RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Jesus Christ
Jews, Missions to the
I. In the Primitive Church.
II . In the Roman Catholic Church. Early Missions (§1). Missions in Spain (§2). Missions in Other Countries (§ 3).
III. In Protestant Churches.
JEWS, MISSIONS TO THE.
Lutheran and Reformed Churches (§1 ).
English Missions (§ 2).
Minor English Missionary Societies
(§3). Missionary Societies in Other Countries
(§4). Missions in the United States (§ 5).
I. In the Primitive Church: Although the kingdom of God which Christ had come to realize was to extend, according to the predictions of the prophets, not only over Israel, but over the whole earth, Jesus had, nevertheless, restricted his personal activity to Israel; and had even commanded his disciples not to go in the way of the Gentiles (Matt. x. 5). It was not till he was about to depart from the earth that he commanded them to teach and baptize all people. The Twelve, however, directed their efforts primarily to the Jews; and the earliest Christian congregations were composed entirely of Jews and proselytes to Judaism. Apostolic missions among the Jews were so successful that James could point out to Paul thousands of converted Jews (Acts xxi. 20) . A large number of priests were also obedient to the faith (Acts vi. 7); and in the congregations which Paul founded in Asia Minor, Greece, Crete, etc., the nucleus was Jewish. That the conversion of the Jews was not lost sight of in the second or third century is proved by the dialogue of Justin Martyr with the Jew Trypho and Tertullian's Adversus Judceos. But Jewish Christianity had long developed a heretical tendency by insisting upon the national and religious peculiarities of Judaism and by avowing the most pronounced Gnosticism. The further growth of the Jewish element in the Church would have seriously endangered her inner life and existence, if the insurrection of Bar Kokba had not led to a sharp separation of Judaism from the universal catholic character of the Church. Deprived of their political power and national autonomy, the Jews concentrated their whole spiritual life upon the study of the Law and produced the Talmud. The transformation of prophetism into Talmudism created a wide gulf between Jews and Christians. From the very beginning, the spirit of the Talmud drew a veil over their eyes (II Cor. iii. 13-16).
II. In the Roman Catholic Church: The early church did not possess any special institutions for
the conversion of the Jews, although i. Early there were always those whom the love Missions, of Christ compelled to preach the Gospel to the Jews, and there were likewise other factors which made it advisable for the leaders of both Church and State to win the Jews for Christianity. Cassiodorus, when he became a monk, felt himself constrained, in his exegesis of the Psalms (as in his conclusio to Ps. lxxxi.), to urge the Jews to be converted. So the Emperor Justinian, from political motives, stated that the purpose he had in ordering the synagogues to use the Greek and Latin translations of the Old Testament, and to abstain from Talmudic exegesis, was to lead the Jews to Christianity. Bishops did not hesitate to resort to acts of violence to compel the Jews to become Christians. Justice, however, demands rec- VI.— 12
IV. Methods and Practical Considerations.
Methods in Christian Lands (§ 1).
Methods in Non-Evangelical Countries (§ 2).
Influence of Zionism on Jewish Missions (§3).
ognition of the fact that many popes protected the Jews. Gregory I. condemned all compulsory baptisms, and by kindliness and rewards tried to win the Jews for the Church. Although he put no high estimate upon converts gained in this way, he counted upon their descendants. " If we do not win the parents," he said, " we shall have their children " — a remark which experience proved to be ill-founded, especially in Spain. There was hardly a century that works were not written to bring about the conversion of the Jews, hardly one in which rewards were not offered to secure them for the Church, and also not a century in which numbers of proselytes, thoroughly convinced, did not pass over to Christianity, many of whom became an honor to the Church.
Proselytes have ever been especially active in missions to the Jews. In the seventh century Bishop Julian of Toledo (d. 690) wrote 2. Missions the De sextce cetatis comprobatione conin Spain, tra Judceos to refute the Jewish notion, then asserting itself, that Jesus could not be the Messiah, as he was not to appear until the sixth millennium of the world. Almost at the same time Isidore of Seville wrote two books in which he proved the Christian doctrine of faith from the Old Testament and especially pointed out that the Christians now formed the true Israel. Raymond of Pennaforte, general of the Dominicans, introduced the study of the Hebrew language and Talmudic writings in his order, especially for the promotion of missionary activity among the Jews; and another Dominican, Pablo Christiani of Montpellier, a Jew by descent, was the first real missionary preacher. He traveled in southern France and elsewhere, preaching and disputing with the Jews in churches and synagogues, and proving the Messiahship and divinity of Jesus from Bible and Talmud. At the same time the Dominican Raymund Martin, a Christian by birth, but well versed in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic, wrote his Pugio fidei contra Mauros et Judceos, an armory for the disputes of the following times. Abner of Burgos, a respected physician and Christian convert, wrote several Hebrew and Spanish books for the conversion of the Jews. John of Valladolid, another proselyte, wrote an exposition on Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Ten Commandments and a Concordia legum of Judaism and Christianity. Cardinal Pedro de Luna, later Benedict XIII., himself had a debate in Pampeluna with Rabbi Shem Tob ben Shaprut, and took a lifelong interest in the conversion of the Jews. He was the first patron of Rabbi Solomon Halevi (1353-1435), later known as Paul of St. Maria, archbishop of Burgos, and interchanged controversial letters with Joshua of Lorca, until he finally became a Christian. Among the thousands who at that time entered the Church,
Jews, Missions to the