11 Jan
Beyond the Scapegoat Syndrome
The Jew is one of the oldest scapegoats of recorded history. Mind you, this is a distinction all of us would prefer to live without. However, most of us are probably unfamiliar with the origins of this phenomenon. It actually goes back to the time when the Jewish and Christian communities decided to split and pursue a different path. Augustine of Hippo was one of Christianity’s most brilliant theologians and religious thinkers. Unfortunately for him, he had an animus toward the Jews that has influenced most of the Christian world up to the present time. It behooves Christians to understand how the rift between the two ancient religious communities impacted Christianity and Judaism interfaith relations.
Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance” And the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who came upon him would kill him. (Gen. 4:15). What was the “mark of Cain”? The text does not identify exactly what the sign was. Historically, this passage has often served as a scriptural support for Christian persecution of the Jews. For Cain, this was a mark of God’s special loving care and protection.
Curiously, Augustine, says nothing about this mark serving as a protective device; instead, he (and his contemporary, Jerome) subvert what was originally an act of grace and mercy into a fiendish excuse to treat the Jews with cruelty. In his Reply to Flaustus the Manichean, Augustine employed one of the most anti-Semitic tirades in his allegorical interpretation of Cain and Abel. Augustine wrote:
—Abel, the younger brother was killed by the elder; so too Jesus, head of the younger people, is killed by the elder people—the Jews.
—Just as Abel’s blood cursed Cain, so the blood of Jesus accuses the Jews.
—As Cain was cursed from by the earth, so too unbelieving Jews are cursed from the Holy Church.
—As Cain was punished to be a mourner and an abject on the earth, so too are the Jews. [1]
In one lurid passage Augustine writes:
- Then God says to Cain: “Thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother’s blood at thy hand. For thou shalt till the earth, and it shall no longer yield unto thee its strength. A mourner and an abject wanderer shalt thou be on the earth.” It is not, “Cursed is the earth,” but, “Cursed art thou from the earth, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother’s blood at thy hand. So the unbelieving people of the Jews is cursed from the earth, that is, from the Church, which in the confession of sins has opened its mouth to receive the blood shed for the remission of sins by the hand of the people that would not be under grace, but under the law. And this murderer is cursed by the Church; that is, the Church admits and avows the curse pronounced by the apostle: “Whoever are of the works of the law are under the curse of the law.” Then, after saying, Cursed art thou from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive thy brother’s blood at thy hand, what follows is not, For thou shalt till it, but, Thou shalt till the earth, and it shall not yield to thee its strength. . .”
- —Cain was not punished with bodily death, so too the preservation of the Jews will be proof to believing Christians of the merited subjection of the Jews.
- —And the Lord God set a mark upon Cain, lest anyone finding him should slay him. It is a most notable fact, that all the nations subjugated by Rome adopted the heathenish ceremonies of the Roman worship; while the Jewish nation whether under Pagan or Christian monarchs, has never lost the sign of their law, by which they are distinguished from all the other nations and peoples. No emperor or monarch who finds under his government the people with this mark kills them, that is make them cease to be Jews, and as Jews, to be separate in their observances, and unlike the rest of the world. Only when a Jew comes over to Christ, he is no longer Cain, nor goes out from the presence of God, nor dwells in the land of Nod, which is said to mean commotion.[2]
Augustine’s devastating attack against the Jews scarred the nascent Christian psyche for nearly two millennia. His biblical interpretation of the Cain and Abel pericope later inspired Pope Innocent II and the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 who decreed that “all Jews and Saracens (a Muslim sect) must visually distinguish themselves from Christians and prominently display on their breasts the “yellow badge of shame.”[3]
That was then . . . the world has changed for the better. Who would imagine a whole generation of Jewish scholars and laypeople would have such a fascination and desire to reclaim Jesus, as a lost son of Israel? Who could imagine Christian scholars studying the Talmud? Who could imagine that the State of Israel’s best supporters would come from Christian evangelicals? We are certainly living in interesting times!? I pray that more Jews and Christians will take the step to facilitate a greater respect for our neighbor’s faith. By grafting ourselves to the blessings of Abraham (Gen. 12), we will discover God’s blessings.
It all begins with respect . . .
Notes:
[1] Following the game plan laid out by Augustine, Peter the Venerable, also known as “the saintly Abbot of Cluny,” (God protect us from such zealots!) during the Second Crusade (1147) advised Louis VII of France to begin the conquest of the Holy Land by first attacking the French Jews:
Of what use is it,” wrote Peter of Clugny, “to go forth to seek the enemies of Christendom in distant lands, if the blasphemous Jews, who are much worse than the Saracens, are permitted in our very midst to scoff with impunity at Christ and the sacrament! The Saracen at least believes as we do that Christ was born of a virgin, and yet he is execrable, since he denies the incarnation. How much more these Jews who disbelieve everything, and mock at everything! Yet I do not require you to put to death these accursed beings, because it is written, ‘Do not slay them.’ God does not wish to annihilate them, but like Cain, the fratricide, they must be made to suffer fearful torments, and be preserved for greater ignominy, for an existence more bitter than death. They are dependent, miserable and terror-stricken, and must remain in that state until they are converted to the Saviour. You ought not to kill them, but to afflict them in a manner befitting their baseness” (Heinrich Graetz and Philipp Bloch, History of the Jews, [New York: JPS, 1902], 350).
[2] Reply to Flaustus the Manichean [Contra Flaustum Manichaeum], Libri XXXIII, 343–347.
[3] Jewish History 1250 - 1259: 1257 Badge of Shame (Italy). The History of the Jewish People. Jewish Agency. “…the badge of shame was imposed locally and infrequently in Italy until the Bull of Pope Alexander IV enforced it on all papal states.” For one of the definitive studies on this subject, see Solomon Grayzel’s “The Church and the Jews in the XIIth Century” Volume II 1254-1314 (New York: Wayne-JTS, 1989), 8,12, 17,20, 30, 35, 64-66, 109-110, 112, 138, 161, et al. More references are also available in Wikipedia’s article “The Yellow Badge of Shame,” which provides an extensive comprehensive list of other resources. I would only add that the reason why the Church officials chose a yellow badge was in order to liken the Jews to the color of urine, thus symbolizing their filth and degradation.
Posted by Yochanan Lavie on 11.01.12 at 7:30 am
Of course, the Protestants have Martin Luther as their anti-Semite. As for Augustine, he had a brilliant mind but was sexually repressed. Maybe he wouldn’t have been so filled with hatred had he gotten laid.
Posted by admin on 11.01.12 at 7:30 am
Augustine was a famous whore-monger in his youth. One wonders whether he might have become impotent in his old age, and decided to turn to religion instead.
Posted by rey on 11.01.12 at 7:30 am
“Augustine of Hippo was one of Christianity’s most brilliant theologians and religious thinkers.” Why did you get sucked into calling Augustine ‘brilliant’ or even a ‘theologian’ or ‘religious thinker’? He was really just a thug and a politician. Remember a Christian bishop in his time was a political office. And so long as he is thought to have been anything more than what he was — a thug and politician — Christians will keep following his ‘theology’.
“In his Reply to Flaustus the Manichean, Augustine…” I’ve only read the part where Faustus is speaking because I can’t stand Augustine’s pompous prating.
“I pray that more Jews and Christians will take the step to facilitate a greater respect for our neighbor’s faith.”
As an ex-Christian tending towards Judaism I disagree. I want to see a slew of books written by Jews ripping Paul to shred because I hate that guy.