By: norman ravitch

norman ravitch — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 14:48:27 +0000

The late scholarly father of Bibi Netanyahu, Prof. Ben-Zion Netanyahu, in his book THE ORIGINS OF THE INQUSITION, expounded brilliantly on the origins of Christian anti-semitism early in the history of the church. He found that the earliest appeals to pagans to accept Christianity were not successful because the pagans, Romans, Egyptians, Syrians, etc. were very hostile to the Jews and for them Christianity was a Jewish cult. The churchmen and gospel writers quickly decided that a Christianity that demeaned the Jews would be more successful with pagans and this accounts for the anti-semitism in the Gospels and other Christian writings from the late first century on. This is very convincing and this Christian antisemitism has only weakened, if at all, in the 20th century.

Comments on: Faith Watch articles will appear here

By: norman ravitch