The day before the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue last fall, my "Christian Traditions" class at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., had just spent 90 minutes reading and discussing an 11th-century document from the First Crusade entitled "The Slaughter of the Rhineland Jews." For most of the students in that class — almost all of them committed Catholics — this was the very first time they had encountered their own faith tradition's role in historical anti-Semitism and violence.
We also read about William of Norwich, a 12th-century boy whose murder was blamed on the local Jewish community, and whose legend gave rise to the grotesque and longstanding fantasy of Jewish "blood libel." When class reconvened the week after the shooting, the readings had taken on a grave new resonance for my students. They wanted to continue the conversation on anti-Semitism and bring it to a wider audience. So I partnered with a few colleagues — Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant — to organize a public forum for faculty, students, and community members designed to promote reflection about anti-Semitism in Green Bay, Wis., in the New Testament, and in Catholic history. My topic was the slaughter of the Rhineland Jews.
Read Full Article »