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What Price Prejudice?: Christian Antisemitism in America (Stimulus Books)

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IDENTIFICATIONAL REPENTANCE - THEOLOGY OF APOLOGY

There is a Christian movement started by a Protestant nun in Germany in the 1950's. I saw a documentary on it last week and was amazed at the depth of responsibility that is being taken worldwide by numerous Christian sects for 2000 years of Catholic and Christian Church engineered antisemitism. The movement is a broad apology to the Jewish people. Google: Repentance Movement for more information.

Frank Eakin, the Weinstein-Rosenthal Professor of Jewish and Christian Studies at Richmond University, is a man who takes money from the hands or organized Jewry (note the name of his professorship's sponsors) in exchange for slandering Christianity and undermining the faith of Christians. Eakin is an obsequious slave who begins this book trumpeting his abject servitude, by stating that he will use the the secularist abbreviations B.C.E. and C.E. (instead of B.C. and A.D.) in order to show sensitivity to Jews, despite his acknowledgement that few Jews will ever read this book. I imagine that this craven creature probably keeps kosher in the privacy of his own home, so as not to offend the Chosen people.

Anyway, Eakin's ostensible purpose in this book was to document "Christian antisemitism in America". Naturally, he begins such a story in the ancient world by noting that anti-semitism predates Christianity, but declares that Christianity "redefined" and "intensified" anti-semitism. He states that the relational problem between Jews and Christians is more often on the Christian than the Jewish side. To those who would point out that the "relational problem" began with Jewish persecution of Christians, as recounted in the New Testament (not to mention other first and second century histories) he dismisses such documents by saying that we should question the authenticity of New Testament accounts. This is the heart of Eakin's mission: the de-sacralization, expurgation and ultimate disposal of Christian Scripture.

His tool is the Historical-Critical Method. He declares the New Testament untrustworthy, specifically in its treatment of Jews. Any hint of anti-semitism must have been a spurious interpolation by post-Apostolic writers, resentful of Judaism's refusal to accept Christ. Any idea that Christ Himself intended Judaism to be superceded is outrageous. In fact, the suggestion that Christ was anything other than a radical, but deluded, Jewish rabbi is offensive to the author. Eakin is a a man who has rejected Christ; now his goal is to convince the rest of Christianity to do the same. To that end, he surveys a group of his favorite theologians, and analyzes the ways in which they have argued that the New Testament passages dealing with Judaism don't really mean what they clearly say. Such arguments amount to nothing more than wishful thinking and baseless assertions.

These Judaizing Marranos can't square a circle and they can't make Christianity into a mere extension of Judaism. The Biblical authors, whom Christians believe were directly inspired by God, were quite explicit in the message that the Christian revelation was meant to supercede Judaism. Accepting that demonstrable fact, one can either accede to such evidence or reject their supernatural provenance altogether. Eakin has chosen to do the latter. What is disgraceful is that the Paulist Press chose to publish such a blatant attack on the Faith.