Anti-semitism

Anti-Semitism can be defined in layman's terms as prejudice against the Jewish people, culture, or religion. Often when one thinks of anti-Semitism, the horrible event of the Holocaust comes to mind. However, one should be informed that while this was perhaps the greatest mass murder of Jews in world history, the history of anti-Semitism is a long one.

Early Christians were rarely kind to the Jews in their writings. In fact, in the canonical gospel according to John, there are many passages which seem to be blatantly anti-Semitic. In fact, in John's crucifixion story, it is the Jews who are said to have crucified Jesus (ZifferBCMJ2006, 216). There are also countless examples of anti-Semitism in the writings of the Church Fathers. Well-known Christian authors such as Augustine, Eusebius, Athanasius, Justin Martyr, and Origen are just a few of the Church Fathers who expressed anti-Semitism in their writing. In one of the most well-known texts of second century Christianity, the Diaogue with Trypho by Justin Martyr, the anti-Semitism is very apparent. Justin makes many claims that the Jewish Law was given to the nation of Israel only because they were a people unable to follow the ways of God.

In the decades following Vatican II?, the Catholic church made great strides in dealing with its own difficult legacy of overt and implicit anti-Semitism. However, recent events taking place under the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI suggest that we may be entering a retrograde period of Jewish and Christian relations (for more see this recent NY Times article).

Anti-Semitism is far from dead in the modern world. Religious and racial anti-Semitism is alive and well in many forms, from neo-Nazi hate groups to Islamic fundamentalist factions. Furthermore, as James Carroll has so ably chronicled for the educated lay leader, Christian anti-Semitism is both real and extremely troubling.