Anti-Judaism in Christian theology is a phenomenon distinct from Anti-Semitism. Anti-Judaism is a theological position taken by the some Christians in which Judaism is demeaned and rejected because of its failure to embrace Jesus as the Messiah. This has led to Christianity being seen by some as diverging from its Jewish roots and contributing to Anti-Semitism.

History

The rejection of Jesus as the Messiah by the majority of the Jewish people in the first century led to the eventual parting of the ways between Christians—including Jewish Christians (also called Judaizers), non-Judaizing Christians of Hebrew stock, and Gentile converts—and traditional Jews. In 135 Bar Kokhba's revolt against the Romans led to the final break with Rabbi Akiva declaring Bar Kochba the Messiah. Some Jewish Christians had been willing to fight alongside their fellow Jews, but they felt unable to continue after Akiva's assertion.

The Jewish/Christian debate and dialogue moved from polemic to bitter verbal and written attacks one against the other. St. Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho the Jew [1] was a polemical debate giving the Christian assertions for the Messiahship of Jesus especially by making use of Jewish Scripture (the Old Testament). In the Dialogue, Justin makes use of a fictional figure called Trypho on which to construct his apologetic arguments (a traditional rhetorical and literary device in the ancient world, finding its origins in Socratic philosophy). This Dialogue is one of the first apologetic works in the early Church to address Judaism.

St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (4th/5th century) is equally negative in his treatment of Judaism, though much more hyperbolic in expression. [2] While St. Justin's Dialogue is a philosophic treatise, St. Chrysostom's eight homilies Against the Judaizers are a more informal and rhetorically forceful set of sermons preached in church. Delivered while Chrysostom was still a priest in Antioch, his homilies deliver a scathing critique of Jewish religious and civil life. The primary scholarly explanation for his strongly worded homilies was that he wished to warn Christians not to have any contact with Judaism because of the attraction that some Christians felt towards the synagogue, and his purpose was not primarily to attack the Jews, but rather to keep Christians away from the rival religion's festivals, apparently an ongoing pastoral problem in Antioch. Additionally, it was common during that period to make use of an exaggerated straw man argument in order to make one's point.

At several points in the history of Christianity, Chrysostom's writings have been used to justify Anti-Semitism and Anti-Judaism, whatever his original intentions may have been. More recently, efforts have been made to counteract the effects of Anti-Judaism, especially as many Christian leaders seek to have a great rapport with their Jewish counterparts.

See also

• Epistle of Barnabas

External link

• Was St. John Chrysostom Anti-Semitic?
• Why Jews Dont Believe In Jesus