Late nights, sluggish days, painfully dreary eyes, unhealthy doses of coffee.... yes it is that time of the semester again. The few weeks before finals begin, when you don't get a break and everything is due or scheduled at the same time. That has been my life. Ugh! Regardless of my class work load, my life has been pretty fantastic Today I went to a workshop that discussed antisemitism perspectives in Christianity. The lecture discussed whether or not these feelings were valid, where did they come from, and what were the implications in the Holocaust. The whole conversation opened my eyes in many ways. Apparently, many people have read Pauling scriptures condemning the Jews and used it as justification for treating them poorly. This didn't really surprise me, but what did was that apparently the word that "Jews" was translated from actually means "Judeans." It has nothing to do with Jews, besides the fact that many Jews live in that geographical region. Therefore, when Paul said the Jews were going to receive the wrath of God, he wasn't referring to any religious or ethnic group. He was referring to the persons living in the geographic region around the time of Christ's crucification. In addition, the lecture discussed that when Paul was referring to building up the "church," he used a word that was associated with both synagogues and churches. Paul did not only advocate for the development of Christian churches, but the synagogues as well. Lastly, the lecture pointed out Paul was never ashamed to admit he was a Christian AND a Jew. Apparently, a lot of people overlook this detail.
Moral of the story: Judaism isn't meant to be the antithesis of Christianity. There is no black or white. There is no "us" versus "them."
This lecture was remarkably refreshing to hear. One of the reasons that, even though I may be exhausted, I love college.
No comments:
Post a Comment