During the National Geographic documentary on the ‘Gospel of Judas’, shown Sunday night (National Geographic Channel), several of the scholars, including Bart Ehrman & Elaine Pagels, made the claim that the four NT Gospels may have led to the holocaust. With scenes from the Nazi death camps as a backdrop, these scholars explained how the historical linkage of Judas with the Jews, and the negative treatment of Judas & Jewish religious leaders in the NT Gospels, may have seeded the ground that grew ‘The Holocaust’. Several Jewish scholars over the years have made such claims, and recently when the movie ‘The Passion’ came out similar concerns were voiced.
However, one must remember that Jesus & the disciples were all Jewish and worshipped in Jewish Synagogues & at the Jewish Temple. They did not oppose the Jewish religion, but did oppose the Jewish leaders of the 1st century and their contemporary teachings and interpretations. The writers of the Gospels were merely defending their own understanding of ‘true’ religion & their sect against the contemporary Jewish leadership. Later generations misinterpreted some of the texts and used them in persecuting the Jewish people. The original writers would undoubtedly be horrified to see how their writings were quoted and misused.
After WWII, Christian Leaders & Theologians have addressed these incorrect interpretations. The NT Gospels must be interpreted in their 1st century context. In that context, they are not anti-Semitic nor can they be.
*Note-Historical Fact: The Dialectical Materialism, Feuerbach, & especially Nietzsche, provided the philosophical underpinnings for the Nazi Movement. Also, Hitler was known to be heavily into the ‘occult’ and was not sympathetic to Christianity.