Leading German Rabbi Condemns Pope’s Good Friday Prayer
A leading Rabbi in Germany has condemned Pope Benedict’s Good Friday Prayer, saying that the prayer “is insulting to Jews.” According to Rabbi Walter Homolka, the Catholic Church has a Jewish problem; the prayer is just one of its manifestations.
Last month, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI had revised the so-called “Good Friday Prayer for the Jews” which forms part of the Tridentine Mass, often referred to as the Latin Mass. The new version, translated from the Latin, reads: “Let us also pray for the Jews: That our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men.”
Several leading Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the International Jewish Committee on Inter-Religious Consultations, have strongly criticized the new wording of the prayer. However only the very small minority of Catholics who celebrate the Good Friday mass in Latin will actually hear the allegedly anti-Semitic version of the prayer…
The new wording is similar to the original version of the prayer, which read: “Let us pray also for the faithless Jews: that almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts; so that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord.”
This original version was toned down at the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council which introduced many far-reaching reforms of the Catholic Church, including replacing the Tridentine Mass with vernacular liturgies. The Good Friday Prayer then became: “Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant.”
Now, I’m very tough on Antisemitism, to say the least, but to call this prayer anti-Semitic is ludicrous. They’re praying for the salvation of Jews; that’s not anti-Semitic, that’s actually a sign of love. They want Jews to share in what they believe Jesus has given them.
The rabbi, however, disagrees:
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Homolka, you — and around 1,600 rabbis worldwide — are sharply protesting the Vatican’s revival of the Latin Good Friday Prayer, which reads: “Let us also pray for the Jews: That our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men.” Do you consider Benedict XVI to be anti-Semitic?
Walter Homolka: He is trying to focus on the specific aspects of his church — that’s his duty. But in this case he has lost his sensitivity. It is insulting to Jews that the Catholic Church, in the context of Good Friday of all things, is once again praying for the illumination of the Jews, so that we can acknowledge Jesus as the savior. Such statements are made in a historical context which is closely connected with discrimination, persecution and death. Given the weight of responsibility that the Catholic Church has acquired in its history with Judaism, most recently during the Third Reich, this is completely inappropriate and must be rejected to the utmost degree.
And from that point of view it is, it has to be said, more understandable. If you look at history, well, it’s logical that Jews feel they have reason to be worried. However, in the end, Jews will have to learn to live in a post-WWII world; in this world, Antisemitism isn’t a real danger anymore, but Judaism can be criticized, just like any other faith can be criticized.
As long as the prayer doesn’t turn into: “and if not, kill them,” Jews don’t need to worry. The rabbi goes on:
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What is the effect of Benedict’s new version of the Latin phrase?
Homolka: He indicates that he believes that the path to salvation, even for Jews, can only go through Jesus, the savior. This opens the floodgates for the conversion of Jews. The Internet is already full of comments by conservative, right-wing Catholics who say: “Wonderful, now we finally have the signal to convert the Jews.” This kind of signal has an extremely provocative effect on anti-Semitic groups. The Catholic Church does not have its anti-Semitic tendencies under control.
Well, pardon me, but Christianity is a faith that spreads by conversion. That’s how it has always been, and that’s how it will always be. That means that Christians will always try to convert non-Christians to their faith. Just like Muslims do. So, it’s logical for Catholics to have the desire to convert Jews as well; especially considering the fact that Christianity came forth out of Judaism.
Then the rabbi said:
Homolka: I consider Benedict’s version, too, to be more than unfortunately worded. He is making, on a central liturgical occasion, namely the Good Friday liturgy, a theological statement that Jews cannot help but perceive as aggressive and crass. Throughout history, Jews have repeatedly been subjected to persecution and death on Good Friday. Christians have often translated the message of Good Friday into the question: “Where are the murderers of Christ?”
Again, it’s understandable, perfectly understandable actually, but it’s time for Jews living in Europe to stop being afraid. Europe has changed. There’s truly no danger whatsoever that Europeans will try to force Jews to convert. None. Nada.
It’s one of those things in life that’s frankly so stupid you pinch yourself trying to understand how the nonsense of Jews as "Christ-killers" could possibly have gotten started. I mean, how do people become that deeply ignorant of history? What was Jesus supposed to have been if not Jewish? A wandering Buddhist who strayed into Judea and adopted the local customs? The apostles? The first century church that, under Paul, opened the doors to gentiles?
Actually, Islam does the best job of acknowledging the historical connections in what should really be called the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition with its characterization of adherents to all three traditions as "people of the book."
The prayer is, at the most, irritating, since Jews don’t particularly think they need saving, thank you very much. Anti-semitic I don’t see it, frankly.
In any event, I have a vague memory of someone, possible C. Stanley, telling me that Catholics think Jews have a deal with God and are already saved, or something to that effect. It was something along the lines of Jews already having an agreement with God from before, though I’m probably mangling it badly.
Michael, I have no clue what sort of Christian you are, though I know you’re not Catholic. Is it true that according to Christians the only way to not go to hell is to be Christian? Does that mean that Jews and Muslims go to hell along with non-believers, Buddhists, Hindus etc.? Within the insanity, it seems odd to me that you wouldn’t be saved even believing in the same God as Christians but in a different way.
In the Catholic church, "Nostra aetate" remains the official document on other religions, which states, as far as I understand it, that Jews and Muslims can get to heaven by the ways of their own Abrahamic religion.
This is quite similar to the Muslim position, as stated in the Coran (2:62) "Those who believe (in the Qur’an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve."
Judaism, as far as I know, aknowledges that non-Jews can enter paradise if the follow the seven Noahide laws, which include monotheism and basic morality.
From this consent which has been existing during recent decades, Pope Benedict now seems to deviate by considering Jews to be non-illuminated and demanding acknowledgement of Catholic doctrine.
It’s a basic tenet of Christianity that salvation comes solely from belief in Jesus Christ. In that sense the Pope is simply returning to the foundation of his religion, something that should never have been compromised.
It’s a harsh but essential feature of the religion, one that creates the urgency behind the Great Commission.
As neither Jews nor Muslims acknowledge the divinity of Jesus, their situation is ambiguous at best from the Christian perspective. Praying for them is therefore indicated, whether they wish it or not (to be blunt).
I’m not sure if Benedict will respond to this and clarify, and if he does I don’t know if this is what he would say, but I see a different potential reading of the prayer anyway.
“Let us also pray for the Jews: That our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men.” (note that this says, "of all men", not the Jews themselves necessarily.)
It doesn’t say that we’re to pray for Jews themselves to be illuminated to be personally saved by Christ (thus leaving room for the belief that Claudia referenced, which was stated by Pope John Paul II- that we believe that the covenant that God established with the Jews wasn’t broken, that God wouldn’t go back on His promises, and so we leave open to Him that He may have a path to salvation for Jews that doesn’t involve acceptance of Jesus as their personal savior.)
If you read the line again, you’ll see that it’s a prayer for Jews to be illuminated to our belief that Jesus came to save all of mankind. That’s simply our belief, and if one believes that, then frankly it’s insulting of the Rabbi to say that our beliefs about Jesus shouldn’t be stated because he finds it offensive. People DO have to accept that other people may believe different things and as Michael stated, our prayers for others to come to that belief are motivated by love, not hate. If you believed that someone was in danger of being in a building that’s burning, even if you ended up being wrong, your attempt to save them certainly wouldn’t be motivated by hatred. Obviously some people may resent that others believe that they need saving, but they aren’t showing the same tolerance for others’ beliefs that they want to be shown for their own, if they can’t accept it in that context.
Now, back to the point about whether or not the Jews personally need to accept Christ as savior. Basically as I understand it, JPII said that we just don’t know, and we’re willing to say that God’s way of saving the gentiles is through Christ and perhaps His covenant with the Jews means that they don’t need Christ to have a relationship with God, or eternal life with Him. That’s basically giving latitude for THEIR beliefs, taking into account the historical covenant which is also part of our beliefs (it’s actually quite interesting to look at the Bible this way- starting with God and Adam/Eve, then Abraham (one tribe) and it expands throughout history, culminating in Jesus coming to announce the kingdom to all of mankind.)
So in this sense, again, the rabbi is the one who is being insensitive because he won’t show the same deference to our beliefs that we’ve shown to his. I’m not clear on what Jews even believe today about salvation and eternal life (I was told by Holly that they don’t even believe in an afterlife, but I think some forms of Judaism still do?) Assuming they still believe in a special relationship between the Jews and God, as His chosen people, then what the prayer really asks them to be enlightened about is the idea of Jesus opening up that relationship to the gentiles as well. That’s just what we believe, and we can’t and shouldn’t water it down beyond giving deference to the Jews preexisting special relationship with God.
And about that historical context of antisemitism, it’s still important to note that this is not antisemitic at all! How would you get from praying for someone’s salvation (which even if they resent because they don’t believe they need it, does not harm them or call on anyone to hate or harm them in any way- quite the contrary, in fact) to the idea that this is hate speech? To me, whether or not Jesus was/is Savior of mankind should certainly be something that people can respectfully agree to disagree about.
I could certainly understand if there was any reference to the killing of Jesus, that the Jews handed Him over, etc- but to say that the context of Good Friday is the same as including something inflammatory like that is ridiculous. Obviously Good Friday is a time when we reflect on this because the Jews didn’t accept Jesus for what we believe He was, the Messiah and Son of Man (and Holy Week and Good Friday was when that divergence and final split occurred.) We pray that one day they will, and that’s all there is to it-it’s not an accusation, it’s a prayer.
As far as being irritating- no one is going outside Jewish synagogues and harassing Jews here. This is a prayer of Catholic Christians within our own churches, and for someone to be irritated because we express a belief that’s different from theirs is just hypersensitive and wrong.
One more point: nonChristians always seem to assume that Christianity is about judging people, as though our beliefs boil down to an attempt to sort people into the saved and the damned. It is no such thing; in fact we’re called upon to not judge, and leave that to God.
Protestant and fundamentalist Christianity might come across more that way to an outsider, with the use of the formulation of praying to accept Christ as your personal Savior- those who do that are saved, those who don’t are not.
But even then (and this is one area where Catholic theology is a bit different- accepting Christ isn’t a one time event, it’s what you do every single day in the choices you make, choosing to either follow Him by imitating Him or using your free will to do things that are against His will.) That gets into the debate about faith vs. works, so I don’t want to digress too much…
But these are things that are meant to be applied to our own personal lives, not to be used to judge others. Only God knows what is in someone else’s heart, and whether or not he/she truly was sincerely trying to follow Christ.
And that’s a lot like the way we view the covenant with the Jews- that’s between them and God, and we’re not here to claim knowledge of whether or not they still have that relationship with Him. In case the covenant is not intact (perhaps their rejection of Jesus did breach it) we pray for them. If it is not, great- but we still pray that they’ll come to the understanding that Jesus was sent to open up the relationship with God to the rest of mankind, the gentiles.
Catholicism teaches that Jews and Muslims can also be saved, protestants believe they can’t (well, officially / traditionally).
Michael,
Which protestants? Nowadays it seems to me that moderate protestants like the Lutheran Churches in Germany do believe Jews and Muslims can be saved. Not sure about "de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland". Historically, there was a diversity of opinion. Zwingli for example did believe that non-Cbhristians could be saved.
More fanatical protestants like American evangelicals strongly insist on sending others to hell (Are they God to decide?)
marc moore,
"It’s a basic tenet of Christianity that salvation comes solely from belief in Jesus Christ. "
That’s an interesting statement. Does this mean that you don’t consider people and churches disagreeing with this "basic tenet" to be Christian?
The Catholic Church for example does teach that believe in the God of Abraham is enough (though I’m not sure if the pope wants to change that).
I strongly believe that "everyone else goes to hell" is arrogant and intolerant. Whoever still has that belief in the 21st century is somehow behind the development of human civilisation.
AAB: that’s why I said traditionally. And no, traditionally - Luther, etc. - the idea is that only Christians can be saved, in Protestantism. But nowadays, people hold different views, which is made possible because Protestants don’t have an authority, like the Pope.
I think the Lutherans of modern times have taken great pains to distance themselves from the vile antisemitism of Luther, and I’d bet that the German Lutherans in particular have probably worked toward having a more conciliatory tone in their teachings and ideas about the Jewish people.
It seems though that at least some of the Lutheran synods haven’t come to the same kind of conclusion that the Catholic Church has, at least according to sites like this (this is an American branch and sounds like a more fundamentalist one.)
Michael,
Luther held that only Christians could be saved. Zwingli, one of the great Swiss reformators, didn’t.
Actually Luther’s position was quite progressive because the Catholic church then claimed salvation only was within Church and Luther extended it to all Christians, notably including the Eastern Orthodox.
C Stanley,
The largest Lutheran church in the US is the ELCA, which shares the liberal positions of the large Lutheran Churches in Germany in Scandinavia. These are grouped together in the Lutherna World Federation.
There are smaller, more fundamentalist Lutheran Churches in the US though, including the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and the Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC).
There also are some small, more fundamentalist "Lutheran Free Churches" in Germany, including SELK and Old Lutheran Churches. But these represent a small minority.
The Jewish Apostle Paul desired that his Jewish brethren would believe. Romans chapters 9-11 reveal the divine plan.