Antisemitism and christians

[roelf1234]

Did the council of Nicea lay the foundations for later Christian antisemitism? How serious was Christian antisemitism? I look for answers to these questions. I did read a bit of Poliakov but found him surprisingly sweet about islam. In Rodney Starks book on the crusades I read that the pope and the bishops protected the jews where they could. But many christians cannot stop telling me how evil the christians were. It is a very big question and it is very important. What should I read to begin to find an answer. What are the views on this here on this forum?

[sankari]

Oct 24, 2011 13:28:37 GMT roelf1234 said:

Did the council of Nicea lay the foundations for later Christian antisemitism? How serious was Christian antisemitism? I look for answers to these questions. I did read a bit of Poliakov but found him surprisingly sweet about islam. In Rodney Starks book on the crusades I read that the pope and the bishops protected the jews where they could. But many christians cannot stop telling me how evil the christians were. It is a very big question and it is very important. What should I read to begin to find an answer. What are the views on this here on this forum?

Richard Rubenstein claims Nicaea was the critical turning point for Jewish/Christian relations, but his argument is weak and he fails to substantiate it.

We know that problems arose as early as the 1st Century, with sporadic persecution of Christians by Jewish leaders, but the Jews still recognised Christianity as a Mosaic religion and dialogue between the two sides had not yet broken down.

Jews and Christians both suffered from the fall of Jerusalem, which forced many Jews (most?) out of Palestine and scattered the fledgling Jewish-Christian community. But Christianity had grown rapidly in Gentile countries and probably recovered faster; in the process it became a Gentile religion.

By the time Jews and Christians began interacting regularly again, they had so little in common that reconciliation was impossible.

In AD 388 a bishop led a mob to destroy a synagogue. When the emperor Theodosius attempted to make amends by rebuilding it at the offenders' expense he was prevented by Ambrose of Milan, who forced him to let the bishop off.

To what extent this episode marks a new turning point or merely reflects longstanding tensions and prejudices, I cannot say.

[sandwiches]

Alas, I am no expert on this area, though there was shocking anti-semitism in medieval England e.g. in York and Norwich. I suppose that religious minorities are always at risk e.g. the Christians in the Middle East today, including sadly, even in Israel:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Christian_sentiment

"A frequent complaint of Christian clergy in Israel is being spat at by Jews, often haredi yeshiva students. Even Christian ceremonial processions have been alleged to have been spat at, with one incident near the Holy Sepulchre causing a fracas which led to the destruction of the Armenian Archbishop's 17th-century cross The Anti-Defamation League has called on the chief Rabbis to speak out against the interfaith assaults. One Christian complained that the spitting was "almost a daily experience."
In May 2008, hundreds of New Testaments were burned in Or Yehuda, Israel after having been collected by the Deputy Mayor who described the material as "Messianic propaganda" and claimed the books were burned by three Yeshiva students In May 2009 a Russian orthodox church in Northern Israel was showered with stones thrown by yeshiva students, injuring many of the congregation.

In 2009 a church in Israel was vandalised. Messages such as “We killed Jesus” and “Christians out” were written on it, as well as "f**k off" which was adorned with a Star of David. Churchmen at the site also stated that the church doors are urinated on almost every day"

Even those who (or whose forebears) have suffered terrible persecution can be blind to the persecution of others. Desire to ally with Turkey has led to some astonishing utterances by Israeli politicians:

www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/47798/state-of-denial/

In recent years, the Israeli government has mimicked at times the Turkish government’s propaganda about 1915. Shimon Peres, then Israel’s foreign minister, went as far as to say: “We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. What the Armenians went through is a tragedy, but not genocide.”

[penguinfan]

Well, I don't know if your question has been answered, but I believe early forms of "anti-Jewish" polemic could be found in the works of Justin Martyr.

I'm not sure if I would classify his writings as actually being anti-Jewish, but rather stating some of his beliefs regarding Jews and Jesus that I would not necessarily consider "anti-Jewish" anymore than it would be "anti-Greek" to say Socrates was killed by his fellow Greeks.

[eckadimmock]

I doubt if it originated with Niceae, but reflected the rivalry between Judaism and the breakaway Jesus cult at the time. Christians were being stoned for their belief, so this must have created resentments that were spread to Europeans.

In a similar way, modern anti-Semitism in Europe (I don't live there, just an impression from the newspapers) seems to be legitimised by anti-Israel sentiment spread by immigrants. I notice in secular, post-Christian Britain, anti-Semitism is at a high www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/7156244/Record-number-of-anti-Semitic-attacks-in-Britain.html.

[eckadimmock]

Interestingly (in a dark sort of way) those parts of Europe that were most strongly anti-semitic in mediaeval times were still the worst 600 years later www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/2011/05/the_persistence_of_hate.html.