Anti-Judaism: Difference between revisions
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#REDIRECT [[Religious antisemitism]] |
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{{dablink|For scholarly criticism of Judaism, please see [[Criticism of Judaism]].}} |
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'''Anti-Judaism''' is "a total or partial opposition to [[Judaism]]—and to [[Jews]] as adherents of it—by men who accept a competing system of beliefs and practices and consider certain genuine Judaic beliefs and practices as inferior".<ref>Langmuir (1971, 383),<sup>[http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pao-us:&rft_dat=xri:pao:article:d441-1971-002-00-000021]</sup> cited by Abulafia (1998, part II, 77).</ref> Christian anti-Judaism is a Christian [[Theology|theological]] position in opposition to [[Jew]]ish belief and practice. |
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==History of anti-Judaism== |
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===Anti-Judaism in the Roman Empire=== |
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In Rome and throughout the [[Roman Empire]], civil governance and religion were one indistinguishable theocracy; the Emperor came to be worshipped as a god.<ref name=lazare63>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 63</ref> This naturally led to hostility toward the followers of [[Yahweh]], as well as other religions — worshippers of [[Mithras]], worshippers of [[Sabazius]], and the growing cult of [[Christianity]].<ref name=lazare64>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 64</ref> |
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===Early Christian anti-Judaism=== |
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Theological anti-Judaism "emerge[d] from the church's efforts to resolve the contradictions inherent in its simultaneous appropriation and rejection of different elements of the Jewish tradition."<ref>Taylor, ''op cit'', p. 127</ref> The Church ultimately derived its moralism and liturgy from Judaism; it adopted the Jewish scriptures (the [[LXX]]) and the [[Tetragrammaton|Jewish God]], while rejecting the much of the [[law of Moses]] given in that text.<ref>Taylor, ''op cit'', p. 127-8</ref> |
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A [[Schism (religion)|schism]] emerged between early Christian "[[Judaizers]]" —those who insisted that in order to be Christian one must first become Jewish and observe [[Halakha|Jewish law]]s and religious practices such as [[circumcision]], and "universalizers"—those who insisted that the nascent faith was open to everyone. The teachings of [[St. Paul]], whose letters would form the basis for much of the [[New Testament]], demonstrate a "long battle against Judaizing."<ref name=lazare/> |
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[[First century]] Jews who did not believe [[Jesus]] was the [[Messiah]], nor the claims of his followers that he was [[Trinity|God]], led to the eventual parting of the ways between Christians and Jews.<ref name=lazare/> "To the question, Was Jesus God or man?, the Christians therefore answered: both. After 70 AD, their answer was unanimous and increasingly emphatic. This made a complete breach with Judaism inevitable."<ref>[[Paul Johnson (writer)|Johnson, Paul]]: ''A History of the Jews'' (1987), p.144</ref> The destruction of the [[Second Temple]] in 70 CE would lead Christians to "doubt the efficacy of the ancient law"<ref name=lazare50>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 50</ref> though [[Ebionism]] would linger on unil the fifth century. However, [[Marcion of Sinope]], who [[Marcionism|advocated]] rejecting the entirety of Judaic influence on the Christian faith,<ref>Taylor, ''op cit'', p. 128</ref> would be [[excommunicate]]d by the [[Roman Catholic Church|Church in Rome]] in 144 CE. <ref>[[Tertullian]], ''Adversus Marcionem''.</ref> |
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Most modern scholars believe Judaism was a [[missionary]] religion in the early centuries of the common era,<ref>{{cite book |
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|title=Anti-Judaism and Early Christian Identity: A Critique of the Scholarly Consensus |
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|first=Miriam S. |
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|last=Taylor |
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|pages=8 |
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|id=ISBN 9004021353 |
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|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |
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|year=1995 |
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|location=Leiden, New York, Köln}}</ref> and thus competition for the religious loyalties of gentiles drove anti-Judaism<ref>Taylor, ''op cit'', p. 7</ref> The debate and dialogue moved from polemic to bitter verbal and written attacks one against the other. [[Tarfon]] (d. 135 CE) declared "The [[Gospel]]s must be burned for [[pagan]]ism is not as dangerous to the Jewish faith as [[Jewish Christian]] sects."<ref name=lazare>{{cite book |
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|title=Antisemitism: Its History and Causes |
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|first=Bernard |
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|last=Lazare |
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|pages=49 |
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|publisher=International Library |
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|location=New York |
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|year=1903}}</ref> The anonymous ''[[Letter to Diognetus]]'' was the ealiest [[apologetic]] work in the early Church to address Judaism.<ref name=lazare56>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 56</ref> [[Justin Martyr|St. Justin Martyr]] (d. 165 CE) wrote the apologetic ''[[Dialogue with Trypho]]'',<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/fathers/ANF-01/just/justtryindex.html ''Dialogue of Justin, Philosoper and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew.'']</ref> a polemical debate giving the Christian assertions for the Messiahship of Jesus by making use of the [[Old Testament]] constrasted with counter-aguments from a fictionalized version of Tarphon.<ref name=lazare57>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 57</ref> "For centuries defenders of Christ and the enemies of the Jews employed no other method" than these apologetics.<ref name=lazare56/> Apologetics were difficult as gentile converts could not be expects to understand Hebrew; translations of the [[Septuagint]] into [[Greek]] prior to [[Aquila of Sinope|Aquila]] would serve as a flawed basis for such cross-cultural arguments,<ref name=lazare60>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 60</ref> as demonstrated by [[Origen]]'s difficulties debating Rabbi [[Simlai]].<ref name=lazare60/> |
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Though Emporer [[Hadrian]] was an "enemy of the [[synogogue]]", the reign of [[Antoninus Pius|Antonius]] began a period of Roman benevolence toward the Jewish faith.<ref>Taylor, ''op cit'', p. 48</ref> Meanwhile, imperial hostility toward Christianity continued to cystalize; after [[Decius]], the empire was at war with it.<ref>Taylor, ''op cit'', p. 49</ref> An unequal power relationship between Jews and Christians in the context of the [[Greco-Roman]] world "generated anti-Jewish feelings among the early Christians.<ref>Taylor, ''op cit'', p. 47</ref> Feelings of mutal hatred arose, driven in part by Judaism's legality in the [[Roman Empire]]; in [[Antioch]], where the rivalry was most bitter, Jews most likely demanded the execution of [[Polycarp]].<ref name=lazare59>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 59</ref> |
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Anti-Judaic works of this period include ''De Adversus Iudeaos'' by [[Tertullian]], ''Octavius'' by [[Minucius Felix]], ''De Catholicae Ecclesiae Unitate'' by [[Cyprian of Carthage]], and ''Instructiones Adversus Gentium Deos'' by [[Lactantius]].<ref name=lazare61>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 61</ref> The traditional hypothesis holds that the anti-Judiasm of these early [[fathers of the Church]] "were inherited from the Christian tradition of [[Biblical exegesis]]" though a second hypothesis holds that early Christian anti-Judaism was inherited from the pagan world.<ref>Taylor, ''op cit'', p. 115</ref> |
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===From Constantine to the Eighth century=== |
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When [[Constantine I|Constantine]] and [[Lininius]] were issuing the [[Edict of Milan]], the influence of Judaism was fading in [[Palestine]] and seeing a rebirth in far-away [[Babylonia]].<ref name=lazare63/> By the third century the [[Judaizing]] heresies were nearly extinct in the Roman world. The [[Council of Nicea]] ended [[Passover]] celebrations for Christians.<ref name=lazare65>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 65</ref> |
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After his defeat of Licinius in 323 CE, Constantine showed Christians marked political preference. He repressed Jewish proselytsm and forbades Jews from [[circumcision|circumcising]] their slaves.<ref name=lazare72>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 72</ref> Jews were barred from [[Jerusalem]] except on the anniversary of the [[Second Temple]]'s destruction and then only after paying a special tax in silver.<ref name=lazare72/> He also promulgated a law which condemned to the stake Jews who persecuted their apostates by stoning.<ref name=lazare73>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 73</ref> [[Catholicism]] become the official religion of the Roman Empire. "No sooner was [the Church] armed than it forgot its most elementary principles, and directed the secular arm against its enemies."<ref name=lazare73>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 73-5</ref> |
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From the middle of the fifth century, apologetics ceased with [[Cyril of Alexandria]].<ref name=lazare66>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 66</ref> This form of anti-Judaism had proven futile and often served to strengthen Jewish faith.<ref name=lazare66/> With Christianity ascendant in the Empire, the "Fathers, the bishops, and the priest who had to contend against the Jews treated them very badly. [[Hosius of Córdoba|Hosius]] in [[Spain]]; [[Pope Sylvester]]; [[Eusebius]] of Caesaria call them 'a perverse, dangerous, and criminal sect.'"<ref name=lazare67>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 67-8</ref> While [[Gregory of Nyssa]] merely reproaches Jews as [[infidel]]s, other teachers are more vehement.<ref name=lazare67/> [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]] labels the [[Talmudist]]s as falsifiers; [[St. Ambrose]] recylced the earlier anti-Christian trope and accuses Jews of despising Roman law. [[St. Jerome]] claims Jews were possessed by an impure spirit.<ref name=lazare67/> [[Cyril of Jerusalem|St. Cyril]] of [[Jerusalem]] claimed the [[Nasi|Jewish Patriarchs]], or Nasi, were a low race.<ref name=lazare67/> |
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All these theological and polemical attacks combined in [[John Chrysostom|St. John Chrysostom]]'s six sermons delivered at [[Antioch]].<ref name=lazare67/> Chrysostom, an [[archbishop of Constantinople]], (d. 407 CE) is very negative in his treatment of Judaism, though much more [[Hyperbole|hyperbolic]] in expression.<ref>Saint John Chrysostom: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/chrysostom-jews6.html ''Eight Homilies Against the Jews'']</ref> While St. Justin's ''Dialogue'' is a philosophical treatise, St. Chrysostom's [[homily|homilies]] ''Against the Jews'' are a more informal and rhetorically forceful set of sermons preached in church. Delivered while Chrysostom was still a [[priest]] in [[Antioch]], his homilies deliver a scathing critique of Jewish religious and civil life, warning Christians not to have any contact with Judaism or the [[synagogue]] and to keep away from the rival religion's festivals. |
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"There are legions of theologians, historians and writers who write about the Jews the same as Chrysostom: [[Epiphanius]], [[Diodorus of Tarsus]], [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]], [[Theodoret|Theodoret of Cyprus]], [[Cosmas Indicopleustes]], [[Athanasius the Sinaite]] among the Greeks; [[Hilarius of Poitiers]], [[Prudentius]], [[Paulus Orosius]], [[Sulpicius Severus]], [[Gennadius]], [[Venantius Fortunatus]], [[Isidore of Seville]], among the Latins."<ref name=lazare71>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 70-1</ref> |
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From the fourth to seventh centuries, while the bishops taught anti-Judiasm in writing, the Empire enacted a variety of civil laws against Jews, such forbiddening them from holding public office, and an oppressive curial tax.<ref name=lazare73>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 73-5</ref> Laws were inacted to harass their free observance of religion; [[Justinian]] went so far as to enact a law against Jewish daily prayers.<ref name=lazare73/> Both Christians and Jews engaged in recorded mob violence in the waning days of the Empire.<ref name=lazare76>Lazare, Bernard. ''op cit''. p. 76-80</ref> |
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===After the Eighth century=== |
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{{expand}} |
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==Contrasted with Anti-Semitism== |
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{{main|Religious anti-Semitism}} |
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"The question of the relation of traditional Christian anti-Judaism and modern [[anti-Semitism]]" has "ignite[d] explosive debates" among scholars.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |
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|title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity |
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|first=Erwin |
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|last=Fahlbusch |
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|coauthors=Geoffrey William Bromiley |
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|volume=3, J-O |
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|pages=57 |
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|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge UK / Leiden / Boston |
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|id=ISBN 0802824153 |
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|year=1999 |
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|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans}}</ref> |
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Whereas, according to Historian [[Gavin Langmuir]], anti-Judaism is concerned with exaggerated accusations against Jews which nonetheless contain a particle of truth or evidence, [[anti-Semitism]] (which dates back in Europe to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries) reaches beyond unusual general inferences and is concerned with false suppositions.<ref name="Abu77">Abulafia (1998, part II, 77), referring to Langmuir (1971).</ref> Thus Langmuir considers the labelling of Jews as 'Christ-killers' is anti-Judaic; accusations of [[well-poisoning]], on the other hand, he regards as anti-Semitic.<ref name="Abu77"/> In his view, Anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism have existed side by side from the twelfth century onwards and have strengthened each other ever since.<ref>Abulafia (1998, part II, 77), citing Langmuir (1971, 383–389).</ref> |
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Anti-Judaism is sometimes distinguished from [[antisemitism]] based upon [[race|racial]] or [[ethnicity|ethnic]] grounds. "The dividing line was the possibility of effective conversion . . . a Jew ceased to be a Jew upon baptism." However, with racial antisemitism, "Now the assimilated Jew was still a Jew, even after baptism ... . From the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] onward, it is no longer possible to draw clear lines of distinction between religious and racial forms of hostility towards Jews... Once Jews have been emancipated and secular thinking makes its appearance, without leaving behind the old Christian hostility towards Jews, the new term antisemitism becomes almost unavoidable, even before explicitly racist doctrines appear."<ref>Nichols, William: ''Christian Antisemitism, A History of Hate'' (1993) p.314</ref> |
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[[Martin Luther]] has been accused of antisemitism, primarily in relation to his statements about [[Jew]]s in his book ''[[On the Jews and their Lies]]'', which describes the Jews in extremely harsh terms, excoriating them, and providing detailed recommendation for a [[pogrom]] against them and their permanent oppression and/or expulsion. According to [[Paul Johnson (writer)|Paul Johnson]], it "may be termed the first work of modern anti-Semitism, and a giant step forward on the road to [[the Holocaust]]".<ref>Johnson, Paul: ''A History of the Jews'' (1987), p.242</ref> In contrast, [[Roland Bainton]], noted church historian and Luther biographer, wrote "One could wish that Luther had died before ever this tract was written. His position was entirely religious and in no respect racial"<ref>Bainton, Roland: ''Here I Stand'', (Nashville: Abingdon Press, New American Library, 1983), p. 297</ref>. See also [[Martin Luther and the Jews]]. |
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At several points in the history of Christianity, Chrysostom and Luther's writings have been used to justify anti-Semitism. |
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==See also== |
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* [[Supersessionism]] |
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* [[Christianity and antisemitism]] |
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* [[Christian opposition to antisemitism]] |
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* [[Schisms among the Jews]] |
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* [[Criticism of Judaism]] |
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==References== |
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<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"><references /></div> |
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<div class="references-small"> |
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* Abulafia, Anna Sapir (ed.)(1998). ''Christians and Jews in Dispute : Disputational Literature and the Rise of Anti-Judaism in the West (c. 1000-1150)'' (Variorum Collected Studies Series). Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate. ISBN 0-86078-661-7. |
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* Langmuir, Gavin (1971). "Anti-Judaism as the necessary preparation for anti-Semitism". ''Viator'', '''2''': p. 383. |
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</div> |
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==External links== |
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* [http://www.chrysostom.org/jews.html Was St. John Chrysostom Anti-Semitic?] |
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* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_10_121/ai_n6159172/print Anti-Semitism or anti-Judaism?] |
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* [http://www.icjs.org/scholars/bachfred.html The Gospel of John and Christian Anti-Judaism] |
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[[Category:Ancient Roman Christianity]] |
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[[Category:Christian and Jewish interfaith topics]] |
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[[Category:Anti-Judaism|*]] |
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[[de:Antijudaismus im Mittelalter]] |
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[[hu:Antijudaizmus]] |
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Revision as of 06:11, 14 January 2007
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