✝️ The Logos and the Threats to Christian Civilization
The author begins his analysis with Pope Benedict XVI's speech in Regensburg, which reaffirmed the centrality of Logos (Divine Reason) in the Christian faith and the European civilization that flourished from it. The Pope, citing Manuel II Palaiologos, contrasted the Christian view of a God who acts with Logos with the Islamic view, where God's will can be arbitrary and not necessarily rational. Jones agrees with the Pope's analysis of Islam but argues that it tells only "half the story" (p. 14). The other half, and the most dangerous for Christendom because it is an internal threat, is the Jewish attack on Logos.
Unlike Islam, which "did not understand Christ" (p. 15), the Jewish people were directly confronted with the Messiah, the incarnate Logos. Their decision to reject Him constitutes the turning point of history. From that moment on, the word "Jew," especially in the Gospel of St. John, acquires a precise theological meaning: a "rejecter of Christ" (p. 15). Those who accepted Jesus became known as Christians, forming the New Israel. Those who rejected Him, on the other hand, became "the Jews," who in the book of Revelation are described as "liars and members of the 'synagogue of Satan'" (Rev 2:9, 3:9). By rejecting Christ, the Jewish people rejected the Logos and, consequently, the principles of social and moral order that emanate from Divine Reason, thus becoming revolutionaries.
This revolutionary spirit, born at the foot of the Cross, manifested itself fully after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, when Judaism was reconstituted as a rabbinical religion based on the Talmud. This new form intensified the revolutionary spirit "by teaching Jews to look for a military Messiah" (p. 16). The rise of Simon bar Kokhba, acclaimed as Messiah by the rabbis, sealed this identity: the final criterion of Jewish identity became the rejection of Christ, and "this rejection led inexorably to revolution" (p. 16).
🕎 The Definition of "Jew" and Modern Denial
The author addresses the contemporary difficulty of defining the term "Jew," criticizing what he sees as a political taboo that prevents any categorical analysis. Citing Hilaire Belloc, he states that "calling a Jew a Jew" (p. 16) has become, in itself, evidence of anti-Semitism. This unwritten rule serves as a political tool: it allows the term to be used when Jews are victims, but prohibits its use when they are perpetrators, in a logic of "heads, I win; tails, you lose" (p. 17).
Contrary to this modern denial, the Catholic perspective insists that "there is a definite Jewish people who will endure until the end of time" (p. 17). The author establishes a working definition for "Jew," citing Jewish scholar Jacob Neusner to distinguish between the ethnic group and practitioners of the religion ("Judaists"). The central thesis of the book is reaffirmed when Neusner admits that Christianity plays a unique role in defining who is a Jew: "Jews who practice Christianity cease to be part of the Jewish ethnic community, while those who practice Buddhism remain within it" (p. 18). This, for Jones, demonstrates that Jewish identity has become essentially negative, defined by its opposition to the Logos.
This enmity is found explicitly in the Talmud, which, according to scholar Peter Schaefer, contains a "deliberate and sophisticated anti-Christian polemic" (p. 18), mocking the virgin birth, denying Christ's messiahship, and justifying His execution. Paradoxically, the author points out that the Talmud itself "unwittingly confirms" Christ's messiahship, as in the account that the scarlet thread in the Temple stopped turning white at the moment of His death, indicating that the sacrifices had lost their efficacy (p. 19).
⛪ The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit and the Church's Response
The book's thesis is not racial, but theological and spiritual. Anyone, including a Jew, can follow the Logos. However, having "the rejection of the Superior Logos at the inevitable core of their religion" means that "a revolutionary spirit is intertwined with this community" (p. 20). This spirit does not manifest in isolation, but historically in alliance with Christian heresies that also attack Christ and the Church. As an example, the author cites John Henry Newman's analysis of the alliance between Arians and Jews in the 4th century, where Jews demonstrated a "spontaneous feeling that the side of heresy was their natural position" (p. 20-21).
The Church's traditional response to this internal threat of subversion was the doctrine codified by Pope Gregory the Great, known as "Sicut Iudeis non..." (p. 21). This doctrine has two essential parts: on the one hand, no one has the right to harm Jews or disturb their worship; on the other hand, Jews do not have the right to "corrupt the faith or morals of Christians or subvert Christian societies" (p. 21). The author offers the pastoral letter of Cardinal Hlond, primate of Poland, from 1936, as a classic example of this balanced doctrine. Hlond warned of the corrupting influence of Bolshevism, which he identified as an "essentially Jewish movement" (p. 22), but at the same time unequivocally condemned violence and racial hatred against Jews, which he saw being imported from Nazi Germany.
It is here that the author delivers his most scathing criticism of the post-Vatican II era. The conciliar document Nostra Aetate, which was supposed to inaugurate a new era of dialogue, resulted, in Jones's view, in a capitulation of the Church. The dialogue led to Jewish accusations that the heart of the Gospel is "supersessionism" and a "teaching of contempt" that culminated in the Holocaust. This theological capitulation, according to the author, opened the doors to political disasters, such as Catholic support for the rise of neoconservative foreign policy in the United States and the consequent "disastrous war in Iraq" (p. 24).
The conclusion of the introduction is a call to end what the author considers the confusion of the post-conciliar era and a return to the "wisdom of tradition" (p. 24). The recent restoration of the 1962 Good Friday prayer by Pope Benedict XVI, which explicitly asks for the conversion of the Jews "that they may acknowledge the light of your truth, which is Christ, and be delivered from their darkness" (p. 23), is seen as a promising sign that this era of ambiguity is coming to an end. The book, therefore, is presented as a contribution to this necessary re-examination of the relations between the Church and the revolutionary spirit that was born from the rejection of Logos.
The author begins his analysis with Pope Benedict XVI's speech in Regensburg, which reaffirmed the centrality of Logos (Divine Reason) in the Christian faith and the European civilization that flourished from it. The Pope, citing Manuel II Palaiologos, contrasted the Christian view of a God who acts with Logos with the Islamic view, where God's will can be arbitrary and not necessarily rational. Jones agrees with the Pope's analysis of Islam but argues that it tells only "half the story" (p. 14). The other half, and the most dangerous for Christendom because it is an internal threat, is the Jewish attack on Logos.
Unlike Islam, which "did not understand Christ" (p. 15), the Jewish people were directly confronted with the Messiah, the incarnate Logos. Their decision to reject Him constitutes the turning point of history. From that moment on, the word "Jew," especially in the Gospel of St. John, acquires a precise theological meaning: a "rejecter of Christ" (p. 15). Those who accepted Jesus became known as Christians, forming the New Israel. Those who rejected Him, on the other hand, became "the Jews," who in the book of Revelation are described as "liars and members of the 'synagogue of Satan'" (Rev 2:9, 3:9). By rejecting Christ, the Jewish people rejected the Logos and, consequently, the principles of social and moral order that emanate from Divine Reason, thus becoming revolutionaries.
This revolutionary spirit, born at the foot of the Cross, manifested itself fully after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, when Judaism was reconstituted as a rabbinical religion based on the Talmud. This new form intensified the revolutionary spirit "by teaching Jews to look for a military Messiah" (p. 16). The rise of Simon bar Kokhba, acclaimed as Messiah by the rabbis, sealed this identity: the final criterion of Jewish identity became the rejection of Christ, and "this rejection led inexorably to revolution" (p. 16).
🕎 The Definition of "Jew" and Modern Denial
The author addresses the contemporary difficulty of defining the term "Jew," criticizing what he sees as a political taboo that prevents any categorical analysis. Citing Hilaire Belloc, he states that "calling a Jew a Jew" (p. 16) has become, in itself, evidence of anti-Semitism. This unwritten rule serves as a political tool: it allows the term to be used when Jews are victims, but prohibits its use when they are perpetrators, in a logic of "heads, I win; tails, you lose" (p. 17).
Contrary to this modern denial, the Catholic perspective insists that "there is a definite Jewish people who will endure until the end of time" (p. 17). The author establishes a working definition for "Jew," citing Jewish scholar Jacob Neusner to distinguish between the ethnic group and practitioners of the religion ("Judaists"). The central thesis of the book is reaffirmed when Neusner admits that Christianity plays a unique role in defining who is a Jew: "Jews who practice Christianity cease to be part of the Jewish ethnic community, while those who practice Buddhism remain within it" (p. 18). This, for Jones, demonstrates that Jewish identity has become essentially negative, defined by its opposition to the Logos.
This enmity is found explicitly in the Talmud, which, according to scholar Peter Schaefer, contains a "deliberate and sophisticated anti-Christian polemic" (p. 18), mocking the virgin birth, denying Christ's messiahship, and justifying His execution. Paradoxically, the author points out that the Talmud itself "unwittingly confirms" Christ's messiahship, as in the account that the scarlet thread in the Temple stopped turning white at the moment of His death, indicating that the sacrifices had lost their efficacy (p. 19).
⛪ The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit and the Church's Response
The book's thesis is not racial, but theological and spiritual. Anyone, including a Jew, can follow the Logos. However, having "the rejection of the Superior Logos at the inevitable core of their religion" means that "a revolutionary spirit is intertwined with this community" (p. 20). This spirit does not manifest in isolation, but historically in alliance with Christian heresies that also attack Christ and the Church. As an example, the author cites John Henry Newman's analysis of the alliance between Arians and Jews in the 4th century, where Jews demonstrated a "spontaneous feeling that the side of heresy was their natural position" (p. 20-21).
The Church's traditional response to this internal threat of subversion was the doctrine codified by Pope Gregory the Great, known as "Sicut Iudeis non..." (p. 21). This doctrine has two essential parts: on the one hand, no one has the right to harm Jews or disturb their worship; on the other hand, Jews do not have the right to "corrupt the faith or morals of Christians or subvert Christian societies" (p. 21). The author offers the pastoral letter of Cardinal Hlond, primate of Poland, from 1936, as a classic example of this balanced doctrine. Hlond warned of the corrupting influence of Bolshevism, which he identified as an "essentially Jewish movement" (p. 22), but at the same time unequivocally condemned violence and racial hatred against Jews, which he saw being imported from Nazi Germany.
It is here that the author delivers his most scathing criticism of the post-Vatican II era. The conciliar document Nostra Aetate, which was supposed to inaugurate a new era of dialogue, resulted, in Jones's view, in a capitulation of the Church. The dialogue led to Jewish accusations that the heart of the Gospel is "supersessionism" and a "teaching of contempt" that culminated in the Holocaust. This theological capitulation, according to the author, opened the doors to political disasters, such as Catholic support for the rise of neoconservative foreign policy in the United States and the consequent "disastrous war in Iraq" (p. 24).
The conclusion of the introduction is a call to end what the author considers the confusion of the post-conciliar era and a return to the "wisdom of tradition" (p. 24). The recent restoration of the 1962 Good Friday prayer by Pope Benedict XVI, which explicitly asks for the conversion of the Jews "that they may acknowledge the light of your truth, which is Christ, and be delivered from their darkness" (p. 23), is seen as a promising sign that this era of ambiguity is coming to an end. The book, therefore, is presented as a contribution to this necessary re-examination of the relations between the Church and the revolutionary spirit that was born from the rejection of Logos.