'Gentiles'

[Dilbertian]

Today I was chatting with a small group of people and we got onto the subject of how different faiths view various things. I was the only Jewish person in the group. One of the others kept referring to himself, and to non-Jewish people in general, as 'a gentile'/'gentiles', but only within the context of Jewish ways, not of any other faith's ways.

It made me a bit uncomfortable. I would never use that expression. I would say non- or not Jewish, just as I would say non- or not Muslim. I don't think 'gentile' is offensive, so I'm not sure why I'm bothered by it.

Would you use 'gentile' to refer to non-Jews? Would you use it to refer to people who are not of any other religion?

I'm a Christian and use the term, although almost exclusively in conversation with other gentiles. It comes up a lot in the New Testament.

If he had said "non-Jewish people" would that have been offensive in the context?

The only time I’ve heard the term in use conversationally was when talking to a member of the Ultra Orthodox Jewish community who used it to refer to non Jews.

I'd only expect Jewish people to use in with reference to others. I define myself as Christian, rather than 'not Jewish'.

I have only ever come across it in the context of specifically not Jewish people, never in relation to any other religion - and in a historical setting. It's not a word I have ever come across in, or would consider to be one that is used in, modern society.
I therefore wouldn't use it at all.

Gentile means non-Jewish

Not to me.

It’s a biblical term and I’d use it in a biblical context, but it seems wrong for modern times. Not sure why really. I suppose it sounds a bit ‘us and them’.

Fair enough. I wonder why he didn't. Perhaps he doesn't consider himself to be a Christian, or if any other faith. Or period he was using it to lump together all people of all faiths and none, except Jews.

Us and them

Yes, maybe the way he used it implied that everyone who is not Jewish would have the same view. Lumping atheists, Christians and Hindus together with no consideration for their different views - some of which could well be the same as Jewish views.

It’s a word that is only used in reference to Judaism, the Jewish faith. It wouldn’t exist without it.

As a non-Jew, I would never use it. It’s only for Jewish people to use (it’s their word), IMO.

YANBU.

AFAIK it does not appear at all until the Jewish Bible. The word used in the Torah translates directly as 'the nations' ('other' being implied by the context). If it comes up a lot in the NT it is certainly not a Jewish word.

Does not appear in, not until.

Gentile is a Latin word.

I'm half Jewish. That side of my family tend to refer to my mother as Christian (which she wasn't!) I've never heard them refer to gentiles.

Am Jewish. I rarely use the term gentile, sometimes use the term goy or yock (and only in the presence of other Jews), but mostly say non-Jews.

I would find it a little odd for someone who isn't Jewish to refer to themselves and other non-Jews as anything other than not Jewish/non-Jews, Indeed, I would expect them to proffer their religion (or lack of).

Am always a little bemused when non-Jews use Yiddish words too.

It's a familiar word for me, as a Christian. It's used to differentiate Jews from non-Jews in our Bible studies. I wouldn't use it in normal daily life, but I wouldn't take offence at it either. To me it's just a bit of an archaic term for non-Jews. I wonder how Jewish people view it?

It would make me very uncomfortable/ irritated, I think because it’s categorising me with a label that originates in a culture and world view that I don’t share.

I wouldn’t want a Muslim to refer to me as an infidel, or a Jehovah’s Witness to call me the damned, either.

I have only heard Jewish people use it in reference to non-Jews. I have never heard a non-Jewish person use it.

Historical note: it's the word that was used in the standard Latin Bible to translate "the nations" in both Hebrew texts and Greek ones (from 'gens' = people). Like some other Latinate words used in Christianity, it has somehow survived into modern translations.

In the bible ‘Jews’ refers race - God’s chosen people - rather than faith (which they repeatedly fell away from). Christians can be Jews or gentiles. The apostle Paul was a Jewish Christian. I guess it might be a term that might make Jews who follow Judaism uncomfortable because it links them with a faith they don’t believe in.

It is not just for Jews to use as it is a word in the Christian Bible where it is made clear (to those following the Christian Faith) that Jesus has saved both Jews and Gentiles. As such it is very important to Christians.

I didn't know that - that's really interesting!

I think it’s odd.

I grew up in the USA with lot’s of Jewish friends as a kid. We were in and out of each other’s houses, at each other’s tables, crushes on friends’ older siblings. All the normal stuff.

Referring to gentiles would have seemed odd and affected. Unless there was some sort of tongue in cheek, eyebrow waggle jest going on.

Hearing people referred to as “Jews” always sounds off to me. I would say “Jewish people “ We all would back home. I would never refer to “Blacks” or “Jews” or “whites” or “Muslims”. They would all be “people” with an adjective if necessary, eg “black people.”

I appreciate that my sensitivities come with me from somewhere else. So maybe I’m out of left field with finding the “gentile” thing a bit off. But then again, maybe I’m picking up on something subtle that the OP is also picking up.

I do think it was an odd choice of word in this day and age. And who thinks they can speak for all non-Jewish people anyway.

Ahh, this makes total sense as Jews are a race. As Judaism is a matriarchal religion, one is born a Jew and even if Judaism as a religion is denounced, that person is still a Jew.

I suppose it is a positive way to refer to people other than as something they are not. But the word itself is not used in day to day speech anywhere I have been. Not so much archaic as context-specific.