Martin Luther
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MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY<br />
PROF. M. M. NINAN<br />
CHAPTER SIX<br />
THE DOCTRINE OF SUPERCESSIONISM<br />
AND<br />
ANTI-SEMITICISM<br />
<strong>Luther</strong>s anti-semiticism has always been a pain within reformation. But it certainly arose from the<br />
existing interpretation of Paul known as supercessionism or the replacement theology. The word<br />
supersessionism comes from the English verb to supersede, from the Latin verb sedeo, sedere,<br />
sedi, sessum, "to sit", plus super, "upon". It thus signifies one thing being replaced or supplanted by<br />
another. Replacement theology holds to the idea that Israel’s covenantal status with God was<br />
revoked and given instead to the Christian church. Israel is no longer the elect of God and hence<br />
ceases to have any special priviledges that are normaly claimed by the jews as a nation including<br />
the land of Canaan. The destruction of the temple was the final statement of the fact.<br />
Following Paul, most of the early church fathers like Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, Tertullian, and<br />
Augustine affirmed it it was <strong>Luther</strong> who became the strongest virulant advocate of this thesis<br />
• Justin Martyr (about 100 to 165): "For the true spiritual Israel ... are we who have been led to God through this<br />
crucified Christ."<br />
• Hippolytus of Rome (martyred 13 August 235): "[The Jews] have been darkened in the eyes of your soul with a<br />
darkness utter and everlasting."<br />
• Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240 AD): “Who else, therefore, are understood but we, who, fully taught by the new law,<br />
observe these practices,—the old law being obliterated, the coming of whose abolition the action itself<br />
demonstrates ... Therefore, as we have shown above that the coming cessation of the old law and of the carnal<br />
circumcision was declared, so, too, the observance of the new law and the spiritual circumcision has shone out<br />
into the voluntary observances of peace.”<br />
• Augustine (354–430) : "The Jews ... are thus by their own Scriptures a testimony to us that we have not forged the<br />
prophecies about Christ." The Catholic church built its system of eschatology on his theology, where Christ rules the<br />
earth spiritually through his triumphant church. Augustine mentioned to "love" the Jews but as a means to convert<br />
them to Christianity.<br />
• St. Ambrose (340-397) of Milan, defined Jews as a special subset of those damned to hell, calling them "Witness<br />
People": "Not by bodily death, shall the ungodly race of carnal Jews perish (..) 'Scatter them abroad, take away their<br />
strength. And bring them down O Lord".<br />
In 1523, <strong>Luther</strong> accused Catholics of being unfair to Jews and treating them “as if they were dogs,”<br />
thus making it difficult for Jews to convert. “I would request and advise that one deal gently with<br />
them [the Jews], … If we really want to help them, we must be guided in our dealings with them not<br />
by papal law but by the law of Christian love. We must receive them cordially, and permit them to<br />
trade and work with us, hear our Christian teaching, and witness our Christian life. If some of them<br />
should prove stiff-necked, what of it? After all, we ourselves are not all good Christians either.”<br />
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