The question of the New Testament and Judaism (theology of substitution)

The Christian theology of substitution (or supersessionism) holds that, since the coming of Christ, the Church has replaced the people of Israel in the covenant with God, with Judaism thereafter regarded as obsolete or a mere prefiguration of Christianity. Elaborated from the earliest centuries by the Church Fathers, this doctrine long founded a devaluing vision of Judaism and nourished the "teaching of contempt": the accusation of deicide, the reading of Jewish misfortunes as divine punishment, the expectation of the conversion of the Jews. It contributed to theologically legitimizing discrimination and persecution throughout Christian History. After the Shoah, several Churches undertook a profound revision of this paradigm. The major turning point was the Catholic conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate (1965), which repudiated the collective accusation of deicide and recognized the continuity of God's covenant with the Jewish people. The critique of supersessionism remains at the heart of contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Jewish Virtual Library ↗