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Document Details : Title: Volk van God Subtitle: Een misvatting in 'vervangingstheologie' en in de verwerping ervan Author(s): DEN BOK, Nico Journal: Tijdschrift voor Theologie Volume: 59 Issue: 1 Date: 2019 Pages: 20-34 DOI: 10.2143/TVT.59.1.3285792 Abstract : The term ‘replacement theology’ or ‘supersessionism’ features regularly in discussions on the church and Israel. This concerns the claim the church made at an early stage in its history, viz. that it is the true Israel and has therefore, after Christ, taken the Jewish people’s place in the divine order. Opinions on this subject are strongly divided and highly emotionally charged in Dutch theology, but on one thing people do agree: supersessionism is no longer acceptable. This article attempts a critical evaluation of the positive aspects of this claim. Both in the reproach and in the rejection of supersessionism there is a shared conviction which appears to be self-evident to such an extent that is hardly ever voiced. It seems to be taken for granted that God’s people – the community God assembles on earth – was initially ethical (and therefore private), and only later, after Christ, gained a spiritual (and therefore universal) character. The first two sections of this article show that this assumption is highly contestable, not just in Paul, but even in the Old Testament. It is in fact an echo of a modern dualism, unjustly projected backwards onto Biblical and classical Christian theology. The final section shows how this biblical-theological insight and its systematic guideline offer a new perspective for the approach of the current discussion on the church and Israel, and a way to end the disastrous polarisation of the debate in the Netherlands. Three aspects are chosen: God’s promise to Abraham (that is irrevocable), the nature of the church (as distinct from God’s people) and the current state of Israel (which may or may not have God’s blessing). These subjects will each gain their own colour and weight if it is assumed that God’s people is not an ethnic group or a community of faith, but has always, from the beginning until today, been a physical and spiritual community, based first and foremost on faith and imitation of the Lord. This has not changed with the coming and the works of Christ. |
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