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Johann Salomo Semler: Dejudaising Christianity

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Johann Salomo Semler: Dejudaising Christianity JOHANN SALOMO SEMLER: DEJUDAISING CHRISTIANITY The fi rst Protestant writer to call for a dejudaising of Christian theol- ogy for theological reasons was Johann Salomo Semler.1 As noted, the English deistic and anti-deistic literature, the former including Thomas Morgan’s writings, had been introduced to the German academy by Semler’s teacher Siegmund Jacob Baumgarten.2 Semler’s stance towards the Jews is comprehensible against this background. Semler has been called “the incontestable leader of German Neol- ogy” and is known as the person who turned old Protestantism into new Protestantism.3 Although the latter epithet may be applied to later fi gures as well, for example Schleiermacher, Semler is certainly one of the architects of modern exegesis, due to his new approach to biblical studies. Furthermore, his work strongly infl uenced that of Schleier- macher, a connection that will be discussed below. Semler’s own liter- ary production is vast. The Halle theologian is depicted as a union of opposites: Lutheran Pietism and rational historical-critical theology.4 However, Semler’s picture of Christianity is in effect quite different to Pietism: his religion is one of reason and virtue, where Christianity is primarily a moral order, furthering all good works,5 and instead of 1 This is argued in Heinrich Rothe, “Die Stellung der evangelischen Theologie zum Judentum am Ausgang der Aufklärung” (Doctoral thesis, Friedrich-Alexander- Universität, 1953), 55. 2 Hirsch, Geschichte der neuern evangelischen Theologie, IV:7; Zscharnack, Lessing und Semler. Ein Beitrag zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Rationalismus und der kritischen Theologie, 32. 3 Hirsch, Geschichte der neuern evangelischen Theologie, IV:48–49. See also Dyson, “Theo- logical Legacies of the Enlightenment: England and Germany”, 54–62, where he shows similarities and differences between the British Enlightenment and the German Aufklärung. 4 Zscharnack, Lessing und Semler, 40. For Semler’s position on the authority of the Scriptures, see Hornig, Johann Salomo Semler. Studien zu Leben und Werk des hallenser Aufklärungstheologen, 237–239. Semler’s distinction between the text of the Holy Scriptures and the Word of God enabled him to work critically with the Bible while believing in the authority of the Word of God, Johann Salomo Semler, Abhandlung von freier Untersuchung des Canon; nebst Antwort auf die tübingische Vertheidigung des Apocalypsis (Halle: Carl Hermann Hemmerde, 1771), 75; Hornig, Johann Salomo Semler, 255. The theory of accommodation and criticism of “mythical elements” in the Bible were part of his critical work with the Bible. 5 Johann Salomo Semler, Abhandlung von freier Untersuchung des Canon, ed. Hans Scheible, 40 part i. enlightenment exegesis and the jews being the Crucifi ed One, the Redeemer, Christ is seen as the founder of a higher moral religion.6 This theological basis also explains his view on the Jews. Semler’s View on the Jews and Judaism Semler’s picture of the Old Testament, and related to this, of Jews and Judaism, was fundamental to his theology; Jews and Judaism became the prime, dark backdrop to his own interpretation of Christianity. Here, too, we encounter the Janus face of the Enlightenment. As a person of the Enlightenment, Semler took a clear stand against any discrimina- tion of Jews and other minorities, for instance rejecting the traditional Jewish blood libel.7 At the same time, however, his theological view on Jews and Judaism is strongly negative. Whereas Judaism in itself is nationally limited, and Yahweh is only a national God (Nationalgott), Semler holds that religion must be universal and cosmopolitan.8 Christianity, therefore, is something new and differ- ent, and is in essence no continuation of Judaism. Instead, Semler sees Christianity as a new religion that is revealed by God but not confi ned to a certain people or group. Being a universal religion, it supersedes both Jewish and Gentile religion.9 The Old Testament, too, has a Jewish- national character, an idea that Semler’s writings seem to be the fi rst evidence of on German soil, although it was not an entirely new thought, as we have already seen in Thomas Morgan.10 Thus to Semler, there is a breach between Judaism and Christianity: The Christian religion is for all people, the Jewish is only particular [. .]; therefore it had to be annulled (aufgehoben), to give space to the Christian general (allgemeinen) religion, which has completely different books as its Texte zur Kirchen- und Theologigeschichte (Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, 1967 (1771–1776)), 68. 6 Rothe, Rothe, “Die Stellung der evangelischen Theologie”, 56–57. 7 Hornig, Johann Salomo Semler, 49, 296. 8 Jewish Enlightenment thinkers, e.g. Moses Mendelsohn, claimed that their religion also genuinely expresses natural religion. For Mendelsohn, see Rothe, “Die Stellung der evangelischen Theologie”, 14. Similar thoughts are common among Christian Enlightenment writers. 9 Hornig, Johann Salomo Semler, 59. 10 Zscharnack, Lessing und Semler. Ein Beitrag zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Rationalismus und der kritischen Theologie, 113..
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