A History of European Christian Anti-Antisemitism 1945-2020

Projektbeschreibung

Die Auseinandersetzung des Christentums mit dem Antisemitismus in der Nachkriegszeit

In den Jahrzehnten nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg durchliefen die europäischen Kirchen einen Prozess der Selbstreflexion. Die Schrecken des Holocaust zwangen christliche Institutionen, sich damit auseinanderzusetzen, wie die jahrhundertelangen antijüdischen Lehren den Antisemitismus geschürt hatten. Das ERC-finanzierte Projekt Christosemitism soll erforschen, wie katholische und protestantische Institutionen den Antisemitismus durch theologische Diskussionen, Erklärungen, Bildungsaktivitäten und den Dialog mit jüdischen Gemeinden immer stärker zurückwiesen. Das Projekt konzentriert sich dabei auf Westeuropa zwischen 1945 und 2020. Die Ergebnisse werden Aufschluss darüber geben, wie der Widerstand gegen den Antisemitismus zu einem Teil der modernen christlichen Identität wurde. Zudem werden sie Einblicke in mögliche Zusammenhänge mit anderen Veränderungen im europäischen Christentum geben, wie etwa Säkularisierung, Globalisierung und Debatten über Rassismus und Kolonialismus.

Ziel

This project sets out to study the history of the Roman-Catholic and the Protestant repudiation of antisemitism, which I call Christian anti-antisemitism, in Western Europe between 1945 and 2020. Through its expression in multiple ecclesial declarations, theological works, liturgical events, educational projects, and professional appointments, I argue that anti-antisemitism is a core component of contemporary European Christianity. As such, it is inherently tied to the reconfiguration of Western Christianity in late 20th and early 21st century in the context of the liberal secular society, to the creation of orthodoxies and heresies, and to processes of secularization, decolonization, and the globalization of Christianity.

To grasp the role of Christian anti-antisemitism within these processes, the project will explore three of its central aspects: First, the project will analyze the penetration of anti-antisemitism into the center of Christian European identity by examining its key theological concepts and historical development. Second, the project will explore Christian anti-antisemitism as it was consolidated and negotiated in interaction with Jewish interlocutors, and the dialectic combination between severe disagreements between Jews and Christians on the nature of
antisemitism and the role of Christians in facilitating and perpetuating it, and between fruitful anti-antisemitic collaborations that were also recruited for the cultivation of Europe’s postwar liberal ethos. Third, the project will study intra-Christian debates on antisemitism in ecumenical and global Christian settings, and investigate the place of anti-antisemitism within tensions between Western Christianity and World Christianity around racism and colonialism.

Based on its findings, Christosemitism will suggest a new theoretical paradigm through which to grasp Christianity’s role in contemporary Europe, as well as that of religious phenomena in the history of secular societies more broadly.