WAS LUKE AN ANTI-SEMITIC PRETERIST?

By Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry Jr

Since liberals (in addition to dispensationalists) charge preteristic theology with anti-Semitism, I have been responding to show the absurdity of such a charge. And I have been showing it in such a way that should scare off dispensationalists from aligning themselves with liberals in this moral argument. I will continue (and conclude) this line of rejoinder in this article.
Weatherly opens his important defense of the historicity and moral character of Luke’s writings with these words: “Is the New Testament anti-Semitic?. . . As the question as been posed and answers sought, the Lukan corpus has become a particular focus of investigation.”¹
Luke repeatedly blames the Jews for Christ’s death: Luke 24:20; Acts 2:22–23, 36; 3:13–15a; 4:10; 5:28, 30; 7:52; 10:39; 13:27–29; 26:10. And this is deemed the seed of full blown anti-Semitism by Josef Blinzler who writes: “It was repeatedly stated on the part of the Jews that, when all was said and done, modern antiSemitism was nothing else than the logical result of the Christian thesis that the Jews were guilty of the death of Jesus.”²
The Gospel of John. Many critical scholars argue that John is the most anti-Semitic of the Gospels. In fact, it is one of leading documents for arguing the point. See for example:
Rosemary Ruether, Faith and Fratricide: The Theological Roots of Anti-Semitism (New York: Seabury, 1974), 111–16.
R. Fuller, “The ‘Jews’ in the Fourth Gospel,” Dialog 16 (1977): 35.
E. J. Epp, “Anti-Semitism and the Popularity of the Fourth Gospel in Christianity,” CCAR Journal, 22:4 (Fall, 1975), 35–52.
M. A. Getty, “The Jews and John’s Passion Narrative,” Liturgy 22:3 (March 1977): 6ff.

Notes

1. Jon A. Weatherly, Jewish Responsibility for the Death of Jesus in Luke-Acts (Sheffield: Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplemental Series 106, 1994), 13.
2. Joseph Blizner, The Trial of Jesus: The Jewish and Roman Proceedings Against Jesus Christ Described and Assessed from the Oldest Accounts. Trans from 2d ed. by Isabel and Florence McHugh. (Westminster, Mary.: Newman, 1959).