why he became quite antagonistic to the Jews at the last stage of his lie.

Luther had earlier believed that contemporary Jews could not be blamed for the sins of their fathers, and sympathised with why they hated Catholicism so much. I quote from a biography of Martin Luther:

“We should use toward the Jews not the pope’s but Christ’s law of love." ...When he endeavoured to proselytize some rabbis, they undertook in return to make a Jew of him. The rumor that a Jew had been suborned by the papists to murder him was not received with complete incredulity... In Luther's latter days... news came that in Moravia, Christians were being induced to Judaize. Then he came out with a vulgar blast in which he recommended that all Jews be deported to Palestine. Failing that, they should be forbidden to practice usury, should be compelled to earn their living on the land, their synagogues should be burned, and their books including the Bible should be taken away from them. Here I Stand - Martin Luther, Roland Bainton, p.379 (Lion 1978)

"Luther's main works on the Jews were his 65,000-word treatise Von den Juden und Ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies) and Vom Schem Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht Christi (Of the Unknowable Name and the Generations of Christ) — reprinted five times within his lifetime — both written in 1543, three years before his death. It is believed that Luther was influenced by Anton Margaritha book Der gantze Jüdisch Glaub (The Whole Jewish Belief). Margaritha, a convert to Christianity who had become a Lutheran, published his book in 1530 (which would be viewed by us today as 'antisemitic'). Luther read it in 1539. “The materials provided in this book confirmed for Luther that the Jews in their blindness wanted nothing to do with faith and justification through faith.” Margaritha's book was decisively discredited by Josel of Rosheim in a public debate in 1530 before Charles V and his court, resulting in Margaritha's expulsion from the Empire." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_and_antisemitism

The question, however, implies that all the first Christians were anti-Semites. The second quote I provide shows that, in the 1530s, that simply was not the case. I leave it to others to deal with those others you accuse, Justin Martyr, and Church Fathers such as Augustine. Certainly Luther became antagonistic towards the Jews as a whole in his last few years of life, and no excuse is offered for that. But it is unwarranted to imply that, therefore, "all Christians" from the start till Luther's era were "anti-Semites". As one comment points out, the first few thousand people who became Christians were Jews. After the Christian church was established, with many Gentiles only then becoming Christians, they mixed in loving harmony. A bit later, the synagogues closed to them, yet in the Church Christ builds there continues to this day fellowship between those two groups of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. If that is not seen, then one may rightly question the claim to be 'Christian' by any harbouring animosity towards fellow-Christians.

This question has such a vast scope, I am going to largely limit my answer to Luther and his changed views, showing why he became quite antagonistic to the Jews at the last stage of his lie.

Luther had earlier believed that contemporary Jews could not be blamed for the sins of their fathers, and sympathised with why they hated Catholicism so much. I quote from a biography of Martin Luther:

“We should use toward the Jews not the pope’s but Christ’s law of love." ...When he endeavoured to proselytize some rabbis, they undertook in return to make a Jew of him. The rumor that a Jew had been suborned by the papists to murder him was not received with complete incredulity... In Luther's latter days... news came that in Moravia, Christians were being induced to Judaize. Then he came out with a vulgar blast in which he recommended that all Jews be deported to Palestine. Failing that, they should be forbidden to practice usury, should be compelled to earn their living on the land, their synagogues should be burned, and their books including the Bible should be taken away from them. Here I Stand - Martin Luther, Roland Bainton, p.379 (Lion 1978)

"Luther's main works on the Jews were his 65,000-word treatise Von den Juden und Ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies) and Vom Schem Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht Christi (Of the Unknowable Name and the Generations of Christ) — reprinted five times within his lifetime — both written in 1543, three years before his death. It is believed that Luther was influenced by Anton Margaritha book Der gantze Jüdisch Glaub (The Whole Jewish Belief). Margaritha, a convert to Christianity who had become a Lutheran, published his book in 1530 [which would be viewed by us today as 'antisemitic']. Luther read it in 1539. “The materials provided in this book confirmed for Luther that the Jews in their blindness wanted nothing to do with faith and justification through faith.” Margaritha's book was decisively discredited by Josel of Rosheim in a public debate in 1530 before Charles V and his court, resulting in Margaritha's expulsion from the Empire." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_and_antisemitism

The question, however, implies that all the first Christians were anti-Semites. The second quote I provide shows that, in the 1530s, that simply was not the case. I leave it to others to deal with those others you accuse, Justin Martyr, and Church Fathers such as Augustine. Certainly Luther became antagonistic towards the Jews as a whole in his last few years of life, and no excuse is offered for that. But it is unwarranted to imply that, therefore, "all Christians" from the start till Luther's era were "anti-Semites". As one comment points out, the first few thousand people who became Christians were Jews. After the Christian church was established, with many Gentiles only then becoming Christians, they mixed in loving harmony. A bit later, the synagogues closed to them, yet in the Church Christ builds there continues to this day fellowship between those two groups of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. If that is not seen, then one may rightly question the claim to be 'Christian' by any harbouring animosity towards fellow-Christians.

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Anne
  • 37.2k
  • 1
  • 39
  • 148

This question has such a vast scope, I am going to largely limit my answer to Luther and his changed views, showing why he became quite antagonistic to the Jews at the last stage of his lie.

Luther had earlier believed that contemporary Jews could not be blamed for the sins of their fathers, and sympathised with why they hated Catholicism so much. I quote from a biography of Martin Luther:

“We should use toward the Jews not the pope’s but Christ’s law of love." ...When he endeavoured to proselytize some rabbis, they undertook in return to make a Jew of him. The rumor that a Jew had been suborned by the papists to murder him was not received with complete incredulity... In Luther's latter days... news came that in Moravia, Christians were being induced to Judaize. Then he came out with a vulgar blast in which he recommended that all Jews be deported to Palestine. Failing that, they should be forbidden to practice usury, should be compelled to earn their living on the land, their synagogues should be burned, and their books including the Bible should be taken away from them. Here I Stand - Martin Luther, Roland Bainton, p.379 (Lion 1978)

"Luther's main works on the Jews were his 65,000-word treatise Von den Juden und Ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies) and Vom Schem Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht Christi (Of the Unknowable Name and the Generations of Christ) — reprinted five times within his lifetime — both written in 1543, three years before his death. It is believed that Luther was influenced by Anton Margaritha book Der gantze Jüdisch Glaub (The Whole Jewish Belief). Margaritha, a convert to Christianity who had become a Lutheran, published his book in 1530 (which would be viewed by us today as 'antisemitic'). Luther read it in 1539. “The materials provided in this book confirmed for Luther that the Jews in their blindness wanted nothing to do with faith and justification through faith.” Margaritha's book was decisively discredited by Josel of Rosheim in a public debate in 1530 before Charles V and his court, resulting in Margaritha's expulsion from the Empire." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_and_antisemitism

The question, however, implies that all the first Christians were anti-Semites. The second quote I provide shows that, in the 1530s, that simply was not the case. I leave it to others to deal with those others you accuse, Justin Martyr, and Church Fathers such as Augustine. Certainly Luther became antagonistic towards the Jews as a whole in his last few years of life, and no excuse is offered for that. But it is unwarranted to imply that, therefore, "all Christians" from the start till Luther's era were "anti-Semites". As one comment points out, the first few thousand people who became Christians were Jews. After the Christian church was established, with many Gentiles only then becoming Christians, they mixed in loving harmony. A bit later, the synagogues closed to them, yet in the Church Christ builds there continues to this day fellowship between those two groups of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. If that is not seen, then one may rightly question the claim to be 'Christian' by any harbouring animosity towards fellow-Christians.