A Message from an Earlier Meeting of Jewish Mission Leaders

Reflections on the Løgumkloster Consultation in 1964; presented at the LCJE CEO conference, Emmaus, Haslev, May 8-12, 2017

Bodil F. Skjøtt

This LCJE CEO conference is not the first LCJE conference held in Denmark. Back in 1988 the European LCJE conference was held in Copenhagen and in many ways, that was a CEO conference. In the report from the conference published in the LCJE Bulletin in February 1989 it says that 12 organizations were represented and each organization sent no more than one participant, namely their CEO. Kai Kjær-Hansen gave a paper on Joseph Rabinowitz. Baruch Maoz was the guest speaker from Israel and Murdoc M’cloud chaired the sessions. And Walther Riggans was there on behalf of CMJ. Baruch Maoz already then lamented the lack of theological in-debt thinking within the Messianic movement in Israel. He also said that much of expatriate missionary endeavor in Israel has little future and that much money and time appeared to have been invested with far too little consequences. I have the feeling that his evaluation would be very similar today almost 30 years later - unfortunately.

However, it is not that conference I want to talk about. Instead I want to reflect on a Lutheran conference on Jewish mission organized by the Lutheran World Federation and hosted here in Denmark back in 1964. It was held at a Conference Center like Emmaus but closer to the German border and more central for other European Lutheran participants.

I believe it is appropriate to focus on a Lutheran conference on Jewish mission as we mark – or celebrate – the 500 years of the reformation and have our CEO conference in Denmark, a country heavily influenced by the reformation and Lutheran theology. The conference took place less than 20 years after the Holocaust, and very much in the shadow of that and at a time where the Lutheran church in Europe still struggled to come to terms with what happened and why it could happen. Many European Jewish mission organizations had a strong connection to the Lutheran Church. This was true for the German organizations but also for the Scandinavians like the Norwegian and the Danish Israel Mission. A Swedish Israel mission still existed at that time but changed its profile and theology over the next decade and ceased to exist as a Jewish mission organisation. Like many of the other European Israel Mission it adopted a two-covenant theology and continued its relationship with the Jewish community in a forum for dialogue with little or no room for witness and testimony.

Mission and/or dialogue were part of the discussion at the conference in 1964. When we look at the challenges for Jewish mission in Europe today we know who in the end won the discussion. The number of Lutheran Israel mission organization has declined since then. Some were still operating in 1988 when the LCJE conference was hosted in Copenhagen, but since then also the German Zentral Verein has ceased to be part of Jewish mission.

Lutheran World Federation

The LWF as a history that resembles that of the World Council of Churches. WCC was formed in 1948 – in Amsterdam as a follow-up to attempts prior to the war to unite the different ecumenical movements worldwide. The 2WW had put a temporary stop to that, but in 1948 in became a reality.

The year before, in 1947, the Lutheran World Federation was established in Lund in Sweden. The motivation for the formation of LWF was to create stronger unity and interaction between the different expression of what it meant to be Lutheran. It was felt that as Lutherans they had a contribution to make to the wider body of churches ecumenically and could do so better with a united “Lutheran” voice in addition to being part of WCC.

One of the questions that gave rise to LWF was the relationship between the church and the Jewish people – considering 2WW. There was a need to look at the role of Israel/the Jewish people - within the wider church and the obligation of the church towards to Jewish people. The strong Lutheran teaching of law and gospel had led to the Lutheran Church being perceived as a church with an anti-Jewish teaching and a doctrine. Within Lutheran churches it made room for a negative view of Judaism. It was perceived as a legalistic religion under God’s judgment. The fact that antisemitism had become so dominant within Luther’s home country underscored the need to revisit the relationship between the church and the Jewish people.

This was the background for the LWF conference in Løgumkloster in 1964 and its focus on “the Jewish question”. It took place not only in the aftermath of the War and Holocaust but also the establishment of the State of Israel. Until then the word “Israel” was identical with the Jewish people, but with 1948 this changed. When discussing the topic “Israel and the Church” there was now a need to clarify what was meant by “Israel”. The fact that within the LWF there was also a small Jordanian Lutheran Church with congregations in what was to become the West Bank and Jerusalem and with strong ties to Lutheran churches in Europe from where the founding father had come only complicated the discussion.

It was significant that the conference was held in a Nordic country. The role of the churches here during the time of Hitler had made it clear that the Lutheran church as such could not be described as anti-Israel or anti the Jewish people. The rescue of the Danish Jewish community to Sweden in October 1943 and the way Sweden had received them –with open arms - contradicted that. In August 1943, a month prior to the rescue operation the bishops of the Danish Lutheran Church sent out a letter which was to be read in all Danish Lutheran Churches. This letter highlighted the attitude of the church in Denmark towards to Jewish people. It was a letter to the German authorities on how we – as a church and as Christians – saw our role towards to Jewish people and as such a strong and daring protest of the Nazis. This is how the letter reads:

The country's Bishops has 29 Sept. d. A. through the government Secretary sent a letter of the following content to the leading German authorities:

Danish Church's attitude to the Jewish problem

Wherever persecution of Jews be it for racial or religious reasons, it is the Christian Church's duty to protest against it.

1. Because we can never forget that the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary in accordance with God's promise [1] for his own people [2], Israel [3] [4]. The history of the Jewish people until Christ's birth includes preparation for the salvation God has prepared for all mankind in Christ. This is characterized by the Old Testament being part of our Bible.

2. Because the persecution of Jews is contrary to the Human dignity and neighborly love, which is a consequence of the message the church of Jesus Christ is set to serve. Christ knows no partiality, and he has taught us to see that every human life is precious in God's eyes. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond or free; there is no male and female; For all are one in Christ Jesus. "(Gal 3, 28) [5]

3. Because it contradicts the Legal Consciousness who rules in the Danish people, enshrined in our Danish Christian culture through the centuries. In Accordance to this, all Danish nationals by the Constitution's equal rights and responsibilities for Law and Religious Freedom and Right to practice our worship after calling and conscience and thus the Race and Religion never in itself may be occasion for a man deprived of Rights, Freedom or property. Regardless of differing religious views, we will fight for our Jewish brothers and sisters retain the same freedom that we ourselves set higher than life.

There are at the Danish Church leaders a clear understanding of our Commitment to be law-abiding citizens who do not prematurely rebel against those who exert authority over us while we are in our conscience bound to assert right to protest against any Violation; therefore we will in any given case unequivocally acknowledge that we must obey God rather than men.

On behalf of the Bishops

H. Fuglsang

The Løgumkloster Conference

The conference was organized by the LWF but hosted in Denmark. The invitation went out to 45 theologians and mission leaders together with 5 people from the staff of LWF. There was a desire to also have a Jewish voice, so Rabbi Arthur Gilbert from the States was invited to take part in the whole conference.

The participants were divided into five groups and each was assigned a topic, which they were to work on during the conference and present a statement to be accepted by the whole conference. This was then to be sent to the executive committee for further distribution.

The headings of the five working groups were as follows:

1) The church and Israel

2) Mission and dialog

3) The Church and anti-semitism;

4) The life of the Lutheran Church in Israel –

5) The theology of the relationship of Christianity and Judaism

The statements from the four groups were accepted. Especially the one of anti-semitism was very strong. Unfortunately, the group working on the relationship between the two religions, Judaism and Christianity, was unable to come up with a joint statement to be presented to the whole conference. It was said that time was too short – (or was the diversity too big?). The discussion had focused on continuity and discontinuity between the Old Testament on one side and Judaism and the church on the other. Where is the continuity to be found? Is Judaism the continuation of the story and religion of the Tanach? Or is it defined by its rejection of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah? Is the church to be understood as the continuation. The God of Israel has revealed himself in Jesus as the Messiah through the resurrection. It the continuation rather to be found in the teaching of the church and God’s present in the sacraments?

Since the statement from the group was not accepted - even after long discussions, it was decided to establish a group who would continue the work and be responsible for the relationship between the Jewish people and the Lutheran Church – or LWF.

After the conference the Jewish participant, rabbi Arthur Gilbert, wrote in his evaluation that the declaration from the conference on antisemitism was the strongest he had seen so far– much stronger than the statement from the Catholic church after the 2nd Vatican council. But he regretted that the statement did not explicitly distanced itself from Luther. The answer was that the Lutheran churches had never embraced Luther’s antisemitism. One of the participants said it this way: “Luther has said so much nonsense that it is impossible to counter all of it. Our view of Luther’s antisemitism should be seen in our words and in our actions.”

The declaration says

“ … There is no ultimate defeat of antisemitism short of a return to the living God in the power of his grace and through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ our Lord. At the same time, we must pledge ourselves to work in concert with others at practical measures for overcoming manifestations to this evil within and without the church and for reconciling Christians with Jews

Towards this end, we urge the Lutheran World Federation and its member churches:

1. To examine their publication for possible antisemitic references, and to remove and oppose false generalizations about Jews. Especially reprehensible are the notions that Jews, rather than all mankind are reponsible for the death of Jesus Christ and that God has for this reason rejected his covenant people. Such examination and reformation must also be directed to pastoral practice and preaching references. This is our simple duty under the commandment common to Jews and Christians: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor”.

2. To oppose and work to prevent all national and international manifestations of antisemitism, and in all work acknowledge our great debt of gratitude to those Jewish people who have been instruments of the Holy Spirit in giving us the Old and New Testaments and in bringing into the world Jesus Christ our Lord.

3. To call upon our congregations and people to know and the love their Jewish neighbors as themselves; to fight against discrimination or persecutions of Jews in their communities; to develop mutual understanding ; and to make common cause with the Jewish people in matters of spiritual and social concern, especially in fostering humans rights.”

One sentence not accepted

The paper on the church and Israel encourages Christians – as co-heirs of the promises to show responsibility and gratitude towards the original heirs. They are to pray for the Jewish people daily and especially during the Sunday Service. Prayer for the Jewish people were for a long time part of the liturgy of the Lutheran churches. The Jewish people were mentioned specifically in the prayer and not just as part of “the Nations”, in this way recognizing the continued role of the Jewish people within God’s plan of salvation.

This declaration had a sentence that has been heavily critizesed – already then and especially later. It reads like this: “Those, who through faith and baptism have taken on Christ are all Christians and nothing else but Christians whether they are part of the people of the old covenant or Gentiles. The term “Jewish Christian” or similar terms leads to an unbiblical division of the church.”

In his report from the conference the then chair of the Danish Israel mission, Alex Torm, wrote: “This sentence has no biblical foundation. The gospel does not separate a believing Jew from the people to whom he belongs. Another Danish missiologian, Johannes Aagaard, wrote in an article reporting on the conference where he critizesed the same statement. He says. “There is only on way to become Christian – that is through faith in Christ. But there are more ways to live as a Christian.”

Less than 20 years earlier – during the war – the term “German Christians” had divided the church in Germany. This should be taking into consideration as we try to understand this statement. To talk about Jewish Christians rang a bell that the German participants wanted to distance themselves from. They could and would quote Paul when he says that there are no Jew or Gentile, no male or female.

In 1965, the international Jewish Christian Alliance (later to become the Messianic Jewish Alliance) protested and said that the term Jewish Christians should be kept. Their European secretary, H. D. Leuer argued strongly saying that Jewish Christians were a living testimony of the historical background of the church that should not be forgotten “They are Gods pledge that he will fulfill his promises to Israel when the Jewish people will recognize Jesus as their Messiah.”

The statement was a step back from what was said at the Basel conference in 1947 where the Jewish Christian presence within the Church had been not only recognized but praised. The visual presence of Jesus-believing Jews within the body of Christ makes it clear what the Church is: The body of those from the Jewish people who accepted Jesus as their Messiah and the body of Gentiles who had been grafted in – through faith in the Jewish Messiah.

On this point the statement from the conference was not followed.

Mission and Dialogue

The statement on Mission and Dialogue reflects the context in Europe at that time. Mission organization revisited their understanding of Mission to the Jewish people and many afterwards moved in the direction of dialogue. Those of us working in Europe are still part of that discussion: Should mission be replaced by dialogue – considering recent history and a new theological understanding? The latest chapter in this discussion is the document from the Catholic church about a year ago in 2016 and the statement from the official German Church EKD denouncing any form of organized Jewish mission work.

Arthur Gilbert – the Jewish representative at the conference – applauded the view expressed by some, that the time of mission was over. He wished the church would recognize that the Jewish people already have a living relationship with God. To this statement one of the bishops at the conference responded: “As one who has realized that he had waisted his live and therefore is lost but after that has met Christ as his savior, I cannot be silent about His grace and mercy.

The rabbi later said he was impressed with the way he had been received and listened to. “I was drawn to them in way I had never experienced”. One can only speculate how it would have been for the Jewish rabbi had there been a significant number of Jewish believers taking part in the conference. Would he also then have felt drawn and at home in the group? There is a reason why this kind of dialogue has never been able to welcome Jewish believers around the table.