Hearing on A091: Dismantling Christian Anti-Judaism

I testified today at the Committee on Prayer Book and Liturgy. Here is the text of my witness:

I want to address Resolution A091 – Dismantling Christian Anti-Judaism - as it speaks to a large part of my spiritual formation – a part in which the church had no role.

My college registrar discovered early on that I was stubborn. When I entered his office to register for my first semester, he encouraged me to take intro-level classes. I refused to take Intro to Poetry; instead, I was unbending in my desire to enroll in "Jewish-Christian Relations." I trotted to the professor's office for a course pass. "I don't know if you're ready for a class like this," he said, hesitating while handing over a course pass. I didn't realize what he meant until mid-semester.

I soon learned that the class should have a subtitle: A History of Christian Hatred of the Jews. We read Carroll's Constantine's Sword, Flannery's The Anguish of the Jews, along with about 1000 pages of other scholarly publications on the subject. By the end of freshman year, I knew too well the anti-Jewish vitriole of St. John Chrysostom and Martin Luther. I continue to have trouble with St. Augustine, whose theologized justification for the Jews' status as a pariah people excused centuries of hatred, culminating in crusades and pogroms.

In May 2006, I traveled to Poland on a program called "The March of Remembrance and Hope," and visited Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Madajnek, traveling with other students and faculty and two survivors. On the last day of the week-long journey, I stood in a gas chamber in Madajnek. I hadn't cried once on the trip, but here I broke into uncontrollable sobbing. I collapsed against the walls of the death chamber, where victims had scraped their fingers bloody trying to escape the lethal gases. I wish that fellow Episcopalians had been there with me. It was a vital moment in my faith journey, and the church was markedly absent.

It is not possible to encounter the history of the Holocaust, of Christian Europe, or of our Faith without taking into account the trajectory of anti-Judaism – from its ancient origins to the Holocaust. We are called today to both extirpate anti-Judaism from our liturgies, and be forthright and honest in our discussion of the hateful language contained in our scriptures. The budget allocation for the work of this resolution is appropriate and necessary, though I pray for the consideration of a more generous amount.

I will conclude with a quote from Jules Isaac, author of Jesus and Israel:
“The glow of the Auschwitz crematorium is the beacon that lights, that guides all my thoughts. Oh, my Jewish brothers, and you as well, my Christian brothers, do you not think that it mingles with another glow, that of the cross?”