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Supersessionism, also called replacement theology by its detractors and fulfillment theology by its proponents, is the Christian doctrine that the Christian Church has superseded the Israelites, assuming their role as God's covenanted people, thus asserting that the New Covenant through Jesus Christ has superseded or replaced the Mosaic covenant. Supersessionists hold that the universal Church has become God's "New Israel" and thus Christians are the people of God. (2016). 9783110416671, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 9783110416671
Often claimed by later Christians to have originated with Paul the Apostle in the New Testament, supersessionism has formed a core tenet of Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches for the majority of their history. Many early Church Fathers—including Justin Martyr and Augustine of Hippo—were supersessionist. (2011). 9781611641097, Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9781611641097
Most historic Christian churches, including the Eastern Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, Reformed Churches and Methodism, hold that the Old Covenant has three components: ceremonial, moral, and civil ( covenant theology). They teach that while the ceremonial and civil (judicial) laws have been fulfilled, the moral law of the Ten Commandments continues to bind Christian believers. Since the 19th century, certain Christian communities, such as the Plymouth Brethren, have espoused dispensationalist theology as contrasted to supersessionism and covenant theology. (2015). 9780190273071, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190273071 Additionally, as part of Christian–Jewish reconciliation, the Roman Catholic Church has placed an increased emphasis on the shared history between the Christian and modern Jewish religions.
Rabbinic Judaism rejects supersessionism as offensive to Jewish history. Islam teaches that it is the final and most authentic expression of Abrahamic monotheism, superseding both Judaism and Christianity.
Throughout Church history, many Christian theologians saw the New Covenant in Christ as a replacement for the Mosaic CovenantFonrobert, Charlotte Elisheva. "Jewish Christians, Judaizers, and Christian Anti-Judaism." A People's History of Christianity, Volume 2: Late Ancient Christianity. Ed. Virginia Burrus. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 2005. and the Church as the new people of God. The word supersession is used by Sydney Thelwall in the title of chapter three of his 1870 translation of Tertullian's An Answer to the Jews.
Paul's views on the Jews are complex, but he is generally regarded as the first person to make the claim that by not accepting claims of Jesus's divinity, non-believing Jews disqualified themselves from salvation. Paul himself was a Jew. After a conversion experience he came to accept Jesus's claim to be the Messiah later in his life. In the opinion of Roman Catholic ex-priest James Carroll, accepting Jesus's divinity, for Paul, was dichotomous with being a Jew. His personal conversion and his understanding of the dichotomy between being Jewish and accepting Jesus's divinity, was the religious philosophy he wanted to see adopted among other Jews of his time. However, New Testament scholar N.T. Wright argues that Paul saw his faith in Jesus as precisely the fulfillment of his Judaism, not that there was any tension between being Jewish and Christian. Christians quickly adopted Paul's views.
For most of Christian history, supersessionism has been the mainstream interpretation of the New Testament of all three major historical traditions within Christianity – Orthodox, Catholic Church and Protestantism. The text most often evident in favor of the supersessionist view is Hebrews 8:13: "In speaking of 'a new covenant' Jer. he has made the first one obsolete." Other statements by Jesus have also been used, namely Matthew 21:43, "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits."
Augustine of Hippo followed the views of the earlier Church Fathers but emphasized the importance to Christianity of the continued existence of the separate Rabbinic Jewish faith: "The Jews ... are thus by their own Scriptures a testimony to us that we have not forged the prophecies about Christ." The Catholic church built its system of eschatology on his theology, where Christ rules the earth spiritually through his triumphant church. Augustine, however, also mentioned to "love" the Jews as a means to convert them to Christianity. Jeremy Cohen, followed by John Y. B. Hood and James Carroll, sees this as having had decisive social consequences, with Carroll saying, "It is not too much to say that, at this juncture, Christianity 'permitted' Judaism to endure because of Augustine."
Prior to Vatican II, Catholic teaching on the matter was characterized by "displacement" or "substitution" theologies, according to which the Church and its New Covenant took the place of Judaism and its "Old Covenant", the latter being rendered void by the coming of Jesus. The nullification of the Old Covenant was often explained in terms of the "Jewish deicide charge" that Jews forfeited their covenantal relationship with God by executing the divine Christ. As recently as 1943, Pope Pius XII stated in his encyclical Mystici corporis Christi:
At the Second Vatican Council, which was convened two decades after the Holocaust, a different framework emerged on how Catholics should think about the status of the Jewish covenant. The declaration nostra aetate, which was promulgated in 1965, made several statements which signaled a shift away from "hard supersessionist" replacement thinking which posited that the Jews' covenant was no longer acknowledged by God. Retrieving Paul's language in chapter 11 of his Epistle to the Romans, the declaration states, "God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; He does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues.... Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures." A draft of the declaration contained a passage which originally called for "the entry of that Jewish people into the fullness of the people of God established by Christ";"Second Declaration on the Jews and Non-Christians, 28–29 September 1964," qtd. in Philip A. Cunningham et al (eds.), The Catholic Church and the Jewish People (Fordham, 2007), p. 195. however, at the suggestion of Catholic priest (and convert from Judaism) John M. Oesterreicher, it was replaced in the final promulgated version with the following language: "the Church awaits that day, known to God alone, on which all peoples will address the Lord in a single voice and 'serve him shoulder to shoulder' (Zeph 3:9)."
Further developments in Catholic thinking on the covenantal status of ethnic Jews were led by Pope John Paul II. Among his most noteworthy statements on the matter is that which occurred during his historic visit to the synagogue in Mainz (1980), where he called Jews the "people of God of the Old Covenant, which has never been abrogated by God (cf. Romans 11:29, "for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" NRSV)." In 1997, John Paul II again affirmed the Jews' covenantal status: "This people continues in spite of everything to be the people of the covenant and, despite human infidelity, the Lord is faithful to his covenant."
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, wrote in his 1999 work Many Religions – One Covenant that "the Sinai Mosaic Covenant is indeed superseded."
The post–Vatican II shift toward acknowledging the ethnic Jews as a covenanted people has led to heated discussions in the Catholic Church over the issue of missionary activity directed toward Jews, with some Catholics theologians with Cardinal Avery Dulles reasoning that "if Christ is the redeemer of the world, every tongue should confess him", while others vehemently oppose "targeting Jews for conversion". Weighing in on this matter, Cardinal Walter Kasper, then president of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, reaffirmed the validity of the Jews' covenant and then continued: Reflections by Card. Walter Kasper, 6 November 2002.
In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium (2013), Pope Francis emphasized communal heritage and mutual respect for each other, writing:
Similarly, the words of Cardinal Kasper, "God's grace, which is the grace of Jesus Christ according to our faith, is available to all. Therefore, the Church believes that Judaism, as the faithful response of the Jewish people to God's irrevocable covenant, is salvific for them, because God is faithful to his promises," highlight the covenantal relationship of God with the Jewish people, but differ from Pope Francis in calling the Jewish faith "salvific". In 2011, Kasper specifically repudiated the notion of "displacement" theology, clarifying that the "New Covenant for Christians is not the replacement (substitution), but the fulfillment of the Old Covenant."
These statements by Catholic officials signal a remaining point of debate, wherein some adhere to a movement away from supersessionism, and others remain with a "soft" notion of supersessionism. Traditionalist Catholic groups, such as the Society of St. Pius X, strongly oppose the theological developments concerning Judaism made at Vatican II and retain "hard" supersessionist views. Even among mainstream Catholic groups and official Catholic teaching, elements of "soft" supersessionism remain. The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to a future corporate repentance on the part of Jews:
In the Second Vatican Council's Lumen gentium (1964), the Church stated that God "chose the race of Israel as a people" and "set up a covenant" with them, instructing them and making them holy. However, "all these things.... were done by way of preparation and as a figure of that new and perfect covenant" instituted by and ratified in Christ (No. 9). Vatican II also affirmed, "the Church is the new people of God" without being "Israel according to the flesh", the Jewish people.
In Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism (1985), the Church stated that the "Church and Judaism cannot then be seen as two parallel ways of salvation and the Church must witness to Christ as the Redeemer of all."
After the establishment of the political state of Israel in the wake of the Holocaust, mainstream Christian theologians and denominations began to re-examine supersessionism and some communities came to outright reject the teaching. Protestant Hermeneutics tend to guide views on the subject, with covenant theology generally associated with supersessionism and dispensationalism generally opposed to supersessionism.Provan CD. The Church Is Israel Now: The Transfer Of Conditional Privilege. Ross House Books, 1987. Diprose, RE. Israel and the Church: The Origins and Effects of Replacement Theology. InterVarsity Press, 2004. Vlach MJ. Has the Church Replaced Israel? : A Theological Evaluation. B&H Academic, 2010. Christian Zionism is also associated with a rejection of supersessionism; dual-covenant theology contrasts with supersessionism by holding that the Mosaic covenant remains valid for Talmudic Jews.
Extensive discussion is found in Christian views on the Old Covenant and in the respective articles for each of these viewpoints: for example, there is a section within dispensationalism detailing that perspective's concept of Israel. Differing approaches influence how the Promised Land in Genesis 12, 15Brand, C. (editor) Perspectives on Israel and the Church: 4 Views and 17 is understood, whether it is interpreted literally or figuratively, both with regard to the land and the identity of people who inherit it.
Adherents to these various views are not restricted to a single denomination though some traditions teach a certain view. Classical covenant theology is taught within the Presbyterian and Continental Reformed traditions. Methodist hermeneutics traditionally use a variation of this, known as Wesleyan covenant theology, which is consistent with Arminian soteriology. Certain mainline American denominations (e.g. TEC, ELCA, UMC) have released non-supersessionist statements. Liberal Protestant opponents to supersessionism associate the doctrine with Racism motivations.
Paul van Buren developed a thoroughly nonsupersessionist position, in contrast to Karl Barth, his mentor. He wrote, "The reality of the Jewish people, fixed in history by the reality of their election, in their faithfulness in spite of their unfaithfulness, is as solid and sure as that of the gentile church."van Buren P. Probing the Jewish-Christian Reality. Christian Century. 1981; June 17–24: 665–668. [2]
Historically, Latter-day Saint leaders and church instructional materials have promoted the idea that those who accept baptism into the church are literal descendants of the scattered Israelites, primarily the tribe of Ephraim. However, those teachings have been de-emphasized since the latter 20th century in favor of a competing narrative regarding members being adopted or "grafted" into the House of Israel.
The title page of the Book of Mormon—which adherents believe is among content translated by Joseph Smith from the gold plates—states that one of its primary purposes is "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God." The Nephites—whom the Book of Mormon presents as ancient Israelites who escaped Jerusalem just before the Babylonian captivity—are said to have kept the Law of Moses with an understanding that it presaged Christ's messianic mission. The Book of Mormon further teaches that because the Jews rejected and crucified Christ, they will be scattered among the nations of the earth and scourged across generations until they accept Christ as the true Messiah. According to the Doctrine and Covenants, after Jesus reveals himself to the Jews, they will weep because of their iniquities.
In 1982, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, published a book titled The Millennial Messiah, which devotes an entire chapter to "The Jews and the Second Coming". It states:
Some Jews consider the Latter-day Saint practice of posthumous baptism a particularly disrespectful enactment of supersessionist beliefs, and although the Church implemented guidelines restricting proxy baptism of Jewish Holocaust victims, the practice of baptizing deceased Jews has continued.
Supersessionism may be viewed as fundamentally antisemitic.
In its canonical form, the Islamic idea of teaches that Jewish and Christian scriptures or their interpretations have been corrupted, which has obscured the divine message that they originally contained. According to this teaching, the Quran both points out and corrects these supposed errors introduced by previous corruption of monotheistic scriptures, which makes it the final and most pure divine revelation.
Sandra Toenis Keiting argues that Islam was supersessionist from its inception, advocating the view that the Quranic revelations would "replace the corrupted scriptures possessed by other communities", and that early Islamic scriptures display a "clear theology of revelation that is concerned with establishing the credibility of the nascent community" vis-à-vis other religions. In contrast, Abdulaziz Sachedina has argued that Islamic supersessionism stems not from the Quran or hadith, but rather from the work of Muslim jurists who reinterpreted the Quranic message about islam (in its literal meaning of 'submission') being "the only true religion with God" into an argument about the religion of Islam being superior to other faiths, thereby providing theoretical justification for Muslim political dominance and a wider interpretation of the notion of jihad.
In Islamic legal exegesis (), abrogation () is the theory developed to resolve contradictory Quranic revelation by amending the earlier revelation. Only uses a form of the word (specifically meaning 'we abrogate'). indicates of two varieties of abrogation: "supersession" – the "suspension" and replacement of the old verse without its elimination – or "suppression" – the nullification of the old verse from the written Quran ().
R. Kendall Soulen notes three categories of supersessionism identified by Christian theologians: punitive, economic, and structural:
These three views are neither mutually exclusive, nor logically dependent, and it is possible to hold all of them or any one with or without the others. The work of Matthew Tapie attempts a further clarification of the language of supersessionism in modern theology that Peter Ochs has called "the clearest teaching on supersessionism in modern scholarship." Tapie argued that Soulen's view of economic supersessionism shares important similarities with those of Jules Isaac's thought (the French-Jewish historian well known for his identification of "the teaching of contempt" in the Christian tradition) and can ultimately be traced to the medieval concept of the "cessation of the law" – the idea that Jewish observance of the ceremonial law (Sabbath, circumcision, and dietary laws) ceases to have a positive significance for Jews after the passion of Christ. According to Soulen, Christians today often repudiate supersessionism but they do not always carefully examine just what that is supposed to mean. Soulen thinks Tapie's work is a remedy to this situation.
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Types
Both Christian and Jewish theologians have identified different types of supersessionism in the Christian reading of the Bible.
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Further reading
(2025). 9780393347913, W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393347913
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