Roots of Theological Anti-Semitism: German Biblical Interpretation and the Jews, from Herder and Semler to Kittel and Bultmann (Studies in Jewish History and Culture)

697 Pages·2008·2.11 MB·English

by  Anders Gerdmar

Roots of Theological Anti-Semitism
Studies in Jewish
History and Culture
Editedby
Hava Tirosh-Samuelson
(Arizona State University)
and
Giuseppe Veltri
(Leopold-Zunz-Centre for Jewish Studies,
University of Halle-Wittenberg)
VOLUME20
Roots of Theological
Anti-Semitism
German Biblical Interpretation and the Jews,
from Herder and Semler to Kittel and Bultmann
by
Anders Gerdmar
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gerdmar, Anders.
Roots of theological anti-Semitism : German biblical interpretation and the Jews,
from Herder and Semler to Kittel and Bultmann / by Anders Gerdmar.
p. cm.—(Studies in Jewish history and culture, ISSN 1568-5004 ; v. 20)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-16851-0 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Judaism (Christian
theology)—History of doctrines. 2. Christianity and antisemitism—Germany—
History. 3. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—Germany—History. 4. Christianity
and other religions—Judaism—History. 5. Judaism—Relations—Christianity—
History. 6. Theology, Doctrinal—Germany—History. 7. Antisemitism—Germany—
History. I. Title. II. Series.
BT93.G47 2008
261.2’60943—dc22
ISSN 1568-5004
ISBN 978 90 04 16851 0
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
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To the memory of my beloved parents,
Ingvar and Margareta Gerdmar.
1 Cor. 13:4–13

CONTENTS
Foreword ..................................................................................... xiii
Introduction: Roots of Theological Anti-Semitism ................... 1
Defi ning Anti-Semitism .......................................................... 5
The Analysis ........................................................................... 9
Who are the Exegetes? On the Choice and Delimitation of
Materials ............................................................................. 12
Research Traditions versus the Scholars’ Own Contextual
Theology ............................................................................. 18
What This Study Does and Does Not Do ............................ 19
PART I
ENLIGHTENMENT EXEGESIS AND THE JEWS
Introduction ................................................................................ 23
The Jews in Enlightenment Exegesis From Deism to
de Wette .................................................................................. 29
An English Prelude: Enlightened Prejudice against the
Jews ...................................................................................... 29
The Moral Philosopher: Judaism as an ‘Egyptianiz’d’
Degeneration ....................................................................... 31
Christian is Good, Jewish is Evil ............................................ 35
Conclusion .............................................................................. 36
Johann Salomo Semler: Dejudaising Christianity ..................... 39
Semler’s View on the Jews and Judaism ................................ 40
Idealistic Historiography ......................................................... 41
The Moral Element ................................................................ 43
Universalism and Particularism .............................................. 44
View of the Old Testament ................................................... 45
Semler on Tolerance ............................................................... 46
Conclusion .............................................................................. 48
viii contents
Johann Gottfried Herder: The Volk Concept and the Jews ....... 51
Herder on the Jews ................................................................. 52
Degeneration Hypothesis ........................................................ 54
Herder and the Emancipation of the Jews ............................ 57
The Volk Concept and the Jews ............................................. 58
Conclusion .............................................................................. 59
F. D. E. Schleiermacher: Enlightenment Religion and
Judaism .................................................................................... 61
Schleiermacher and Judaism .................................................. 64
Schleiermacher and the Old Testament ................................ 69
Schleiermacher on the Concrete Situation of the Jews ........ 70
The Infl uence of Schleiermacher .......................................... 74
Conclusion .............................................................................. 74
W. M. L. de Wette: Judaism as Degenerated Hebraism ........... 77
The Picture of the Jews: Hebraismus, Judenthum and
Christianity .......................................................................... 79
View of the Old Testament ................................................... 83
Early Christianity and Jesus ................................................... 84
de Wette and Contemporary Judaism .................................... 86
Conclusion .............................................................................. 91
The Jews in Enlightenment Exegesis from Baur to Ritschl ...... 95
Ferdinand Christian Baur: Judaism as an Historical Antipode
of Christianity ......................................................................... 97
A Dialectical Movement from Paganism and Judaism to
Early Christianity ................................................................ 98
From the Jerusalem Church to World Religion ..................... 102
Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ ............................................ 103
Dialectical Opposition in Corinth .......................................... 105
The Letter to the Romans: Written to “Cut Jewish
Particularism at its Root” ................................................... 107
Jesus and Judaism ................................................................... 109
Judaism: A Pawn in the Game ............................................... 111
Contextualising Baur’s Philosophical Theology .................... 113
Conclusion .............................................................................. 118
contents ix
David Friedrich Strauss: Judaism in Continuity and
Discontinuity with Christianity .............................................. 121
Reconstructing Jewish Past ..................................................... 122
Continuity and Discontinuity ................................................. 123
Dialectics and the Emergence of Christianity ....................... 124
Strauss on the Jews ................................................................. 126
Jewish-Christian Past and German Present ........................... 127
Conclusion .............................................................................. 129
Albrecht Ritschl: Kulturprotestantismus and the Jews .................... 133
Ritschl on the Jews and Judaism ............................................ 136
Jewish Christianity .................................................................. 138
Conclusion .............................................................................. 141
The History of Religions School and the Jews—
An Historical Turn? ................................................................ 143
Bousset and Weiss on the Jews ............................................... 145
The Preaching of Jesus: Two Opposing Views ................. 146
Wilhelm Bousset: The Religion of Judaism in the
New Testament Age ........................................................... 150
Bousset’s Overarching Historiography of Religions .......... 152
Late Jewish Degeneration ................................................... 154
Palestinian versus Diaspora Judaism .................................. 156
Controversial Use of Intertestamental Sources ................. 161
Hugo Gressmann, Die Religion des Judentums, and the
Berlin Institutum Judaicum ............................................ 163
Gressmann’s Revision of Bousset’s Religion der Judentum .... 167
Johannes Weiss: The Jews in Das Urchristentum ...................... 171
Contextualising the History of Religions School and the
Jews ...................................................................................... 175
Bousset’s Philosophical Background ................................... 181
Conclusion .............................................................................. 183