{"id":8934,"date":"2013-08-23T18:17:49","date_gmt":"2013-08-24T00:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=8934"},"modified":"2013-08-23T18:18:07","modified_gmt":"2013-08-24T00:18:07","slug":"constantines-sword","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/constantines-sword\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Constantine’s Sword’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By TED ROBERTS, the SCRIBBLER ON THE ROOF<\/em><\/p>\n

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You can\u2019t hold the book in your lap \u2013 you can\u2019t read it on your side, since it will inflame your appendix. And to read it on your back, holding it over your head is to invite sciatica.<\/p>\n

Anyhow, given this semi-literary handicap it\u2019s a book every Jew should read. You can always hire someone to hold the book and turn pages for you. Although that way you miss the body-building benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeen working out, Ted?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, just reading a thousand page, ten pound book twice a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book was written by James Carroll, a well known scholar and former Catholic priest.
\nIt has been on the New York Times best seller list. A man who loves his religion, but dearly sees its faults \u2013 not so much in its theology, but in its bloody relation with Judaism. Carroll, who is often described as a Catholic dissident, pleads that the church face the celestial mirror, admit its errors in its relation with Judaism, and set out on a new harmonious path.<\/p>\n

A reasonable judgment for an institution based on confession and repentance.Naturally, he emphasizes the bloody hands of the church stained by centuries of pograms, the Inquisition, the silence of Pious XII, who signed the first treaty with the arch devil, Hitler, and finally the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

But most interesting is his \u201ctake\u201d on the original split of Judaism into \u201cJewish Christians\u201d and true Jews. And the role played by Rome, actively wooed by this new off-shoot of Judaism, who found that violent vilification of classic Judaism was a mighty weapon for their theology; the Sword of Constantine<\/em> explores the complete history of papal relationships with the Jews. And it must be said that Carroll is extremely critical of the church he loves and begs for a confessional catharsis to cleanse its past.<\/p>\n

He examines the entire gamut of church behavior ranging from frantic calls for the \u201cChrist killers to convert or die\u201d to Saint Augustine\u2019s plea that the Jews must be allowed to \u201csurvive, but never thrive\u201d, as witness to the punishment of those who rejected the divine credentials of the Man from Galilee. A relatively benign statement in its day.<\/p>\n

To summarize, everything you ever wished to know and more about Papal\/Jewish relationships is here. And viewed by a scholar, though a loving Catholic, is critical of his creed. And who, furthermore, fully understands that his church bloomed from the bosom of Abraham. His theme of Church hatred vs Jews, he attributes (as do most historians) to Christianity\u2019s early desire to cuddle up to Rome.<\/p>\n

So Pontius Pilate wasn\u2019t the executioner, but those frenzied Pharisees (who never crucified anyone in the history of Judaism from Abraham to this very day). Judaism has an abhorrence toward taking life. Jewish law calls for execution only for idol worship. A familiar mainstream observation, but unknown to every-day church going Christians deluded by gospels written in a politicized environment well after Jesus\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Gospels written with Roman favor always in mind. Constantine\u2019s Sword<\/em> is a \u201cheavy\u201d read in more ways than one. But is remarkably revealing of a topic that is life or death to Judaism and a topic of which few are well informed. Furthermore, it comes in a time when Christian scholars, preachers, and church goers are learning more about the Jewish roots of Yehoshua Ben Yosef and his strange branch of Judaism.<\/p>\n

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