# Reformed evaluation of Luther's purported antisemitism?



## mgeoffriau (Mar 1, 2006)

Had a discussion today about Luther's book _The Jews and Their Lies_ and his antisemitism. 

Can anyone direct to materials evaluating Luther's views from a Reformed perspective?


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## Puritanhead (Mar 1, 2006)

Luther made a considerable overreaction to reading from the Talmud... not exactly commensurate with Scriptures-- neither the Talmud nor Luther's response. You've probably never read what Luther read in the Talmud. Better pass it over. I will never repreat the Talmudic blasphemies (emphasis on blasphemous,) though I've verified their authenticity. It would not be judicious to accept any critique that ignored this unfortunate screed in ascertaining Luther's reaction. 

Most non-Christian Jews are not Talmudic scholars, and many probably have never heard these utterances. Myself, I affirm the Wittenberg Door, as a statement of Christian affirmation and Galatians 3. Jews need Christ and need Christians willing to evangelize with the Spirit of Christ.


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## cupotea (Mar 2, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Puritanhead_
> Luther made a considerable overreaction to reading from the Talmud... not exactly commensurate with Scriptures-- neither the Talmud nor Luther's response. You've probably never read what Luther read in the Talmud. Better pass it over. I will never repreat the Talmudic blasphemies (emphasis on blasphemous,) though I've verified their authenticity. It would not be judicious to accept any critique that ignored this unfortunate screed in ascertaining Luther's reaction.
> 
> Most non-Christian Jews are not Talmudic scholars, and many probably have never heard these utterances. Myself, I affirm the Wittenberg Door, as a statement of Christian affirmation and Galatians 3. Jews need Christ and need Christians willing to evangelize with the Spirit of Christ.



Very good point.

But we need also remember to be careful with our terminology. Semitism is a reference to a race of people. But Luther's issue was religious. 

That is to say, Luther was most definitely NOT anti-semitic (racist), but he was anti-Jewish (religious). But the very notion of him being "anti-semitic" is an anachronism. 

The word is used by liberals and other anti-Christians as a deliberate smear. But the fact is the very notion of "semitism" was as foreign to Luther as TV and the Oscars.


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## SolaScriptura (Mar 2, 2006)

I beg to differ. Luther was an anti-Semitist. We should repudiate his views. His views went much beyond a dislike for the Jewish faith. In fact, he makes some of the same arguments later used by Hitler: the Germans are kept down by the Jew!

From _On the Jews and Their Lies_:

Moreover, they are nothing but thieves and robbers who daily eat no morsel and wear no thread of clothing which they have not stolen and pilfered from us by means of their accursed usury. Thus they live from day to day, together with wife and child, by theft and robbery, as arch-thieves and robbers, in the most impenitent security"¦ Over and above that we let them get rich on our sweat and blood, while we remain poor and they such the marrow from our bones.
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies) 

...but then eject [the Jews] forever from this country. For, as we have heard, God's anger with them is so intense that gentle mercy will only tend to make them worse and worse, while sharp mercy will reform them but little. Therefore, in any case, away with them!
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)

In brief, dear princes and lords, those of you who have Jews under your rule-- if my counsel does not please your, find better advice, so that you and we all can be rid of the unbearable, devilish burden of the Jews, lest we become guilty sharers before God in the lies, blasphemy, the defamation, and the curses which the mad Jews indulge in so freely and wantonly against the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, this dear mother, all Christians, all authority, and ourselves. *Do not grant them protection, safe-conduct,* or communion with us. . . . With this faithful counsel and warning I wish to cleanse and exonerate my conscience.
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)

Let the government deal with them in this respect, as I have suggested. But whether the government acts or not, let everyone at least be guided by his own conscience and form for himself a definition or image of a Jew.
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)

However, we must avoid confirming them in their wanton lying, slandering, cursing, and defaming. Nor dare we make ourselves partners in their devilish ranting and raving by shielding and protecting them, by giving them food, drink, and shelter, or by other neighborly acts...
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)

Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is:
First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire...
Second, that all their books-- their prayer books, their Talmudic writings, also the entire Bible-- be taken from them, not leaving them one leaf, and that these be preserved for those who may be converted...
Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God, to give thanks, to pray, and to teach publicly among us and in our country...
Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing. For we cannot with a good conscience listen to this or tolerate it...
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)

He who hears this name [God] from a Jew must inform the authorities, or else throw sow dung at him when he sees him and chase him away.
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)

But what will happen even if we do burn down the Jews' synagogues and forbid them publicly to praise God, to pray, to teach, to utter God's name? They will still keep doing it in secret. If we know that they are doing this in secret, it is the same as if they were doing it publicly. For our knowledge of their secret doings and our toleration of them implies that they are not secret after all and thus our conscience is encumbered with it before God"¦ If we wish to wash our hands of the Jews' blasphemy and not share in their guilt, we have to part company with them. They must be driven from our country.
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)

Undoubtedly they do more and viler things than those which we know and discover.
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)

If I had power over the Jews, as our princes and cities have, I would deal severely with their lying mouth.
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)

They [rulers] must act like a good physician who, when gangrene has set in proceeds without mercy to cut, saw, and burn flesh, veins, bone, and marrow. Such a procedure must also be followed in this instance. Burn down their synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them to work, and deal harshly with them, as Moses did... If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs.
-Martin Luther (On the Jews and Their Lies)


Well. There you have it.
Luther may not have applauded Hitler... but he sure wouldn't have joined the opposition.


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## Peter (Mar 2, 2006)

Papists, Anabaptists, personal enemies even the Reformed were all subject to Luther's scathing polemic but, typically, the only thing he's remembered as is an "anti-semite". Perhaps we can criticize his invective tone (personally I find it humorous but that may be sin on my part) but there is little in the content of what he says I can disagree with. Rabbinical Judaism through the middle ages to today and to an extent the secular Jewish mind is exactly what our Lord contended with in the 1st century. They make void the word of God with their Talmud. They boast in their righteousness through physical descent from Abraham. Their religion encourages deceiving and taking advantage of nonjews. The Talmud curses and blasphemes Jesus; wouldn't those who believe it have crucified him too? (I also cant help but note the similarities between Phariseeism and Romanism.)


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## Contra_Mundum (Mar 2, 2006)

No,
Attacking them through the secular power? Arson? Wholesale banishment of a community? I find all that reprehensible, even under the cover of zeal for righteousness.

At best the tone is violently extreme. Better to publish abroad the vilest Jewish blasphemies unedited, along with the names of the authors and confessors to their everlasting infamy, rather than to incite people or magistrates to selective persecution.


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## SolaScriptura (Mar 2, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Peter_
> ... there is little in the content of what he says I can disagree with.



Wow. Yet, somehow, I'm not surprised.


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## cupotea (Mar 2, 2006)

> _Originally posted by SolaScriptura_
> I beg to differ. Luther was an anti-Semitist. We should repudiate his views. His views went much beyond a dislike for the Jewish faith. In fact, he makes some of the same arguments later used by Hitler: the Germans are kept down by the Jew!



I'm afraid you're quite wrong. As with most people, you've fallen for the liberal line without critical evaluation of the terms involved. Kind of a "hook, line, and sinker" response on your part.

Again, anti-semitism is a concept that identifies opposition to a particular race based on race. It arose only in the 19th century, generally associated with Darwinism. Something that would have thoroughly confused Luther.

Note all your quotes. Not a one of them deals with Jews as semites, but only as a religion. 

As I said before, Luther was definitely anti-Jewish. But not anti-Semitic. 

Sorry you had to do so much work for nothing.


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## SolaScriptura (Mar 2, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Globachio_
> 
> 
> > _Originally posted by SolaScriptura_
> ...




You're living in denial.
But then again, what would I expect from a man who is a member of a denomination which bears Luther's name? 

Many of the quotes deal with them as _a people_ (i.e., how "they" - the Jews- get rich off of "us" - the Germans). 

Read more closely: he distinguishes between the "blasphemies" (the Jewish beliefs) and the people from which they come. He may hate their beliefs, but he also hates the people.

Furthermore, in another place he actually refers to them as a "wretched race." (Though I will grant that by race he couldn't possibly have meant all that the word entails in modern parlance... but again, the point is that he treats them as a people.)



[Edited on 3-2-2006 by SolaScriptura]


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## cupotea (Mar 2, 2006)

> Furthermore, in another place he actually refers to them as a "wretched race." (Though I will grant that by race he couldn't possibly have meant all that the word entails in modern parlance... but again, the point is that he treats them as a people.)



There you go. You've just made my point by acknowledging historical and cultural specificity of terms and concepts. 

Furthermore, treating the Jews "as a people" bolsters the fact that Luther's theology was at work, not racism. They were (and are) a people who reject Christ. We might as well ask Luther about his favorite TV program as it would make just as much (non)sense. 

What's really interesting though, is the way the Nazi propaganda (i.e., the "big lie") continues to work so effectively in this day and age. And of all things, it's being used by liberals today to discredit Christians. E.g.: "Luther was an anti-semite. Therefore those who support his teachings must also be anti-semites." A quick visit to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. will provide sufficient evidence.

In the end, many may be convinced that Luther was an anti-semite but only because they have, without thinking, capitulated to the "big lie"; that somehow, some way, regardless of how anachronistic and illogical, Luther's anti-Jewish theology was racist. Stick by it, repeat it enough times, and sure enough it'll become an acknowledged "fact." 

Yet in reality, Luther was no more an anti-semite than he was anti-Eskimo or anti-Slavic. Such concepts didn't even exist in his day. 

The unfortunate thing is that Luther did sin terribly against Jews - whether they were middle eastern Semites, or Persians, or blond, blue-eyed northern European, or Asian. And, by putting his sinful filth into writing, he allowed himself to be abused and misused by those possessed with evil in later centuries. However, it didn't matter to the Nazis (or many in the 21st century) that Luther's theology had nothing in common with their racism. All that mattered was that they could (mis)use him to their own ends. The upshot is that modern thinking has much more in common with the Nazism than Luther's theology ever did.

However we moderns don't go in for such critical thinking. Generally speaking, whatever the media - or our pastors, or our professors - tell us is what we conclude to be "reality." We tend not to want to think too deeply but prefer instead that someone do that for us. After all, I'm too busy with MTV. (And, yes, the Cretans are always liars.)


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## SolaScriptura (Mar 2, 2006)

Look, Kevin - Luther hated Jews. Not just their beliefs, but the people. He hated them for being different. Period. Give it whatever slant you want, but according to his own words, he wanted to burn down their homes and run them out of town upon fear of death. His words indicate that at least one reason why he hated them was because they were successful while the German people were not. Note the significance of this: He doesn't think of them as successful _Germans_ who happen to be Jews. He thinks of them as something different than the German people. Whether it was race (yes, I've seen caricaturized pictures of Jews from this period, so the Germans were aware of the "physical" signs of Jewishness) or simply ethnic/cultural, he thought of them as NOT German.
He used Gospel pretenses to demonize and attack them... just as was done throughout much of "Christian" history.
I don't have to agree with Jewish theology to agree that they have often been wronged by "Christians."

With these words


> Nor dare we make ourselves partners in their devilish ranting and raving by *shielding and protecting them, by giving them food, drink, and shelter, or by other neighborly acts*...


 Luther essentially flips the bird to Luke 10:30-36.

Also, after reading Luther's venomous comments about the Jews, compare them with Paul's words in Rom 9:1-5...
I'll take Paul over Luther any day.

Race _was_ an issue for Luther. In fact, not only race, but nationality... in his appeal to the German nobles in an earlier treatise, he specifically called for reform on the basis of German superiority over Italians. 

Racial/ethnic/cultural discrimination is a human sin issue. Noticing and discriminating along racial lines did not pop into being thanks to Darwin. 

By the way, as odd as it feels to write it, I enjoyed the Holocaust Museum. (Maybe "appreciated" is a more appropriate word?) Primarily because of its section on the Nazi eurogenics program: I found it eerily fascinating that they used the same arguments employed by modern euthanasia proponents.

[Edited on 3-3-2006 by SolaScriptura]


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Mar 2, 2006)

Curious, did Luther hate converted Jews?

In any case, I think this one is done.


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