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Antisemitism in Christianity

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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.

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, followed by Claudius' expulsion of Jews from Rome. 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 Fiscus Judaicus, 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 Birkat haMinim 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.

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