Corpus-Paul

["Edgar M. Krentz" <ekrentz AT earthlink.net>]

> Dear Jack:
>
> Regarding:
> >  In "Concerning the Jews and Their Lies", 1543,  Luther says: "venomous
> >  beasts, vipers, disgusting scum, canders, devils incarnate. Their private
> >  houses must be destroyed and devastated, they could be lodged in stables.
> >  Let the magistrates burn their synagogues and let whatever escapes be
> >  covered with sand and mud. Let them force to work, and if this avails
> >  nothing, we will be compelled to expel them like dogs in order
> >  not to expose
> >  ourselves to incurring divine wrath and eternal damnation from
> >  the Jews and
> >  their lies."   This one one of the founding keystones of the
> >  Holocaust in a
> >  Lutheran nation.  Even the Lutheran church apologizes for it.  What do you
> >  wish done? Change history?  Would that we could.
>
> I do not justify this act of spleen written by a discouraged old man.
> Luther, in my view, should have known better.  The idea of it being one of
> the founding keystones of the Holocaust is, I believe, a thesis that is more
> than a little overstated. Certainly historians recognize that questions of
> etiology and influence are not as simple as they may seem to some, and
> statements: "this is the direct cause of that" are generally (in historical
> studies, at least) wrong.  Also, I would beg that Luther--who wrote many
> things through the years--be given the same courtesy we would hope one day
> might be accorded our own writings--that his writings be interpreted in the
> context of all of his writings, and within the scope of his life and times.
>
> I believe what Zeb was objecting to was this statement:
>
> I don't know that I'm the master of polite discourse.  I think it'd be fair
> to say (in view of the above) that Luther had more than a few moments when
> he wasn't.  I don't know that it was an age of politesse and nuanced speech.
> But really, is everybody an Osama?  Is it fair to say that Luther (judged in
> the context of all he spoke, and said, and stood for) is a "moral monster
> filled with hatred"?
>
> You may believe that what he wrote above gives you the right to say so.  All
> I can say then is I respectfully disagree.  And that is all I will say on
> this matter.
>
> ===============================
> Paul O. Wendland
> Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary
> wendlanp AT wls.wels.net

I agree with Paul above. Like Paul, I do not want to defend Luther, 
but only to explain a bit. He was not alone in this awful attitude to 
the Jewish people. In many cities in Europe Jews were locked into the 
ghetto at sunset. Luther's terrible language can be paralleled in 
other sixteenth century theologians. He was clearly a man of his 
times.

This is an explanation, not a defense. I trust that none of us will 
replicate Luther in what we say in our own time about Islam and 
Muslims. Luther, by the way, wrote in the second line of his hymn 
"Erhalt uns Herr bei deinem Wort" und steure Papst und Tuerken Mord 
[and direct murder on Pope and Turk]. That line has been changed in 
every Lutheran hymnal I know since the second World War--and rightly 
so. But it shows how strong language was in the sixteenth century in 
all controversies.

--
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Edgar  Krentz                                                     
Professor Emeritus of New Testament                       
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
1100 East 55th Street
Chicago, IL 60615
Telephone: (773) 256-0773               Home Tel: 773-947-8105
Office e-mail:  ekrentz AT lstc.edu        Home e-mail: ekrentz AT earthlink.net
 GHRASKW D' AEI  POLLA  DIDASKOMENOS.
 "I grow older, learning many things all the time." [Solon of Athens]
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