Supersessionism

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Supersessionism refers to the concept that the New Testament supersedes the Old Testament. But it can also refer to vaguely related ideas that the Church supersedes ancient Israel, that the Church fulfills the missions Israel held, or simply that Christianity brings something new.

The term developed in Protestant scholarship in the 1970s and 1980s, and is uncommon in Orthodox literature. Its normal use is to portray traditional Church teachings on these questions, often in a negative light.

"Supersession" as a simple concept

"Supersession" comes from the word "supersede", which means “to set above; to make void or inoperative by a superior authority; to stay, suspend or supplant” [1] It can also mean to overrule, override, or replace the function of something.

For example, an amendment to a law supersedes the original law, a governor's pardon overrules a sentence prescribed by law, and a remodeled home or car replaces the old one. Note that in each of these cases that which is superseded may remain in existence or operation fully or partially. Consequently, supersession may cause the new thing to remove, modify, affect, or only add to the previous one.

"Supersession" in Orthodoxy

Orthodox writers on occasion use the term "supersession" to describe the relationship between the Old and New Testaments or between certain ideas in them. According to the Orthodox Study Bible, an Orthodox priest is not merely reenacting the ancient Israelite priesthood, but is "a minister of a new covenant that supersedes the old"[2].

Fr. Evan Armatas of Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church uses it to describe the relative importance of parts of the Bible:

The New Testament, as we call it, is the last part of the Christian Bible, and we accept both Old and New, although we do believe that the New Testament supersedes the Old. Within the New...
If you do not have the framework that the New Testament supersedes the Old, you’re going to run into some theological problems. People do this all the time. They’ll quote something in the Old Testament to contradict what the Church teaches, and we don’t do that in the Church. In the Church, we keep the hierarchy of the Bible by the way we do it liturgically. Where is the Gospel? On the altar table. Where [are] the epistles and the Old Testament? Out on the side. [3]

Pope St. Leo the Great in his Sermon on the Passion described Old Testament elements as ceasing, or passing into or changing into New Testament ones, noting that "the True Sheep had to supersede the sheep which was its antitype".[4] The idea of Typology in the Old Testament prophesying the new one is an important concept in Orthodox theology.

The Church father Tertullian commented: "the Creator indeed promised that "the ancient things should pass away,"(Is 43:18-19, 65:17; II Cor 5:17) to be superseded by a new course of things which should arise, whilst Christ marks the period of the separation."[5] Tertullian commented on the Apostle Paul's words that God "called you to His grace to another gospel"(Gal 1:6-7) by explaining that St. Paul means “'another' as to the conduct it prescribes, not in respect of its worship; … because it is the office of Christ’s gospel to call men from the law to grace."[6]

Clarifying the Church's use of "Supersession"

Despite the New Testament's precedence, and despite certain Old Testament ritual elements ceasing or changing, the Old Testament continues to have importance. For example, it remains an important source of learning, as St. Paul writes: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine and for instruction in righteousness”. (II Tim 3:16)

Maximus the Confessor sees the two Testaments as complementary, writing: “The Old Testament provides to the knowledgeable man the modes of virtues. The New Testament gives the practical man the words of true knowledge.”[7]

As to the relationship between ancient Israel and the Church, there is a continuation between the two as St. Paul described it in Romans 11. There he portrayed Israel as a spiritual community from whom some branches had been broken off, while others (gentile Christians) had been grafted in, while keeping the hope that the broken branches would return.

Criticisms of the term "Supersession"

While the term might describe certain Orthodox views, it is uncommon among Orthodox worldwide, since an exact translation does not exist in Slavic languages. It is also rare in patristic writings.

The term may cause confusion because supersession can refer to a new thing either adding onto an older thing that still remains (eg. adding a new provision onto a law), or to an older thing being destroyed in every sense (eg. a law that has been canceled).

"Supersessionism" as an ideology

Supersessionism makes supersession into an ideology, or "ism". This ideology is very rarely mentioned by Orthodox writers. Yet it is increasingly discussed by Protestant ones, whose definitions of it vary wildly: from the simple, fundamental belief that Christianity brought "something better" into the world[8] to one where the Church's fulfillment of Israel's role supposedly condemns the Jews as a racial group.[9]

Orthodox Approval of Supersessionism

In 2012 Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, Dr Nicolas Abou-Mrad of the St. John of Damascus Theology Institute, and Fr. Demetrios Tonias participated in an ecumenical consultation on Christianity and Judaism, which concluded that "supersession" carries a proper descriptive meaning in the Orthodox tradition, but the term is "problematic when negatively applied vis-à-vis Judaism."[10]

Fr. Tonias of Holy Archangels Greek Orthodox Church portrayed these words of Justin Martyr as "supersessionism":

As therefore from the one man Jacob, who was surnamed Israel, all your nation has been called Jacob and Israel, we from Christ, who begat us unto God, like Jacob, and Israel, and Judah, and Joseph, and David, are called and are the true sons of God, and keep the commandments of Christ.[11]

Fr. Tonias wrote that St. Gregory of Nyssa would be considered "supersessionist" because he depicted “Moses and other figures of the Jewish Bible as kinsmen, fellow members of Israel, after which the members of the New Covenant should pattern their lives.”[12] Fr. Tonias said that the New Testament contained supersessionist language (citing Acts 15:14, 1 Pet. 2:10). He added that "the more refined" discussions in the early church on the topic came from polemics, but that Orthodoxy cannot easily dismiss the views of Justin Martyr and Melito of Sardis because patristic writings are "formative" for the Church.[13]

Orthodox Criticism of Supersessionism

In the "Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity", Prof. Eugene Pentiuc of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, called supersessionism a "danger" discernible in Biblical passages[14], adding that it was especially pronounced in writings about Old Testament Typology. He wrote that "many early Christian writings" portray the New Testament and the Church as superseding the Old Testament and what he calls the "old Israel".[15] The entry claims that supersessionism fueled "anti-Jewish sentiment" and devalued the Old Testament, but that "the church as a whole has [kept] the two Testaments in a dialectical unity, in the main avoiding... supersessionism as [a] danger."[16]

Fr. Yves Dubois of St. John Kronstadt Church pointed out that while in Luke 2:32 Simeon called Christ "the glory of thy people Israel", a hymn in the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord has Simeon call Christ "the glory of the newly-chosen Israel."[17] He wrote that this twists Scriptural texts to make "Judaism and the Jewish community redundant, substituting the Gentile Church for Israel." He defines "supersessionism" as this substitution of "the Gentile Christian Church for the people of Israel" after God had made promises to Israel. Fr. Dubois writes that it "is theologically untenable because it questions God's consistency."

This hinges on the liturgy's insertion of the phrase "newly-chosen Israel". The phrase "New Israel" is common in Orthodox writing. Herman Blaydoe, the Orthodox Monachos forum moderator, comments on the term:

The Church is the continuation of Israel. We call it the New Israel, not because it no longer includes the Jewish people, but because it now includes ALL people. It goes beyond what it was; it does not replace what was before.[18]

Thus Fr. Feodor Lyudogovsky comments about the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord that the hymn writer's paraphrase contains the perspective revealed with "the Incarnation - Christ's Church, the newly chosen Israel, in which yesterday's gentiles and believing Jews became, in the Savior's words (John 10:16), one flock."[19]

References

  1. Kendrick Kinney: A Law Dictionary and Glossary, 1893, Callaghan and Company, p. 642
  2. Orthodox Study Bible, Conciliar Press, p. 1635
  3. Fr. Evan Armatas, "Formation of the New Testament Canon", Ancient Faith Radio. http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/transforminglives/formation_of_the_new_testament_canon
  4. St. Leo the Great, On the Passion, VII. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360358.htm
  5. Tertullian, Against Marcion, Book 3, Chapter 2. http://st-takla.org/books/en/ecf/003/0030448.html
  6. Id.
  7. St Maximus the Confessor, Exegesis of Zechariah 4:1–3
  8. Rabbi David Novak, "The Covenant in Rabbinic Thought", printed in Eugene Korn, "Two Faiths, One Covenant" p.67, cited with approval in "One Covenant of Grace", Committee on Church Doctrine Recommendation No. 2, Presbyterian Church of Canada, 2011. http://presbyterian.ca/wp-content/uploads/referrals_2011_one_covenant_of_grace_study_document_re_engagement_with_jewish_people.pdf
  9. "A Theological Understanding of the Relationship between Christians and Jews", General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), 1987. http://www.notredamedesion.org/en/dialogue_docs.php?a=2&id=65&categoria=altrechiese
  10. Rev. Dr Shanta Premawardhana, “A Report of the Intra-Christian Consultation on Christian Self-Understanding in Relation to Judaism”, Current Dialogue, Dec. 2012, p. 12. http://www.oikoumene.org/en/what-we-do/current-dialogue-magazine/dialogue-53
  11. Fr. Demetrios Tonias, “Sharing the Inheritance: An Orthodox Christian View of the Church as New Israel in the Context of the Contemporary Jewish-Christian Dialogue”, Current Dialogue, Dec. 2012, p.51.
  12. Id.
  13. Id.
  14. Cited are: Mat 21:33-46, Gal 3:24-5, Rom 10:4
  15. Prof. Eugene Pentiuc, “Judaism, Orthodoxy and”, cited in Fr. John McGuckin The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, p. 356.
  16. Id.
  17. Fr. Yves Dubois, "An Orthodox Perspective", cited in "Christian-Jewish Dialogue", edited by Helen Fry, 1996, p.34
  18. Orthodoxy and Supersessionism, Monachos Forum, http://www.monachos.net/conversation/topic/7236-the-orthodox-church-and-supersessionism/page-2
  19. Fr. Feodor Lyudogovsky, "Сретение Господне: Ветхий днями – значит Вечный", February 14, 2013. http://www.nsad.ru/articles/sretenie-gospodne-vethij-dnyami-znachit-vechnyj

See Also

External link

Alternate URL address for the article: Is the Orthodox Church “Supersessionist”?

Alternate URL address: Supersession and Continuance: The Orthodox Church's Perspective on Supersessionism