Some Christian churches, Christian groups, and ordinary Christians express antisemitism—as well as anti-Judaism—towards Jews and Judaism. These are examples of antisemitism by Christians or Christian communities. However, some scholars use the term "Christian antisemitism" to refer to anti-Jewish sentiments arising from Christian doctrinal or theological stances, a concept discussed by scholars such as Jules Isaac—especially in his book Jésus et Israël). The term is also used by some scholars to argue that certain forms of contempt for Jews and Judaism were historically embedded in aspects of Christian theology and practice, and as a result, the centralized institutions of Christian power (such as the Catholic Church or the Church of England), as well as governments with strong Christian influences (such as the Catholic Monarchs of Spain), have generated societal structures that have survived and perpetuate antisemitism to the present. This usage particularly appears in discussions about Christian structures of power within society—structures referred to as Christian hegemony or Christian privilege; these discussions are part of broader discussions about structural inequality and power dynamics.
Antisemitic Christian rhetoric and the resulting antipathy toward Jews and Judaism can be traced back to the earliest centuries of the Common Era and early Christianity, resembling pagan anti-Jewish attitudes that were reinforced by the belief that Jews are responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. Christian antisemitic attitudes and beliefs about Jews also partly stem from the persecution of the earliest Christians by Pharisees during the Second Temple period, with the Pharisees often depicted in the Christian New Testament as trying to eliminate the growing group of Jewish followers of Jesus. Christians imposed ever-increasing anti-Jewish measures over the ensuing centuries, including acts of ostracism, humiliation, expropriation, violence, and murder—measures which culminated in the Holocaust.
Christian antisemitism has been attributed to numerous factors, including the fundamental theological differences that exist between the two Abrahamic religions; the competition between church and synagogue; the Christian missionary impulse; a misunderstanding of Jewish culture, beliefs, and practice; and the perception that Judaism was hostile towards Christianity. For two millennia, these attitudes were reinforced in Christian preaching, art, and popular teachings, as well as in anti-Jewish laws designed to humiliate and stigmatise Jews.
Modern antisemitism has primarily been described as hatred against Jews as a race (i.e., racial antisemitism), and the most recent expression of it is rooted in 18th-century scientific racism. Anti-Judaism is rooted in hostility towards the entire religion of Judaism; in Western Christianity, anti-Judaism effectively merged with antisemitism during the 12th century. Scholars have disagreed about the role which Christian antisemitism played in the rise of Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust. The Holocaust forced many Christians to reflect on the role(s) Christian theology and practice played—and still play in—anti-Judaism and antisemitism.Heschel, Susannah, The Aryan Jesus: Christian theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany, p. 20, Princeton University Press, 2008
Early differences between Christianity and Judaism
The legal status of Christianity and Judaism differed within the Roman Empire: because the practice of Judaism was restricted to the Jewish people and Jewish proselytes, adherents of it were generally exempt from adhering to the obligations that were imposed on adherents of other religions by the Roman imperial cult. During the reign of Julius Caesar, Judaism enjoyed the status of a "licit religion", but occasional persecutions still occurred, such as the Tiberian conscription and expulsion of Jews in 19 CE,Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Tiberius 36 followed by Claudius' expulsion of Jews from Rome.Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Claudius XXV.4, referenced in Christianity, however, was not an ethnoreligion like Judaism, which combined ethnic identity with religious practice. As Jewish Christians gradually faced exclusion from the early synagogal communities in the early centuries—due to increasing distinctions between Jewish and Christian communities—they were increasingly assimilated into gentile Christianity, adopting its customs and beliefs. This process also led to the loss of the protected legal status that Judaism and Jews historically enjoyed within the empire, a privilege that was limited in scope and often subject to political and social pressures, as exemplified by historical figures such as Ketia bar Shalom, Rabbi Akiva, and the Ten Martyrs, who represent different facets of Jewish suffering and resilience during these periods.
Beginning with the reign of Nero, who is said by Tacitus to have blamed the Great Fire of Rome on Christians, the practice of Christianity was criminalized and Christians were frequently persecuted; the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, however, differed from region to region. Comparably, Judaism suffered setbacks due to the Jewish–Roman wars, and these setbacks are remembered in the legacy of the Ten Martyrs. Robin Lane Fox traces the origin of much of the later hostility to this early period of persecution, when the Roman authorities commonly tested the faith of suspected Christians by forcing them to pay homage to the deified emperor. Jews were exempt from this requirement as long as they paid the , and Christians—many of whom, at the time, were of Jewish ethnicity—would say that they were Jewish but refuse to pay the tax. Their claim had to be confirmed by the local Jewish authorities, who were unlikely to accept the Christians as Jews, often leading to their execution. The was often brought forward as support for this charge that the Jews were responsible for the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Systematic persecution of Christians lasted until Constantine's conversion to Christianity. In 390, Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. While pagan cults and Manichaeism were suppressed, Judaism retained its legal status as a licit religion, but anti-Jewish violence still occurred. In the 5th century, some legal measures worsened the status of the Jews in the Roman Empire.
Issues which Judaism has with the New Testament
Jesus as the Messiah
In Judaism, Jesus is not recognized as the Messiah and he is also viewed as one of many failed Jewish Messiah claimants as well as a false prophet. The real Messiah (pdf) In Judaism, the belief is that the arrival of the prophesied Messianic Age is contingent upon the coming of the Messiah. Consequently, the comprehensive rejection of Jesus as either the Messiah or a divine figure has not been a pivotal concern within Jewish theological discourse.
Jewish deicide
Jewish deicide is the belief that to this day, the Jews will always be collectively responsible for the killing of Jesus, also known as the blood curse. Even before the Gospels were finalized, Paul possibly described the Jews as those "who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets" in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians 2:14–16; however, various scholars believe that these verses are a later interpolation which was not present in the original text. A justification of the deicide charge also appears in the Gospel of Matthew 27:24–25, alleging a crowd of Jews told Pilate that they and their children would be responsible for Jesus's death. The Acts of the Apostles, written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke, repeatedly reproach the Jews for having "crucified and killed" Jesus.(Acts 2:23, 2:36, 4:10, 4:27, 5:30, 10:39, 13:27-28) The Gospel of John exhibits a hostile tone towards 'the Jews', particularly in verses like John 5:16, 6:52, 7:13, 8:44, 10:31, and others, which also implicate them in Jesus' death.
The belief that the Jews were Christ-killers fed Christian antisemitismRainer Kampling, "Deicide", in Richard S. Levy, ed. (2005), Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, Vol. 1, ABC-CLIO, pp. 168–169 and spurred on acts of violence against Jews such as pogroms, massacres of Jews during the Crusades, expulsions of the Jews from England, France, Spain, Portugal and other places, and torture during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.
Most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accept the notion of Jewish deicide, while the Catholic Church repudiated it in 1965, as have several other Christian denominations.Evangelical Lutheran Church in America "Guidelines for Lutheran–Jewish Relations" November 16, 1998World Council of Churches "Guidelines for Lutheran-Jewish Relations" in Current Dialogue, Issue 33 July, 1999
Criticism of the Pharisees
Many New Testament passages criticise the Pharisees, a Jewish social movement and school of thought that flourished during the Second Temple period (516 BCE–70 CE). It has been argued that these passages shaped the way in which Christians viewed and continue to view Jews. Like most Bible passages, however, they can be interpreted in a variety of ways.
Today, mainstream Rabbinical Judaism is directly descended from the Pharisaical tradition, which Jesus frequently criticized.Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (1943); Jewish Encyclopedia (1905), Exhibit 264. During Jesus's life and at the time of his execution, the Pharisees were only one of several Jewish groups, such as the Sadducees, the Zealots, and the Essenes, that mostly died out not long after the period;Jewish Encyclopedia (1905) Jewish scholars such as Harvey Falk and Hyam Maccoby have suggested that Jesus was himself a Pharisee. In the Sermon on the Mount, for example, Jesus says, "The Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, therefore do what they say". Arguments against certain groups of Pharisees by Jesus and his disciples and Jesus's denunciations of what he saw as their hypocrisy were most likely examples of internal disputes between Jews, such disputes were common at that time (for example, see Hillel and Shammai).
Recent studies of antisemitism in the New Testament
Professor Lillian C. Freudmann, author of Antisemitism in the New Testament (University Press of America, 1994), has published a detailed study of the description of Jews in the New Testament and the historical effects that such passages have had in the Christian community throughout history. Similar studies of such verses have been made by both Christian and Jewish scholars, including Professors Clark Williamson (Christian Theological Seminary), Hyam Maccoby (The Leo Baeck Institute), Norman A. Beck (Texas Lutheran College), and Michael Berenbaum (Georgetown University). Most rabbis feel that these verses are antisemitic, and many Christian scholars in America and Europe have reached the same conclusion.
Another example is John Dominic Crossan's 1995 book, titled Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus. Crossan writes: "The passion-resurrection stories... have been the seedbed of Christian anti-Judaism. And without that Christian anti-Judaism, lethal and genocidal European antisemitism would have been impossible or at least not widely successful. What was at stake in those passion stories in the long-haul of history, was the Holocaust."
Some biblical scholars have also been accused of holding antisemitic beliefs. Bruce J. Malina, a founding member of The Context Group, has come under criticism for going as far as to deny the Semitic ancestry of modern Israelis. He then ties it back to his work on first-century cultural anthropology.
Church Fathers