A New Model of Christian Interaction with the Jews
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Yaakov Ariel ANew Model of Christian Interaction with the Jews Pietist and Evangelical Missions to the Jews The turn of the eighteenth centurysaw the rise of anew movement in the land- scape of Western Christianityand Christian-Jewish relations – German Pietism, which provided an alternative means for Protestants to relate to Jews.¹ The Halle Pietiststhus became one of the important movements in the Protestant world, and their pioneering mission, the Institutum Judaicum,influenced other groups of Pietists in Central and Northern Europe, as well as English-speaking evangelicals, making alasting impression on the Protestant scene, modifying, and at times transforming, prevailing attitudes towards the Jews. An exploration of the agenda of this movement,then, mayunveil arich picture of this highly complicated relationship. The Rootsand OriginsofPietist Attitudes Towards the Jews To acertain extent,Pietist attitudes towards the Jews recall those of the early Martin Luther.² Like the father of the Protestant Reformation, the Pietists be- lieved thatJews oughttobeopen to Christianity in its Protestant form. Pietists, On the rise, nature,and impact of German Pietism,see Peter E. Erb, ed., The Pietists:Selected Writings (New York: Paulist Press,1983); Jonathan Storm, Hartmut Lehmann, and James Van Horn, eds., Pietism in Germanyand North America, 1680 –1820 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009); DouglasShantz, An IntroductiontoGerman Pietism: Protestant Renewal at the Dawn of Modern Europe (Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013); Douglas Shantz, ACompanion to Ger- man Pietism, 1680 –1800 (Leiden: Brill, 2014). Luther’scomplicated and changingattitudes towards the Jews have receivedconsiderable scholarlyattention. Foranupdated comprehensive studyofthe subject, see Thomas Kaufmann, “Luther and the Jews,” in Jews,Judaism, and the Reformation in Sixteenth Century Germany, eds.Dean PhilipBelland Stephen G. Burnett (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006), 69 – 104;Peter vonder Osten-Sacken, Martin Luther und die Juden: neu untersucht anhand vonAnton Margar- ithas “Der gantz Jüdisch glaub” (1530/31) (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer,2002);Thomas Kaufmann, Luther’sJews:AJourney into Antisemitism (Oxfordand New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 2017). OpenAccess. ©2020 Aue-Ben-David et al., published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the CreativeCommons Attribution 4.0 International. https:// doi.org/10.1515/9783110664713-007 90 Yaakov Ariel however,carried Luther’stheological and practical positions afew steps further. In his earlycareer as areformer, Luther held hopes for the conversion of the Jews to Christianity,but stopped short of establishing amission or formulating specif- ic means of approaching them. Pietists institutionalized and systematized the agenda outlined by the young reformer.But,unlikeLuther,who was disappoint- ed that the Jews did not join his new Protestant church en masse, Pietists, and later on, evangelical missionaries, accepted thatmost Jews werenot interestedin converting to Christianity.Content to convert onlyalimited number of Jews, Pie- tists set their sights on thoseindividuals who werethus inclined. Pietist agendas werestrongly shaped by the ideas of Philip Jacob Spener (1635 – 1705), founderofHalle Pietism. In his PiaDesideria,the most influential work of German Pietism, Spenerpromoted an alternative attitude towards the Jews.³ There, the Pietist thinker expressedappreciation for the longstanding Jew- ish rejection of Christianity.Heblamed Christian societies for mistreatingthe Jews, and called upon his readerstoshow good will towards them. Promoting amessianic outlook, Spener, and the Halle Pietists whom he inspired, as well as anumber of other Pietist groups that followed them, wereconvinced that the Jews would again playadecisive role in the events thatwould lead to the materialization of the Kingdom of God on earth. Although Pietism developedmostlyinLutheran lands, the Reformed (often labelled ‘Calvinist’)wing of the Reformation influenced Pietist positions towards the Jews.⁴ Reformers of that school, such as Martin Bucer (1491– 1551), John Cal- vin (1509–1564), and Theodore Beza (1519–1605), took with utterseriousness the messagesconveyedinthe Hebrew Bible, includingthe idea that their com- munitieswereincovenant with God.⁵ UnlikeLuther,who believed that the place of the Jewish people in history,asanentity distinct from Christianity, had come to an end, Calvin held that while God was angry with Jews as individ- uals, Jews might stillberedeemed as anation.⁶ Reformed thinkers in England, Philip Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria or Heartfelt Desirefor aGod-PleasingReform of the True Evangelical Church, trans.TheodoreG.Tappert (Philadelphia: Fortress Press,1964). The original text appeared in Frankfurt am Main in 1675. Walter Beltz, “Gemeinsame kulturelle Codes in koexistierenden Religionsgemeinschaften, dargestelltund untersucht an Beispielen der Messiasdiskurse in den Reisetagebüchern des In- stitutum Judaicum et Muhammediacum J. H. Callenbergs,” in Sprache und Geist: Peter Nagel zum 65.Geburtstag,eds.Walter Beltz, UtePietruschka, and JürgenTubach (Halle: Martin-Lu- ther-Univ. Halle-Wittenberg, 2003): 1–29. Cf. G. SujinPak, The JudaizingCalvin: Sixteenth-Century Debates Over the MessianicPsalms (Oxford and New York: OxfordUniversity Press,2010). John Calvin, Commentary on aHarmonyofthe Evangelists,Matthew,Mark, Luke, translated from the original Latin by the Rev.William Fringle,volume 3, Christian Classics Ethereal Library ANew Model of Christian Interaction withthe Jews 91 Holland, France, and Switzerland, as well as in thoseparts of the New World whereReformed theologygainedground, expressed hope for the Jews’ prospect of national restoration and conversion to Christianity.⁷ Pietism found parallels and support in Reformed communities,includingthe Puritan movement that de- velopedinEngland and New England.⁸ ManyPietists and Puritans viewed the Jews as heirsofhistorical Israel, and focused on the prospect of the return of the Jews to the HolyLand and their conversion to Christianity.⁹ Puritans and Pietistsadhering to aChristian messianic faith insisted that the biblical referen- ces to Israel, Judah, Zion, and Jerusalem should be read literally, and thatthe Old Testament prophecies about the rejuvenation of Israel weremeant for the (Grand Rapids,MI: Baker Books, 2003), here27:25–26.Calvin starts the commentary along tra- ditional Christian lines,but then moves to promote the idea that God still upholds his promises to Israel and aremnant of the Jews shall be redeemed. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/cal com33.ii.xxxix.html?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=27&scrV=25#ii.xxxix-p11.1 Cf. Myriam Yardeni, Huguenots and Jews (Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Centerfor Jewish History,1998), 83 – 112; J. Vanden Berg, “Eschatological Expectations concerningthe Conversion of the Jews in the Netherlandsduring the Seventeenth Century,” in Puritans,the Millennium and the FutureofIsrael: Puritan Eschatology,1600 –1660,ed. Peter Toon (Cambridge:James Clarke, 1970): 137–53,esp. 137–9; Frank E. Manuel, The BrokenStaff: Judaism through Christian Eyes (Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversity Press, 1992),92–8. RichardF.Lovelace,The American Pietism of Cotton Mather:Origins of American Evangelical- ism (Grand Rapids, MI:Christian University Press,1979),32–5, 65 – 6. Franz Kobler,The Vision was There:AHistory of the British Movement for the Restoration of the Jews to Palestine (London: Lincolns-Prager,1956); Peter Toon, “The LatterDay Glory,” in idem, ed., Puritans,the Millennium and the Future of Israel, 23–41;Carl F. Ehle, “Prolegomena to Christian Zionism in America: The Views of Increase Mather and William E. Blackstone Con- cerning the Doctrine of the Restoration of Israel” (Ph.D.Diss., New York University,1977), 47– 61; Mel Scult, Millennial Expectations and Jewish Liberties:AStudyofthe Efforts to Convert the Jews in Britain up to the Mid-Nineteenth Century (Leiden: Brill, 1978); Robert M. Healers “The Jews in Seventeenth Century Protestant Thought,” Church History 46:1 (1979):63–79; David S. Katz, Philo-Semitism and the Readmissionofthe Jews to England, 1603–1655 (Oxford: Claren- don Press, 1982); BarbaraW.Tuchman, Bible and Sword: Englandand Palestine from the Bronze AgetoBalfour (London: Macmillan, 1983), 80 –101;Christopher Hill, The English Bible and the Seventeenth Century Revolution (London and New York: Penguin, 1994); Christopher Hill, “Till the Conversion of the Jews,” in idem, Religion and Politics in Seventeenth Century England (Brighton, HarvesterPress, 1986), 269–300;Mayir Verete, From Palmerstone to Balfour: Collect- ed Essays,ed. Norman A. Rose (London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass,1992);Avihu Zakai, “The Poetics of History and the DestinyofIsrael. The Role of the Jews in English Apocalyptic Thought during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy5 (1996): 313–50;Eitan Bar-Yosef, The Holy Land in English Culture 1799–1917: Palestine and the Question of Orientalism (Oxfordand New York: Clarendon Press and OxfordUniversity Press, 2005). 92 Yaakov Ariel Jews.¹⁰ With this ideological backdrop, these Christians were keen to seek out Jews for interaction. Pietists’ faith in the imminent return of Jesus to earth rendered their work among Jews pivotal to the unfoldingoftheir notion of the divine plan for salva- tion. They sought to educateChristians about the messianic role of the Jews and to instruct the latter as to what was, from the Pietist point of view,theirtrue his- torical mission. In their eyes,