Supersessionism
Supersessionism, or replacement theology, is the idea that one religion was true but that it stopped being true after another religion showed up to supersede it.
Examples
changeFor instance, Christianity believes that Judaism was true once but that because the Jews rejected Jesus they stopped being the Chosen People and that the New Testament and a faith-based religion replaced Jewish Law. Islam also believes that God gave the Torah alike to the Israelites at Mount Sinai but that the Quran ultimately replaced it.
Antisemitism
changeNowadays, supersessionism is widely deemed antisemitic as it laid the groundwork for the two millennia of Christian antisemitism and persecution of Jews that peaked in the Holocaust, killing at least 6,000,000 Jews – 67% of pre-war European Jews. Supersessionism is no longer backed by mainstream churches, reportedly including the Vatican,[1] which have switched the focus to Christian–Jewish reconciliation.[2]
Some Christians endorse the dual-covenant theology (DCT) which holds that the Old Covenant between Jews and God is eternal, exempting Jews from the need of Christian conversion for receiving salvation.[3]
Radical Traditionalist Catholics
changeDespite the growing acceptance of the dual-covenant theology among Christians, the strongest opponents of it are the radical traditionalist Catholics (rad trads) who hold sway over Catholics worldwide, making supersessionism a difficult issue to discuss.[1]
Many rad trads are Holocaust deniers,[4] who have a substantial presence on Reddit's subreddits r/Catholicism (240K members) and r/AskAChristian (21K members), while Reddit has been long been criticized for unbridled antisemitism.[5]
Christian Identity movement
changeA similar, or somewhat overlapping, Christian movement that upholds supersessionism is the Christian Identity movement, whose followers believe that White people (referring to Christians, in their movement's ideological context) are the "real" descendants of ancient Israelites with whom God have a covenant.[6] The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) estimated in 2023 that the Christian Identity movement had 10 active groups in the United States.[6][7]
Related pages
changeOther websites
change- Christian Persecution of Jews over the Centuries
- Why Christians should repent of past antisemitism
- 12 Anti-Semitic Radical Traditionalist Catholic Groups
- Antisemitism in History: From the Early Church to 1400
- No false unity on show: God’s Israel and the Israel of God
- Does the Vatican Have the Ancient Jerusalem Temple Menorah?
- Is there new evidence of Jewish Temple treasures in the Vatican?
- The Evil of Replacement Theology: The Historical Abuse of the Jews by the Church
- The Roman Catholic Church, the Holocaust, and the demonization of the Jews. Response to “Benjamin and us: Christanity, its Jews, and history” by Jeanne Favret-Saada
- The Building of a Wall of Separation between New Testament Theology and Its Jewish Roots/Context: A Consideration of Early Church History and a Call for Re-Examination for 21st Century Everyday Theological Reality
References
change- ↑ 1.0 1.1
- Pryor, J. Christopher (2009). "Traditional Catholicism and the Teachings of Bishop Richard Williamson". Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
- "Traditionalist Catholicism". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
The Vatican has also rejected the idea of supersessionism [. ...] but traditionalist Catholics continue to support this doctrine and believe that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic church [. ...] One of its bishops, Richard Williamson, is a well-known Holocaust denier.
- Weitzman, Mark (April 5, 2017). ""Every Sane Thinker Must Be an Anti-Semite": Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in the Theology of Radical Catholic Traditionalists". Antisemitism Before and Since the Holocaust. pp. 83–113. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
- "Hutton Gibson, Extremist and Father of Mel Gibson, Dies at 101". The New York Times. June 4, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
- Faggioli, Massimo (October 26, 2022). "The Crisis in the Reception of Vatican II in the Catholic Church and the Return of Antisemitism". Antisemitism Studies. 6 (2). Indiana University Press: 354–372. doi:10.2979/antistud.6.2.08. ISSN 2474-1817. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
- ↑ Timothy P. Jackson (2021). "The Evils of Supersessionism". Mordecai Would Not Bow Down: Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and Christian Supersessionism. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ↑ "Falwell: Jews can get to heaven". The Jerusalem Post. March 1, 2006. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ↑
- "Pope to cancel excommunication of rebel bishops | The Pope is expected to cancel the excommunication of four breakaway bishops including a Briton who has said the Nazis did not use gas chambers". The Telegraph. London. 22 January 2009. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
- "Catholic Bishop Williamson Unrepentant in Holocaust Denial". ABC News. February 1, 2020. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- "Seminary sacks 'Holocaust bishop' | An ultra-traditionalist British bishop who denies the Holocaust has been removed from his post as the head of a Roman Catholic seminary in Argentina". BBC. 9 February 2009. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
- Willan, Philip (25 January 2009). "Pope readmits Holocaust-denying priest to the church | Vatican lifts excommunication on renegade British bishop who declared: 'There were no gas chambers'". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
- "Bishop Richard Williamson". Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Retrieved December 5, 2024.
- ↑
- "Reddit Shuts Down Some Racist, Anti-Semitic Web Forums". Southern Poverty Law Center. October 27, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- "'Racism is fine on our site,' says Reddit's chief executive". Sky News. April 12, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- "Combating racism on social media: 5 key insights on bystander intervention". Brookings. December 1, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- "A moderator of one of the biggest Kanye West internet forums says the page has been a 'bloodbath' since the rapper's descent into antisemitism and conspiracy theories". Business Insider. November 16, 2022. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
- "Holocaust denial finds new life in Oct. 7 revisionism". The Jerusalem Post. January 22, 2024. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1
- Barkun, Michael (1997). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. University of North Carolina Press. JSTOR 10.5149/9781469611112_barkun. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
- "Christian Identity | White Supremacy, British Israelism, Neo-Nazism". Britannica. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
- "Christian Identity". Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Retrieved December 4, 2024.
- Marks, Eliza (September 11, 2023). "Why We Should Care about Christian Identity Ideology and its Links to Antisemitic Mobilisation". Global Network on Terrorism & Technology. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
- Lewis, Jon; Wexler, Stuart; Mellea, Jessa; Tyler, M.B. (August 1, 2024). "Christian Identity Reborn: The Evolution and Revitalization of an Antisemitic Theology". The George Washington University. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
- ↑ The 10 active groups of the Christian Identity movement in 2023 are as follows (place names in brackets denote their headquarters' locations):
- Assembly of Christian Israelites (Milford, Ohio)
- Christogenea (Panama City Beach, Florida)
- Church of Israel (Schell City, Missouri)
- Covenant People’s Ministry (Brooks, Georgia)
- Euro Folk Radio (Chicago, Illinois)
- Fellowship of God’s Covenant People (Union, Kentucky)
- Kingdom Identity Ministries (Harrison, Arkansas)
- Mission to Israel Ministries (Scottsbluff, Nebraska)
- Sacred Truth Publishing and Ministries (Mountain City, Tennessee)
- Scriptures for America Worldwide Ministries (Laporte, Colorado)