Norwegian Church Denounces Luther’s Anti-Jewish Writings

Washington Post ^ | November 25, 2016

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Norwegian Church Denounces Luther’s Anti-Jewish Writings

November 25 STOCKHOLM — Norway’s state Lutheran Church has condemned the anti-Jewish legacy of Martin Luther, the 16th century German theologian who started the Protestant Reformation.

In a statement issued Friday ahead of next year’s 500-year anniversary of the Reformation, the Church of Norway’s General Synod said some of Luther’s writings were later used in anti-Semitic propaganda, including in Nazi Germany.

Noting that such propaganda was also spread in Nazi-occupied Norway during World War II, the synod said that “in the Reformation anniversary year of 2017, we as a church must clearly distance ourselves from the anti-Judaism that Luther left behind.”

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The motive behind this - to be PC - never analyzes big picture content or even tries to figure out the why of things. Liberals are not known for this.

So true. What is often omitted is the context for the comments in favor of the sensationalizing. That Catholics use this so often to condemn Luther, and by association all Protestant/non-Catholic Christians, is evidence of the same kind of hypocrisy Liberals demonstrate.

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I suggest they call their church anything but Lutheran if they want to distance themselves away from Luther, who was a raging anti-semite and formed his entire theology on anti-semitism. Anyone calling themselves Lutheran won’t be spared from the curse they put on themselves.

Well, I'd suggest anyone asserting this kind of bogus hyperbole refrain from dictating how Christians choose to denote their denomination. Luther's theology was NEVER about anti-Semitism much less entirely based upon it. Get a grip!

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Luther's theology was NEVER about anti-Semitism much less entirely based upon it.

WRONG.

I have much more respect for those Christians who dropped Luther like a hot potato, keeping with the Reformation idea and eliminating the anti-Jew theology for their own betterment as humans.

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Read your own words again. You contradict yourself.

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LOL no I don’t.

I’d love to hear your reasons why Lutherans should keep honoring a lunatic anti-semite.

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And I'd have much more respect for those who want to condemn a man's entire life - and anyone else who might respect the great reformer while not condoning his harsh words - would do some OBJECTIVE research once and a while. Here's a good place to start: Martin Luther’s Attitude Toward The Jews

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Martin Luther's dirty little book: On the Jews and their lies -- A precursor to Nazism

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Right...an atheistic blog is an "objective" resource for you? Are you suggesting that the entire Reformation was invalid because of what one influential man wrote later in his life? You might then:

Consider some things Catholics and the Catholic Church said.....

306 The Council of Elvira decrees that Christians and Jews cannot intermarry, have sexual intercourse, or eat together.

325 Conversation and fellowship with Jews is forbidden to the clergy by the Council of Nicea.

c. 380 St. Gregory of Nyssa refers to the Jews as "murderers of the Lord, assassins of the prophets, rebels and detesters of God,. . . companions of the devil, race of vipers, informers, calumniators, darkeners of the mind, pharisaic leaven, Sanhedrin of demons, accursed, detested,. . . enemies of all that is beautiful".

388 A mob of Christians, at the instigation of their bishop, looted and burned the synagogue in Callinicum, a town on the Euphrates. The Emperor Theodosius wants those responsible punished and the synagogue rebuilt at the expense of the bishop, but St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, pressures him to relent and condone the action.

400 St. Augustine writes: "the Church admits and avows the Jewish people to be cursed, because after killing Christ they continue to till the ground of an earthly circumcision, an earthly Sabbath, an earthly passover, while the hidden strength or virtue of making known Christ, which this tilling contains, is not yielded to the Jews while they continue in impiety and unbelief, for it is revealed in the New Testament. While they will not turn to God, the veil which is on their minds in reading the Old Testament is not taken away. . . the Jewish people, like Cain, continue tilling the ground, in the carnal observance of the law, which does not yield to them its strength, because they do not perceive in it the grace of Christ".

c. 400 Calling the synagogue "brothel and theater" and "a cave of pirates and the lair of wild beasts," St. John Chrysostom writes that "the Jews behave no better than hogs and goats in their lewd grossness and the excesses of their gluttony".

413 A group of monks sweep through Palestine, destroying synagogues and massacring Jews at the Western Wall.

414 St. Cyril of Alexandria expels Jews from his city.

538 The Third Synod of Orléans decrees that Jews cannot show themselves in the streets during Passover Week.

681 The Synod of Toledo orders the burning of the Talmud and other books.

768 Pope Stephen IV decries ownership of hereditary estates by "the Jewish people, ever rebellious against God and derogatory of our rites".

c. 830 Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons, writes anti-Jewish pamphlets in which he refers to Jews as "sons of darkness".

c. 937 Pope Leo VII encourages his newly appointed archbishop of Mainz to expel all Jews who refuse to be baptized.

1010-1020 In Rouen, Orléans, Limoges, Mainz, and probably also in Rome, Jews are converted by force, massacred, or expelled.

1050 The Synod of Narbonne decrees that Christians are not permitted to live in Jewish homes.

c. 1070 Pope Alexander II warns the bishops of Spain to prevent violence against the Jews because, unlike the Saracens, they "are prepared to live in servitude".

1078 The Synod of Gerona decrees that Jews must pay the same taxes as Christians to support the church.

1081 Pope Gregory VII writes to King Alphonso of Spain telling him that if he allows Jews to be lords over Christians, he is oppressing the Church and exalting "the Synagogue of Satan".

1096 Massacres of Jews takes place in the First Crusade, destroying entire Jewish communities in Mainz, Speyer, Worms, Cologne and other cities. The Jewish chronicler reports: "The enemies stripped them naked and dragged them off, granting quarter to none, save those few who accepted baptism. The number of the slain was eight hundred in these two days." The chronicler Guibert de Nogent reports that the Rouen Crusaders said: "We desire to go and fight God's enemies in the East; but we have before our eyes certain Jews, a race more inimical to God than any other".

1182 Jews are expelled from France, all their property is confiscated, and Christians' debts to them are cancelled with the payment of one-fifth of their value to the treasury.

1190 The Third Crusade, led by Richard the Lion-Heart, stirs anti-Jewish fervor and results in the mass suicide of the York Jews in Clifford's Tower on March 16.

1215 The Fourth Lateran Council decrees that Jews are to wear distinctive clothing, and on the three days before Easter they are not to go out in public.

1222 The Council of Oxford prohibits the construction of new synagogues.

1227 The Council of Narbonne orders Jews to wear a round patch.

1234 The Council of Arles orders Jews to wear a round patch.

1246 The Council of Béziers orders Jews to wear a round patch.

1254 The Council of Albi orders Jews to wear a round patch.

1260 The Council of Arles orders Jews to wear a round patch, but not when traveling.

1267 The Synod of Vienna decrees that Christians cannot attend Jewish ceremonies, and Jews cannot dispute with simple Christian people about the Catholic religion.

1267 The Synod of Breslau decrees compulsory ghettos for Jews.

1279 The Synod of Ofen decrees that Christians cannot sell or rent real estate to Jews.

1284 The Council of Nîmes orders Jews to wear a round patch.

1289 The Council of Vienna orders Jews to wear a round patch.

1290 Jews are expelled from England and southern Italy.

1294 Jews in France are restricted to special quarters of the cities.

1294 Jews are expelled from Bern.

1298 The Jews of Röttingen, charged with profaning the Host, are massacred and burned down to the last one.

1320 The "Shepherds' Crusade." A Christian chronicler records: "The shepherds laid siege to all the Jews who had come from all sides to take refuge. . . the Jews defended themselves heroically. . . but their resistance served no purpose, for the shepherds slaughtered a great number of the besieged Jews by smoke and by fire. . . The Jews, realizing that they would not escape alive, preferred to kill themselves. . . They chose one of their number (and) this man put some five hundred of them to death, with their consent. He then descended from the castle tower with the few Jewish children who still remained alive. . . They killed him by quartering. They spared the children, whom they made Catholics by baptism".

1326 The Council of Avignon orders Jews to wear a round patch, but not when traveling.

1347-1350 During the Black Death, Jews are accused of poisoning wells in order to overthrow Christendom, and many thousands of Jews are killed.

1394 The expulsion of Jews from France, begun in 1306, is completed with an edict promulgated on the Jewish Day of Atonement.

1420 Jews are expelled from Mainz by the archbishop.

1434 The Council of Basel decrees that Jews cannot obtain academic degrees.

1456 Pope Callistus III bans all social communication between Christians and Jews.

1462 Jews are expelled from Mainz following a conflict between two candidates for the archepiscopal seat.

1475 The entire Jewish community in Trent, northern Italy, is put to death on the allegation that it had murdered a boy for religious purposes.

1492 After forcing many Jews to be baptized and then referring to them as Marranos (swine), and after an Inquisition in which some 700 Marranos were burnt at the stake for showing signs of "Jewish" taint, Spain expels all Jews from the country.

1553 Cardinal Carafa instigates a public burning of copies of the Talmud and other Jewish religious works in a square in Rome.

This didn't stop after Luther either....

1555-1559 Pope Paul IV restricts Jews to ghettos and decrees that they are to wear distinctive headgear.

1566-1572 Pope St. Pius V expels Jews from the Papal States, allowing some to remain in Rome's ghettos and in Ancona for commercial reasons.

1592-1605 Pope Clement VIII includes a ban on all Jewish books in the expanded Index of Forbidden Books.

1826 Pope Leo XII decrees that Jews are to be confined to ghettos and their property is to be confiscated.

1858 Edgardo Mortara, 6-year old son of a Jewish family in Bologna, is abducted by the papal police and brought to Rome. He had been secretly baptized five years earlier by a domestic servant who thought he was about to die. The parents try to get the boy back, and there is a universal outcry, but Pope Pius IX rejects all petitions submitted to him.

1904 In an interview with Zionist leader Theodor Hertzl, Pope St. Pius X says: "I know, it is disagreeable to see the Turks in possession of our Holy Places. We simply have to put up with it. But to sanction the Jewish wish to occupy these sites, that we cannot do. . . The Jews have not recognized our Lord, therefore we cannot recognize the Jewish people. . . If you go to Palestine and your people settle there, you will find us clergy and churches ready to baptize you all".

1919 Newly independent Poland passes a law making Sunday a compulsory day of rest in Poland. The law is intended to force Jews to observe the Christian sabbath in addition to their own.

1921 Speaking for Pope Benedict XV, a Vatican spokesman informed representatives of the Zionist Movement that they did not wish to assist "the Jewish race, which is permeated with a revolutionary and rebellious spirit" to gain control over the Holy Land.

1925 At a conference of Catholic academicians in Innsbruck, Austria, Bishop Sigismund Waitz calls the Jews an "alien people" who had corrupted England, France, Italy, and especially America.

1933 In a series of Advent sermons, Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich defends the Old Testament against Nazi attacks but emphasizes that it is not his intention to defend contemporary Jewry, saying that a distinction has to be drawn between Jews living before and after the crucifixion of Jesus.

1933 In a pastoral letter on January 23, Bishop Johannes Maria Gföllner of Linz, Austria, declares that while the radical anti-Semitism preached by Nazism is completely incompatible with Christianity, it is the right and duty of Christians to fight and break the harmful influences of Jewry in all areas of modern cultural life. The Austrian episcopate condemns the letter in December for causing racial hatred and conflict.

1933-1939 The general consensus among the Catholic papers in Poland is that Jewish influence should be reduced in all areas of life, that the Polish and Jewish communities should be separated as much as possible, and that the most desirable option is mass emigration of the Jews from Poland. St. Maximilian Kolbe is an active promoter of antisemitic literature.

1935-1936 The Polish Catholic Church gives full support to a government policy encouraging Jewish emigration from Poland.

1937 Austrian bishop Alois Hudal publishes a book defending Nazi racial ideology, supporting laws preventing a flood of Jewish immigrants, and criticizing the "Jewish" press for playing off Austrians against Germans. His book receives the support of Archbishop (later Cardinal) Theodor Innitzer of Vienna.

1939 Josef Tiso, a Catholic priest with a doctorate in theology, became president of independent Slovakia. An extremist hater of Jews, he allied Slovakia with Nazi Germany and, with strong objections from the Vatican, deported most Slovakian Jews to their deaths in the camps. He declared: "It is a Christian action to expel the Jews, because it is for the good of the people, which is thus getting rid of its pests." Monsignor Tiso was executed after the war as a war criminal.

Why do Catholics resort to bringing up Luther’s later attitudes toward the Jews? Is it because the Roman Catholic Church has a spotless record of defending the Jews and other groups against intolerance and hatred? Are they the watchdogs of all religious intolerance?

The answer: No, they do not posses a spotless record of defending the minority against the majority, nor do they have a spotless record in their relations with the Jews:

“In 1553 all copies of the Talmud found in Rome were burned in public. Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) ordered measures to be taken against the Jews, and twenty-four men and one woman were burned at the stake. On July 12, 1555, he issued a bull that renewed all the oppressive medieval legislation against the Jews, excluding them from professions, limiting their financial and commercial activities, forbidding them to own real estate, and humiliating them by obliging them to wear yellow hats.”[Lewis W. Spitz, The Protestant Reformation (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1985), 357].

Roman Catholics try to deflect the guilt of their church’s abuses and doctrinal confusion that Luther rightly fought against. Instead of dealing with the blatant abuses, need for reform, and muddled theology inherent in the sixteenth century church, the tactic is to discredit Luther by any means possible. Simply because Luther was wrong on his attitude toward the Jews does not necessarily mean he was wrong on the need for church reform, the proclamation of the gospel of justification by faith alone, or sola scriptura. No bona fide Protestant argues that Luther was an infallible interpreter, divine authority, or immaculately conceived. We realize Luther was a man of many faults. Yet when he proclaims the gospel, he is absolutely correct because the Bible clearly teaches it. When he speaks out against the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church he is right because history shows this was the case. When he makes terrible statements about the Jews, he’s not right (or wrong) because he was somehow a Protestant pope or the originator of Protestantism, he’s wrong because a clear exposition of the Scriptures and solid Christian theology do not support such terrible statements. (Revisiting Luther's Anti-Jewish Writings )

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The Lutheran way is to deflect and attack others for their own shortcomings, rarely defending your own positions. You've been doing it for centuries. As a people, you've killed and killed and killed some more.

Since you refuse to see how much Lutheran anti-Semetic thought contributed to the rise of Nazis in Germany (this Norwegian church is the latest to denounce it), read the work you admire so much and defend it.

Martin Luther - The Jews and their Lies - FULL TEXT

Denouncing Luther is a first step on the path of atonement. Whoever curses the Jews shall be cursed. I'm sure you're a nice person and probably want to do good in this world. What causes someone to defend a long dead and mentally ill person they didn't even know personally, an author of edicts to burn Jews in their synagogues?

Idolatry comes in many forms. Our Torah teaches us how to avoid it.

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First of all, I'm NOT a Lutheran. I am an Evangelical Christian who was raised as a Roman Catholic until I actually heard the true gospel of salvation through faith alone in Jesus THE Messiah. I have repeatedly stated - and you repeatedly ignored - that I don't condone Luther's anti-Jewish statements. I am, however, able to understand the context of his acrimony and separate the very Biblical teachings he defended. If you think you can condemn everyone who respects Luther because of what he said against Jews late in his life, then at least be consistent and condemn the Catholics who have MUCH worse history along those lines up to and including the murder of thousands.

The TRUE "path of atonement" is through faith in God's anointed, the Messiah who is God with us - Jesus. Trusting in one's own righteousness is NOT that path. I love the Jewish people and pray regularly for their peace and the opening of their hearts to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

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Since you’re posting in the Judaism forum, my best advice to you is to seek Celsus’ writings on the subject.

I hope you repent to Hashem one day, as love for the Jewish people isn’t expressed by praying for Jews to turn to idolatry. We suffered enough and await redemption.

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Since you’re posting in the Judaism forum, my best advice to you is to seek Celsus’ writings on the subject.

The "Judaism" forum??? What makes you think this thread is that? The one who posted the thread is a Catholic. Not only that, if this HAD been posted in a Judaism Caucus, it would not have been allowed to stay that way since it violates the purpose of a "Caucus", which states: The “caucus” article and posts must not compare beliefs or speak in behalf of a belief outside the caucus. You can read the rules here: http://www.freerepublic.com/~religionmoderator/index?U=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freerepublic.com%2Ffocus%2Fmy%2F.

And why would I care what Celsus, an anti-Christian 2nd. century philosopher has to say? It definitely wasn't about Martin Luther's anti-semitic remarks! You keep sounding like you ignore my repeated rejection of the man's anti-Jewish words. I hope you at least understand that Luther was NOT a Pope and his words were not binding on anyone forcing them to buy in to everything he states. Nonetheless, Luther was a brilliant theologian though he was also a human being with a sin nature we all share.

I hope you repent to Hashem one day, as love for the Jewish people isn’t expressed by praying for Jews to turn to idolatry. We suffered enough and await redemption.

I already have come to God in faith and I received Jesus Christ as my Messiah. One day, ALL Israel will as well. My love and prayers for the Jewish people is that their eyes will be opened because:

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)

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The "Judaism" forum???

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/judaism-religion/index

This is where this thread is posted. As a Jew, I don't go into the Evangelical Christian forum on FR and post all the articles supporting the non-divinity of Jesus.

What a contradiction you present. You claim to "love the Jewish people" but you want them to cease being Jews. That's Satan talk by the way.

Under the threat of death by "Christians," Jews were forced to erase all historical records surrounding Jesus. Some of it still survives, and Celsus retained a significant part of it. There are several major studies from the Hebrew University and other scholars that verified much of the surviving fragments as true because the sources were so diverse but the narrative the same.

If you want to view Jesus as your Christian messiah, that's your choice. Jews won't because we were specifically warned not to fall for that in Torah. "Replacement theology" doesn't apply to Jews.

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This is where this thread is posted. As a Jew, I don't go into the Evangelical Christian forum on FR and post all the articles supporting the non-divinity of Jesus.

I know you're new here, but this thread was NOT posted like you think. It was placed in the RELIGION forum but having a "keyword" of Judaism does not make it a Judaism forum (or Judaism Caucus). There is also the word "Protestant" in the keyword list for this thread, it didn't make it a Protestant forum either. I have no problem if FReeper Jews want to have a Judaism Caucus and post threads. I have no desire to post to those just like I stay out of Catholic Caucus threads. But this thread was NOT posted that way (the one who posted it in the first place is a Catholic - that should give a hint). Regardless, "Caucus" threads on the Religion Forum (there is no Judaism Forum) should not compare beliefs or speak in behalf of a belief outside the caucus. So this one, because it talked about Lutherans and Martin Luther's anti-Jewish writings wouldn't have been permitted to BE a Judaism Caucus thread. Is that more clear now?

And JFTR, I deplore the way the Jewish people have been treated over the millennia. I don't condone it at all. It is certainly never a way to evangelize them for Jesus. I understand that the Jews have predominantly rejected Jesus as their Messiah and I believe it is because there is a veil of confusion over their eyes due to their unbelief and disobedience. Of course, nearly ALL of the early followers of Jesus WERE Jews and there are thousands of Messianic Jews today who believe in Him, too, and for good reasons. One day that veil will be lifted and eyes will be opened to Him as the true Messiah. I will continue to pray for that day and for the peace of Jerusalem.

P.S. I don't believe in Replacement Theology. God is not finished with His people (see Jeremiah 31. Shalom.

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The Judaism topic IS the Judaism forum. It’s the ONLY ONE on FR dealing with Judaism.

Get a grip.

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Your ignorance of Torah is plain for everyone to see.

There's no point in trying to witness to me because Torah is the only truth I adhere to.

the Jews have predominantly rejected Jesus as their Messiah and I believe it is because there is a veil of confusion over their eyes due to their unbelief and disobedience.

You're definitely Lutheran.

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Me get a grip??? LOL. Do you just like to argue, is that it?

Having the word Judaism in the "topic" field no more makes it a Judaism ONLY thread than having "Mainline Protestant" makes it a Mainline Protestant only thread. Here is what those fields say on this thread:

TOPICS: Judaism; Mainline Protestant; Religion & Culture; Click to Add Topic

KEYWORDS: anniversary; christendom; christians; europeanchristians; lutherans; martinluther; reformation; Click to Add Keyword

If you want ONLY ONE on FR dealing with Judaism, then open a thread under a Judaism Caucus. If you don't understand this, send a private message to the Religion Moderator. I'm sure it can be explained to you so you won't remain confused.

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No, I'm definitely not a Lutheran. I know a lot more about Torah than you probably think but I'm not interested in getting into a nasty argument with you. You were the one who came on this thread and stated:

I suggest they call their church anything but Lutheran if they want to distance themselves away from Luther, who was a raging anti-semite and formed his entire theology on anti-semitism. Anyone calling themselves Lutheran won’t be spared from the curse they put on themselves.

Their entire theology is against Jews.

You are quite wrong about that. I think your own ignorance and prejudice is plain for everyone to see.

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Devarim 13

Stop cursing yourself.

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There is only one Judaism topic and you should be aware that’s what it is.

Knock it off. “Judaism Caucus” is never adhered to by Christians.