Anti-Jewish theology

Anti-Jewish theology, particularly supersessionism, fundamentally contradicts Paul’s explicit teaching in Romans 9–11 and has historically generated Christian antisemitism that persists as a theological barrier to justice and reconciliation.

The Scriptural Refutation

Romans 9–11 powerfully addresses and corrects the ancient Christian tendency to write the Jewish people out of salvation history.[1] Paul’s argument is unambiguous: The Jews “are [still] loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable,” and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has not forgotten his ancient, covenant commitment to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.[1] This directly refutes the supersessionist claim that God had rejected Israel as punishment for the nation’s rejection of Christ, and consequently all of God’s covenantal promises have been transferred from the Jews to the gentile church.[1]

The Problem of Allegorical Supersessionism

Even Paul’s universalism, when interpreted allegorically, can mask supersessionist logic. When Paul’s theology “deprives Jewish ethnicity and concrete historical memory of value by replacing these embodied signs with spiritual signifiers,” it effectively transcends Israel’s role in history, leaving “no Jew or Greek” in a community where the only promise to Jews is that “in the end they will see the error of their ways.”[2] This demonstrates how even non-explicitly anti-Jewish theology can function supersessionally by spiritualizing away Jewish particularity.

The Historical Consequence

Supersessionist thinking has nurtured Christian antisemitism as “the church turned hostile to the Jewish people” and “began to reject Jewishness itself as well as the Jew.”[1] Because tradition can render supersessionism “sacrosanct,” it maintains a barrier to full ecumenical relations.[3]

The thesis stands: Anti-Jewish theology violates Paul’s explicit affirmation of God’s irrevocable covenant with Israel, generates historical injustice, and must be rejected as incompatible with apostolic teaching.

[1] David Crump and Gary M. Burge, Like Birds in a Cage: Christian Zionism’s Collusion in Israel’s Oppression of the Palestinian People (New York, NY: Cascade Books, 2021). [See here, here, here, here, here.]
[2] Neil Elliott, Paul against the Nations: Soundings in Romans (New York, NY: Cascade Books, 2023). [See here.]
[3] William L. Krewson, Jerome and the Jews: Innovative Supersessionism (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2017). [See here.]