gubberningbody
From: http://www.ntrmin.org/Luther%20and%20the%20Jews%20(Web).htm#a5
IX. 1543: Luther’s Treatise “On The Jews And Their Lies”
In 1543 Luther broke his silence with the treatise, “On the Jews and Their Lies.” Roland Bainton, the famous biographer of Luther, once said: “ One could wish that Luther had died before ever this tract was written .” [108] The treatise was a response to a letter from Count Schlick of Moravia. The Count had sent Luther a Jewish apologetic pamphlet, containing a Jewish attack against Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Christian exegesis of the Old Testament. The Count wanted Luther to refute it. Unfortunately, this letter and attack have been lost, so we are unaware of the exact tone of argument Luther was responding to. Often, Luther’s tone and method of argumentation was strongly influenced by that taken in the work he was responding to. James Mackinnon thinks that the original pamphlet was a direct response to Luther’s Against the Sabbatarians : “ It naturally provoked a reply in which a Jew, in the form of a dialogue with a Christian, controverted his exegesis …” [109] Whatever was in that Jewish writing, Luther erupted in vicious polemic, attacking not only through theology, but also in antagonistic ad hominem as well. Luther moved from his earlier writings of attacking Jewish theology to attacking Jewish people. [110] Still, Luther was not against the Jews for being “Jews”- he had no objections to integrating converted Jews into Christian society: “Now, in order to strengthen our faith, we want to deal with a few crass follies of the Jews in their belief arid their exegesis of the Scriptures, since they so maliciously revile our faith. If this should move any Jew to reform and repent, so much the better.” [111]
