Theologians, biblical scholars, academics, and musicians have looked at St. John's gospel and been confronted by its harsh portrayal of the Jews. In a two-part series, we will look at the texts in historical context and look at how Bach inserted his own message into this masterpiece.

Singer Pat Jennerjohn expands her scope beyond the program notes to this series of blog posts.

Translations and Transmutations, Part I

In presenting the Johann Sebastian Bach setting of the St. John Passion, we are confronted with the fact that the Gospel of St. John challenges us to reconcile, in the words of Adele Reinhart, the “exalted spirituality and deep knowledge of Judaism with its portrayal of the Jews as the children of the devil (John 8:44) who persecuted Christ and his followers.”

In this two-part blog, we present a view that may allow us to make this reconciliation. Yet, we acknowledge that not all scholars agree with this interpretation. And we also acknowledge that it is a tragic fact that the Gospel of St. John has been used to promote anti-Semitism and religious violence for centuries.

The issue seems to have arisen from a number of factors in play at the time that this Gospel was written (somewhere around 90 to 100 CE). The gospels not only tell a story of Jesus, but also reflect the growing tensions between Christians and Jews. By the time John was written, the conflict had become an open rift, reflected in the vituperative invective of the evangelist's language. In the words of Prof. Eric Meyers, “Most of the gospels reflect a period of disagreement, of theological disagreement. And the New Testament tells a story of a broken relationship, and that's part of the sad story that evolves between Jews and Christians, because it is a story that has such awful repercussions in later times.” It’s important to note that there was no “official” split at this time between the Jews who wished to follow the teachings of Jesus and Jews who did not. Christianity was not officially recognized as a separate religious sect until the fourth century CE.

The Gospel of St. John emerged from a group known as the Johannines. This gospel was most likely written by multiple authors (an original version, with subsequent additions). It was not the work of the apostle John, beloved of Jesus. This gospel, like the other three, was written in Greek. The Greek language has many terms that are ambiguous and difficult to translate into a single meaning. The Greek term hoi loudaioi is one of those problematic terms and deserves some attention because of the way it has been translated.

According to George Smiga, “The problem of how to understand and translate hoi Ioudaioi does not lend itself to a simple solution. Although it can refer to all the Jewish people, in its polemical usages in John’s gospel it does not seem to carry that connotation. In most contexts the temple authorities would serve as the Jewish subgroup to which the phrase refers. Yet even that approach must allow for exceptions. It seems best to examine each occurrence and translate it according to our best evaluation of its associations and context.

“The complexity of translating the polemical usage of hoi Ioudaioi arises from the influence which later historical events have imposed on the gospel. This influence has originated from the opposition experienced by the Johannine community at the end of the first century rather than from events or debates contemporaneous with the ministry and passion of Jesus. Therefore, wherever Jesus faces opposition in the narrative from the Pharisees, chief priests, or crowds, John is inclined to insert hoi Ioudaioi in place of those subgroups of Jews.”

At the time of the events described in the Passion, many of the hoi loudaioi opposed the recognition of Jesus as the Messiah because they feared that the Romans would consider such recognition as a rebellion and crush their nation, destroying their livelihood and their culture. Thus, the Gospel of John names the hoi Ioudaioi as the people who were responsible for the torment and death of their spiritual leader, Jesus.

The story goes that the Johannines were eventually cast out of their synagogue for promoting their beliefs. Those who followed Jesus still considered themselves Jews; for these followers of Jesus to be cast out of their synagogue because of their beliefs was extremely painful, and the Johannine sect then portrayed those leaders (the chief priests and Pharisees especially – the hoi loudaioi) with great anger and bitterness in their gospel.

When is the beginning of the widespread problem with this Gospel? It is not the contents, but the effect of the modern language translations (starting around the 13th century, along with Luther’s translation in 1534, and the King James translation in 1611). As we have noted, the term hoi Ioudaioi should not refer to the Jewish people as a monolithic whole, yet the first translations of this word seem to have deliberately rendered this term as “the Jews.”

The Gospel of John became the test that enforced separation of Christians and Jews. We recognize that this selective translation was used and is still used to justify oppression and hatred, and we don’t deny the dreadful events that resulted. Human nature (fear, jealousy, greed, tribalism) and erroneous thinking sometimes reach back to find a theological justification for the expression of the dark side of human nature.

In our second blog post, we will examine the concept that the problem lies in the history of Christianity. Bach makes the conflict visible. Should this work be considered a recitation of anti-Semitic beliefs, or a reconciliation and transmutation? Are we invited to “go low” or “go high” as we listen to the story, embedded in its setting of chorales and arias?

Sources:

Dimmock, P. H. (2006). Hoi Ioudaioi in the Gospel of John : an ethnic designation from an expelled community (T). University of British Columbia. Retrieved from https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0092685

Anderson, Paul N., "Anti-Semitism and Religious Violence as Flawed Interpretations of the Gospel of John" (2017). Faculty Publications - College of Christian Studies. 289.

https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ccs/289

Adele Reinhartz, “Cast Out of the Covenant: Jews and Anti-Judaism in the Gospel of John” (2018)

PBS Frontline: From Jesus to Christ 1998

George Smiga's commentary on John which is to be published by Paulist Press and Stimulus Books as part of The Word Set Free series