On Apr 20, 2007, at 2:05 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
On 4/20/07, Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Apr 20, 2007, at 12:38 PM, Shane Mage wrote:
> And what better demagogic stroke
> has anyone ever invented than that phrase "Crucify Mankind On A
> Cross Of Gold?"
Yup - subtle way of invoking anti-Semitism in that phrase, because we
all know who crucified Jesus.
Michael Kazin, who should know a thing or two about populism and
William Jennings Bryan, says that Bryan, whatever his shortcomings,
was not prejudiced against Jews, let alone invoking anti-Semitism.
I'm just drawing on my lit crit roots: you take figures of speech
seriously. Crucified on a cross of gold is very dramatic image.
Who crucified whom in the story? Jesus was not a Christian, but a
Jew, a carpenter by trade, a commoner. Those who crucified him were
the Roman Empire and its collaborators who were the elite of the
oppressed Jewish society of which Jesus was a rising reformer. That
is the way the empire usually gets rid of a populist, a demagogue, a
reformer who may become a revolutionary.
I'm aware of all this, you know; you don't need to give me a history
lecture. I grew up Catholic and imbibed a lot of Christian myth from
an early age. It was widely believed until recently that The Jews
crucified Christ. I'm guessing a lot of fundamentalists still believe
it, though it's impolite to say so. In fact, here's one <http://
www.biblequestions.org/archives/BQAR067.htm>:
The Jews crucified Jesus through the Romans. At the time of Jesus'
crucifixion, the Romans had conquered all the area in which Jesus
lived and taught. The Romans allowed the Jews to continue with
their Sanhedrin (their government), but the Romans took away
capital punishment from the Jews. In order to have Jesus crucified,
the Jewish leaders had to manipulate Rome into doing it. First, the
Jewish leaders had to lie - make up charges (Lk. 23: 2, 3). The
Jewish leaders persisted in their demands for crucifixion (vss.
5-19). New Testament writers charged the Jews with having crucified
Jesus (Acts 2: 36, 3: 13-17).
Another fundie <http://www.leithart.com/archives/001987.php> says we
shouldn't be "squeamish" about blaming the Jews. An article in
Christian Century <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/
is_5_121/ai_114243166> treats the matter as undecided. The official
line of the Catholic Church <http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/
p122a4p2.htm> is that "Jews are not collectively responsible for
Jesus' death...[N]either all Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor
Jews today, can be charged with the crimes committed during his
Passion...." Paul Weyrich and a New York Knicks point guard agree
that it was the Jews <http://www.slate.com/id/1007589>, and the Slate
author says they have "textual support from the gospels."
Doug
