From Anti-Judaism to Anti-Semitism
Ancient and Medieval Christian Constructions of Jewish History

This book traces the hardening of Christian attitudes to Jews, Judiasm and their history during the second half of the Middle Ages.

Robert Chazan (Author)

9781107152465, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 December 2016

270 pages
23.6 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.5 kg

'In a period when the Internet spreads these calumnies globally, when Saudi Arabia can denounce al-Jazeera as a front for 'the Jews', and when criticism of Israeli policies can provide respectability for good old fashioned anti-Semitism, Chazan's study makes for sobering reading. The roots of Christianity may lie deep in Judaism, but the roots of anti- Semitism, alas, lie deep in Christianity.' Paula Fredriksen, Review of Biblical Literature

From its earliest days, Christianity has viewed Judaism and Jews ambiguously. Given its roots within the Jewish community of first-century Palestine, there was much in Judaism that demanded Church admiration and praise; however, as Jews continued to resist Christian truth, there was also much that had to be condemned. Major Christian thinkers of antiquity - while disparaging their Jewish contemporaries for rejecting Christian truth - depicted the Jewish past and future in balanced terms, identifying both positives and negatives. Beginning at the end of the first millennium, an increasingly large Jewish community started to coalesce across rapidly developing northern Europe, becoming the object of intense popular animosity and radically negative popular imagery. The portrayals of the broad trajectory of Jewish history offered by major medieval European intellectual leaders became increasingly negative as well. The popular animosity and the negative intellectual formulations were bequeathed to the modern West, which had tragic consequences in the twentieth century. In this book, Robert Chazan traces the path that began as anti-Judaism, evolved into heightened medieval hatred and fear of Jews, and culminated in modern anti-Semitism.

Prologue
Part I. Jewish History: Classical Christian Constructions: 1. The Synoptic Gospels
2. Paul
3. Eusebius
4. Augustine
Part II. Jewish History: Medieval Christian Constructions: 5. The crusading epoch and spirit: Peter the Venerable
6. The discovery of Jewish sources: the Pugio Fidei
7. Introduction of medieval slanders: the Fortalitium Fidei
8. Looking backward and looking forward: Martin Luther
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Judaism [HRJ], European history [HBJD]