Israel

The vagueness of the term antisemitism – especially with regard to its origins – renders it controversial. It was first introduced and deployed in 1879 as the programmatic self-designation of a political-social movement – the “Anti-Semitic league” (“Antisemitenliga”) – whose goal was to combat Judaism. Currently, the term is mostly used colloquially either as a noun (antisemitism, antisemites) or as an attribute (antisemitic). It serves its purpose as a tried and tested term that remains discursively effective and whose role is to identify expressions, attitudes, and practices that are rooted in an antisemitic attitude or that can be interpreted as antisemitic. It is, however, disputed whether and to what extent religiously motivated anti-judaism, national anti-Zionism, and politically motivated hostility toward Israel can all be subsumed equally under, and thought about by means of, this colloquially used “container-term” (Containerbegriff).

The theme of justice and righteousness, as both God’s and human justice and righteousness, plays a central role in the biblical writings and shapes the Christian understanding of justice and righteousness. While this theme was often interpreted in the past primarily in relation to the forgiveness of the individual’s sins through God’s merciful righteousness, God’s justice is today increasingly understood also as God’s justice-establishing action in history and related to the practice of justice among believers. In light of the injustices of the world, justice and righteousness remain central to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue as well.
This article is a translation from the German; the original term Gerechtigkeit like the Greek term dikaiosyne, encompasses both justice and righteousness. The translation therefore renders the term according to context, using justice where social, relational, legal, restorative, and liberative dimensions are foregrounded, and righteousness where soteriological, Pauline, christological, or justificatory dimensions are at issue. The theological interrelation between justice and righteousness is crucial for understanding the argument of this article, since the German term Gerechtigkeit holds together dimensions that English often separates: God’s saving and justifying righteousness, God’s justice-establishing action in history, and the corresponding practice of justice among human beings.