Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition? A European Perspective

296 Pages·2016·0.922 MB·English

by  Emmanuel Nathan, Anya Topolski (eds.)

Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition?
Perspectives on Jewish Texts
and Contexts
Edited by
Vivian Liska
Editorial Board
Robert Alter, Steven E. Aschheim, Richard I. Cohen, Mark H. Gelber,
Moshe Halbertal, Geoffrey Hartman, Moshe Idel, Samuel Moyn,
Ada Rapoport-Albert, Alvin Rosenfeld, David Ruderman, Bernd Witte
Volume 4
Is there a
Judeo-Christian
Tradition?
A European Perspective
Edited by
Emmanuel Nathan
Anya Topolski
Volume inspired by the international workshop “Is there a Judeo-Christian tradition?” as part of
the UCSIA/IJS Chair for Jewish-Christian Relations, organized by the Institute of Jewish Studies
of the University of Antwerp and the University Centre Saint Ignatius Antwerp (UCSIA).
ISBN 978-3-11-041647-3
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-041659-6
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-041667-1
ISSN 2199-6962
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A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
♾ Printed on acid-free paper
Printed in Germany
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Acknowledgments
On 12 and 13 February 2014, the Institute of Jewish Studies (IJS) and the University
Centre Saint Ignatius Antwerp (UCSIA) jointly organized a two-day international
workshop at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, entitled “Is there a Judeo-Chris-
tian tradition?” This conference was organized as part of the annual UCSIA/
IJS joint Chair for Jewish-Christian Relations 2013-2014. Instead of one scholar
holding the chair for that academic year (as had been done annually up to that
point since 2008-2009), both institutes decided to invite a number of scholars
to examine and question the assumption of a shared Judeo-Christian tradition
from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. We are grateful to the directors
of both institutes, Prof. Dr. Vivian Liska (IJS) and Prof. Dr. Jacques Haers, sj (then
director of UCSIA), for taking the lead on this venture. In addition to their input,
the conference would not have been possible without the expert organizational
help from Mr. Jan Morrens (IJS) and Ms. Barbara Segaert (UCSIA), and of course
the invaluable input from the scholars who participated in this workshop in a
most dynamic way.
Resulting from this workshop, Vivian approached both of us to produce an
edited volume for her series, “Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts,” pub-
lished by De Guyter. Since some readers may wonder how this volume is rele-
vant to Judaism today, we offer four possible reasons. First, a careful study of
the Judeo-Christian signifier indicates that it should resist a Christian superses-
sion of Judaism, the signifier should not be used as a synonym for Christianity.
Second, this study recognizes that Judaism has been an inextricable part of the
‘Judeo-Christian’ signifier when in Christian western lands. It may not always have
been part of the conversation on that signifier, yet as this volume has made amply
clear, when Jews have not been part of that conversation, others have stepped
in to decide the conversation for them. In many ways, the latter half of the 20th
century has seen a conscious attempt by Jewish scholars to rectify and correct
this bias. Third, it should not go unsaid that the ‘floating signifier’ of ‘Judeo-Chris-
tian’ has also resignified Judaism and this has not only been negative. To be sure,
Christianity has quite often undervalued and, at some points sought to eradicate,
its Jewish roots. Yet rabbinic Judaism has from its inception been in a recipro-
cal dialogue with Christianity (and, when living in Islamic lands, with Islam). As
such it should not be forgotten that Christianity and Islam have been Judaism’s
other and both these religious traditions can impact Judaism (and have done so)
also for the better. Fourth, and finally, examining the ‘Judeo-Christian’ signifier
up close has revealed that neither side of that hyphen harbours a stable category.
That is to say, neither Judaism nor Christianity is one stable, homogenous, cate-
gory. There are Judaisms and Christianities. Vive les differences!
vi   Acknowledgments
We were also very grateful that Vivian allowed us free rein, as the volume’s
editors, to conceptualize the volume into the shape it now has. From the outset,
we were quite clear not simply to produce a conference proceedings volume, but
rather a book dedicated to exploring the signifier ‘Judeo-Christian’ in greater
detail, especially from its rich and turbulent origins on the European conti-
nent before it gained currency across the Atlantic in the United States. We pro-
duced a book concept, presented it to Vivian and the editorial board, and – once
accepted – proceeded to invite contributors to the volume. We are deeply appre-
ciative to all the contributors who accepted our invitation and, with great gener-
osity of spirit, allowed us to hold them to a rather quick turnaround. As deadlines
gathered pace, we were also grateful for the proofreading skills offered by Mr.
Jeremy Schreiber on some of the finalized manuscripts. Needless to say, Dr. Ulrike
Krauss and Ms. Katja Lehming from De Gruyter were invaluable for their advice
and customary professionalism in getting this book to print.
Looking back, much has transpired in the short time that has elapsed from
the book’s conceptualization to finalization. Separated by continents and time
zones, we have relied on technology to overcome geographical and temporal dis-
tances. We have both marked milestones in our personal and professional lives.
Through it all, this book has been the bridge – indeed the hyphen – that has kept
us connected. To have facilitated and fostered a deep conversation on this topic
has been our greatest joy and reward.
Emmanuel Nathan and Anya Topolski
Contents
Acknowledgments   v
Emmanuel Nathan and Anya Topolski
1 The Myth of a Judeo-Christian Tradition: Introducing a European
Perspective   1
Part 1: History
F. Stanley Jones
2 Jewish Christianity and the Judeo-Christian Tradition in Toland and
Baur   17
Peter C. Hodgson
3 F. C. Baur’s Interpretation of Christianity’s Relationship to
Judaism   31
Ivan Kalmar
4 Jews, Cousins Of Arabs: Orientalism, Race, Nation, And Pan-Nation In
The Long Nineteenth Century   53
Noah B. Strote
5 Sources of Christian-Jewish Cooperation in Early Cold War
Germany   75
Part 2: Theology and Philosophy
Emmanuel Nathan
6 Two Pauls, Three Opinions: The Jewish Paul between Law and
Love   103
Gesine Palmer
7 Antinomianism Reloaded – Or: The Dialectics of the New
Paulinism   123
viii   Contents
Marianne Moyaert
8 Christianizing Judaism? On the Problem of Christian Seder
Meals    137
Christoph Schmidt
9 Rethinking the Modern Canon of Judaism – Christianity –
Modernity in Light of the Post-Secular Relation   165
Michael Fagenblat
10 “Fraternal Existence”: On a Phenomenological Double-Crossing
of Judaeo-Christianity   185
Part 3: Political
Warren Zev Harvey
11 The Judeo-Christian Tradition’s Five Others   211
Itzhak Benyamini
12 The Hyphenated Jew: Within and Beyond the “Judeo-Christian”    225
Amanda Kluveld
13 Secular, Superior and, Desperately Searching for Its Soul: The
Confusing Political-Cultural References to a Judeo-Christian Europe in
the Twenty-First Century   241
Anya Topolski
14 A Genealogy of the ‘Judeo-Christian’ Signifier: A Tale of Europe’s
Identity Crisis   267
Notes on Contributors   285
Emmanuel Nathan and Anya Topolski
1  The Myth of a Judeo-Christian Tradition:
Introducing a European Perspective
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain there has been a steady rise in the use of the
term ‘Judeo-Christian’ by European theologians, politicians, historians and phi-
losophers. Is it possible that such divergent public figures as Geert Wilders, a
right-wing populist politician in The Netherlands, Jacques Derrida, a left-leaning
French philosopher, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, use the term ‘Judeo-Chris-
tian tradition’ in the same manner? Is there any means to pin down the meaning
of this term as it is now being used in Europe? Or is this term, which ‘has achieved
considerable currency’ throughout Europe – both popular and scholarly, a shib-
boleth as was claimed by Mark Silk in his 1984 ‘Notes on the Judeo-Christian Tra-
dition in America’ (Silk 1984, 65). Silk was responding to Arthur Cohen’s Amer-
ican-based analysis of this term in ‘The Myth of the Judeo-Christian tradition’
(Cohen 1971, original essay 1957). Cohen decried the use and abuse of the term
‘Judeo-Christian Tradition’ in North America in the post-Shoah decades. He was
quite explicit with regard to his thesis.
And it is here that we can identify the myth. Jews and Christians have conspired together to
promote a tradition of common experience and common belief, whereas in fact they have
joined together to reinforce themselves in the face of a common disaster … before a world
that regards them as hopelessly irrelevant, and meaningless. The myth is a projection of
the will to endure of both Jews and Christians, an identification of common enemies, an
abandonment of millennial antagonisms in the face of threats which do not discriminate
between Judaism and Christianity. (Cohen 1971, xix)
According to Cohen there is no Judeo-Christian tradition; this tradition is an ide-
ologically motivated myth. For those unfamiliar with this essay and its historical
context, the common enemy Cohen refers to is the rise of atheism and its ties to
‘the Red Threat’ of Communism. Given that Cohen was writing not only from an
American perspective, but also in the 1950s, it is worth considering if his thesis
is still accurate. He writes: “It is in our time that the ‘Judeo-Christian tradition’
has come to full expression. … [and] has particular currency and significance in
the Unites States. It is not a commonplace in Europe as it is here” (ibid. xviii–
xix). While this may have been true in the 1950s, it is no longer the case sixty
years later. The term ‘Judeo-Christian tradition’ was central to the debates about
2   Emmanuel Nathan and Anya Topolski
the EU Constitution between 2003 and 20051 and is currently used by politicians
from all parties as well as religious leaders of all denominations. As such it has
become part of common parlance in all European languages in the 21st century.
It is this European ‘coming to full expression’ in the 21st century that is central to
this current volume.
***
Before trying to disentangle the many diverse uses of the term ‘Judeo-Christian’ in
contemporary European discourse, let us briefly consider the possible origins of
the concept or signification of Judeo-Christianity.2 To help navigate this complex
concept, we begin by sifting through the theological, philosophical, and politi-
cal literature on the notion of Judeo-Christianity. Three possible historical origins
emerge: the early Church period prior to the ‘parting of the ways’ between Judaism
and Christianity (200–400 ce) (Dunn 1999; Boyarin 2006; Becker and Reed 2007),
17th century Enlightenment thought, and 19th century theology (greatly inspired
by German Idealism). As there is a clear theological connection between the
first and third hypothesis, we can consider them together by way of the writings
of Bernard Heller and Simon Claude Mimouni, both theologians, the former in
Jewish studies in the US and the latter in early Christianity in France (Heller 1951;
Mimouni 2012). As a second step, we consider the authors that locate the origins
of this tradition in the Enlightenment period (very broadly construed) such as:
Joel Sebban, Isaac Rottenberg, Marshall Grossman, and Arthur A. Cohen (Sebban
2012; Gover 1989; Rottenberg 2000; Grossman 1989; Cohen, Stern, and Mendes-
Flohr 1998). Within this group, Sebban is the only author writing about this signi-
fier on the (European) Continent. All the other authors are explicitly interested in
the role of this term in American public discourse. What we hope to make clear is
that these distinctions, European or American, theological or political, Jewish or
1 Please see part 2 of chapter 14 for more on this.
2 This attempt, not surprisingly, has many potential pitfalls and problems. How arbitrary is one’s
stating point? While arbitrariness is potentially unavoidable, transparency may partially serve
to offset it by allowing each choice to be acknowledged, justified and scrutinised. From among
the many attempts to trace the notion of Judeo-Christianity (or the Judeo-Christian tradition or
heritage etc.), there are two dominant albeit intertwined lines. First there are those authors that
have sought to understand how this term arose in the contemporary American political context
(Cohen; Rottenberg; Gover in his response to Grossman); second are those authors interested in
the transformations of the theological significance of this concept (Teixiodor, Heller, Mimouni).
Another possible frame, explored in this volume, lies at the intersection of these two lines, in the
realm of the theological-political.