Deicide: The execution of Jesus

Who is/was responsible, according
to the Roman Catholic Church?

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Overview:

In 1965, the Roman Catholic Church partially abandoned its historical stance towards Jews and Judaism. In a remarkable reversal of their position, the Church rejected its earlier teachings that:

1. All of the Jews in Palestine circa 30 CE were responsible for the execution of Jesus.
2. All Jews who are currently living are also responsible for Jesus' death.
3. God has rejected Jews because they murdered Jesus.

In this essay, we describe some of the charges of deicide (murder of God) leveled at Jews by the Roman Catholic church down through history, some recent comments by Catholic authors, and the 1965 Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) document "Nostra Aetate," which reversed Church teaching.

About the transferability of sin:

In essentially all of the world's religions and ethical systems, an individual is held responsible for their own actions. It is considered immoral to punish a friend, relative, or stranger of the wrongdoer for the crimes that the latter has committed. However, throughout the Bible, there are passages which teach that innocent people can be held responsible and punished for the sinful behavior of others. This is often referred to as the "imputation" of sin. Three of many biblical examples are:

Similarly, many Roman Catholic leaders throughout much of the church's history laid the responsibility for Jesus' execution on all Jews from the 1st century CE, to the present time, and "up to the end of the world." (Origen). This provided the theological justification for almost two millennia of oppression and mass murder of Jews in Christian lands. Many commentator believe that this tyranny laid the foundation for the Sho'ah -- the Nazi Holocaust.

Some ancient statements and actions by the Catholic Church and its leaders:

Some profoundly anti-Judaic statements by Church leaders are listed below. "Pharsea" has collected many more. ₁

1955: Josef Blinzler, "The trial of Jesus:"

Blinzler, "...a noted Roman Catholic scholar who teaches New Testament studies at the diocesan seminary of Passau in Bavaria," ₄ wrote:

"Anyone who undertakes to assess the trial of Jesus as a historical and legal event, reconstructing it from the gospel narratives of the passion, must come to the same conclusion that the early Christian preachers did, namely, that the main responsibility rests on the Jewish side... His enemies were not concerned for the law, or even for a false concept of the law, but were aiming at the destruction of Jesus at any price... It was a judicial murder." ₅

1965: Nostra Aetate declaration:

On 1965-OCT-28, at the Second Vatican Council, the Vatican issued "Nostra Aetate," ("In our time") a "Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non-Christian Religions." ₆

The original plan was to discuss the relationship between Judaism and the Roman Catholic Church in "De Oecumenismo," the "Dogmatic Constitution on Ecumenism."  This would have been a remarkable development, because it would have accepted the concept that Jews and Christians together constitute one people of God. However, opposition arose from Asian and African bishops. An alternative approach was then selected. The topic was transferred to a separate declaration, "Nostra Aetate," which describes the Church's relationships to all non-Christian religions. Judaism was treated as only one among many religions. ₇

Draft versions of the Document had specifically stated that the term "deicide" cannot legitimately be used in reference to Jews. This passage was removed. According to Nicholls:

"The Arab lobbyists had argued that to ban the word deicide would tend to legitimate the Zionist state, with adverse political consequences for the Catholic church in the Middle East; the bishops from the area had suggested that there might be fears for the safety of Arab Christians if this happened." ₇

Nicholls commented that the Document did not mention the need for repentance for past oppression and mass murders of Jews by the Church. It does not ask Jews for forgiveness. Nicholls writes that this is a glaring error because other Vatican II documents:

"do ask forgiveness for the Church from Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslims. This is perhaps the greatest weakness of the statement. Perhaps it would not have passed the council if it had [been included]." ₇

The Vatican apologizes:

Partial apologies did finally come, over three decades later:

"We are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness, we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood." He explained that "The reference to errors and sins in a liturgy must be frank and capable of specifying guilt; yet given the number of sins committed in the course of 20 centuries, it must be necessarily be rather summary. [sic]" ₁₁

In these apologies, blame was placed on individual Roman Catholics -- not on the Church. This is in accordance with Catholic belief that the Church has always remained free of error.

In the Declaration, the Pope referred to Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism by name. He made no specific reference to the Church valuing other religions of the world, including North American spirituality, Animist religions, various Neopagan religions, other Aboriginal religions, etc. However, it could be argued that the general intent of the Declaration appears to include them. 

Additional material can be seen at Reference 12.

1974: Hans Kűng. "On Being a Christian:"

Hans Kung comes from the liberal wing of Roman Catholicism. In 1979, after a dispute over the infallibility of the pope, he was denied the right to teach as a Catholic theologian. He teaches at the University of Tubingen and remains one of the most prominent and outspoken theologians. He wrote:

"What all the (gospel) evangelists make absolutely clear is that Jesus was innocently condemned...It is clearly established as an indisputable fact that Jesus was handed over by the Jewish authorities to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate... He (Jesus) was murdered." ₁₃

1994: Raymond Brown, "The Death of the Messiah:"

Brown's two volume set on the death of Jesus commented on the guilt of some 1^st century Jews for the death of Jesus:

"When the Jewish, Christian and pagan evidence is assembled, the involvement of Jews in the death of Jesus approaches certainty... Given the conclusion just reached, the issues of responsibility and guilt are inevitable. Reading the Gospels will convince most that at least, although troublesome, Jesus was a sincere religious figure who taught truth and helped many, and that therefore crucifying him was a great injustice... No matter what [salvationist] good came out of the death of Jesus, some human beings put him to death and the issue of their responsibility and/or guilt remains... Accordingly I think it is required of me to discuss the ways, some of them strongly anti-Jewish, in which the Gospels have discussed the Jewish role in the death of Jesus..." ₁₄

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. "Pharsea," "The Supposed Perfidy of the Jews," Faithful to the Truth, at: http://www.geocities.com/
2. St. John Chrysostom, "Eight Homilies Against the Jews," Medieval Sourcebook, at: http://www.fordham.edu/
3. Max Solbrekken, "The Jews & Jesus: Mistreatment of Jews: Christian shame," at: http://www.mswm.org/jews.htm
4. Book review of Josef Blinzler, "The Trial Of Jesus," Theology Today, at: http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu
5. Josef Blinzler, "The Trial Of Jesus; The Jewish and Roman Proceedings against Jesus Christ," The Newman Press, (1959), Pages 290 & 293.
6. Pope Paul VI, "Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate)," 1965-OCT-28. Available at: http://listserv.american.edu/
7. William Nicholls, "Christian Antisemitism: A history of hate," Jason Aronson Inc., (1995), Pages 363 & 364.
8. Pope Paul VI, "Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate)," 1965-OCT-28. Available at: http://www.vatican.va/
9. "The Catholic Church and the Holocaust," First Things magazine, 1998-MAY, at: http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9805/
10. Crispian Balmer, "Catholic Church establishes forgiveness framework," Reuters, 2000-MAR-1. See: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/
11. V.L. Simpson, "Pope plans historic apology for sins of Catholic Church," Associated Press, 2000-MAR-7.
12. "Theology Library: Non-Christian Religions," at: http://www.mcgill.pvt.k12.al.us/jerryd/cm/ncr.htm
13. Hans Kűng, "On Being a Christian," Pages 332 & 336
14. Raymond Brown, "The Death of the Messiah," Pages 382 & 386.