[Luther] was a clown. Here’s one for ya, On the Jews and Their Lies” (original German: Von den Juden und ihren Lügen) is a 65,000-word treatise written by Martin Luther in 1543, three years before his death. It is widely recognized as one of Luther’s most virulently antisemitic works, containing harsh theological polemics against Judaism, accusations of blasphemy and “lies,” and concrete recommendations for severe measures against Jewish communities in German territories.
Rome's defenders bring up Martin Luther's harsh writing against the Jews to discredit him entirely. They aim to demonstrate what he wrote was so morally bad, everything else he wrote was equally as bad. Why do they use this argument? Is it because Roman Catholicism has a spotless record of defending the Jewish people? Are they the watchdog of religious intolerance? No.
1. Sixteenth century Roman Catholicism wrote harshly against the Jews, and these writings had immediate and dire consequences.
2. Martin Luther's anti-Jewish writings were largely ignored by his associates, other Reformers, and political authorities. Roman Catholic recommendations were not ignored. They were implemented into society, causing harsh results: including the burning of synagogues, the destruction of Jewish books, intense economic hardship, banishment, and public execution.
This Beggars All entry was also provoked by the overview from these two reputable Reformation sources:
In 1553 all copies of the Talmud found in Rome were burned in public. Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) ordered measures to be taken against the Jews, and twenty-four men and one woman were burned at the stake. On July 12, 1555, he issued a bull that renewed all the oppressive medieval legislation against the Jews, excluding them from professions, limiting their financial and commercial activities, forbidding them to own real estate, and humiliating them by obliging them to wear yellow hats. The ghetto system spread throughout the Catholic half of Europe (Lewis W. Spitz, The Protestant Reformation (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1985), p. 357).
[Pope Paul IV] forced every Jew to wear a yellow hat and live in a ghetto with only one exit… He caused to be published the first Index of prohibited books… It caused a great burning of books throughout Italy... Ay Venice more than 10,000 books were burned on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. Sixtus of Siena [a converted Jew that became a Dominican] was sent to Cremona, where there was a great Hebrew school (for the destruction of the Talmud was ordered), and reported that he had burnt a store of 12,000 volumes…. Under an Inquisition with extended powers, and a pope ready to suspect everyone, there was almost a reign of terror in the city. "Even if my own father were a heretic," said the Pope, "I would gather the wood to burn him” [Owen Chadwick, The Reformation (New York: Penguin Books, 1964), p. 271).
Sixteenth Century Roman Catholicism Written Attacks on the Jews
Since it is completely senseless and inappropriate to be in a situation where Christian piety allows the Jews (whose guilt, all of their own doing, has condemned them to eternal slavery) access to our society and even to live among us; indeed, they are without gratitude to Christians, as, instead of thanks for gracious treatment, they return invective, and among themselves, instead of the slavery, which they deserve... (link)
Original text: Cum nimis absurdum et inconveniens existat ut iudaei, quos propria culpa perpetuae servituti submisit, sub praetextu quod pietas christiana illos receptet et eorum cohabitationem sustineat, christianis adeo sint ingrati, ut, eis pro gratia, contumelian reddant, et in eos, pro servitute, quam illis debent, dominatum vendicare procurent (link).
Furthermore, in each and every state, territory and domain in which they are living, they will have only one synagogue, in its customary location, and they will construct no other new ones, nor can they own buildings. Furthermore, all of their synagogues, besides the one allowed, are to be destroyed and demolished. And the properties, which they currently own, they must sell to Christians within a period of time to be determined by the magistrates themselves (link).
Original text: Et in singulis civitatibus, terris et locis in quibus habitaverint, unicam tantum synagogam in loco solito habeant, nec aliam de novo construere, aut bona immobilia possidere possint. Quinimmo omnes eorum synagogas, praeter unam tantum, demoliri et devastare. Ac bona immobilia, qua ad praesens possident, infra tempus eis per ipsos magistratus praesignandum, christianis vendere (link).
Moreover, concerning the matter that Jews should be recognizable everywhere: [to this end] men must wear a hat, women, indeed, some other evident sign, yellow in color, that must not be concealed or covered by any means, and must be tightly affixed [sewn]; and furthermore, they can not be absolved or excused from the obligation to wear the hat or other emblem of this type to any extent whatever and under any pretext whatsoever of their rank or prominence or of their ability to tolerate [this] adversity, either by a chamberlain of the Church, clerics of an Apostolic court, or their superiors, or by legates of the Holy See or their immediate subordinates (link).
Original text: Et ad hoc ut pro iudaeis ubique dignoscantur, masculi biretum, foeminae vero aliud signum patens, ita ut nullo modo celari aut abscondi possint, glauci coloris, palam deferre teneantur et adstricti sint; nec super non delatione bireti aut alterius signi huiusmodi, praetextu cuiusvis eorum gradus vel priaeminentiae seu toierantiae excusari, aut per eiusdem Ecclesiae camerarium vel Camerae Apostolicae clericos, seu alias illi praesidentes personas, aut Sedis Apostolicae legatos vel eorum vicelegatos quovis modo dispensari aut absolvi possint (link).
Also, they may not have nurses or maids or any other Christian domestic or service by Christian women in wet-nursing or feeding their children (link).
Original text: Nutrices quoque seu ancillas aut alias utriusque sexus servientes christianos habere, vel eorum infantes per mulieres christianas lactari aut nutriri facere (link).
And they may not presume in any way to play, eat or fraternize with Christians (link).
Original Text: Seu cum ipsis christianis ludere aut comedere vel familiaritatem seu conversationem habere nullatenus praesumant (link).
And those among them who are physicians, even if summoned and inquired after, cannot attend or take part in the care of Christians (link).
Original text: Et qui ex eis medici fuerint, etiam vocati et rogati, ad curam christianorum accedere aut illi interesse nequeant (link).
And they are not to be addressed as superiors [even] by poor Christians (link).
Original text: Nec se a pauperibus christianis dominos vocari patiantur (link).
And, should they, in any manner whatsoever, be deficient in the foregoing, it would be treated as a crime: in Rome, by us or by our clergy, or by others authorized by us, and in the aforementioned states, territories and domains by their respective magistrates, just as if they were rebels and criminals by the jurisdiction in which the offense takes place, they would be accused by all Christian people, by us and by our clergy, and could be punished at the discretion of the proper authorities and judges (Link).
Original text: Et si circa praemissa in aliquo quomodolibet defecerint, iuxta qualitatem deiicti, in Urbe per nos seu vicarium nostrum, aut alios a nobis deputandos, ac in civitatibus, terris et iocis praedictis per eosdem magistratus, etiam tamquam rebelles et criminis lesae maiestatis rei, ac toto populo christiano diffidati,. nostro et ipsorum vicarii, ac deputandorum et magistratuum arbitrio puniri possint (link).
When Pope Paul IV cancelled the protection of the Jews, one of the most severe results was the public execution of twenty-five Jews (The Ancona Auto-da-Fé of 1556):
One of the most harrowing episodes unfolded in Ancona, where a group of Portuguese marranos, including the notable physician Amato Lusitano, had found shelter under papal assurances of protection. Paul IV abruptly rescinded these protections, and in 1556, twenty-four marranos, including one woman, were burned alive in a brutal auto-da-fé (a public Inquisition execution) in the city square, while others were imprisoned. One prisoner took his own life in jail, twenty-seven were sent as galley slaves to Malta, and thirty managed to escape by bribing officials. A few found refuge in Pesaro under the protection of the Duke of Urbino, including Lusitano, who later fled to Salonika, where he died during a plague outbreak (link).
In the first year of his pontificate, [Pope Paul IV] not only renewed, but also abrogated, several indults and privileges by virtue of which the Jews protected themselves, and restored the same constitution of Paul's predecessor against them, and commanded that it be firmly observed; and finally, by other letters of his, he ordered them to be exiled for ever from all cities, lands, and places of temporal ecclesiastical jurisdiction, except the city of Rome and Ancona, as is more fully contained in their letters (Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum santorum romanorum pontificum 10:23).
Original text: ...pontificatus sui anno primo, non solum innovavit, sed etiam complura indulta et privilegia, quorum obtentu Iudaei se tuebantur, abrogando, eandem Pauli praedecessoris constitutionem adversus illa restituit ac firmiter observari praecipit; ac demum per alias suas litteras eos ab omnibus ditionis temporalis ecclesiasticae civitatibus, terris et locis, urbe Roma et Ancona exceptis, perpetuo exulare iussit, prout in eorum litteris latius continetur (Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum santorum romanorum pontificum 10:23).
[The Jews] ...have finally progressed to the point that, contrary to divine, natural, and human laws, by large and heavy interest rates of money, which they demand especially from the poor and needy, by illicit monopolies and usurious agreements, by frauds, deceits in contracting, and by fallacies, they have miserably exhausted, defrauded, and robbed many citizens and inhabitants of the temporal ecclesiastical jurisdiction where they reside, and have reduced especially men of small fortune, especially the rustics and simpletons, not only to extreme poverty and beggary, but almost to servitude; moreover, they have committed many and indeed graver crimes and atrocities themselves, and have most willingly rendered their assistance and whatever assistance they could to every lost and most wicked person committing crimes (Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum santorum romanorum pontificum 10:23).
Original text: Quibus postmodum, contra piam eorumdem praedecessorum mentem et intentionem, prave abutentes, eo tandem sunt progressi, ut adversus divinas, naturales humanasque leges, magnis et gravibus usuris pecuniarum, quas praesertim a pauperibus et egenis exigunt, monopoliis illicitis et foeneraticiis pactis, fraudibus, dolis in contrahendo, ac fallaciis, plurimos cives et incolas ditionis temporalis ecclesiasticae, ubi commorantur, misere exhauserint, circumvenerint, bonis spoliaverint, ac tenuis potissimum fortunae homines, praesertim rusticos et simplices, non solum ad extremam inopiam et mendicitatem, sed propemodum in servitutem redegerint; multa praeterea et quidem graviora scelera et flagitia, et ipsi commiserint, et perdito cuique ac nequissimo in facinoribus patrandis suam libentissime operam et quamcumque potuerunt opem praestiterint (Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum santorum romanorum pontificum, 10:23).
By this constitution of ours, which will be in force forever, we order and command that all and any Jews of either sex who are found in any of the cities of our entire temporal dominion, including those of Bologna and Benevento, towns, lands, camps and places, even those under the same dominion, barons and domiciliaries having any jurisdiction, pre-eminence, title, insignia or exemption, must absolutely, within three months from the day of the publication of the present letters to be made in the Roman Curia, have departed from the borders of the same temporal dominion and Ecclesiastical State and have emigrated to another. Rather, we order both them and others, if they perhaps come to the aforementioned State, to be exiled from the entire aforesaid dominion in the future, not only in our own, but also in perpetual future times, without any hope of being returned; so that any Jews, whether foreigners, present or future, in any city, town, land or place of the said jurisdiction, including those of the householders and barons of this kind, who are found whenever after the lapse of the aforementioned three months, shall be stripped of all their possessions, and the same shall be subject to the same tax laws, and each of them who is found to be of sufficient age and physical strength to sustain that punishment shall be condemned to the triremes for as long as he lives. And this shall be observed everywhere in the entire aforesaid State (excepting only the city of Rome and the cities of Avignon and Ancona), where we have deemed it appropriate to tolerate those who are currently residing there or elsewhere within the aforesaid State, if they prefer to return to the said cities rather than elsewhere, both for the aforementioned reasons and to pursue trade, negotiations and commerce with the Easterners, and because we hope that those, especially those who are closest to our and this See's view, will be tempered from evil deeds by fear of punishment and that some will more easily recognize the light of truth (Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum santorum romanorum pontificum,10:24).
Original text: Hac nostra perpetuo valitura constitutione praecipimus et mandamus ut omnes, et quicumque Iudaei utriuslibet sexus, qui in quibusvis ditionis nostrae temporalis universae civitatibus, etiam Bononiensi et Beneventanae, oppidis, terris, castris et locis, etiam sub eadem ditione consistentium, baronum et domicellorum quamcumque iurisdictionem, praeeminentiam, titulum, insignia seu exemptionem habentium, ad praesens reperiuntur, debeant omnino, intra tres menses, a die publicationis praesentium litterarum in Romana Curia faciendae numerandos, ex eiusdem ditionis temporalis et Status Ecclesiastici finibus discessisse, et alio commigrasse. Quin potius, tam illos quam alios, siqui fortasse ad praedictum Statum accedent, iubemus in posterum a tota ditione praefata, non solum nostris, sed etiam perpetuis futuris temporibus, sine ulla spe redditus, exulare; ita ut quicumque Iudaei, sive peregrini, praesentes aut futuri, in quavis dictae ditionis civitate, oppido, terra vel loco, etiam domicellorum et baronum huiusmodi, quandocumque post lapsum trium mensium praedictorum inventi fuerint, rebus omnibus spolientur, eaeque fisci iuribus applicentur, eorum vero unusquisque, qui aetate et corpore viribus satis firmis ad eam poenam substinendam reperietur, ad triremes, quoad vixerit, sit eo ipso damnatus. Idque in toto Statu praedicto ubique servetur (urbe Roma et Avenionensi atque Anconitana civitatibus dumtaxat exceptis) ubi eos, qui ad praesens ibidem vel alibi intra praedictum Statum degunt, si ad dictas potius civitates quam alio se recipere maluerint, et praedictis de causis, et ad prosequendas cum orientalibus mercaturae, negociationes et commercia, et quia illos praesertim, qui nostro et huius Sedis conspectui proximi sunt, poenae formidine a maleficiis temperaturos atque interdum aliquos lumen veritatis facilius agnituros speramus, censuimus tolerandos (Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum santorum romanorum pontificum,10:24).
And adding these things to them, to all and singular universities of the Hebrews, and to each of them, as well in the temporal dominion of the Holy Roman Church as also outside it in whatever places and in whatever parts of the Christian world they are established, we perpetually prohibit that they dare [to have] any books and impious Talmudic codices so often condemned, the most vain, kabbalistic, and other nefarious [books] prohibited and condemned by our predecessors, and also works, commentaries, treatises, volumes, and any writings whatsoever, whether composed in the Hebrew language or any other up to this time, or translated, published, and printed, or to be written, translated, published, or printed in the future, containing or comprising, tacitly or expressly, heresies or errors against the sacred scriptures of the Old Law and Testament; also insults, impieties, blasphemies against God, the most holy Trinity, and our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, and His holy Christian faith; and the most blessed Mary, His Mother ever Virgin, and the blessed Angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and other saints of God, the most sacred Cross, the sacraments of the New Law, sacred images, and the holy Catholic Church and the Apostolic See; and against the faithful of Christ, especially bishops, priests, and other ecclesiastical persons, and also against those newly converted to the same faith of Christ, and neophytes, and others against the Catholicism...(Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum santorum romanorum pontificum 10:26).
Original; text: Atque illis haec addentes, omnibus et quibuscumque universitatibus Hebraeorum, eorumque singulis, tam in temporali S. R. E. ditione quam etiam extra eam ubivis locorum et in quibusvis christiani orbis partibus consistant, perpetuo prohibemus ne quovis libros et codices impios Thalmudicos toties damnatos, vanissimos, cabalisticos atque alios nefarios a praedecessoribus nostris prohibitos et condemnatos, necnon opera, commentaria, tractatus, volumina et scripta quaecumque, sive lingua hebraica quam quavis alia hactenus conscripta, vel versa, edita et impressa, ut in posterum conscribenda vel vertenda, edenda aut imprimenda, continentes seu continentes, tacite vel expresse, haereses vel errores contra sacras Veteris Legis et Testamenti scripturas, necnon contumelias, impietates, blasphemias contra Deum, sanctissimam Trinitatem et Salvatorem nostrum Dominum Iesum Christum, illiusque sacram christianam fidem; ac beatissimam ipsius Genitricem semper Virginem Mariam, et beatos Angelos, patriarchas, prophetas, apostolos aliosque sanctos Dei, sacratissimam Crucem, novae Legis sacramenta, sacras imagines et sanctam catholicam ecclesiam et Sedem Apostolicam, ac contra christifideles, praesertim episcopos, sacerdotes et alias ecclesiasticas personas, atque etiam contra nuper ad eamdem Christi fidem conversos, neophytos et alios contra religionem... (Bullarum Diplomatum 10:26).
Moreover, [we revoke] all and any faculties, letters, permissions pardons, tolerances to read, hold, even for a certain or uncertain time, or on other pretexts, as preferred, any writings, volumes, books and other things prohibited abovementioned to any Jews, in general or in particular, by our predecessors and the said Apostolic See or its legates, also from the side or messengers or inquisitorial of heretical wickedness, or local Ordinaries or any others... (Bullarum Diplomatum 10:26).
Original text: Omnes vero et quascumque facultates, litteras, permissiones, indulta, tolerantias legendi, tenendi, etiam ad tempus certum vel incertum, vel aliis praetextibus quaecumque, ut praefertur, prohibita scripta, volumina, libros et alia supradicta quibusvis Iudaeis, in genere vel in specie, a praedecessoribus nostris et dicta Sede Apostolica seu eius legatis, etiam de latere vel nunciis aut inquisito ribus haereticae pravitatis, aut locorum Ordinariis vel quibusvis aliis...(Bullarum Diplomatum 10:26).
Therefore, we command our venerable brothers, both the cardinals, general inquisitors against heretical wickedness throughout the world, as well as the patriarchs, primates, archbishops, bishops and other local ordinaries and inquisitors of the same heretical wickedness, in whatever kingdoms, provinces and cities exist for the time being, by apostolic writings, that they and their individuals, in cities, lands and places where Jews reside, both in their synagogues and public and private places, in their homes or workshops and everywhere else, including among Christian booksellers, search most diligently for the aforementioned, thus forbidden books and writings, by themselves or by someone or others to be appointed by them, and against those who are found guilty of this kind of retention, to the aforementioned and other They shall proceed to the execution of the more severe penalties at their discretion. Whoever contradicts or disobeys, or who gives them aid, advice or favor, shall be restrained by appropriate remedies of law and fact, after an appeal; also invoking for this purpose, if necessary, the help of the secular arm (Bullarum Diplomatum 10:27).
Original text: Quocirca venerabilibus fratribus nostris, tam S. R. E. cardinalibus adversus haereticam pravitatem in toto terrarum orbe generalibus inquisitoribus, quam etiam patriarchis, primatibus, archiepiscopis, episcopis ceterisque locorum Ordinariis et inquisitoribus quibuscumque eiusdem haereticae pravitatis, in quibusvis regnis, provinciis et civitatibus pro tempore existentibus, per apostolica scripta mandamus quatenus ipsi et eorum singuli, in civitatibus, terris et locis, ubi Iudaei commorantur, tam in eorum synagogis et locis publicis quam privatis, domibus aut officinis et alias ubique locorum, etiam apud bibliopolas christianos praedictos, sic prohibitos libros et scripta, per se vel alium seu alios ab eis deputandos, diligentissime perquirant, et contra eos, qui super retentione huiusmodi culpabiles reperti fuerint, ad praedictarum et aliarum etiam graviorum eorum arbitrio poenarum exequutionem procedant. Contradictores necnon inobedientes quoscumque, eisve auxilium, consilium vel favorem praestantes, per opportuna iuris et facti remedia,appellatione postposita, compescendo; invocato etiam ad hoc, si opus fuerit, auxilio brachii saecularis (Bullarum Diplomatum 10:27).
Sixteenth Century Responses to Martin Luther's Anti-Jewish Writings
Most of Luther’s proposals [found in On the Jews and Their Lies] are paralleled in the other anti-Jewish literature of the period, but the specific formulation which follows may be attributed to him. Fortunately… most of the authorities proved unwilling to carry out his recommendations, whether out of horror at their inhumanity or out of self-interest (since Jews played an important role in the economy) (LW 47:268, fn. 173).
Already upon its first appearance in the year 1543, Luther’s treatise [On the Jews and Their Lies] caused widespread dismay, not only among contemporary Jews but also in Protestant circles. Melanchthon and Osiander are known to have been unhappy with its severity. Henry Bullinger, in correspondence with Martin Bucer, remarked that Luther’s views reminded him of those of the Inquisitors. And a subsequent document prepared by the churches of Zurich declared (speaking specifically of the treatise Vom Schem Hamphoras , published later in 1543), that “if it had been written by a swineherd, rather than by a celebrated shepherd of souls, it might have some—but very little—justification" (LW 47:123).
Nobody took Luther's programme seriously, and the new mandate of John Frederick in 1543, though severe, was on other lines. Three years later, as we shall see, Jews were still living unmolested in the Mansfeld area (Gordon Rupp, Martin Luther and the Jews (London: The Council of Christians and Jews, 1972), p. 18).
The question of Protestant acceptance or rejection of Luther's writings on the Jews is focused on his late, hate-filled polemics. Oberman has pointed out that Luther's close associate, Philipp Melanchthon, "was just as unhappy over the harsh writings on the Jews of the late Luther as were some of the leading city reformers." The Nuremberg Reformer and disciple of Luther, Osiander... wrote an anonymous apology for Luther's polemics. And Luther's lifelong colleague Justus Jonas used his role as Latin translator of Luther's writings against the Jews to do "his utmost to offset Luther's exasperated disenchantment with the mission to the Jews and in the process manages to draw an entirely novel and positive picture of them." This selective rejection of Luther is evident in the refusal of evangelical political authorities to follow through on Luther's recommendations. Because Luther was such an authority figure for Lutherans, it is striking that in 1611 when the Lutheran city of Hamburg asked the theological faculties of Jena and Frankfurt an der Oder whether the Jews fleeing from Portugal should have the right to remain in the city, both faculties answered in the affirmative. The Jena opinion self-consciously chose Luther's early, tolerant opinions over his later, intolerant ones. More important for future developments was the fact that Luther's portrayals and recommendations were not incorporated into the Lutheran confessional writings and Lutheran devotional literature. "For the decades after Luther's death all the evidence seems to support Lewin's thesis that Luther's late works on the Jews failed to achieve their intended effect” (Carter Lindberg, “Tainted Greatness: Luther’s Attitudes Toward Judaism and Their Historical Reception,” in Nancy A Harrowitz (ed.), Tainted Greatness: Antisemitism and Cultural Heroes, (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994), p. 23).
The reaction of contemporaries to Luther's anti-Jewish writings indicates fairly clearly that his readers saw a significant difference between the early and the later treatises. That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew appears to have been received with favor among Protestants, Jews, and Jewish converts (Marranos). Some Marranos in the Netherlands may even have translated the work into Spanish and sent copies to their brethren in Spain. The treatise may have even reached Palestine. It may also have encouraged several South Germans to work for the amelioration of the treatment of the Jews. On the other hand, it may have lent some support to the Catholic charge, aired, for instance, at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, that the Protestants had learned their doctrine from the Jews.
Protestant reaction was mixed. Melanchthon sent a copy of On the Jews and Their Lies to Landgrave Philipp of Hesse with the mild recommendation that the book contained "much useful teaching." When he sent a copy of On the Ineffable Name, however, he failed to add a similar recommendation. It is hard to say whether this indicates disapproval; generally speaking, Melanchthon was uncomfortable with the violent tone of many of the writings of the older Luther. Andreas Osiander of Nuremberg appears to have been critical of the work, although unwilling to confront Luther with his objections. Luther's Zurich opponents, the authors of the 1545 True Confession, branded Luther's On the Ineffable Name as "swinish" and "filthy," and remarked that had it been written by a swineherd and not by a famous shepherd of souls, there might have been some although little excuse for it (Mark U Edwards, Luther’s Last Battles (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983), p. 135).
...[I] seems that Luther’s sociopolitical recommendations regarding the Jewish people largely went ignored by contemporary political leaders. The violent internal struggle of Christianity turned the animus of the Lutheran Protestants away from Jews and onto Roman Catholics in the post-Luther Germany of the sixteenth century. Though a great deal more research needs to be done, it seems that the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries saw no significant employment of Luther’s Judenschriften on the part of German Protestants in the service of anti-Judaic or antisemitic goals. Luther's influence on Protestant approaches to the Jewish Question appears to have been rather uncertain until at least the late nineteenth, or perhaps the early twentieth century (Christopher J. Probst, Demonizing the Jews, pp. 57-58).
The immediate effects of Luther's final attacks against the Jews was minimal... Only in Electoral Saxony, Luther's home territory, were his radical steps against the Jews partially implemented. Jews could no longer travel through the territory in 1543 because of alleged attempts to convert Christians. But in Hesse and Brandenburg, Luther's advice, communicated in letters, was ignored (Eric W. Gritsch, Martin Luther's Anti-Semitism, p. 97).
Conclusion
This historical information above demonstrates why Roman Catholics bringing up Martin Luther's anti-Jewish writings are utilizing a very bad argument. Roman Catholicism treated the Jews harshly in the sixteenth century. If Luther's harsh attitude towards the Jews is proof that his theology is invalid, then similarly, Rome's theology is invalid by their own argument! If an argument also works against one's own position, it's not a valid argument! You've refuted yourself.
The story of Martin Luther's negativity towards the Jews is really to tell the story of medieval Christianity against the Jews. Luther wrote words. Roman Catholicism also utilized words... that resulted in immediate brutal action. Informed Roman Catholics realize this. I've rarely come across any thoughtful Roman Catholic utilizing Luther's writings against the Jews. They realize their Roman Catholic atrocities far surpass anything Luther wrote on the Jews.
Addendum: Roman Catholic Attacks Against Lutherans
Not only did Roman Catholicism write and act harshly against the Jews, but they also attacked another group.... a people known as "Lutherans."
On all these we decree the sentences of excommunication, of anathema, of our perpetual condemnation and interdict; of privation of dignities, honours and property on them and their descendants, and of declared unfitness for such possessions; of the confiscation of their goods and of the crime of treason; and these and the other sentences, censures and punishments which are inflicted by canon law on heretics and are set out in our aforesaid missive, we decree to have fallen on all these men to their damnation. We add to our present declaration, by our Apostolic authority, that states, territories, camps, towns and places in which these men have temporarily lived or chanced to visit, along with their possessions—cities which house cathedrals and metropolitans, monasteries and other religious and sacred places, privileged or unprivileged—one and all are placed under our ecclesiastical interdict, while this interdict lasts, no pretext of Apostolic Indulgence (except in cases the law allows, and even there, as it were, with the doors shut and those under excommunication and interdict excluded) shall avail to allow the celebration of mass and the other divine offices. We prescribe and enjoin that the men in question are everywhere to be denounced publicly as excommunicated, accursed, condemned, interdicted, deprived of possessions and incapable of owning them. They are to be strictly shunned by all faithful Christians (Pope Leo X, Decet Romanum 1521).
Original text: nominatim exprimi possent, decernimus excommunicationis et etiam anathematis, necnon maledictionis aeternae et interdicti, ac in eos et eorum descendentes dignitatum, honorum et bonorum privationis et inhabilitationis ad illa, necnon bonorum confiscationis et criminis laesae maiestatis et alias sententias, censuras et poenas, etiam in haereticos a canonibus inflictas, in dictis literis contentas, damnabiliter incidisse. Civitates quoque, terras, castra, oppida et loca, in quibus tunc pro tempore fuerint, et ad quae eos declinare contigerit, ac quae in illis sunt, ac alias etiam cathedrales et metropolitanas, monasteria et alia religiosa et pia loca, etiam exempta et non exempta, quaecumque ecclesiastico interdicto supposita esse; ita ut, illo durante, praetextu cuiusvis indulti apostolici, praeterquam in casibus a iure permissis, et in illis, non alias quam ianuis clausis ac excommunicatis et interdictis exclusis, nequeant missae et alia divina officia celebrari, apostolica auctoritate, tenore praesentium, declaramus; illosque pro excommunicatis et anathematizatis, maledictis, interdictis, privatis et inhabilibus, ubicumque locorum denunciari et publicari, ac ab omnibus christifidelibus arctius evitari praecipimus et mandamus (Bullarum Romanum vol. 5:762).
Since, therefore, Luther and his followers condemn the councils of the holy fathers, burn the sacred canons, and confuse all things according to their own whim and disturb the whole world, it is manifest that they, as public enemies and disturbers of the peace, ought to be exterminated by all lovers of that same peace (Instruktion des Papstes Adrian VI, Google translate).
Original text: Cum igitur Lutherus et sui concilia sanctorum patrum condemnant,sacros canones conburant et cuncta pro arbitrio suo confundant ac totum mundum perturbent, manifestum est eos tanquam publice pacis inimicos et perturbatores ab omnibus eiusdem pacis amatoribus exterminandos esse. (Instruktion des Papstes Adrian VI).
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