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{en} Jules Isaac/ The Teaching of Contempt: Christian Roots of Anti-Semitism. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964.

Abstract

Contents

Preliminary considerations -- 1. All authorities are agreed that a true Christian cannot be an anti-Semite -- 2. And yet, consciously or subconsciously, anti-Semitism is profoundly rooted in Christianity -- 3. It will be objected that anti-Semitism has always existed; but this argument has no solid historical foundation -- 4. Pagan, pre Christian anti Semitism, whose center was Alexandria, was of the most vulgar sort -- 5. Christian anti Semitism, which is essentially theological, has been infinitely more pernicious and persistent, since it has continued up to our own time -- Three main themes of the teaching of contempt -- I. the dispersion of the Jews: providential punishment for the crucifixion -- 1. We must make a distinction between the Dispersion as historical fact and as theological myth -- 2. Christian theology commonly teaches that the Dispersion of Israel, dated at A.D 70, is the divine punishment for the Crucifixion -- 3. The assertion has been made so categorically and repeated for so many centuries that it has passed into standard works of history -- 4. The historical reality is that the dispersion began more than five hundred years before the Christian era -- 5. The Dispersion of Israel saw a great expansion after the conquests of Alexander and the Hellenization of the orient -- 6. With the Roman conquest and the founding of the great Roman empire, the Disapora expanded to include the whole Mediterranean world -- 7. If the dispersion of Israel considerably antedates A.D 70, can it be said to have been accomplished at that date? No. History will not allow it -- 8. No definitive dispersion, but a progressive impoverishment of Palestinian Judaism: such is the historical reality which should be obvious to everyone, theologicans and historians alike -- II. The degenerate state of Judaism at the time of Jesus -- 1. Another theological contention, invented, reinforced, and propagated for hundreds of years, is that at the time of Jesus the religion of Israel was mere legalism without a soul -- 2. Once again, historical reality belies the main arguments of traditional teaching, in attesting to the vitality of the religious life of Israel at this period -- 3. The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls has caused a spectacular revival of the Essenes, one of the principal Jewish sects at the time of Jesus -- 4. Thanks to recent discoveries, we can now have an accurate understanding of the high religious aspirations of this Jewish sect, whose guide was an inspired priest, the Teacher of Righteousness -- 5. The discoveries at Qumran have revolutionized not only the history of pre-Christian Judaism, but likewise that of the origins of Christianity -- III. The crime of deicide -- 1. No idea has been more destructive and has had more deadly effect on the scattered Jewish minorities living in Christian countries than the pernicious view of them as the "deicide" people -- 2. Christian doctrine here requires that we make careful distinction between the theological and the historical plane -- The accusation of deicide issues from dangerous confusion of the two -- 3. The Crucifixion is an historical event, and cannot be studied without reference to its historical setting -- 4. The gospels, our only source of information on the Crucifixion, are works of religious teaching and persuasion, and are not concerned with historical accuracy -- 5. In the last analysis, and despite the difficulty of the task, we must try to discover whatever remnants of historical truth lurk behind the Christian instruction contained in the stories of the Passion.

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