Christopher Probst’s “Martain Luther and ‘The Jews’ a Reappraisal” part 3

Against the Sabbatarians (153

Fifteen years after Luther wrote That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew, he composed this open letter to his “good friend” Count Wolf Schlick.  The member of a prominent Moravian family, Count Schlick reported that many Christians in Bohemia and Moravia were developing “Sabbatarian tendencies.”[41]  Just what these inclinations were is not perfectly clear, but they no doubt involved the observance of the Jewish Sabbath.  What is important for our purposes is that Luther blamed them primarily on Jews, and this is where he directed most of his attacks.[42] Luther’s arguments against Jews in this treatise contain elements that are found in his other tracts about them.  They have not kept covenant, they have sinned, rejected the Messiah; they are in exile and - most tellingly – they do not reside in “the land” and no longer possess the temple.[43]  While there are “reasonable” and “obdurate” Jews, as a whole they “are given to babbling and lying.”[44]  This rather mild slander is one indication of the gradual increase in harshness of tone towards the Jews to which I have previously referred.  The argumentation is very similar to the earlier tract, but the tenor has become decidedly less sympathetic. 

On the Jews and their Lies (1543)

The immediate occasion for the controversial tract was a May 1542 request from his friend Count Schlick to refute a Jewish apologetic pamphlet, which the Count enclosed together with his request.[45]  While at the end of Against the Sabbatarians Luther hinted that he might write such a treatise as this[46], he begins here by saying, “I had made up my mind to write no more either about the Jews or against them.”[47]  It is difficult to say to what degree the contents of the aforementioned Jewish apologetic pamphlet influenced Luther to change his mind. The treatise is rather lengthy (approximately one-hundred-thirty-five pages in the original text).  Thus, it will be useful to briefly outline it.[48]  It falls into four major parts.  In the first section, Luther describes and decries the “false boasts” of the Jews.  In the second part, Luther presents debate on the exegesis of significant and relevant biblical passages.  In the third section, Luther repeats the supposed Jewish blasphemies against Jesus and Mary.  In the fourth and most infamous part of the treatise, Luther makes recommendations to church and state authorities for actions against the Jewish people.  My first observation about the tract is its scathing tone.  This is most readily seen in Luther’s deprecating, sometimes crude language[49] and in his scornful sarcasm.  Luther in places calls “the Jews” “a defiled bride, yes, an incorrigible whore and an evil slut”, a “whoring and murderous people”[50], and “bloodthirsty bloodhounds and murders of all Christendom.”[51]  While the Gentiles give them everything they have, including “land and people”, still they “curse, spit on, and malign” the Goyim.[52]  While Luther is aware of the objection that Jews of biblical times and Jews of his day are to be distinguished from each other[53], he frequently applies Scripture’s condemnation of the Jews of biblical times to Jews who are his contemporaries.  Indeed, he often intermingles Scriptural deprecation with typical late medieval pejoratives.  In one illustrative example, he says that they are “stiff-necked, disobedient, prophet-murderers, arrogant, usurers, and filled with every vice, as the whole of Scripture and their present conduct bear out.”  In fact, Luther’s “incorrigible” Jewish contemporaries are more “conceited” than “David and other pious Jews” of biblical times.[54]  Further, he argues “that their present exile must be due to a more heinous sin than idolatry, the murder of the prophets, etc. – namely, the crucifixion of the Messiah.”[55]Second, we observe the myriad of accusations that he levels at them.  They are guilty of stealing and of usury.  Three Jews with whom he had met “called Christ a tola, that is, a hanged highwayman.”  Their Talmud says that it is no sin for a Jew to kill a Gentile.[56]  They curse Christians in their synagogues.[57]  They practice witchcraft, “conjuring signs, figures, and the tetragrammaton of the name, that is, with idolatry, envy, and conceit.”[58]  They defame Christ and Mary in various manners, calling Jesus a “sorcerer and a tool of the devil”, denigrating his name through Cabbalistic numerology, even calling him a “whore’s son.” [59]  A “malicious rabbi” has supposedly called Mary a “dung heap.” They have been “accused” of poisoning wells, kidnapping and piercing children, “hacking them in pieces”, and using the blood of Christian children (i.e. in ritual fashion) to “cool their wrath”.[60]  Luther strongly implies that these “accusations” may be true, despite Jewish denials:“Whether it is true or not, I do know that they do not lack the complete, full, and ready will to do such things either secretly or openly where possible.  This you can assuredly expect from them, and you must govern yourself accordingly.”[61]Nearly all of these accusations were common in medieval antisemitic rhetoric.[62]One final observation about the tract is its most widely known aspect, its anti-Jewish social programme.  Luther makes seven severe recommendations concerning “the Jews.”  Their synagogues and schools should be burned to the ground, their houses should be “razed and destroyed”; their “prayer books and Talmudic writings” should be confiscated; their rabbis should be “forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb”; they should be denied safe-conduct on the highways; usury should be prohibited to them and their gold, silver, and cash should be taken from them; finally, they should be subjected to harsh labor.[63]  To the ears of post-Holocaust readers, these words are deeply troublesome and chilling.

Footnotes:

[41] Bertram’s Introduction to Luther, “Against the Sabbatarians: Letter to a Good Friend”, LW 47: 59.  [42] Ibid., 59-61. [43] “Against the Sabbatarians”, LW 47: 65-70, 80, 96-97.[44] Ibid., 78.[45] Bertram’s Introduction to Luther, “On the Jews”, LW 47: 133.  In a footnote, Bertram also notes that the pamphlet is no longer extant.[46] Luther, LW 47: 97 – 98.[47] Ibid., 137.[48] What follows is a summary of Bertram’s outline, Introduction to “On the Jews”, LW 47: 133-135.[49] For a helpful view of Luther’s use of scatological language, see Heiko Oberman, “Teufelsdreck: Eschatology and Scatology in the ‘Old’ Luther”, Sixteenth Century Journal 19 (198 : 435-450.[50] LW 47 : 166, 167.  Luther’s use of the image of “whore” and “slut” for the Jews is in fact a Jewish, Old Testament prophetic pejorative for the Israelites in times of waywardness.  See, e.g., the book of Hosea.  It is also perhaps an ironic jab at them, since they supposedly call the Virgin Mary the same.[51] Martin Luther, “Von den Juden und ihren Lügen” (“On the Jews and their Lies”) in D. Martin Luthers Werke.  Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Vol. 53. (Weimar: Böhlau, 1919-1920) 520.  [52] LW 47: 255.  [53] Ibid., 166-167.[54] Ibid., 167.[55] Ibid., 226. Emphasis mine.[56] LW 47: 226.[57] Ibid., 228. The cursing of Christians is probably a reference to the “twelfth benediction of the ‘Amidah’ prayer against the Christians” used during the early years of Christianity.  For discussion of the plight of Judaism in sixteenth century Europe, see Hayim Hillel Ben-Sasson, “The Reformation in Contemporary Jewish Eyes”, Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 4 (1971): 239, 260-270.[58] Ibid., 242.  While medieval Jews did spread “scurrilous stories” about Christians, the kind of tales that Luther and Margaritha attribute to them are highly dubious. Langmuir, History, Religion, and Antisemitism, 282.[59] Ibid., 256-260.  “The Jews” are even purported to believe that Mary conceived Jesus during her “menstrual uncleanness”, implying that Jesus is thus insane or a demon.  [60] Ibid., 261, 217.[61] Ibid., 217.[62] See, e.g., Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder, 131-136.[63] LW 47 : 268-272. 

Christopher Probst’s “Martain Luther and ‘The Jews’ a Reappraisal” part 2

Here is part two of the article.

Martin Luther and “The Jews”A Reappraisal by Christopher Probst  

Christians and Jews in the Sixteenth Century

 In order to put Luther’s On the Jews and Their Lies in some immediate religious context, it is helpful to see what other Christian figures were saying about Jews just prior to 1543.  In 1529, Andreas Osiander authored a tract[20], published anonymously in 1540, that systematically and forcefully refuted the charge of Jewish ritual murder of Christian children.  Osiander was a Christian Hebraist who engaged in the study of Cabbala and had a thorough knowledge of rabbinic literature and the Talmud.  He argued that it is “inconceivable that the Jews should murder children and make use of their blood” when their own Kosher laws forbade them even to eat the meat of animals containing blood. The treatise appeared just as the investigation of one such supposed murder at Tittingen was ongoing.[21] 

Enraged by Osiander’s defense of the Jewish community and called upon by the Bishop of Eichstätt to rebut it, Johannes Eck, Catholic theologian and Luther’s nemesis, wrote what amounts to a lengthy retort to Osiander and a denigration of Judaism.  It has been described as “a compendium of every horror story medieval anti-Jewish polemic could encompass.”[22]  In Refutation of a Jew-Book, Eck based his passionate argument of the historical reality of Jewish ritual murder on his own personal experience.  According to Eck, he had actually “placed his own fingers in the wound of a child who had died four weeks before at the hand of the Jews of Waldkirch in the Breisgau in 1503.”[23]  The book also includes a call for “new and more stringent laws” against Jews[24] and strong condemnation of usury.

Justus Jonas, Luther’s close friend and confidant, took a strikingly different view than his mentor on “the Jews.”  In fact, he went so far as to distort Luther’s position when he translated Against the Sabbatarians into Latin.  What resulted was a rather pro-Jewish viewpoint that was in marked contrast to Luther’s increasingly harsh anti-Jewish stance.[25]

While medieval Christian theologians [26] influenced Luther’s On the Jews and Their Lies, perhaps the most direct contemporary influence on Luther’s treatise is Anthonius Margaritha’s The Whole Jewish Faith.[27]  Margaritha was from a prominent Jewish family, the grandson of a distinguished Talmudic scholar.  He converted to Christianity and was baptized in 1522.[28] 

The Whole Jewish Faith was first published in 1530.  A third edition of the work was published a year later, just twelve years prior to the publication of On the Jews and Their Lies.  This edition, argues Stern, exerted “a powerful influence on Luther.”[29]  The treatise contains the accusations that Jews commit blasphemy against Jesus and Mary, are guilty of usury and theft, and that they wish to violently overthrow Christian authorities.[30]  That Luther approvingly appealed to the treatise multiple times in On the Jews and even encouraged his readers to read it for themselves is evidence that it exerted a fairly significant influence on the reformer. [31

]What may we conclude regarding the actions and writings of these figures in sixteenth century Germany?  When we approach Luther’s On the Jews and Their Lies, we must recognize that with respect to both Catholic and Protestant views about Jews in Germany in the late 1530’s and early 1540’s, the air was highly charged.  There was a flurry of propaganda on the subject from every side of the issue.  The responses of Eck, Osiander, Jonas, and Margaritha demonstrate the decided diversity of views on the matter in the sixteenth century.  A fair analysis of “Luther and the Jews” must take into account what these contemporaries were saying about Jews.[32] 

Luther’s Writings about Jews While Luther wrote five treatises concerning “the Jews”, his commentaries, sermons, and “table talk” also contain material about them.[33]  I realize that I cannot say everything there is to say about “Luther on the Jews” in an article of this size.  Thus, I will focus here upon On the Jews and Their Lies.  I want first, however, to set this work in the context of some of his other treatises about “the Jews.”  That Jesus Christ was born a Jew (1523) Luther’s earliest known treatise relating to Jews and Judaism was occasioned by the rumor that he was teaching that Mary was not a virgin either before or after Jesus was born.  This was a very serious charge in the religious climate of the early years of the Protestant Reformation.[34]  Luther’s twofold purpose was to show that according to Scripture “Christ was born a Jew of a virgin” and that he “might perhaps also win some Jews to the Christian faith.”[35] 

I will make but a few brief observations about the content of the treatise.  First, it is in the main a biblical and theological treatment of a religious issue.  As such, its main source of argumentation is nonrational in nature.  He argues extensively from his understanding of Scripture, for example, that “the Jews” cannot deny that Isaiah (7:14) was speaking of a virgin being pregnant and that “Christ was a genuine Jew of Abraham’s seed.”[36] 

Second, there are seeds of philosemitism that regrettably do not grow into full form in those later works.  “The Jews” in fact are “blood relatives” of Christ.  Christians should deal kindly and gently with them – the Apostles, after all, were Jews who dealt with Gentiles in a “brotherly fashion.”  Christians “must be guided in our dealings with them not by papal law but by the law of Christian love.”[37]  He further recognizes that Christians are not the moral superiors of Jews.  “If some of them should prove stiff-necked, what of it?  After all, we ourselves are not all good Christians either.”[38] 

“Luther recognizes that Christians are not the moral superiors of Jews.”

Thirdly, the venom of the “later Luther” is clearly absent here.  Absent are the typical medieval accusations of host profanation, ritual murder, and usury.  There are no crude or scatological references.  This is not to suggest that direct confrontation is lacking in the work.  The Jews are wrong, for example, about both Isaiah’s prophecy of the virgin birth of Christ and the Genesis 49 prophecy that the sceptre (i.e., kingship) would depart from Judah when the Shiloh (i.e., Messiah) comes.[39]  They, in fact, are guilty of crucifying Jesus.[40]  Yet, never in this work does Luther descend into the depths of (irrational) antisemitism.

[20] Oberman translated the lengthy title as Whether It be True and Credible That the Jews Secretly Strangulate Christian Children and Make Use of Their Blood.  See Roots, 35.[21] Stern, Josel, 180-183.[22] Steven Rowan, “Luther, Bucer, and Eck on the Jews”, Sixteenth Century Journal 16 (1985) 86.[23] Ibid.[24] Stern, Josel, 183.[25] Oberman, Roots, 48-49. There is in fact no evidence that Luther and Jonas ever reconciled their disparate views on the “Jewish question.”  [26] E.g.,  Nicholas of Lyra and Paul of Burgos.  Bertram’s Introduction to Luther, “On the Jews”, 131; Luther, “On the Jews”, 138.  [27] Bertram, Introduction to “On the Jews”, 130.[28] Stern, Josel, 98-99.[29] Ibid., 103.[30] Ibid., 98-99.[31] See e.g., Luther, The Christian in Society IV,  Luther’s Works, Vol. 47, ed. Franklin Sherman, trans. Martin H. Bertram.  (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971) (Hereafter, LW 47) 257.  [32] Oberman, Roots, 72.[33] See, e.g., Martin Luther,  Luther’s Correspondence, Vol. II, ed. and trans. Preserved Smith (Philadelphia:  The Lutheran Publication Society, 191 185 – 187; Luther, “Lectures on Romans, 1516” in Lectures on Romans, Luther’s Works, Vol. 25, ed. Hilton C. Oswald, trans. Jacob A. O. Preus. (St. Louis: Concordia, 1972) 380.[34] Walther I. Brandt,  Introduction to Martin Luther, “That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew” in The Christian in Society II,  Luther’s Works, Vol. 45, ed. and trans. Walther I. Brandt.  (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1962) (Hereafter LW 45) 197-198.[35] Martin Luther, “That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew”, LW 45: 200.[36] Ibid., 213, 228. [37] LW 45: 229.[38] Ibid.[39] Ibid., 214.[40] Ibid., 228.  

Christopher Probst’s “Martain Luther and ‘The Jews’ a Reappraisal” part 1

I have the distinct honor of calling Chris - oops excuse me Chris - Dr. Christopher Probst not only a friend but a brother in Christ. Chris and his wonderful wife Rachel have been in England while he obtained a PhD examining the appropriation of Luther’s writings about Jews and Judaism by the German Protestant church during the Nazi period. I remember when this idea was just a class term paper when Chris was attending Reformed Theological Seminary in Florida. I found it incredibly interesting then and even more so now.

I thought I would offer an article that Chris wrote for the web site “The Theologian” which is a web site based in the United Kingdom and they have graciously allowed me to post Chris’s article here on my humble blog.

I want to thank Lee Gatiss for graciously allowing me to post this article. I recommend that you follow the link I have posted for his web site here on my blog.So without further delay here is part one of Dr. Probst’s article, first published on The Theologian:

Martin Luther and “The Jews”A Reappraisal

by Christopher Probst

The most prominent figure of the German Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther was a truly remarkable man.  Whether we speak of his posting of the ninety-five theses on the church door at Wittenberg, his refusal to recant his teachings before Charles V at Worms, his marriage to Katharina von Bora in an age of clerical celibacy, or his translation of the New Testament into German, Luther was a genuine trailblazer.  Yet, unknown to many Protestants - in some cases explained away - is Luther’s complex, but deeply troubling engagement with the Jewish people.      Others have tended to exaggerate Luther’s influence through an uncritical reading of history.  Erroneously claiming that Luther “’called for the destruction of world Jewry’”, Alan Dershowitz opined, “’It is shocking that Luther’s ignoble name is still honored rather than forever cursed by mainstream Protestant churches.’”[1]  This sad state of affairs led the late Reformation historian Heiko Oberman to lament that many would have us choose between “two Luthers” – one, the “bold Reformer, the liberating theologian, the powerfully eloquent German”; the other, an “anti-Semite” who “wrote mainly about Jews,” and “preached hatred.”[2]  Such a choice is, of course, unnecessary.Sadly, the history of Christianity has indeed been riddled by varying degrees of antisemitism, leading to oppression, marginalization, and – as in the Crusades and the Holocaust – even murder of Jews.[3]  While Luther certainly did not invent antisemitism, one cannot discuss the question of Christian antisemitism without reference to him.  He wrote at least five treatises on the subject of “the Jews” [4].  One in particular has fueled the greatest discussion of the reformer’s attitude toward Jews.On the Jews and Their Lies has been variously defended, debased, and nuanced by historians and theologians in post-Holocaust literature concerning Nazi Germany, Christian antisemitism, and Jewish-Christian relations.[5]  While another article on the subject could appear redundant, I hope that this contribution will impart some new appreciation for the intrinsic theological and historical realities of the treatise.

“Luther’s deeply troubling engagement with the Jewish people is unknown to many Protestants”

I will view Luther’s polemic against the Jewish people here in its medieval and sixteenth century German intellectual-theological context with an eye to social and political developments. I seek to answer whether this treatise can be said to contain anti-Judaic elements, antisemitic elements, or both.  It would be helpful, at first, to entertain an important preliminary discussion regarding terminology.One needs only to survey the literature briefly to see the divergent opinions on just what constitutes “antisemitism”.  Heiko Oberman distinguished between “antisemitism” as racially motivated hatred and “anti-Judaism” as hatred motivated by theological conviction.  Even so, he recognized the “crossovers and points of transgression” between the two.[6]  Nineteenth-century French Jewish intellectual and early Zionist Bernard Lazare maintained that the term “antisemitism” may only be applied to pre-nineteenth century events and attitudes anachronistically, given that the term originated in nineteenth century Germany.[7]  He generally used the term “anti-Judaism” to describe theologically based hatred for Jews as it existed in the late medieval and Reformation periods.[8]  He usually employed the terms “modern anti-Semitism” and “ethnological anti-Semitism” to denote the form that primarily encompasses racial and/or nationalistic overtones.[9]  The late medievalist Gavin Langmuir offered perhaps the most helpful definition of “antisemitism” in recent years, despite having to contend with the term’s bedeviled past.  The term is “thoroughly contaminated with the erroneous presuppositions of the racists.”  Yet, neither theories of “racism” nor “ethnic prejudice” provide us with that which is distinguishably unusual about anti-Jewish hostility.  He defined it most succinctly when he said, “Antisemitism … both in its origins and in its recent most horrible manifestation, is the hostility aroused by irrational thinking about ‘Jews’.”[10]  It is irrational thought that characterizes antisemitism; nonrational thought characterizes anti-Judaism.[11]  Nonrational thought, characterized by nonrational symbols, lies in fact at the heart of religion according to Langmuir.  The “nonrational symbol system” of the “Cross”, for example, is only “valid” for the Christians who espouse it.  Thus, he avoided characterizing religious thought as irrational.  The distinction between anti-Judaism as “theological” hostility and antisemitism as “racial” or “ethnic” hostility is not empirically demonstrable and thus should be discarded in favor of his characterization.  “Empirical distinctions can be drawn” if religious phenomena are construed in the manner in which he has argued.[12]  Yet, nonrational thinking is not in conflict with rational thinking and can – and does – utilize it in a “subordinate capacity.”[13]  I find this aspect of Langmuir’s framework of antisemitism[14] to be both helpful and convincing because the “theological” versus “racial” distinction is extremely difficult to maintain in light of Luther’s chief writings on Jews and Judaism, which intertwine the nonrational and the irrational.  

Historical Context

Christians and Jews in the Late Medieval Context During the late medieval period, Christians accused Jews of a myriad of crimes and religious offenses.  One example of such an accusation is the charge that they blasphemed the Virgin Mary and Jesus.  The Quiver of the Catholic Faith was a late fifteenth century “manual for condemning Jews” which included the charge that blaspheming the Virgin is “typically Jewish.”  A particularly “ferocious” German version of the text was widely circulated in Nuremberg in 1513. [15]  The late medieval Christian also viewed the Jew as a usurer, with the terms “Jew” and “usurer” becoming “synonymous” by the late twelfth century.[16]  Léon Poliakov detailed the medieval history of Jewish usury, a story which entwines their marginalization in society and – in the case of the Holy Roman Empire – their economic worth to the German emperors.[17]  Josel of Rosheim, protector of German Jewry during Luther’s time, struggled throughout his career with the thorny issue of actual and supposed Jewish usury – which seldom went unpunished – and hypocritical Christian usury, which often was overlooked by the authorities.[18]Jews also supposedly profaned the sacred host of the sacrament of the Eucharist.  Fantastic charges abounded that they stole and pierced communion wafers, causing the blood of Christ to miraculously flow out.  The claim that Jews purportedly kidnapped Christian children and drained their blood for use in the Passover liturgy (ritual murder) was commonplace in medieval Europe.[19]

Footnotes1.     [1] Alan Dershowitz, Chutzpah (Boston: Little, Brown, 1991) 107, in Carter Lindberg, “Tainted Greatness: Luther’s Attitudes toward Judaism and Their Historical Reception”, Tainted Greatness: Antisemitism and Cultural Heroes, ed. Nancy A. Harrowitz (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994) 15.[2] Heiko Oberman, The Roots of Antisemitism in the Age of Renaissance and Reformation, trans. James I. Porter  (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984) 94.  [3] See, e.g., Léon Poliakov, The History of Anti-Semitism, 4 Vols. (London: Routledge/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974-1985); Christopher R. Browning, “Background” in The Origins of the Final Solution: the Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy 1939-1942 (London: Arrow Books, 2005) 1-11.[4] That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew, Against the Sabbatarians, On the Jews and Their Lies, On the Ineffable Name and on the Lineage of Christ, and On the Last Words of David.  I put the phrase “the Jews” in quotes because of its generally negative usage by those, including Luther, who have an unreal image in mind, rather than real Jews, when they speak about Jewish people. See, e.g., Betsy Halpern Amaru, “Martin Luther and Jewish Mirrors”, Jewish Social Studies 46 (1984): 95-102. [5] See, e.g., Mark U. Edwards, “Toward an Understanding of Luther’s Attacks on the Jews” in Christians, Jews, and Other Worlds: Patterns of Conflict and Accommodation, ed. Phillip F. Gallagher (London: University Press of America, 198 1-19.  Eric W. Gritsch argued that Luther was “not an anti-Semite in the racist sense.  His arguments against Jews were theological, not biological.”  See “Was Luther Anti-Semitic?”, Christian History 1993, Vol. 12 Issue 3, 38-39. [6] Oberman, Roots, 22.[7] Lazare, Antisemitism: Its History and Causes, trans. not identified. (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1995) 8, 116-117.  [8] Ibid., chapters 5-7.[9] Ibid., 95, 116, 118.[10] Langmuir, History, Religion, and Antisemitism (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990) 275.[11] Ibid., 105-107, 130, 276.    [12] Langmuir, History, Religion, and Antisemitism, 276.[13] Ibid., 152.  Aquinas is cited as an excellent example of this kind of thinking.[14] Langmuir also helpfully discussed two types of antisemitism, xenophobic and “chimeric”, in “Prolegomena to any Present Analysis of Hostility Against Jews”, Social Science Information 15 (1976): 689-727. The equation of the term “Jew” with “usurer” might be considered an example of the xenophobic variety, while ritual murder of children would fall under the chimeric category (see Christians and Jews in the Late Medieval Context).  For this short article, however, I will discuss antisemitism solely in terms of its relationship to rationality.[15] Oberman, Roots, 84-85.[16] Andrew Colin Gow, The Red Jews: Antisemitism in an Apocalyptic Age, 1200 - 1600, ed. Heiko Oberman.  (Leiden:  E.J. Brill, 1995) 47-48.[17] Poliakov, The History of Anti-Semitism, Vol. I: From Roman Times to the Court Jews, (London: Routledge, 1974) 73-83.[18] Selma Stern, Josel Of Rosheim — Commander Of Jewry in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, trans. Gertrude Hirschler  (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1965) 32-35.  [19] See, e.g., R. Po-chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder: Jews and Magic in Reformation Germany (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988).

What Tomorrow Holds!

In the last two weeks first Brad Renfro and then yesterday Heath Ledger died. Both were young actors that were known to multitudes. Heath Ledger was nominated for major awards and is in the upcoming Batman sequel as the villain The Joker. He also is remembered for the roles as Mel Gibson’s son in “The Patriot” and as the young man aspiring to be a Knight in “A Knight’s Tale”.

Brad Renfro you may remember as the young boy who hired Susan Sarandon as his lawyer in the film version of John Grisham’s “The Client”.  You may also remember him in his performance in the chilling “Apt Pupil”.

Regardless of how and if you know these two young men their deaths should bring to mind an absolute truth. We don’t know how much time we have here and what time we do have we need to spend it wisely.

I have just started classes (first one was yesterday) at Criswell College and one of the things discussed in class was a questionnaire that asked me what am I doing in this life and who controls me. Let me post some of those questions here now since in light of recent events this would be a good place.

My desire as you read these questions, and maybe reflect on Brad and Heath, is that you will not be the rich man who tought he would live on and built up barns to store all his earthly wealth in not knowing that the next day he would die. But you would be like the man who realised that today may be his last and that he was going to live it and store his wealth in Heavenly warehouses where it will always be and have eternal significance.

Who am I following?

Am I born again?

Why should God let me into Heaven?

If you are a christian let me share some questions for us about where our allegiances lay:

What do you want most in life?

What are your greatest fears in life?

Is there anything you are unwilling to lay down at the feet of Jesus?

Do you have  a love for God’s word?

Do you have a love for other Christians?

Just Around the Corner and the Upcoming Year!

Well it is almost here. It seems like it has been a blink of an eye since I applied to Dallas Theological Seminary and Criswell College last year. And now here we are a week away from classes beginning. I am both excited and nervous, there are 12 texts books for the two classes I will be taking this semester. Oh and Criswell is where I will one day, If the Lord wills, walk down the aisle with cap and gown and someone will say “Well that sure took you long enough!”

My dear brother, friend and newly crowned Dr. Christopher Probst went part time to seminary and would always tell me about the large number of books to read and wondered what it would have been like had he taken a full course load.

Well I will look forward to hearing from you all as I post questions that come up during the semester and discuss them with you. Also look for movie reviews from me and another dear friend and brother of mine Steve a.k.a. “Cavman”. I might even persuade Dr Probst to add an entry or two here at Redhook Chapel here but being a Doctor all his rates have gone up I am sure  

Christmas!

I want to to take the time to wish all a Merry Christmas and to put down a few reminders about the holiday,

1. It is not just a birthday but the day God became man.

2. He is also the creator of the universe and the sovereign Lord not just a babe in a manger,

3. On the subject of the manger, the very God of the universe was laid in a feeding trough that smelly animals eat out of.

4. There weren’t three wise-men. There was a large enough group that it scared Herod right down to his toes. Scripture lists three gifts. Also they first laid eyes on a small boy probably 2 years old. Again if it was a baby then why did Herod order all male children from 2 years old and younger killed.

These are just a few points about Christmas, I don’t want to come across as a Scrooge. I love Christmas and being with family and friends and giving presents. We just need to keep the proper perspective.

May the Lord bless you beyond what you expect and keep you safe this Holiday season.

Thank you Father for sending your Son; Lord Jesus thank you for leaving your Glorious estate and thanks to the Holy Spirit for helping us to see it.

“I am a Multi-Point Calvinistic Covenant Dispensationalist…”

“I am a Multi-Point Calvinistic Covenant Dispensationalist…”

As way of introduction and to get started I thought I would explain something I mentioned to someone in an email. I have spent time in two different theological camps “Dispensationalist” and “Covenant Theology” and in both cases I did not let anyone spoon feed me these systems and made decisions as to what I thought was right and what I thought wasn’t right.  I followed the instructions of 1 John 4:1 and tested every spirit. During my time among Covenant Theologians there were many who proudly wore the moniker “5 Point Calvinist”.

Ok now that I have introduced everyone to the terms of my self-description I guess I will now explain what I mean by a Multi-Point Calvinistic Covenant Dispensationalist. Let me also say for the record while I enjoy playing devil’s advocate or being sarcastic there is a lot of seriousness in my self-description. Anyway here we go, the term 5 Points of Calvinism is well known among Calvinists and they have read many a study guide about the famous T.U.L.I.P. acrostic. And for those who may not know what that stands for allow me to explain:

Total Depravity – Unconditional Election – Limited Atonement – Irresistible Grace – Perseverance of the Saints

These 5 points came along after John Calvin died and were developed by the followers of James Arminius.  Calvin never systematized his theology but, the followers of Arminius formulated the 5 points to refute what Calvin and his followers taught and believed.

So here we are centuries later and as I came across “5 Point Calvinists” and would discuss these points with them and they would never fully explain the points. They would give scripture and recite the 5 points but most, not all, could not fully explain what they were telling me. So me being me I would go around and say I was a 4 and ½ point Calvinist. Now me being who I am I picked up a copy of Calvin’s Institutes and read it for personal edification and not because I was in class and had to.  After reading what Calvin wrote on these matters I call myself a multi-point Calvinist because there was so much more there than the 5 points developed by those who opposed what he taught and believed. The depth of material is staggering. For example the Doctrine of Election is covered in at least 4 chapters and he answers almost 100 different questions or challenges. That is just the one of points; Calvin was so much more than just 5 points.

Now as to Covenant Dispensationalist, as I said I have spent time among both theological camps and have come to believe that God is a covenantal god. Read the early chapters of Genesis and tell me that God doesn’t make covenants with us. In fact most of the covenants he makes with us do not depend on our fulfilling them but God will accomplish all that is necessary to fulfill the covenant.  

And for those who may say that covenants are just an Old Testament thing, next time you partake in Communion remember that the elements symbolize the “New Covenant” which we are currently living under.

Dispensations are simply time periods or eras. If you go through the scriptures I believe you can see the following time periods:  

Creation to Expulsion from Paradise; Expulsion to Abram’s Call; Abram’s call to the birth of Christ; Birth of Christ to the beginning of the Church; The beginning of the Church to Christ’s Return; Christ’s return till the creation of the new heavens and the earth.

Now me being me I put this before you as a challenge, what do you believe? Why do you believe it? Have you studied your view and examined it by the scriptures? Does it hold water? Or does it sink?

In these matters when it comes to examining something like this remember verses (to list a few) like Proverbs 3:5-6; John 16:13a; James 1:5; 1 John 4:1. Another thing to do is discuss them with others.

Well I guess this is a good place to stop. So, until next time I pray that the Lord keep you and strengthen you for the road ahead.

Hello There!

Welcome to Redhook Chapel. I wanted to say hi and let people know that I am currently working on my first posting (after this hello) and will have it to you soon.

The name came from the section of Brooklyn my family is from and the image is to honor the land of my ancestors. As far as I know there is no real Redhook Chapel. It was a creation of my own imagination.

I hope that any topic covered here will spur on discussion.

Later