This is right on. What's really strange is how Christians today can be so sympathetic to rabbinic Judaism, while being so hostile to Orthodox Christianity. As one Catholic friend eloquently put it:
I think there are several sources for this (and in a sense, in the following order)
1) The collective guilt complex that western man now has (regardless of religiosity) towards the Jews in general
2) Darbyite eschatology, which basically baptizes every carnal messianic idea in rabbinical Judaism (the very strain of Messianic thought that made it very difficult for Jews to accept Christ in the first place)
3) Since evangelical Protestants have no tangible tie to the early Church or it's traditions, they seek to fill in this vacuum (in a reconstructionist sort of way, perhaps) with Jewish traditions (which they consider, almost whole hog, to be representative of the Old Testament Church.)
Well, obviously we'd put "Orthodox" in for Catholic, but the thought still holds. Considering some of the stuff that is in books like the Talmud about our Lord and Savior, and some of the rumors spread early on by the false forms (sects) of Judaism, I have to wonder how Christians can praise them (it certainly helps us understand why some Fathers so strongly spoke out against Judaism; and that they spoke out against the Jewish culture for that matter, which was--and still to a large extent is--intimately connected with the Jewish religion)
Saying "some Fathers" is an understatement; I cannot think of a neutral appraisal of the Jews in the Fathers, let alone a positive one. And this is understandable, if one's outlook is theocentric, and not humanistic or religiously indifferent.
Perhaps the RC's have re-written tradition in this area (with Vatican II), but Orthodoxy has not, nor can She ever - the Scriptures themselves, let alone the Fathers, are quite plain in how they view those "Jews" who did not accept Christ.
Yeah, if you read the early Fathers, like Saint Luke (Acts) Saint Paul, and Justin Martyr, it's obvious that the early Christians considered themselves God's people, whether it was called "the way," "the church," the "chosen sojourners," "the elect," "children of Abraham," "Jew," (not as a racial distinction), or whatever else.
The whole question of "just who is a 'Jew'" is a very interesting one.
In the Old Testament there are no "Jews", rather Israelites. "Jew" later became a common name for what remained of the Israelites (primarily only members of the tribes of Levi, Benjamin, and Judah) after the Northern Kingdom was dispersed. As far as the Law of Moses and it's customs were concerned, God had made a covenant with the "people of Israel", which were primarily tribal descendents of the Patriarch Jacob (renamed Israel by God.) However, those who observed the Law and threw in their lot with these people (and if they were men, were ritually circumcized), such as was the case of Ruth (one of the ancestors of the Lord Jesus), were also of the "People of Israel."
It is also clear in the Old Testament, that just being born of Israelitic parents does not assure one's place in God's favour, since the Scriptures plainly speak of people "cutting themselves off" from "God's chosen."
The seeds of modern rabbinical ideas of Jewishness (which basically toss out the idea of fidelity to the covenant, since atheistic Jews are still considered "Jews" by the rabbis) seem to originate in the period just prior to our Lord's advent. For example, readers of the New Testament will probably remember St.John the Forerunner's rebuke of the Pharisees, who cited mere patrimony as guaranteeing God's favour, with St.John saying that God can make anyone (or anything; even an inaminate object like a stone) one of His Chosen People (a "son of Abraham", which as St.Paul indicates in the New Testament, refers to a spiritual status, and not simple blood ties.) In a certain way, I see a parallel between what happened in Judaism with what probably happened in antiquity in Hinduism (where as many ancient Hindu texts identify the "brahmin" simply as a holy person, hindu custum eventually identified this with a caste of people, who not surprisingly, were also the richest and whitest people in Hindu society).
This change of course wasn't overnight; even in the time contemporary to the Apostles, there was quite a bit of enthusiasm in Judaism for gaining "converts" to the Pharisaic form of the Mosaic faith. However this dropped off (for several reasons), and soon became non-existant.
Perhaps the zenith of Jewish "racism" came about with the birth of Zionism (which oddly enough was born in the same milieu as budding German nationalism was born, and in many cases they fed off of each other.) Since the Zionists were by in large not religious people (reflecting the "enlightenment" upper classes of Europe at the time, particularly Germany), but had some kind of cultural/social attachment to Judaism, they had to envision "being a Jew" in terms which were totally divorced from religious observance or faith. Unfortunatly, by this point the Talmudic/rabbinical form of Judaism was more than ready (in it's doctrinal positions) to accomodate this quest for "Jewish identity."
So what is a "Jew"? Is it someone who abides by the Law of Moses? Well that alone would discount many who call themselves Jews in our day (yet who still feel they have the right to claim Palestine as their own, and displace, via terror, the long term inhabitants of this region and create all sorts of mischief for the world in general), since the greater part of "Jews" are not observant. From an Orthodox p.o.v., even those who were religious are not true followers of Moses, since they have chosen a Messiah of their own fashioning (rather than the one given to them.) But then are the Jews a race? Besides the rather modern nature of the whole concept of "race" as a definite, all defining trait, it's a claim any Jew I've come across rejects (though I suspect many secular Zionists of the 19th century were not just a little influenced by Teutonic talk of their being a "German blutt" which made the germanic peoples unique).
In the end, it seems at most "Jewishness" is a cultural identity, or at least that's what it's been reduced to. AFAIK, it's a rather empty identification. In truth all that unites those who take this appelation upon themselves, is a corporate rejection of Jesus Christ (basically, "I believe everything God has revealed, up to here", pointing their finger at the first verse of St.Matthew's Gospel), since even claims to being observant of Moses' Law do not even unite them anymore.
I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. (Apocalypse 2:9)
With that said, I think Christians need to think long and hard as to who the real Israelites are; who inherits the promises of the Old Testament, and represent God's Chosen.
Seraphim