A Bridge to Dialogue

Book excerpt: Intended mainly for the use of church study groups. Surveys the history of Judaism, and of anti-Judaism and antisemitism, from New Testament times to the present. Discusses anti-Jewish passages in the New Testament in their historical context. Describes pogroms and anti-Jewish legislation of the medieval and early modern periods, the intolerance of differences in the Enlightenment, and the antisemitism of late 19th-century Europe. Traces the history of antisemitism in the U.S. (pp. 80-105), commenting that Americans have generally endorsed the rights of Jews as individuals but retained subtle (and at times not so subtle) prejudices against Judaism and Jewry. Describes the Holocaust (pp. 113-123), with emphasis on the German Churches' lack of opposition to Nazism. Concludes that antisemitism still constitutes a danger but that there is hope in the new Christian-Jewish dialogue.