Resolution: A091
Title: Dismantle Christian Anti-Judaism
Topic: Discrimination
Committee: 13 – Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music
House of Initial Action: Bishops
Proposer: Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music
Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That the 76th General Convention direct the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to continue to collect, develop and disseminate materials that assist members of the Church to address Christian anti-Judaism expressed in and stirred by portions of Christian scriptures and liturgical texts, including the preparation of a pamphlet explaining Christian anti-Judaism and ways to address it in teaching, evangelism, and congregational life; the development of age-appropriate educational materials for children; the identification and evaluation of available resources pertaining to liturgy and music, giving special attention to Holy Week and Easter liturgies and to the diverse traditions of song in The Episcopal Church; and to report the results of its efforts to the 77th General Convention; and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention request that the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops develop, in consultation with the Standing Commissions on Liturgy and Music and on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations, a statement defining Christian anti-Judaism and why it demands our attention, and to report to the 77th General Convention; and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention direct the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance to consider a budget allocation of $10,000.00 for implementation of this Resolution.
But let’s invite Ahmenijad over to speak at the national cathedral and send money to Hamas.
Excellent. I am glad that we are embracing the truth about our past. I hope this is approved and done well.
i’m planning to vote for this — it is an important statement about the history (and present reality, all too often) of the church’s complicity in this sin.
This is sadly all too typical of the insufferable self-righteousness of the latter day TEC leadership. No actual acceptance of responsibility for anything, just the usual condemnation of and false witness against those who had the nerve not to be born during or after the 20th century. Rather than clarify and explain the circumstances of the Church’s at-times unfortunate verbiage while maintaining clear identification with the Church and acceptance of that was right while explaining what was difficult, this purposes to condemn and bowdlerize, all the while sniffishly maintaining an aura of superiority. Note that it merely asks the expurgation of terminology of which it disapproves; not that the Christian Church be brought into actual engagement with the Second Temple period Judaism of the Lord. After all in our Lord’s tradition, homosexuality was counted so obviously disgusting as to scarcely rate mention, slavery was hardly touted but unopposed, women were moral but hardly vocational equals with men (though both sexes sat together in the synogogue and women were expected to learn the Torah as well as men), racism was utterly meaningless, and democracy was scarcely a glint an anybody’s eye. Hard to get too puffed up with the superiority of your own wonderfulness when said wonderfulness comes at the price of opposing pretty much everything actual Judaism stood for. Much better to beat somebody else about the head for saying supposedly mean things about it than actually engage it as part of your spiritual life and deal with the fact that Jesus uniquely graced that world with His incarnate presence and not the one you’re so feeling serenely superior as a part of.
How about we start by conscientiously avoiding the use of the word “Pharisaical” in preaching; by never repeating the canard that the Pharisees, “tried to earn their salvation”; by never playing legalism against love; and by never referring to the commandments as time-bound and tribal. Once we’ve actually repented for the anti-Judaic stuff that we do on a daily basis, we can get around to difficult things that require care and thought, like passages in the Gospel According to John and Matthew.
BTW, make that the intellectually lazy and self-serving stuff that we do a daily basis . . .
I had Brevard Childs for OT, and was at YDS when he was venturing into canonical criticism of the NT, so I’ve got some really strong feelings on this kind of rhetoric.