Jews and Anti-Judaism in the New Testament: Decision points and divergent interpretations
Terence L. Donaldson
SPCK £12.99
(978-0-281-05883-9)
Church Times Bookshop £11.70

THERE is a twofold link between these two interesting books. First, they both deal with the subject of the culture and religion of Israel from a New Testament perspective, and, second, they relate to issues within Judaism that are ongoing, and indeed poignant, in their contemporary significance. Both pub­lica­tions are to be welcomed.

Burge’s monograph is a scholarly but im­mensely fresh and accessible treatment of the “land” issue in Jewish and Christian thought. He argues that, even in the Old Testament period, Judaism never adopted a triumphal and territorial approach to the land of prom­ise. This was instead inextricably associated with a demand for covenantal obedience; furthermore, the land was not a right to be possessed by force, but a gift to be awaited with patience.

Burge traces such an approach to his topic through Diaspora Judaism and the New Testament (Jesus, John — where the section on the Apocalypse is disappointingly brief — Acts, Paul, and beyond), and discovers a con­stant willingness to forsake “divine geo­graphy” in favour of locations for God’s salvific activity that are flexible and universal. Yet even here there is paradox, for there is always room for historical places, as well theo­logical spaces, to be honoured, and accord­ingly for such activ­ities as pilgrimages to take place.

This is a well-researched and passionate case for a familiar topic to be reassessed, and for this to happen in the light of modern conversations about the land, notably when it comes to volatile and sensitive conflicts such as those raging even now in the Middle East. Burge urges upon his readers, and especially on those with Jewish or Christian Zionist sympathies, a salutary plea for theological and eschatological balance: holy land is not con­fined to Palestine, and in any case the present is not necessarily the only opportunity to embrace it.

Professor Donaldson’s readable work, written with a student readership chiefly in mind, addresses a subject (anti-Semitism and the New Testament) that is of equal import­ance and sensitivity in the modern world, and raises just the same possibilities of anguish: the Holocaust, for example, is never far from the author’s mind.

Donaldson covers much the same biblical territory as Burge (Matthew, Luke-Acts, John, Paul, and beyond). But, whereas Gary Burge consistently reaches incisive and challenging conclusions, Donaldson is remarkably hesit­ant in formulating any positive results from his research.

Throughout a judicious study of possible tendencies in the New Testament that might suggest a negative attitude towards Judaism, he poses the question: is this material anti-Semitic, anti-Judaic, or supersessionist (“the parting of the ways”)? In response, he uses three “axes” (as he terms them) of interpreta­tion: social location, rhetorical function (pur­pose, that is), and community self-definition. But each time this leads to the repeated mantra: our conclusions can only emerge from the decisions made along each interpre­tat­ive axis.

So, just when we seem to be reaching a ground-breaking threshold — the nature of “the Jews” in the Fourth Gospel, for example (the authorities in Judaea, or even Jerusalem?) — the solution to the problem becomes frustratingly vague. The “divergence” of the book’s subtitle is more prominent than “de­cis­ive­ness” in these presentations.

Perhaps Donaldson has done us a service, however, by reminding his readers that the New Testament is itself complex and many-layered, exhibiting, in a multicultural community, a tension between messianic expectation and Christian claims about Jesus. Not until the time of the New Testament canon was the distinction between “Jewish” and “Gentile” Christian made clear. After that, and certainly in our own day, the opportunity for open dialogue on both sides exists, and should not be missed.

The Very Revd Dr Stephen Smalley is Dean Emeritus of Chester.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: this painting, The Road to Emmaus by Jyoti Sahi, is the cover picture on An Elusive Road: A story of the children of Abraham by Maureen Edwards, a Bible-reading guide that offers a “bird’s-eye view” of the history of Israel, and reflections on today’s situation there (Christians Aware, 2 Saxby Street, Leicester LE2 0ND, £7; 978-873372-33-3)          

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: this painting, The Road to Emmaus by Jyoti Sahi, is the cover picture on An Elusive Road: A story of the children of Abraham by Maureen Edwards, a Bible-reading guide that offers a “bird’s-eye view” of the history of Israel, and reflections on today’s situation there (Christians Aware, 2 Saxby Street, Leicester LE2 0ND, £7; 978-873372-33-3)