On the Eruption of Antisemitism/Anti-Judaism on University and College Campuses in the Wake of Hamas’ Terrorist Attack on Israel and Israel’s Declaration of War on Hamas A Declaration

Abstract

The Declaration views the events of October 7^th through the eyes of a theologian of the cross. Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation (1518) is employed as a hermeneutical ‘lens’ to elucidate the shape of our witness as Christians to such events. The declaration:

1. Confesses the past Christian penchant towards anti-Judaism;


2. Asserts the inescapability for Christians to bear witness against evil, specifically here the hatred of Jews qua Jews;


3. Points to the idolatry of being wholly conditioned by history, yet claiming the ability to make unconditional judgments about history from a position above history; 


4. Declares the unity before God of Jew and Gentile (“one in Christ,” “one in sin,” and “one in our common humanity;”


5. Asserts there is no moral equivalency between the unprovoked Hamas attack on October 7, and the Israeli response it precipitated;


6. Confesses the bondage to sin expressed in anti-Judaism/antisemitism;


7. Claims that the Lutheran doctrine of the two kingdoms is relevant to the issue (the judgment that must be made is one of God’s Left Hand);


8. Declares that we are theologians of the cross in a situation of persecution of our neighbor, and that we cannot thus stand idle in our faith; freedom itself is at stake.

Consideration of these issues are critical to the formation of a faithful and loving witness to events like these that continue to shape the historical context within which we preach, teach, and act.