Martin Luther, Dass Jesus Christus ein geborener Jude sei

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

Description

Luther's relationship to Judaism is one of the most critically regarded aspects of his biography. In the foreground usually stand the works written by him during the final years of his life. They were indeed influenced most strongly by an aggressively formulated anti-Judaism. Nonetheless, his work "Das Jesus Christus ain geborner Jude sey" (That Christ was Born a Jew) of 1523 is still permeated by an attitude of sympathy. Under the impression of the enormous success of the reformatory movement, Luther was inspired by the thought that Jews might now be converted to Christianity in large numbers. Dealings with them needed to be influenced by compassion and charity; Christianity ought to be taught to them with kindness. The guilt of the Jews for the death of Christ, for ritual murder and for the desecration of the host, he terms lies disseminated by the papists. Jews ought to be free to leave the ghettos. The ban to enter the guilds ought to be abolished for them. At the same time, Luther underlined that for him Christianity was fundamentally superior to Judaism. Therefore, he rejected Judaism on a theological level already in this early work. Luther was very successful with this publication as well as with a large number of his other early reformative writings. Up to 1525, it appeared in ten German and eight Latin editions. Datum: 2016

Author

Matthias Bader

Rights Statement Description

CC0