Table Of ContentA SHADOW OF GLORY
A SHADOW
OF GLORY
Reading the New Testament
after the Holocaust
Tod Linafelt, Editor
I~ ~~~;~~n~~~up
NEWYORKANDLONDON
Publishedin2002by
Routledge
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Copyright©2002byRoutledge
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writingfromthepublishers.
Excerpt fromthepoem "ZoonPolitikon"used,withpermission,from MarieLuiseKaschnitz:Uber
allnieAusgewahlteGedichte1928-1965©ClaassenVerlag.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Ashadowofglory:readingtheNewTestamentaftertheHolocaustITodLinafelt,editor.
p.cm.
Includesindex.
ISBN0-415-93793-0(hardback)-ISBN0-415-93794-9(pbk.)
1.Bible.N.T.-Criticism,interpretation,etc.
2.Holocaust
(Christiantheology)
I.Linafelt,Tod,1965
BS2370.5532002
225.6'09'04s-dc21
2002004904
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
TodLinafelt
PART I: THE HOLOCAUST IN THE HISTORY
OF INTERPRETATION
1. The ChristianCanonand theProblemofAntisemitism 3
PamelaEisenbaum
2. HigherCriticson LateTexts:ReadingBiblicalScholarship
afterthe Holocaust 18
DeborahKrauseandTimothyK.Beal
3. ReadingJesusasaNazi 27
SusannahHeschel
4. Shoah Consciousnessand theSilence
ofAmericanChristianBiblicalScholarship 42
MarkK.George
PART II: READING AS JEWS
S. Bloodon OurHeads:AJewishResponsetoSaintMatthew 57
Steven1.Jacobs
6. TheApostleand the SeedofAbraham 68
Richard1.Rubenstein
7. Double Bind:Sacrificeinthe Epistleto theHebrews 89
Jennifer1.Koosed
VI CONTENTS
PART III: READING AS CHRISTIANS
8. Readingfrom the Day"InBetween" 105
WalterBrueggemann
9. WomanasWitness inaPost-HolocaustPerspective 117
MargieTolstoy
1O. NewTestamentTheologyafter the Holocaust:
ExegeticalResponsibilitiesandCanonicalPossibilities 128
LloydGaston
11. Reading the CrossatAuschwitz:HolocaustMemories
andPassion Narratives 140
Tania Oldenhage
12. Did ChristianityDieinAuschwitz? 155
RolfRendtorff
PART IV: JEWS AND GENTILES,
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT AND TODAY
13. The Passion afterthe Holocaust 171
JohnDominicCrossan
14. Restoringthe Kingdomto Israel:
Luke-ActsandChristianSupersessionism 185
CraigC.Hill
15. The JewPauland His Meaningfor Israel 201
JamesD.G.Dunn
16. Readingafter the Holocaust:
ANewTestamentScholar RespondstoEmilFackenheim 216
LukeTimothyJohnson
17. The KillingFieldsofMatthew'sGospel 232
GaryA.Phillips
Contributors 249
Index 251
Acknowledgments
Material inSusannahHeschel'sarticle,"ReadingJesusasaNazi;'waspreviously
published in her earlier article, "Redemptive Anti-Semitism;' in R.Thompson
and T.Phillips, eds., Literary Studies in Luke-Acts:Essaysin Honor ofJosephB.
Tyson(Macon, GA:Mercer University Press, 1998).Aslightlydifferent, earlier
versionofJamesD.G.Dunn'sarticle,"TheJewPaulandHisMeaningforIsrael;'
waspreviouslypublishedin UdoSchnelleand ThomasSoding,eds.,Paulinische
Christologie:Festschrift Hans Hubner (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
2000).Gary A.Phillips's article,"The KillingFieldsof Matthew's Gospel;' was
firstpublishedin Fiona Black,Roland Boer,and Erin Runions, eds., TheLabour
ofReading: Desire,Alienation and Biblical Interpretation, Semeia Studies (At
lanta: Scholars Press, 1999).I gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint all
three pieces.
I am also grateful to Kathryn McMahon and to Mythri Iegathesan, both of
Georgetown University,for their help in preparingthe manuscriptfor publica
tion,and toNickStreet,ofRoutledge,forpatientlyseeingitthrough.
T.L.
Introduction
TOO LINAFELT
Inattemptingtoarticulatethe waysinwhich thesacrificeofJesusChristhassu
percededthesacrificialsystem ofJudaism, the authorofthe NewTestamentlet
ter to the Hebrews draws heavily on the image of the shadow. The Israelite
priestly service is deemed "a shadow ofheavenly things" (8:5), and the Torah
merely"ashadowofthe good tocome"(10:1).Inshort,Judaism before Christis
presentedas ashadowofglory,areligion thatwasuseful in afallen and limited
way,butmustnowbeabandonedinlight ofthefullnessofChrist.Forathinker
steepedinPlatonicthoughtandstrugglingtoencouragewhatwaslikelyasmall,
threatenedcommunity,the characterizationisan effectiverhetoricalmaneuver.
Butforreaders todaythe"shadowofglory"takeson amoreunsettlingmeaning.
Forafter nearly two millenniait isclearthatsuch Christiansupersessionismhas
haddireconsequencesforJewsandJudaism. From forcedconversions,tocount
lesspogroms,tothe systematicmurderofsixmillion Jewsin NaziGermany, the
"glory" ofChristianity'striumph in the Westhas indeedcastalong andbaleful
shadow.The presentvolumelooksoutfrom this shadowback at the textsofthe
NewTestamentandexplores howthose textsmightberead differentlyinlight of
the Holocaust.
Onecannot,ofcourse, simplylaythe blame for along andbaleful historyof
Christian antisemitism at the feet of the New Testament writers. Indeed, for
most of those writers there did not even exist a separate religion known as
"Christianity:' and none could have foreseen the unholy mixture of religious
ideology, nineteenth-century racial theory, and modern technology of mass
X INTRODUCTION
death that resulted in the Holocaust.Rather,the issueishow our presentinter
pretivehorizon,shaped asitinevitablyisbyeventsofthetwentiethcentury,im
pinges uponthis ancientliterature.Put simply,the contributorsto this volume
allrespondinonewayoranothertothequestion:Howhasthe historicalwebof
events known as the Holocaust affected---or how should it affect-the waywe
readthefoundingtextsofChristianity?
Afewwordsabouttheveryterm"Holocaust"isinorder.Theterm isashort
hand, in some waysinappropriate,wayof referring both to the officia~ state
sponsored attempt to annihilate European Jewry by the National Socialist
(Nazi) partyinGermanyduringthe 1930sand early1940sand to the unofficia~
yetsometimesequallydeadly,pogromsand lootingthattookplacein Nazi-oc
cupiedterritories,especiallyincentral and eastern Europe.Theword Holocaust
comes from the Greek translation (holocaustos) of the Hebrew word "olah;
whichdesignatesinthe HebrewScriptures thewholeburntofferingthatissacri
ficedto God. Current usage of the term came to prominence in the 1960sand
wassolidified in the American imaginationbythe widelyseen television mini
seriesfrom 1978,"TheHolocaust,"and morerecentlybytheUnitedStatesHolo
caust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.Yetmany have objected to the
termbeing applied,givenitsreligiousand sacrificialovertones,tothe murderof
sixmillionJews,and one often findsthe term Shoah (Hebrew for"destruction")
substitutedinstead.
Wetend to associate the Holocaust with killing centers such asAuschwitz
Birkenau and Treblinka, where together more than two million people were
murdered,butitwouldmore properlyincludeaswelltheforcedmarches,roam
ingdeathsquads,disease,and starvationthatcamewith the Nazipersecutionof
Jews.It iscertainlytrue, of course,that many non-Jews died insimilar circum
stances,and oftensidebysidewith Jews,yetit isalsotrue thatJewsand Judaism
held a unique placein Naziideologyand weresingled outfor persecution in a
waythatotherpolitical,ethnic, and religiousgroups werenot.Itisthisideologi
calfreightplacedonJudaism,combinedwith thesheerscaleofthekillings(fully
two-thirds of world Jewryand one-third of European Jewryperished between
1933and 1945),thatmakesthe Holocaustthe massiveand tragic phenomenon
thatitis.
Although countless volumes have been written on the Holocaust, and its
philosophical, ethical, and theological implications have been explored from
numerous perspectives,there isaconspicuous poverty of worksthatreflectex
plicitlyand inasustainedmanneron the impactoftheHolocauston the prac
ticeofbiblicalinterpretation.Thisimpactis,asthe rangeofessaysinthepresent
volume show,vastand complex and isimpossible to put into asingle,summary
statement.On theone hand,ourattentionisfocusedmorekeenlyon issuesthat
havebeen raisedindependentlyofanyconsiderationofthe Holocaust.Thus,for
INTRODUCTION XI
example, the topics ofanti-Judaismin the Gospelsor the ambiguities of Paul's
thinkingon God's continuingfaithfulness to Israelhavereceivedafair amount
ofattentionin recent decades,and severaloftheessaysherewillrevisittheseis
sues, albeit with the expressed intention of offering a distinctive engagement
with the post-Holocaustmilieu.On the otherhand,there arecertainissuesand
questionsthatarisefrom thequite specificeventsthatconstitutethe Holocaust.
Forexample:Howdid NewTestamentscholarswhowerealsoNazipartymem
bers dealwith the JewishidentityofJesus?How isthe objectivity striven for in
historical criticism calledinto questionbythe realethical demands ofcontem
porary Jewish-Christian relations? What is it about the erection of a cross at
Auschwitzthatissocontroversial, and how might thatgiveus newinsight into
the passion narrativesoftheGospels?Andwhatmightallthismean fortheolog
icalinterpretation?
Theseand otherissuesareraisedintheessaysthatfollow--essaysbyinterna
tionally renownedscholars, aswellasbyyounger scholarswho bringfreshper
spectivesand cutting-edgeinterpretivework.Thewriters hailfrom bothbiblical
studies and from Jewishstudies, and the combinationof Jewishand Christian,
maleand female,EuropeanandAmerican, makesforavigorous and diversecol
lection of essays,united nonetheless by a passionate commitment to facing
squarelytheethicalimplicationsofreading and writingafterthe Holocaust.
