Christianity and Judaism

With the recent rise of antisemitism and anti-black racism, this year's Christianity and Judaism Consultation focused on the connection between these two phenomena.Magda Teter, in a presentation titled "Reckoning with the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism," argued that antisemitism and anti-Black racism derive from the same source: late antique Christian supersessionism.Teter began by observing that the Catholic Church, during and after Vatican II, dealt with antisemitism and racism as separate issues.This has been a major oversight, Teter argued.For Teter, there exists strikingly similar attitudes toward Jews and Black Americans, despite drastically different historical experiences.Teter provided numerous examples, some of which include age-old views that both Jews and Black Americans are cursed by God, that both are made inferior by God, and that both would wield dangerous power if given the opportunity.These parallel attitudes are not coincidental, Teter argued, but indicative of a common origin in Christian supersessionism.Teter then argued that the study of racism focuses on power and politics, while the study of antisemitism only focuses on theology.Regarding the latter, Teter argued, this is a mistake that needs correction.Teter traced the roots of supersessionism to Paul, who contrasted Judaism with Christianity, depicting the former as inferior.Augustine reinterpreted Paul in a new political context, where Christianity was no longer a nascent religion, but the religion of the Roman Empire.Soon, Jews were singled out in the Empire with specific legislation, placing them in a subordinate position.The subjugation of Jews through law continued into the medieval period and onward.For example, Pope Innocent III in 1205 stated that Jews were consigned to perpetual servitude, because they crucified Christ.As for anti-Black racism, Teter pinpointed its genesis to the colonial period.By the eighteenth century, Africa was racialized as black, and Europe was depicted as a triumphant queen.This posture of white (Christian) supremacy, Teter argued, derived from Christian supersessionism, the church's long-held sense of superiority over Jews and Judaism.Europe and the United States deliberated over whether their understanding of equality should include Jews and Black Americans, respectively.As soon as both groups were granted citizenship, there was major backlash, as both groups were seen as perpetually inferior.Teter was clear that Jewish and Black experiences of subjugation were never equivalent, but that the way Christians thought about Jews theologically, beginning in the New Testament period, created a habit of thinking that influenced the way white people thought about non-westerners during and after the colonial period.Mary Boys offered a response to Teter's presentation, stating that Teter's work is painfully pertinent to our present situation and a stringent assessment of supersessionism.Boys asked whether supersessionism is essential to Christian identity.