The Denver Jewish news., 1922-12-27
JEWS AND cHRIsTENDoM
By DIR. sTEpHEN 5. WISE

|
with the theme: How can better
understanding be arrived ut between
Jew and Christian in America? and
the further, withal identic question
What can Christian churches do to
offset prejudice? i venture TO offer
n concrete example of what one group
III Christendom in our land il doing,
a. it has come under my observation,
iii order to bring about finer, juster
Understanding between Jew ard Christ
ian.
For number of years. as many as
f-e or more, the Hartford Theolog-
icll Seminary, affiliated with the Con-
gTegational Church, has sent its grad
unting class in body to New York
H. order that its members might. be-
FIRE graduation familiarize themselves
with the city's outstanding social and
r. li;:ious institutions. Year after
yta ar. under the guidance OF mem
her of its Faculty. the members of
tie class have come TO me in order
ti;at they might hear my word on
what can be done by men in the
Christian ministry in our land iH or
dor to lessen. and indeed to overcome,
III, prejudice that obtains against the
j, " as Jew.
| have tried to point out to these
Young men that n threefold respon-
/ siiility rests upon the Christian
church or churches, and above all up
on those who are responsible for the
guidance of Christendom.
For one thing, Christianity is 4
d, lghter-religion of Mother-Israel
G. ristianity is rooted in the soil
whence the faith of Israel grew
Cli ristianity is directly and mediate
ly related to the religion of Israel
wi ether one hold that it he completed
Julaism. or with Dramstetter that II
he NJ Jewish heresy, or with us, who
ar unswervingly loyal members of the
House of Israel. that it he widely di-
,c-gent from the faith of Jesus the
Jew.
in any event Christianity is imme-
din tely referable to the mother-faith of
Is ael whnteveH be tthe character of
i'a relationship Assssa This 'circum-
st?nce alOne.sn3A ,Rhart from every
th:ag else impb Hbiding and in
cvasible obli4 the Christian
church in reIG kpeople directly
de scentled fro1 who were the
founders ands6 3&bf Israel
,.'he seconds5 &iity that rests
- ct-.s. fitssSf& y n ohyio,,c o,o
wi ich grow& AL false and, in
its sequelaea hurtful teach
i,II. that JewS hre responsible
for the manh eath of Jesus
In all history a hat been no more
deep and hurtful Injustice than has
Lecn wrought by the over-emphasis up
On Jews as the slayers of Jesus and
the undcrcmphasis upon Jews as the
be-. rers and bringers of Jesus.
And third reason. perhaps most
binding of all. to moye Christian
churches consciously to do battle
against existent prejudice respecting
the Jew ought to be found in that CON
sciousness of reparation owing to the
Jew for nearly nineteen centuries of
Ch-istlessness which have been suf
fered by Christ's people.
have said to these young men of
whom l have spoken: We gave you
light and you have bound us in dark |
ness: we have blessed you with Jesus
and YOU curse us with Christlessness
we gave you your best. and to us in |
return you have done your worst in his |
name.
Nothing could be more un-messian- |
ic than the attitude of Christendom
toward Israel. the people of Jesus, tho
1 do not forget that there have been
in every generation Christian men and
women who have borne themselves as
the new brothers and sisters of Jesus
toward his elder grothers and sisters. |
1t is to themselves chiefly and to
us Jews only secondarily that Chris
tians owe 1t to be Christian, to be the
followers of the jew who commended
love. who commanded forgiveness, who
bnde men rise to the sublime heights |
of brotherliness.
But, it may be asked, have Jews no
duty to Christendom? May it not be
asked of us that we. as corporate
religious community, be just to Chris
tians and to Christendom? We may be,
we are. we have always been Just to
Christianity and to Christendom alike,
even tho we have not found it possible
to subscribe to the Christianized teach
ing of Jesus the Jew. Israel has never
been unjust, and in the presence of
mountainous injustice and wrong in
fiicted upon the Jew by Christendom