Martin Luther and Anti-Judaism and Anti-Semitism
Martin Luther and Anti-Judaism and Anti-Semitism
- Christopher OckerChristopher OckerSan Francisco Theological Seminary
Summary
The uncomfortable question of Martin Luther’s place in the development of modern anti-Semitism is raised by Luther’s status as a national cultural icon after German unification (1871) and by the fact that the Third Reich (1933–1945) perpetrated what is arguably the most violently racist state policy known to human history thus far. Luther contributed to the symbiosis of religious and secular prejudices. The reception of Luther’s anti-Jewish discourse illustrates the gradual diffusion of religious hostility into a society where churches slid from a central position to the margins of social influence. This can only be understood against the backdrop of a long chronology of religious thinking. The long chronology shows that Luther was more a conduit than a catalyst of European anti-Jewish polemic and feeling.
Keywords
Subjects
- Judaism and Jewish Studies
- Christianity
