I NEWS I
Chi
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Both Sides Criticize
Effort To Proselytize
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ARTHUR J. MAGIDA
Special to The Jewish News
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A
call by the World
Evangelical Associa-
tion for Christian
churches to emphasize pro-
selytizing among Jews has
been denounced by Jews and
Christians dedicated to im-
proving relations between the
two religions.
In New York, Rabbi A.
James Rudin of the American
Jewish Committee called the
Protestant organization's
statement "wrongheaded and
arrogant," and "a document
for spiritual genocide." And in
Washington, Eugene Fisher
of the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops said the
evangelicals' assertion that
God had abrogated his cove-
nant with the Jews was
theologically incorrect. The
Catholic church's 1965 en-
cyclical, Vatican II, said
Fisher, specifically stated
that God does not renege on
his promises.
The call for renewing Chris-
tians' efforts to convert Jews
emerged from a four-day con-
ference that the evangelical
organization held in Ber-
muda in April. The conferees'
statement described Jews as
"branches of God's olive tree"
that have "broken off." It
denied that contemporary
Judaism "contains within
itself true knowledge of God's
salvation."
The evangelicals condemn-
ed anti-Semitism as "wicked"
and "shameful," and conced-
ed that the church has "in the
past much to blame for con-
doning" anti-Jewish actions
committed by individuals and
governments. Yet they also
asserted that to refrain from
proselytizing among Jews
would be "a form of anti-
Semitism."
Attending the meeting
were 15 theologians from the
United States, Kenya, Nor-
way, France, the Philippines,
England, Canada, Taiwan,
and India. Representatives
from the United States in-
cluded Kenneth Kantzer,
chancellor of Trinity College,
Deerfield, Ill., and Vernon
Grounds, president emeritus
of the Denver Seminary and
president of Evangelicals for
Social Action.
Dr. Grounds, who chaired
the group that met in Ber-
muda, said its declaration
reflected the church's position
toward Jews that it had held
since its earliest days: Jews,
"like everyone else, can be ob-
jects of grace" by accepting
the messianism of Jesus.
He hoped that Jewish-
Christian dialogue can con-
tinue, although he noted that
in the dialogues he has at-
tended, a point is reached
"where we can proceed no fur-
ther without significant com-
promise." He declined to com-
ment on whether one can be
a believing Christian and not
endorse evangelical activities.
"That," he said, "is for God
to decide."
Dr. Grounds, who is a
member of the Conservative
Baptist denomination, said
he has received two reactions
The call for
renewing
Christians' efforts
to convert Jews
emerged from a
four-day
conference.
since the Bermuda declara-
tion was released on April 29.
One was a letter from Donald
McGavrain, the former dean
of the Fuller Theological
Seminary, who said the Ber-
muda statement "makes
perfectly clear what the
Christian position is" regar-
ding proselytizing among
Jews.
The Denver theologian also
received an "indignant"
telephone call from a
Holocaust survivor who lives
in New York City. Converting
to Christianity, Dr. Grounds
said he was told, would be
"disloyal" to Judaism and
would be tantamount to a
post-Holocaust victory by
Hitler to eradicate the Jews.
Dr. Grounds rejected the
equation of conversion with a
posthumous Nazi victory.
Conversions, he said, must be
done "with love and a
recognition of the rights of
others to their opinions. We
would eschew any kind of
coercion."
In its Bermuda statement,
the evangelical group de-
fended the so-called "Hebrew
Christians" — Jews who
become Christians, but con-
tinue to observe Jewish
practices.
Of this, said Rabbi Rudin,
"It is not enough that the
document's authors have
created their own inaccurate
and distorted version of Jews
and Judaism. They have also
bestowed full legitimacy upon
the one kind of Jew who is
theologically acceptable to
them: The person who has
converted to Judaism. It is as
if the only good Jew is a con-
verted Jew." ❑