Language:
English
Year of publication:
2016
Titel der Quelle:
Judaica; Beiträge zum Verstehen des Judentums
Angaben zur Quelle:
72,3 (2016) 329-355
Keywords:
Schweizerische Evangelische Judenmission
;
Missions to Jews
;
Judaism Relations
;
Christianity
;
Jews
;
Christianity and other religions Judaism
;
Evangelistic work
Abstract:
Encompasses the period from 1830, when the Association of the Friends of Israel was founded in Basel, to the present. During this period the Protestant organization changed its name several times, and from 1973 on it bore the name Stiftung Kirche und Judentum. The goals of the Verein/Stiftung have also undergone a transformation. Having begun with the tasks of rendering support to Jews who embraced or were going to embrace Christianity and of passive missionizing, the Stiftung after World War II became an organization of Christian-Jewish dialogue. The history of the Verein in the 19th and early 20th centuries shows that despite its proclaimed goals, the organization had neither interest in nor respect for Jewish religion, and it shared contemporary Christian anti-Jewish bias and antisemitic prejudice. During the Nazi era, many members of the Verein were influenced by the racist ideologies of the time. However, even they believed that the evangelization of Jews could improve them and make them genuine Christians. This attitude led to a banning of the Verein's activities in Nazi Germany in 1938 and in occupied Poland in 1940. During the Holocaust, some Verein leaders called to halt missionizing Jews out of moral considerations, and for assistance to Jewish refugees and fighting antisemitism. After the Holocaust, radical changes took place in the Stiftung's ideology and work.
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