Le Nouveau Testament est-il anti-juif ? L 'exemple de Matthieu et du livre des Actes

Résumé En

The Gospel of Matthew and the Book of Acts link Christian identity with a negative judgement of Israël : does this mean that they keep up a permanent denial of Judaism ? The first part of this article deals with the violent theological condemnation of Israël in Matthew and provides reasons for understanding this attitude and even for excusing it. The second part situates Matthew in the context of the sectarianization of Judaism in the Second Temple period and shows that Mt's polemic takes place in a larger process of self-justification in Jewish sects during the first century. Qumran does the same thing. It is therefore false to speak of «anti- Judaism» in Mt before the Gospel was canonized and had left internai debate in Judaism. Finally, the author analyses the image of Judaism which is given in Acts. It is ambivalent since Israël is depicted both as the unavoidable origin of Christianity and as the cause of hostility which made Paul address himself to the non-Jews in order to preach the Gospel. The author of Acts leaves the question of Israël' s eschatological salvation open.