The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #112434   Message #2386361
Posted By: Phil Edwards
11-Jul-08 - 04:50 AM
Thread Name: Was 'Lord of the Dance' anti-semitic?
Subject: RE: Was 'Lord of the Dance' anti-semitic?
Yes, Gerry, you've explained why you're offended by LotD. Actually you explained it perfectly well in your first comment on this thread, nine days ago(!). Let's refresh our memories:

The verse,

I danced on the Sabbath
And I cured the lame;
The holy people
Said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped
And they hung me on high,
And they left me there
On a Cross to die.

accuses the Jews ("The holy people") - not the Pharisees, but the Jews - of crucifying Jesus.


Nobody, as far as I can see, agrees with your interpretation of the line
'They whipped and they stripped and they hung me on high'
to mean
'The holy people [subject of the preceding sentence] whipped and they stripped and they hung me high'

I am not at all surprised that nobody agrees with this reading, as there's no support for it either in Christian tradition or in the Bible. The Romans scourged, stripped and crucified Jesus; the Gospels are quite clear on that point.

Nobody, as far as I can see, agrees with your interpretation of the preceding line 'The holy people said it was a shame' to mean 'the Jews said it was a shame'.

Again, I am not at all surprised that nobody agrees with you on this, as there's no support for it either in common usage or in the work of Sydney Carter.

With respect, Gerry, you're thinking like an antisemite - you're looking for any possibility of an interpretation which would support an antisemitic reading. Relax - there's nothing there.