1 / 9

Antecedents of Anti-Semitism

Antecedents of Anti-Semitism. Essential Questions Why does one group become hated? Why were the Jews Hated? What is Anti-Judaism and how is it different then Anti-Semitism?. Membership and Jews Relationship with Christianity Christian Roots of Anti-Semitism: We and They. Why the Jews?

anoush
Download Presentation

Antecedents of Anti-Semitism

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Antecedents of Anti-Semitism Essential Questions Why does one group become hated? Why were the Jews Hated? What is Anti-Judaism and how is it different then Anti-Semitism?

  2. Membership and Jews Relationship with ChristianityChristian Roots of Anti-Semitism: We and They Why the Jews? Center on 2 main Positions: • The Deicide Charge 2. Jews seen as the Minority Other

  3. What did the church teach? Who killed Jesus? • After Jesus died the followers thought of themselves as a Jewish Sect. • 70 CE The Gospel of Mark was written down. Mark 15:12-15 (New International Version) 12"What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them. 13"Crucify him!" they shouted. 14"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" • 85 CE The Gospel of Mathew is written down and records the charge of Deicide Mathew is competing against the Pharisees (the Rabbis) for followers so he engaged in Polemics against them in the form of the Deicide. The Rabbis were portrayed as betrayers and hypocrites. Matthew 26:4-5 (New International Version) 4and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. 5"But not during the Feast," they said, "or there may be a riot among the people.“

  4. Why the Deicide charge? • Although the Christian Gospel portray the Jews as seeking the death of Jesus. It was not until 167 CE that any church leader actively promoted the charge that of Deicide (Christ Killers) • This charge comes out of an attempt for Christians to align with Rome. • By 300 CE over 60 million people inhabited the Roman Empire. 6 million Christians and 3 million Jews. At first Jews were treated better by the authorities because they were an older religion. • However Constantine in 312 CE on his way to fight his final battle to secure his Imperial rule had a vision of a cross in the Sun. He has his soldiers painted crosses on his soldiers uniforms and were the first army in history to march under the symbol of the cross. • Constantine after winning the battle changed his relationship to the church on his death bed he converted making Christianity an institution. In 325 CE the Council of Nicea adopts the cross as primary symbol for Christianity eliminating tolerance for Jews and Jews becomes the other who killed G-d.

  5. The Medieval Jewish Experience • Geopolitical life under the rule of Christianity • Dispersed and exiled people living in the Diaspora. see map Socio-legal • Aliens Read Excerpt of the early legal decrees passed against Jews in the Empire. • Corporate-collective identity Christian Anti-Judaism John Chrysostom: Judaism and Christianity as mutually exclusive “Where Christ-killers gather, the cross is ridiculed, God blasphemed, the Father unacknowledged, the Son insulted, the grace of the Spirit rejected... In a word, if you admire the Jewish way of life, what do you have in common with us? If the Jewish rites are holy and venerable, our way of life must be false. But if our way is true, as indeed it is, their is fraudulent.” Augustine’s Witness Theory - > De Humanization -> Blood Libels

  6. http://www.hcacentre.org/Augustine.html In his Commentary on Psalm 58-59, Augustine wrote: The Jews have been scattered throughout all nations as witnesses to their own sin and to our truth. They themselves hold the writings that have prophesied Christ. If a pagan doubts Christ, we can prove his Messiahship because he was predicted in the writings of the Jews themselves a long time ago. And so by means of one enemy [the Jews] we confound another enemy [the pagans]. 'Scatter them abroad, take away their strength. And bring them down O Lord' (Ver. 12). Saint Augustine's Witness Theory "Not by bodily death shall the ungodly race of carnal Jews perish. . . . To the end of the seven days of time, the continued preservation of the Jews will be a proof to believing Christians of the subjection merited by those who, in the pride of their kingdom, put the Lord to death. . . . 'And the Lord God set a mark upon Cain, lest any one finding him should slay him.' . . . Only when a Jew comes over to Christ, he is no longer Cain. ---Augustine, "Reply to Faustus, the Manichaean," in F. E. Talmage, ed., Disputation and Dialogue ( New York: Ktav and the Anti-Defamation League, 1975), 31.

  7. The Feudal System and Usury Lead to further Persecution and Expulsions The Feudal Economic System: Kings -> Nobles -> Knights -> Serfs Jews were not apart of this system They were not freeman or serfs due to laws and customs stemming back to the Roman Empire. Instead Jewish communities were Outside the system and were directly founded by charters from individual kings. For the economic benefit of the King. Charters allowed for the establishment of ghettos for the Jews to settle in which were usually in the heart of the city. Kings would borrow money from Jews and levy special taxes and ransoms in order to wage wars and live beyond their means.

More Related