[Marcus Marulus]

I recalled a locus from one of the Homilies Against Jews by John Chrysostome, where he said, speaking of the Jews: "Although those Jews had been called to the adoption of sons, they fell to kinship with dogs; we who were dogs received the strength, through God's grace, to put aside the irrational nature which was ours and to rise to the honor of sons." (Homily 1, II, 1)

As for Paul's passage, I read it through last evening and read some interpretations thereof by Church tradition and I concluded that this passage is usually understood as announcing a hope for the conversion of the whole Israel, for the accepting of Christ on their part, which is the prerequisite for salvation. The fact that it is said that Israel is still cherished on the account of their fathers does not imply chosenness of the earthly Israel, but a ardent wish of God that the descendants of those who were originally chosen accept Christ and attain salvation. The traditional Roman Catholic mass had a famous sentence for centuries, which called for the conversion of Jews (pro conversione perfidorum Iudaeorum), that they accept Christ in their heart and abandon their obstinacy in unbelief. This "prayer for the Jews" was abandoned by the Second Vatican Council.

The fact still remains that neither Roman Catholic nor Eastern Orthodox Chruch never claimed (apart of some scattered heretical teachings) that Jews were still chosen after the rejection of Jesus Christ. In both these churches tradition and traditional interpretations of Bible were considered as important for the definition of the ecclesiastical doctrine and of the articles of faith as the very text of Bible. Since the Protestant Reformation and its principle of "free and individual interpretation of the Scripture" gained momentum, different passages from Bible have been (ab)used and twisted around, in order to justify all kinds of perversions, "Christian Zionism" being one among the worst.

Not that I say that Bible should not be read, but only interpretations, which should be blindly obeyed. On the contrary, I think that reading Bible is a good thing, but some sort of spiritual preparation, so to say, is needed. Once I recall reading in a textbook of theology that theological conclusions have always (at least in the Western tradition) been guided by three basic principles: the text of the Scripture, tradition and common sense.