10 - The beginnings of Christian anti-Judaism, 70–C. 235

Summary

THE CONTEXT

Irenaeus claimed that a high degree of Christian unity and harmony existed everywhere: “The import of the tradition is one and the same. For the churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those that have been established in the central regions of the world” (Adv. Haer. 1.10.2). Despite his assertion about regional uniformity, considerable variety existed in Christian tradition, life, and thought, not least in the development of anti-Judaism. Since regional variation is now commonly stressed in studies of Judaism and Christianity, this chapter takes a geographic approach. It concludes that anti-Judaism was found mainly in areas where Christianity was strong, especially in cities with mixed pagan and Jewish populations, places where religious rivalries were more likely to be expressed openly. In some regions, such as Judaea and Greece, anti-Judaism was less pronounced, perhaps because the population constituency and blend of rivalries were different.

The term “anti-Semitism,” used in influential earlier studies, has now been replaced in the scholarly literature by the more nuanced term “anti-Judaism” in order to distinguish ancient historic phenomena from the recent horrors of the Holocaust. Numerous studies of Christian origins have revealed that early Christian anti-Judaism played a substantial role in pointing ultimately towards anti-Semitism. Some scholars have argued recently that Christian anti-Judaism was as much image as reality, while others have emphasized rhetorical and theological factors in the development of early Christian attitudes towards Judaism.