Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: levene@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Robert A. Levene) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Passover for Christians Message-ID: Date: 5 Apr 91 08:23:17 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Johns Hopkins University Lines: 57 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article tom@dvnspc1.dev.unisys.com (Tom Albrecht) writes: >> I'm curious as to why Christians, especially gentile Christians, would >> institute this sort of tradition in their churches? It seems to me that >> both the Biblical and historical evidence points to the passing away of the >> Old Covenant (as symbolized by the Jewish Passover) in favor of the New >> Covenant (represented by the Eucharist). The Passover was a type of the In article billg@bony1.bony.com (Bill Gripp) replies: > ... Christians do not superceed Jews, we SHARE in the > promises. The attitude that we have replaced the Jewish people has > caused unmesurable animosity between Christians and Jews for almost 2000 > years. I'm going to have to disagree strongly with Bill here. Once Christianity established a distinct identity from Judaism, Jews no longer cared about the Christian theology, and have had very little to say on the subject, let alone "animosity." That's why Tom's attitude is commendable in my view, since I couldn't care less what you think of my Covenant, as long as you don't bother me. The animosity Bill describes stems from 2000 years of (1) blaming Jews for deicide (2) assuming that Jews are somehow devils {see St. John Chrysostom's and Martin Luther's writings; references available on request} and (3) various bizarre blood libels and ritual murder accusations, such as "Hugh of Lincoln" all of which were used to justify large-scale murdering of Jews, i.e. the Crusades. In the past few decades, many positive steps have been taken to eliminate the deicide and blood libels from mainstream belief, and that's a Good Thing, and holds the most promise for improving inter-religious relations to a stage of mutual respect. However, the attitude that attempts to redefine Judaism to include Christianity through "Messianic Jews" produces precisely the opposite effect, and *does* cause animosity, especially among knowledgeable Jews, who view it as an attempt to convert Jews to Christianity, as is clear when Bill notes that they hold memberships in a "Church of the Nazarene." Talk about passing the duck test... Pretending or insisting that "Messianic Jews" and "Passover for Christians" will improve relations does not make it so, despite your good intentions. Thank you for your consideration. - Rob -- Robert A. Levene \ I am the sole legitimate representative "/ // / /" \ and policy maker for my race, culture, Bitnet: RXL1@APLVM.BITNET \ country, religion, political party, Internet: levene@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu \ employer and extended family. So there.