John’s Anti-Jewish Polemic

In the previous article, Professor Charlesworth calls the Gospel of John the most Jewish of the Gospels. This means, not that it is pro-Jewish or sympathetic to Jewish interests, but that it is by and about Jews acting in a Jewish environment. In fact, the Gospel of John is also probably the most anti-Jewish of the Gospels. How we are to understand this aspect of the Gospel is obviously an important concern. The following article discusses this aspect of John’s Gospel. The author is Professor of New Testament and Homiletics at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, in Philadelphia. What follows is an excerpt from the author’s chapter in Faith, and Polemic: Studies in Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity, edited by Craig A. Evans and Donald A. Hager (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992) that also was published in Explorations, a publication of the American Interfaith Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, edited by Professor Charlesworth.—Ed.

Over 12 years ago Samuel Sandmel correctly observed, “John is widely regarded as either the most anti-Semitic or at least the most overtly anti-Semitic of the gospels.” Little has been done to ameliorate that harsh judgment since it was first written. While efforts have been made to soften the tone of the Gospel of John when it comes to Jews and Judaism, a reading of the Gospel tends to confirm Sandmel’s judgment.