Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews (106 page)

Here is the real power of the Church's ancient association of itself, centrally, with Peter—not that he was a rock of virtue, not that his authority was absolute, but that his failure of the Lord was so complete. Peter at its mythic center—this is how the Church defines itself as a Church of sinners and betrayers: the cowardly Church, which has so often put power over service; the threatened Church, which has used its old feud with the Jewish people to wall itself off from the fear that its faith in Jesus is misplaced. As the story of Jewish-Christian conflict renders undeniable, the Church, having betrayed Jesus in its first generation, has been betraying Jesus ever since. That a flawed Peter is the patron saint of this Church is the principle of its self-criticism.

For each time that Peter denied Jesus, the figure shrouded in the haze of dawn puts to him the question "Simon Peter, do you love me?" And each time, Peter replies, "Yes, Lord, I love you."

Then, "Feed my sheep."
¹¹
Three times the figure calls Peter to this service. The threefold betrayal is reversed by a threefold ritual of forgiveness, built upon a promise.

That meals and feeding are central to this story, that the mysterious figure of Jesus is recognized in the breaking of the bread, gives shape to my faith. It is in attending Mass, partaking of the meal as one of a number of people who are almost always strangers to me, that I draw near to the figure whom I recognize. His story is mine, and I have it through the Church. Human history is a story told by God, and by attending to history, even tragic history, I draw near to God. Attention to the story is the structure of prayer, without which I am dead. At the offertory of the Mass I hand over to God, especially, the ones I love. I confess my sin three times, and hear the word of hope three times. The Eucharistic bread keeps me alive, and I believe it always will.

In other words, Jesus offers me, a non-Jew, access to the biblical hope that was his birthright as a son of Israel. Not that the Church in any way surpasses Israel, or supersedes it. The Church is how God's promise to Israel is available to me, a Celt, whose ancestors could have been among the northern tribal peoples recruited to the army of Constantine. Certainly, I have my Catholic faith through my Irish American mother and father, first exemplars of the movement from forgiveness to promise, from repentance to commitment. This is how the loving, forgiving, and challenging God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah—has become available to me. My now grown children, Lizzy and Pat, who may or may not associate themselves, as believers, with the long story of this religious people, teach me that this God is available to all human beings, religious or not. Certainly, I believe God is available to them. Available as the undoing of the irreversible past; available as the securing of the unpredictable future, in which we must never repeat a Holocaust of any kind.

This has been the story of the worst thing about my Church, which is the worst thing about myself. I offer it as my personal penance to God, to the Jewish dead, and to my children, whom I led, by accident, to the threshold of Hitler's pit. Nietzsche warned that if we stare into the abyss, it may stare back, and this book proves Nietzsche right. My faith is forever shaken, and I will always tremble. The Christian conscience—mine—can never be at peace. But that does not say it all. This tragic story offers a confirmation of faith, too. God sees us as we are, and loves us nevertheless. When the Lord now turns to me to ask, "Will you also go away?" I answer, this too with Simon Peter, "Lord, to whom shall I go?"
¹²

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CHRONOLOGY

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Twenty-eight years ago, the playwright William Gibson and the psychoanalyst and writer Margaret Brenman Gibson were among the first to affirm my work as a writer, a connection that led to my meeting Donald Cutler, who became my literary agent, advisor, and friend. Bill, Margaret, and Don have sustained me ever since, offering particular support as I wrote this book. I dedicate it to them in gratitude and love.

This book begins with the cross at Auschwitz, which I saw while on assignment for
The New Yorker.
The sight of the sacred symbol there focused this work, so I want to begin by gratefully acknowledging my editor Jeffrey Frank and his colleagues at
The New Yorker,
where parts of this book appeared in somewhat different form. Early versions of parts of this book also appeared in
The Atlantic Monthly,
where my editors are Jack Beatty, Cullen Murphy, and Lucie Prinz, and in the
Boston Globe,
where my editors are H.D.S. Greenway, Renée Loth, Robert Turner, and Marjorie Pritchard. I am grateful to these editors and publications for sage advice and for encouragement.

I began this work in earnest while I was a fellow at the loan Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. I am especially grateful to my colleagues there: Marvin Kalb, Edith Holway, Richard Parker, Nancy Palmer, Pippa Norris, Julie Felt, Thomas Patterson, Connie Chung, Barbara Pfetsch, David Farrell, and Al Simpson. I was able to continue my research, and begin writing, as a fellow at the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life at Harvard Divinity School. There, I received tremendous support from colleagues David Little, Brent Coffin, Nancy Nienhuis, Laura Nash, Donna Verschueren, Margy Rydzynski, Missy Daniel, Will Joyner, Lawrie Balfour, and Kathleen Sands. Divinity School faculty were generous with time and advice, especially J. Bryan Hehir, Harvey Cox, Ronald F. Thiemann, Peter Gomes, Diana Eck, Gary Anderson, Jon D. Levenson, Sarah Coakley, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Helmut Koester, and David Tracy during his time as a visiting scholar at Harvard. I acknowledge a particular debt to the librarians of Harvard University, especially of the Andover-Newton Library. I gratefully acknowledge the Boston Public Library. Heartfelt thanks to Susan Sherwin and Thomas lenkins of the Harvard Divinity School Development Office for their encouragement and for the funding they secured to support my work.

At the Divinity School I benefited from discussions of the year-long forum that I conducted on the subject of this book. I acknowledge my debt to the forum's participants. Parts of this work were also taken up by a seminar of biblical scholars led by Professor Bernadette Brooten of Brandeis University. I very much appreciate their thoughtful response. In addition, Professor Brooten generously read a large section of this work and offered important suggestions; I am in her debt. Professor Paula Fredriksen of Boston University kindly read parts of this work and helped me improve it. Professor Harold Stahmer of the University of Florida introduced me to some of the complex history I have written about, and I am grateful.

I presented early drafts of this material in lectures at Colgate University, Holy Cross College, Merrimack College, Dartmouth College, Harvard Hillel, the Harvard Center for European Studies, the Harvard Jewish Faculty Luncheon Group, the Burke Lecture at the University of California at San Diego, the Lowell Lecture at Harvard, and the Lowell Lecture at Boston College. I learned from feedback on each of those occasions. While writing the book, I was privileged to participate in the annual theological seminar of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. I acknowledge a special debt to Rabbi David Hartman and to his longtime collaborator Professor Paul van Buren of Temple University. Paul's recent death came too soon in every way. Many years ago, I participated in Jewish-Christian dialogue at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem, under the sponsorship of Father Thomas Stransky, C.S.P., whose work as an ecumenist was an early inspiration and whose support has nurtured me over the decades. And for some years I was a member of a Jewish-Christian Bible study group led by Bernard Avishai, Christopher Lydon, and Ilona Carmel. These discussions enriched my understanding of this history and theology, and I am grateful.

Early drafts of the entire manuscript were read by Eugene Kennedy, Bernard Avishai, Askold Melnyczuk, Padraic O'Hare, Susannah Heschel, Martin Green, James O. Freedman, the Reverend John F. Smith, and Kevin Madigan. For their thoughtful criticism I am especially grateful. Ken Schoen of Schoen Books was a tremendous help in tracking down sources. The late Adele Dalsimer and James Dalsimer helped me see the importance of this work and encouraged me throughout the writing; I carry Adele in my heart. I owe a special debt to the late Sharland Trotter and to Robert Kuttner and the members of the healing circle that gathered as Sharland died. May she rest in peace.

My brother Joseph Carroll generously supplied me with useful references—and steady encouragement. 1 am also grateful to Eugene Fisher for his regular e-mail bulletins on matters of importance to Jewish-Christian relations. For varied expressions of support, I offer thanks to Frederick Busch, the Very Reverend James Parks Morton, Leslie Epstein, Larry Kessler, Father Robert Bullock, Dan Terris, Ellen Birnbaum, Jacques Kornberg, Father Michael McGarry, C.S.P., Father Paul Lannan, C.S.P., Father Robert Baer, C.S.P., Rachelle Linner, Father John Morley, Ronald Modras, James Heffernan, the Reverend Milton McC. Gatch, Rabbi Ben-Zion Gold, the Reverend John Stendahl, Laurence Davies, Ruth Langer, Rabbi Leon Klenicki, Larry Wolff, Father Gerald O'Collins, S.J., David McCullough, Jacqueline O'Neill, Thomas P. O'Neill III, Joshua Marshall, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Richard Goodwin, Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, and David Rush. I had the invaluable help of two superb research assistants at Harvard Divinity School: Christine Lehmann's work early in the project enabled me to bring it into focus, and Adam Reilly's work later on enabled me to bring it to completion, with far fewer errors than would otherwise have been the case. Their colleagueship was a gift and a privilege.

I acknowledge the encouragement and wise counsel, especially, of Professor Padraic O'Hare of Merrimack College, whose long experience as a Catholic participant in Jewish-Christian dialogue was an invaluable resource. And I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Krister Stendahl, who participated in the forum discussions I led, read the entire manuscript in several drafts, and generously shared his knowledge of Scripture, theology, and history. Bishop Stendahl's commitment to Jewish-Christian reconciliation and his love of the Church were my constant inspiration.

At Houghton Mifflin Company, I have been exceptionally supported. Nader Darehshori affirmed this project. My longtime editor and friend Wently Strothman was its first and staunchest backer. Her wise counsel, sharp editorial eye, and publishing wit have been my greatest resources. My manuscript editor, Larry Cooper, with unfailing grace and acute insight improved this book, as he has other books of mine. And in the unstinting work of my editor Eric Chinski this book had the benefit of a rare intelligence and generous spirit, while I had the benefit of a patient friend. My first reader and strongest support remains my wife, Alexandra Marshall. To her, and to our daughter, Lizzy, and son, Pat, who keep me centered, I offer my profoundest thanks and love.

CHRONOLOGY

Middle Bronze Age (c. 2800–2200
B.C.E.)
The Foundation Stone of the future Jerusalem Temple may have been revered as a holy place.

10th century
B.C.E.
The Temple is constructed in Jerusalem.

6th century
B.C.E.
The Temple is rebuilt after the Babylonian conquest.

63
B.C.E.
The Roman general Pompey imposes military rule on Israel.

37
B.C.E.
Herod the Great becomes king of Israel, will begin reconstruction of the Temple.

27
B.C.E.
Caesar Augustus comes to power in Rome, declares himself "savior of the world."

c. 4
B.C.E.
Jesus is born, perhaps in Bethlehem. Herod the Great dies, sparking unrest, which leads the Romans to crucify about two thousand in Jerusalem.

c. 30
C.E.
Jesus is crucified under Pontius Pilate.

c. 40
The story of Jesus has begun to take shape, constructed partly of historical memory and partly of imaginative readings of the ancient Scripture.

c. 50s
A first written document, Q, now lost, compiles the sayings of Jesus.

c. 50–c. 60
The letters of Paul are composed. The earliest (1 Thessalonians, c. 51) rebukes Israel for not accepting Jesus, but the latest (Romans, c. 60) warns followers of Jesus not to lord it over Israel.

c. 68
The Gospel of Mark is composed.

70
Romans attack Jerusalem and destroy the Temple. Flavius Josephus (c. 37–100), in his
Jewish
War, puts the number of Jewish war dead at 600,000.

c. 80–100
The Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John are composed.

132–135
In response to a Jewish uprising, the Romans level Jerusalem and rename it Aelia Capitolina. Jews are driven from the city and from most of Judea, which is renamed Syria Palaestina. The Jerusalem community of Jewish Christians is eliminated. The tally of Jewish war dead reaches as high as 850,000.

167
Melito, bishop of Sardis, brings the first recorded charge of deicide against the Jewish people.

c. 200
Rabbis compile commentaries and legal teachings, a collection associated with Rabbi Judah the Prince and known as the Mishnah. Further commentaries and interpretations by rabbis will develop into the Talmud (Palestinian Talmud, 5th century; Babylonian Talmud, 6th century).

285
Aurelius Valerius Diocletian, a general newly come to the emperor's throne, reorganizes the Roman Empire, beginning the rule of the tetrarchs, one of whom is Constantius.