June 10, 2012

Disproving the Da Vinci code: The evidence

extracted from (http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/DaVinciCode.htm)

Introduction

The Da Vinci Code is an extremely popular thriller- religious- conspiracy novel (and movie) by Dan Brown (movie directed by Ron Howard) that reinterprets historical Christianity along radical feminist- Gnostic- “New Age” lines. Jesus was not the Son of God portrayed in the Gospels (John 3:16-18; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:35; cf. Romans 1:3-4; etc), was not divine or God incarnate (Matthew 1:23; John 1:1,14; 5:18; 8:58-59; 10:30-33; 20:28; Titus 2:13; Col 2:9; etc), did not die for our sins, nor was raised from the dead (1 Cor 15:1-8). Rather, Jesus was the first “feminist,” was married to Mary Magdalene, and she was intended by Christ to be head of the Church, not the apostle Peter (Matthew 16:18-19; John 21:15-17). Mary Magdalene and Jesus had a child whose relatives and “bloodline” is with us to this day. This “bloodline” from Mary Magdalene (not the cup of the Last Supper) is the real “Holy Grail” and scholars through history such as Leonardo da Vinci were “in” on this “dangerous secret” that the Roman Catholic Church has been trying to suppress for 2000 years.

While it is “just” a novel, the author claims the information contained in it is based on truth and historical facts, and for that reason many (rather ignorant and uninformed) folks have been taking it seriously. And given the explosive popularity of the novel (#1 multiple months on the Best-Seller lists, tens of millions of copies sold, major motion picture released worldwide 5/19/2006, etc) it therefore seems right to dedicate a page to it on my Catholic apologetics site.

The author also takes his claims as dead serious. Author Dan Brown states in an online FAQ: “…the secret behind The Da Vinci Code was too well documented and significant for me to dismiss” (see above). On the novel’s first page we read: “FACT:…. All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” In an interview for WCVB-TV’s “Chronicle” with Mary Richardson, Dan Brown says: “When I started researching Da Vinci Code I really was skeptical, and I expected on some level to disprove all of this history that’s unearthed in the book[s]. But after three trips to Paris, and a lot of interviews, I became a believer.”

The following will discuss some of the main historical claims, the people, groups, and important subjects in the novel, and the fabrications, falsehoods, and many errors of Dan Brown. I have written Fiction (False Claims) citing The Da Vinci Code (DVC refers to the original 2003 hardcover edition) and Response (Truth) giving a factual response to the Fiction. This is just an outline. Many more details are found in the well-researched and documented books, articles, and other links on this page.

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Fiction (False Claims) on Jesus Christ

until the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, Jesus was viewed by His followers as only a mortal prophet (DVC 233)
Jesus’ establishment as ‘the Son of God’ was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea which was a relatively close vote (DVC 233)
Many scholars claim that the early Church literally stole Jesus from His original followers, hijacked His human message, shrouded it in a cloak of divinity, and used it to expand the Church’s power (DVC 233)
almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false (DVC 235)
the early Church needed to convince the world that the mortal prophet Jesus was a divine being so any gospels that described earthly aspects of Jesus’ life were omitted from the Bible (DVC 244)
The marriage of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene was one particularly troubling earthly theme that kept recurring in the gospels, and is a matter of historical record (DVC 244)
Jesus as a married man makes infinitely more sense than our standard biblical view of Jesus as a bachelor (DVC 245)
there are countless references to Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s union and this has been explored ad nauseum by modern historians (DVC 247)
Jesus was the original feminist who intended for the future of His Church to be in the hands of Mary Magdalene (DVC 248)
the greatest cover-up in human history is not only was Jesus Christ married, but He was a father (DVC 249)
The royal bloodline of Jesus Christ has been chronicled in exhaustive detail by scores of historians (DVC 253)

Response (Truth): This is probably the most offensive part of the novel to Christians as it contains many unhistorical blunders and outright lies about our Lord and Savior. Many books and online articles have refuted these errors extensively. I will try to add a little bit to these already good Christian responses.

Jesus was indeed viewed as a prophet (Matt 10:41; 13:57; 21:11; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24; 24:19; John 4:19,44; 9:17; etc) but He was much more than that. He not only spoke the Word of God like the prophets (2 Peter 1:19-21), He was the Word of God (John 1:1; Hebrews 1:1-3). He is fully God and fully man in one divine Person. This is the mystery of the Incarnation (John 1:14; 1 John 4:1-3; 1 Tim 3:16).

Jesus was viewed as Lord and God from the very beginning of Christianity. He is called Lord, God, and Son of God in all four canonical Gospels (Matt 1:23; 4:3,6; 14:33; 16:16; 26:63-66; 27:40,43,54; Mark 1:1; 3:11-12; 14:61-62; 15:39; Luke 1:32,35; 8:28; 22:70; John 1:1-3,14,18,34,49; 3:16-18; 5:18,25-29; 8:58-59; 10:30-36; 11:27; 19:7; 20:28,31; etc), in Acts of the Apostles (Acts 3:13; 8:37; 9:20; 20:28; etc) and the New Testament epistles (Romans 1:3-4; 5:10; 8:3; 9:5; 10:9-10; 1 Cor 8:4-6; Gal 2:20; 4:4; Eph 4:13; Phil 2:5-11; Col 1:15-20; 2:9; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8-10; 4:14; 5:8; 10:29; 2 Peter 1:1,17; 1 John 3:8; 4:9-10,15; 5:5-13,20; etc). The divinity and deity of Jesus Christ is really unquestioned in the New Testament itself. These are the earliest Christian documents we have, despite the false claims in the novel. They are all dated (with few exceptions) to the first century AD by all biblical scholars conservative or liberal.

You have to believe that Dan Brown, his publishers, his characters “Robert Langdon,” “Leigh Teabing,” and “Sophie Neveu” never cracked open the New Testament in their life. Jesus is called the Son of God, Lord and God throughout, by friends, enemies, and Jesus Himself. This is at least 250 years before the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.

Starting in the 2nd century (c. 100 AD) and beyond, we have numerous early Church Fathers, Christian Saints, and Catholic Bishops explicitly calling Jesus Christ Lord, God, and Son of God with a rudimentary understanding of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one God in three divine Persons). This is anywhere from 200 to 100 years before the Council of Nicaea:

St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 AD) —

“Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church at Ephesus in Asia, which is worthy of all felicitation, blessed as it is with greatness by the fullness of God the Father, predestined from eternity for a glory that is lasting and unchanging, united and chosen through true suffering by the will of the Father IN JESUS CHRIST OUR GOD….”

“For OUR GOD, JESUS CHRIST, was conceived by Mary in accord with God’s plan: of the seed of David, it is true, but also of the Holy Spirit.” (Letter to Ephesians addr; also 7:2; 9:1; 18:2; from Jurgens, Faith of the Early Fathers, volume 1, p. 17-18; see also Letter to the Smyrnaeans 1:1; Jurgens, p. 24)

St. Justin the Martyr (c. 100 – 165 AD) —

“Although the Jews were always of the opinion that it was the Father of all who had spoken to Moses, IT WAS IN FACT THE SON OF GOD, who is called both Angel and Apostle, who spoke to him; they are, therefore, justly accused by both the prophetic Spirit and by Christ Himself of knowing neither the Father nor the Son. They who assert that the Son is the Father are proved to know neither the Father, nor that the Father of all has a Son, who is both the first-born Word of God AND IS GOD [John 1:1].” (First Apology 6, 61, 63, 66, 67; Jurgens, p. 51, 54-55; see also Dialogue with Trypho 48; Jurgens, p. 60)

St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 140 – 202 AD) —

“….and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who announced through the prophets the dispensations and the comings, and the birth from a Virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus our Lord, and his coming from heaven in the glory of the Father to re-establish all things; and the raising up again of all flesh of all humanity, in order that to JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND GOD AND SAVIOR AND KING, in accord with the approval of the invisible Father, every knee shall bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue shall confess Him, and that He may make just judgment of them all….” (Against Heresies 1:10:1; Jurgens, p. 84-104; see also numerous examples from Against Heresies)

I also have quotes from Aristides of Athens (c. 140); St. Melito of Sardes (c. 177); Athenagoras of Athens (c. 180); St. Theophilus of Antioch (c. 181), St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – 216 AD); St. Hippolytus of Rome (c. 200 AD); Origen (c. 185 – 254 AD); Tertullian (c. 155 – 250 AD); Novatian (c. 235 AD); St. Cyprian of Carthage (c. 250 AD); St. Dionysius of Rome (c. 262 AD). There is no question the ante-Nicene Fathers and early Church writers, from all parts of the Church Catholic (east and west) knew Jesus Christ was Lord, God, and Son of God.

The Council of Nicaea was not responsible for establishing those beliefs. The Council was called to clarify precisely how the Son of God related to God the Father (as “one in being [or substance or essence] with the Father” as the Creed states). As for it being a “relatively close vote” — the final tally was 300 bishops (give or take a few, the exact number is uncertain) to two. Nobody at the Council was there thinking Jesus was just a “mortal prophet” — not even the Arian heretics who clearly believed Jesus was “divine” or “God” in some sense. The Council of Nicaea clarified the exact nature and meaning of Jesus as “Lord and God.” The Council of Constantinople in 381 AD clarified further how the Holy Spirit related to the Father and the Son in the Holy Trinity (Matthew 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14).

As for the “earthly aspects” of Jesus’ life supposedly being “omitted from the Bible,” again Dan Brown has not read the canonical Gospels. Jesus is fully human (God became man is what the Incarnation means). Jesus walks in a human body, talks, touches, eats, sleeps, weeps, feels real pain and anguish, shows righteous anger and other human emotions, etc. He was “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15; cf. 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5). He was fully human, yet sinless. God became a sinless man so that sinful man could be united and reconciled to God, and partake of the divine nature (Romans 5:5-12; 1 John 4:9-14; 2 Peter 1:4). That is the basic message of the Christian gospel: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (1 Cor 15:1-8), and by believing in Him we might have life, and that more abundantly (John 3:16; 5:24; 10:10). Dan Brown does not discuss the Resurrection in his novel (however, see the recommended and exhaustive books by Anglican scholar N.T. Wright below).

That Jesus was not married to Mary Magdalene, and remained single and celibate does not make him any less human, which is what Dan Brown and his novel implies. The Bible states Jesus is spiritually married as the bridegroom to His Church, called “the Bride of Christ” (Eph 5:20-33; cf. Matt 25:1ff; Rev 21:2,9; 22:17). That is at least one good theological reason why Jesus remained single and celibate: He is married to His Church, and loves Her as a husband loves his wife. Jesus’ celibacy is in fact the basis for the celibacy of the Catholic priesthood (see recommended books by Cardinal Stickler and Christian Cochini below).

Other examples of single and celibate Jews and prophets include John the Baptist, Jeremiah the prophet, Moses probably after his encounter with God, the Essene community at Qumran, the great St. Paul the Apostle, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, according to Catholics and Orthodox Christians, etc. Jesus Himself said some become eunuchs (virgins or celibates) for the sake of the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:10-12). St. Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 7 it is sometimes better to remain single as he himself was; in 1 Corinthians 9 he mentions other apostles having wives, but never mentions Jesus having a wife when it would have been greatly advantageous to his argument (see chapter by Darrell Bock, “Was Jesus Married?” in Breaking the Da Vinci Code).

There is in fact no historical evidence whatsoever that Jesus was married (except to His Church) in the canonical Gospels, the New Testament, or the first 800 years of orthodox Christianity (the patristic era of the Fathers, Saints, and Bishops). There is also no evidence in the apocryphal or so-called “secret” Gnostic Gospels or non-canonical writings (despite false arguments made from the Gospel of Philip, see below The Bible). There is therefore no evidence for a “royal bloodline” either.

That the Catholic Church does not put down marriage we know from the fact it is elevated to a Sacrament (from the Catechism of the Catholic Church):

1642. Christ is the source of this grace. “Just as of old God encountered his people with a covenant of love and fidelity, so our Savior, the spouse of the Church, now encounters Christian spouses through the sacrament of Matrimony” (Vatican II, GS 48 § 2). Christ dwells with them, gives them the strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21; cf. Gal 6:2) and to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love.

In the joys of their love and family life he gives them here on earth a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb:

“How can I ever express the happiness of a marriage joined by the Church, strengthened by an offering, sealed by a blessing, announced by angels, and ratified by the Father? …..How wonderful the bond between two believers, now one in hope, one in desire, one in discipline, one in the same service! They are both children of one Father and servants of the same Master, undivided in spirit and flesh, truly two in one flesh. Where the flesh is one, one also is the spirit.” (Tertullian, Ad uxorem 2,8,6-7; Migne PL 1,1412-1413)

Recommended Books and Articles:

The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels by Luke Timothy Johnson (HarperCollins, 1996)
An Introduction to New Testament Christology by Raymond E. Brown (Paulist Press, 1994)
Early Christian Doctrines by J.N.D. Kelly (HarperCollins, 1978)
The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, volume 1 by Jaroslav Pelikan (Univ of Chicago Press, 1971)
The Faith of the Early Fathers edited by William Jurgens (The Liturgical Press, 3 volumes)
The Resurrection of the Son of God by N.T. Wright (Fortress Press, 2003)
The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N.T. Wright in Dialogue by J.D. Crossan and N.T. Wright edited by Robert B. Stewart (Fortress Press, 2006)
To Know Christ Jesus by Frank Sheed (Ignatius Press, 1992)
The Lord by Romano Guardini (Gateway Editions, 1982)
The Case for Clerical Celibacy: Its Historical Development and Theological Foundation by Alfons Maria Cardinal Stickler (Ignatius Press, 1995)
The Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy by Christian Cochini (Ignatius Press, 1990)
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis (a classic)
The Gospels of the New Testament (in any translation that you will read them)

Jesus Christ (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Jesus Christ (Wikipedia)
A History of the Council of Nicaea by Philip Hughes
Decrees of the First Council of Nicaea edited by Norman Tanner
Evidence for the Resurrection of Christ based on chapter 8 from Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Kreeft / Tacelli

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Fiction (False Claims) on Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene is the woman who single-handedly could crumble the Church (DVC 243)
The misconception that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute is the legacy of a smear campaign launched by the early Church; she was recast as a whore in order to erase evidence of her powerful family ties (DVC 244, 249)
The Holy Grail is Mary Magdalene, the mother of the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ; she was the womb that carried His royal lineage (DVC 253, 255)
The Church needed to defame Mary Magdalene in order to cover up her dangerous secret as the Holy Grail (DVC 244)
According to the “unaltered gospels” it was not Peter to whom Christ gave directions with which to establish the Christian Church, it was Mary Magdalene (DVC 248)
Mary Magdalene was pregnant at the time of the crucifixion, and for the safety of Christ’s unborn child, she had to flee the Holy Land and secretly traveled to France where she gave birth to a daughter, Sarah (DVC 255)
When the Church outlawed speaking of the shunned Mary Magdalene, her story and importance had to be passed on through more discreet channels (DVC 281)

Response (Truth): There is no “smear campaign” against St. Mary Magdalene. She is a celebrated Saint in the Catholic Church. She is the first human witness of the empty tomb and the Resurrected Christ in the canonical Gospels (Matt 28:1ff; Mark 16:1,9; Luke 24:1ff; John 20:1ff,18), and was with Him at the Crucifixion and His burial (John 19:25; Matt 27:55ff; Mark 15:40ff). She was a close disciple or follower of Jesus and one of several “Marys” (Mariam or Miriam was a common name) mentioned in the New Testament. Many Catholic and Orthodox and Episcopal churches have been built honoring her name through the centuries:

Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottingham, England (and others in the U.K.) built between the 12th and 14th centuries;
the Russian Maria Magdalena Church on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem founded in 1886;
the Anglo-Catholic Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Toronto, Canada founded in 1888;
St. John and St. Mary Magdalene Church (built 1916) in Goldthorpe, a village in South Yorkshire, England;
many St. Mary Magdalene Catholic churches and parishes named in her honor in the U.S. and the world.

If there is a “smear campaign” and “silencing” of the Saint going on, the Catholic Church and the rest of Christianity is certainly incompetent about keeping her name quiet. We don’t keep her “secret” or “erase evidence” or “defame” her; there is no “outlawing” and “shunning” going on; Catholics and Christians honor her publicly. She is part of the liturgical calendar in Catholicism (her feast day is July 22).

There is no evidence for a “wife” of Jesus Christ; therefore there is no “bloodline” of Jesus Christ. Christ is (spiritually) married to His Church, the body of Christ, who is called His “Bride” (Ephesians 5; see above Jesus Christ).

The Holy Grail is not Mary Magdalene; the Holy Grail is the cup or dish of the Last Supper. The English word “Grail” derives from the medieval Latin word gradale, which became in Old French graal or greal which means “grail” or “cup” or “dish” (see below Holy Grail). The Grail romances date from 1180 to 1240 AD and none of them refer to the Grail as a “person.”

There are no “unaltered” vs. “altered gospels” — the earliest Gospels we have are the canonical ones we find in the New Testament. They clearly point to St. Peter as the earthly or visible head of the Church (while Christ is the invisible head in heaven). This is an “intramural” debate within Christianity, but the primacy of the apostle Peter in the New Testament is clear (Matthew 16:18-19; John 21:15-17; Luke 22:31-32), and was recognized very early by the Catholic Bishops, Fathers, and Saints. The 4th century eastern Church Father, St. Ephraim the Syrian wrote in his homilies, interpreting and expanding the Peter-Rock-Keys passage of Matthew 16:18-19:

“[Jesus said:] Simon [Peter], my follower, I have made you the foundation of the holy Church. I betimes called you Peter, because you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will build on Earth a Church for me. If they should wish to build what is false, you, the foundation, will condemn them. You are the head of the fountain from which my teaching flows; you are the chief of my disciples. Through you I will give drink to all peoples. Yours is that life-giving sweetness which I dispense. I have chosen you to be, as it were, the firstborn in my institution so that, as the heir, you may be executor of my treasures. I have given you the keys of my kingdom. Behold, I have given you authority over all my treasures.” (Homilies 4:1 [351 AD])

Hundreds of such quotes can be found in the early Fathers. See my apologetics articles for more historical material on Peter’s primacy and evidence for the early Papacy (see especially the articles by Dom John Chapman on St. Cyprian, St. Augustine, St. Athanasius, St. Jerome, and St. John Chrysostom). While St. Mary Magdalene was one of Christ’s closest disciples, she was not chosen to be the head or even a leader in the Church. Christ chose his Twelve apostles (Matthew 10:2ff), with Peter being first and the rock (Kepha in Aramaic, petra or petros in Greek) upon which the Church would be built (Matthew 16:18; cf. Eph 2:20; 1 Peter 2:4ff; Rev 21:14), and the keys of the kingdom (symbolic of authority) were given to him (Matthew 16:19; cf. Isaiah 22:15ff; Rev 3:7).

The idea that St. Mary Magdalene was a repentant prostitute or “whore” (the sinful woman of Luke 7:36-50) came from conflating the women and Marys of the Gospels. It was not out of malice or because the Church was covering up anything. It was an honest mistake. This was first done by Tertullian, who equated Mary of Bethany with Luke’s sinful woman (De pudicitia or On Modesty 11:2, c. 200 AD), for each were said to have anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them dry with her hair, while He was reclining at a banquet (Luke 7:38,46; John 12:3; see the New Catholic Encyclopedia [NCE, 2nd edition, 2003], volume 9, article “St. Mary Magdalene” page 287).

Pope St. Gregory the Great (in his Homily 25:1:10, c. 591 AD) equated the sinful woman, and Mary of Bethany, with St. Mary Magdalene. “Following Gregory, the Latin Church, generally but not universally, has continued to identify the three women and honors them and their different virtues under the title of St. Mary Magdalene on July 22. Following Origen, the Greek churches honor them, more appropriately, as separate and distinct saints.” (NCE, volume 9, page 287). Amy Welborn, in her excellent little study De-Coding Mary Magdalene: Truth, Legend, and Lies (Our Sunday Visitor, 2006) explains:

“In this homily, Gregory is not just examining Mary Magdalene for her own sake. He’s offering her up to his listeners as an example of the possibility of repentance and the promise of forgiveness. That’s sometimes forgotten in contemporary discussion of the imagery here, which tend to excoriate Gregory for not just an apparent error in interpretation, but also misogyny and a desire to demean Mary Magdalene. It’s clear that no such diminishment was in his mind.” (Welborn, page 54).

The Church honored St. Mary Magdalene as a holy example of repentance, despite Gregory’s mistake of equating her with the prostitute of Luke 7. “Mary Magdalene isn’t being held up as a figure to be scorned. The impact of Gregory’s associating her with Luke’s sinful woman was not to degrade her, nor was it intended to do so. She was held up as a model….and an inspiration. This was no plot to demean women. It was an expression of a desire to find our own story of loss and hope in the Gospel story.” (Welborn, page 55)

Concerning the medieval legends about Mary Magdalene: “The late legend that Mary Magdalene….was miraculously transported to southern France in an oarless boat deserves no credence.” (NCE, volume 9, page 287). This legend dates from the 9th century AD (see also Olson / Miesel, page 87-89; and Welborn, chapter 6 “The Golden Legend”), and never involved “Grails” (which romance stories date from the 12th and 13th centuries) or supposed “children” of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as Dan Brown’s novel maintains (and Margaret Starbird’s unscholarly books who he follows).

The true story of St. Mary Magdalene could and does single-handedly crumble the nonsense in The Da Vinci Code.

From Easten’s Bible Dictionary:

Mary Magdalene, i.e., Mary of Magdala, a town on the western shore of the Lake of Tiberias. She is for the first time noticed in Luke 8:2 as one of the women who “ministered to Christ of their substance.” Their motive was that of gratitude for deliverances he had wrought for them. Out of Mary were cast seven demons. Gratitude to her great Deliverer prompted her to become his follower. These women accompanied him also on his last journey to Jerusalem (Mt 27:55; Mk 15:41; Lk 23:55). They stood near the cross. There Mary remained till all was over, and the body was taken down and laid in Joseph’s tomb.

Again, in the earliest dawn of the first day of the week she, with Salome and Mary the mother of James (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:1) came to the sepulchre, bringing with them sweet spices, that they might anoint the body of Jesus. They found the sepulchre empty, but saw the “vision of angels” (Mt 28:5). She hastens to tell Peter and John, who were probably living together at this time (Jn 20:1,2) and again immediately returns to the sepulchre. There she lingers thoughtfully, weeping at the door of the tomb. The risen Lord appears to her, but at first she knows him not. His utterance of her name “Mary” recalls her to consciousness, and she utters the joyful, reverent cry, “Rabboni.” She would fain cling to him, but he forbids her, saying, “Touch me not [or do not cling to me]; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” This is the last record regarding Mary of Magdala, who now returned to Jerusalem. The idea that this Mary was “the woman who was a sinner, ” or that she was unchaste, is altogether groundless.

Recommended Books and Articles:

De-Coding Mary Magdalene: Truth, Legend, and Lies by Amy Welborn (Our Sunday Visitor, 2006)
Mary Magdalene: Truth and Myth by Susan Haskins (Pimlico, 2005)
The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene: Legends, Apocrypha, and the Christian Testament by Jane Schaberg (Continuum, 2002)
Breaking the Da Vinci Code by Bock, chapter “Who Was Mary Magdalene?”
The Da Vinci Hoax by Olson / Miesel, chapter “The Magdalene: Saint, Sinner, or Goddess?”
The World’s First Love by Fulton J. Sheen (Ignatius Press, 1996)
Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture by Jaroslav Pelikan (Yale Univ Press, 1998)
The Gospels of the New Testament (in any translation that you will read them)

Mary Magdalene (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Mary Magdalene (Wikipedia)

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Fiction (False Claims) on Constantine

The Bible as we know it today was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great (DVC 231)
Constantine was a lifelong pagan who was baptized on his deathbed, too weak to protest (DVC 232)
In Constantine’s day, Rome’s official religion was sun worship — the cult of Sol Invictus, or the Invincible Sun — and Constantine was its head priest (DVC 232)
By fusing pagan symbols, dates, and rituals into the growing Christian tradition, Constantine created a hybrid religion that was acceptable to both (DVC 232)
Christianity honored the Jewish Sabbath, but Constantine shifted it to coincide with the pagan’s veneration day of the sun, the pagan sun god’s weekly tribute — Sunday (DVC 232-233)
By officially endorsing Jesus as the Son of God, Constantine turned Jesus into a deity who existed beyond the scope of the human world (DVC 233)
Because Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man (DVC 234)
Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike; the earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned (DVC 234)

Response (Truth): Dan Brown (and his novel’s characters) gets it all wrong again. Constantine was indeed a Roman emperor (reigned from 306 to 337 AD, born in Naissus [Nish] in modern Yugoslavia, about 280) but was not a lifelong pagan; he became a Christian sometime in 312 AD. His deathbed baptism was not against his will, and its delay was not unusual. Since in orthodox Catholic teaching this Sacrament cleansed one from all sin, where one became “saved” and “born again” by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-7; Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Cor 6:11; 1 Peter 3:21; Titus 3:5), some in the early Church postponed this powerful Sacrament’s effects (e.g. see Tertullian On Baptism 18; and St. Augustine Confessions 1:17-18). Infants were also frequently baptized (Origen Commentary on Romans 5:9; St. Cyprian of Carthage Letters 64:2-5; St. Gregory of Nazianz Orations on Holy Baptism 40:17; St. Augustine Forgiveness…and Baptism of Infants 1:9:10; 1:24:34; 2:27:43; Letters 98:2).

Constantine did not “collate” the Bible, he had nothing to do with the canon of Scripture. The NT canon and four canonical Gospels (the earliest Christian documents we have) were generally recognized by the 2nd century AD, while the full and explicit 27-book NT canon wasn’t established until the late 4th century (St. Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 of 367 AD, and the local Councils of Rome, Hippo, Carthage, see below The Bible).

Constantine did not “shift” the day of worship to Sunday; this day (called the “Lord’s day”) was well established in the New Testament (Rev 1:10; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2; Col 2:13ff), and recognized by the earliest Christian believers and Fathers, Bishops and Saints. Ignatius (c. 110 AD), Justin (c. 150), the Didache (1st or 2nd century AD), Clement of Alexandria (c. 200), Tertullian (c. 200), all identify the “Lord’s day” with the day of public Christian worship in honor of Christ’s Resurrection on the “first day of the week” which is Sunday (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2,9; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1).

As already pointed out, neither Constantine nor the Council of Nicaea “upgraded Jesus’ status” or “turned Jesus into a deity” since His deity (as Lord, God, and Son of God) is clearly affirmed and established in the New Testament documents and by the Church Fathers, Bishops, and Saints hundreds of years before the Council of Nicaea (see above Jesus Christ). As for Christ’s “human traits” they are on full display in the four canonical Gospels; it is the so-called “Gnostic Gospels” where the humanity of Christ is denied (see below The Bible). Also Dan Brown can’t count, since the Council (325 AD) would be less than three centuries after Jesus’ death (c. 30 AD), not “almost four centuries.”

Here are some facts on Constantine summarized from the New Catholic Encyclopedia (NCE, 2003, 2nd edition) article “Constantine I, the Great, Roman Emperor” (NCE, volume 4, pages 179-181):

Before his conversion to Christianity, Constantine refused to accept the rank of caesar given him by Galerius and Licinius (Nov 11, 308); he practiced forbearance in regard to the Christians;
the Emperor Galerius published (Apr 30, 311) an edict of religious tolerance for Christians signed by Constantine;
Each emperor (Constantine, Licinius, and Maximin Daia in the east) issued mandates restoring rights and property to Christians (Lactantius, De morte 48; Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 10:5:1-14);
Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in 312 is “now almost universally acknowledged” although the quality of his conversion is still disputed; that he postponed Baptism until his deathbed is no criterion since this was common, and he late insisted he hoped to be baptized in the Jordan;
Lactantius claimed (De morte 44) the emperor saw Christ in a dream and was told to paint on his army’s shields a Chi-Rho (transversa X littera summo capite circumflexo) which formed the Christian monogram;
In Vita Constantini (Life of Constantine) Eusebius maintains that before the battle Constantine saw a cross over the sun with the inscription “In this sign, conquer” — that night Christ appeared to him and told him to paint the cross (called the Labarum, a staff surmounted with globe, and capped with the Chi-Rho) on his soldier’s shields (Vita 1:27-32); the authenticity of the Vita (c. 335 or 338) is generally admitted;
Constantine wrote to Maximin Daia opposing the persecution of Christians and gave the palace of Fausta at the Lateran to Pope Miltiades for a synod, later as the papal residence;
He completed the building of a civil basilica, constructed new public baths, and erected a Christian church at the Lateran which was completed with a baptistery;
He published the decree of Galerius giving religious freedom in his realm, and ordered the prefect in Africa (Anullinus) to restore Christian property and aid the bishops;
He dedicated a statue of himself in the Forum with the inscription “Through this salutary sign…I have freed your city from the yoke of the tyrant” (Eusebius, Eccl History 10:4:16; Vita 1:40) — the vexillum, first known on the statue of an emperor, apparently was decorated with the Christian Chi-Rho monogram;
Silver coins struck at Treves in 312 or 313 depict the emperor’s crown with a helmet and the Christian monogram — although the Sol Invictus and other pagan signs did not disappear until after 321, the vexillum and Christian monogram appeared regularly after 320, the Labarum after 326;
the Constantinian arch depicting his victory over Maxentius contains pagan symbols, but no gods are named; the victory is attributed to an instinctu divinitatis (an impulse of divinity), an expression acceptable to Christians and pagans;
Constantine attempted (313) to settle the Donatist schism in Africa; on appeal against the Catholic Bishop Caecillian he had Pope Miltiades hold a Roman synod that condemned the Donatist heretics (Eusebius, Eccl History 10:5:18-20); on second appeal he ordered a synod in Arles (314) and wrote to the bishops asking them to achieve unity and not allow critics to dishonor the Christian religion;
He recognized the bishops as counselors of state, extended to them juridical rights; he gave legal force to their solution of civil suits, permitted the emancipation of slaves in church, and recognized bequests to the Church; he considered himself a colleague of the bishops (Codex Theodosianus 1:27:1; 16:2:4);
Constantine seems to have felt himself divinely prompted to handle situations beyond the power of the bishops, gradually becoming involved in all the Church’s affairs;
He wrote to the Persian King Sapor in favor of Christians in his realm, and supported the Christian kingdom of Armenia;
He did not enroll among the catechumens, but read the Scriptures and organized religious ceremonies for the Christian community in his palace;
He made Sunday a civil holiday and freed Christian soldiers for religious services (Codex Theodosianus 2:8:1);
the majority of his citizens were pagans, so he retained the office of pontifex maximus and continued the Sol Invictus and lux perpetua legends on his coinage and monuments which were expressions of the eternal quality of the Roman state;
the Sol Invictus had been adopted in a Christian sense as demonstrated in the Christ as Apollo-Helios in a mausoleum (c. 250) discovered beneath St. Peter’s in the Vatican;
In a letter to the Orient, Constantine spoke of his experience of God’s providence (Vita 2:24-42) and claimed a divine vocation to protect Christians in the Orient and the West; in a second letter he exhorted pagans to convert to “God’s holy law” but proclaimed religious liberty for all (2:48-60);
In an appendix to book 4 of the Vita, Eusebius edited an Oration to the Assembly of Saints that he attributed to Constantine; its authenticity is disputed, but it is a model of contemporary Christian apologetics;
Constantine refused religious honors to the Roman Senate on the anniversaries Decennalia and Vicennalia (316 and 326);
He leveled a cemetary on Vatican hill and built a vast martyr basilica on the spot where tradition located the grave of St. Peter the apostle;
He induced his mother Helena to become a Christian, and she built a church on her property near the Lateran known as the Sessorianum, later called Santa Croce in Gerusalemme;
He constructed the churches of St. Agnes, St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls, and Sts. Peter and Marcellinus in conjunction with Helena’s mausoleum;
A double church was built at Treves and in Antioch (328), an octagonal edifice close to the imperial palace;
He aided in the construction of the Nativity basilica in Bethlehem (Vita 3:41-43), the Eleona church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives (3:41-43), the basilica on the site of Abraham’s sacrifice (3:51-53), and the basilica of the Resurrection in Jerusalem (3:25-40) to whose dedication he called the bishops from a synod at Tyre (4:43-46) in 335;
In 330 he wrote to Eusebius, asking him to have fifty copies of the Christian scriptures (both Testaments in Greek) prepared for use by the churches in the city; the fifty copies were made on good parchment by trained scribes, the emperor would defray the entire cost and authorize use of two public carriages to transport the copies to Constantinople; Eusebius proceeded without delay and the scriptures were prepared as specified and sent in “magnificent and elaborately bound volumes” (Vita or Life of Constantine 4:36-37; see F.F. Bruce The Canon of Scripture, page 203).

The New Catholic Encyclopedia (NCE, 2003, 2nd edition) article concludes:

“As a colleague, then as guide of the bishops, the emperor felt he had a vocation to lead all men to unity in honoring the divinity within the Christian Church (Vita 2:65:1). In the Scriptures, Constantine found justification for his idea of the Church as a peace-bringing house of truth, the unifying element of the state as a kingdom of God (Vita 2:56,67). He respected the decisions of the bishops in synod, particularly the decrees of the Council of Nicaea, and considered all further theological dispute as nugatory. Hence his policy hardened toward pagans and Jews as time wore on. Although he employed pagan terms in speaking of the ‘divinity,’ ‘the highest god,’ and ‘divine providence,’ he had in mind the unique God of the Christians, the creator and judge of all who saved fallen man through His Son….In dealing with heretics and in his policy toward pagans, he exercised astute forbearance. There can be no doubt that he was a convinced Christian, whatever may have been the limitations in his understanding of the full significance of that faith.” (NCE, volume 4, page 182)

See also the thoroughly documented chapter “Constantine, Paganism, and Nicaea” by Carl Olson in The Da Vinci Hoax.

Recommended Books and Articles:

Life of Constantine by Eusebius of Caesarea (Oxford Univ Press, 1999)
Constantine and the Christian Empire by Charles M. Odahl (Routledge, 2004)
The Emperor Constantine by Hans A. Pohlsander (Routledge, 2004)
Constantine: History, Historiography, and Legend by Samuel Lieu and Dominic Montserrat (Routledge, 1998)
Constantine the Great: The Man and His Times by Michael Grant (Scribners / Macmillan, 1994)
Constantine and Eusebius by Timothy D. Barnes (Harvard Univ Press, 1981)

Constantine (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Constantine (Wikipedia)

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Fiction (False Claims) on Leonardo da Vinci

“Da Vinci” has always been an awkward subject for historians especially in the Christian tradition; despite his genius he was a flamboyant homosexual, a worshipper of Nature’s divine order, and this placed him in a perpetual state of sin against God (DVC 45)
“Da Vinci” had an enormous output of breathtaking Christian art and accepted hundreds of lucrative Vatican commissions (DVC 45)
“Da Vinci” painted Christian themes not as an expression of his own beliefs but rather as a commercial venture; he incorporated in many of his Christian paintings hidden symbolism that was anything but Christian, tributes to his own beliefs, and a thumbing his nose at the Church (DVC 45-46)
Leonardo was a well-documented devotee of the ancient ways of the goddess (DVC 96)
his famous fresco The Last Supper is one of the most astonishing tributes to the sacred feminine you will ever see (DVC 96)
the one seated in the place of honor, at the right hand of Jesus, in the Last Supper has flowing red hair, delicate folded hands, and the hint of a bosom; it is without doubt a female, the woman Mary Magdalene (DVC 243)
The Last Supper practically shouts at the viewer that Jesus and Magdalene were a pair (DVC 244)

See also Brown’s inaccurate and speculative discussion of the Mona Lisa, DVC 118-121; and Madonna [or Virgin] of the Rocks, DVC 138-139.

Response (Truth): Brown can’t even get the man’s name right. Leonardo is his name. Da Vinci means “from Vinci” which is his place of birth in the small village of Vinci, near Florence, Italy. To be fair, many of the anti-DVC critics in their books have also mistakenly referred to Leonardo as “Da Vinci” as if that was his last name. Leonardo is his name.

Most modern Leonardo scholars conclude he probably was homosexual. He never married. There was a sodomy charge early in life, but it was dropped. There are some what might be called “homoerotic” drawings (e.g. Angelo incarnato, folio 44 of the Codex Arundel, etc) in his sketchbooks. If he was gay, he wasn’t “flamboyant” about it. See especially Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind by Charles Nicholl (he discusses this in a couple of pages):

“It is all, in the end, a matter of interpretation. Like most students of Leonardo today, I interpret him as homosexual — though there is some piquant evidence, which I will look at later, that he was not exclusively so. The allegation laid against him in 1476 [the sodomy charge] is plausible enough, though this is not the same as saying it was true.” (Nicholl, page 116)

As for Leonardo producing an “enormous output” of Christian art, here are the numbers: he might have worked on 20 paintings, a dozen of which survive; of these, only seven are of unchallenged provenance (see Math and the Mona Lisa by Bulent Atalay, page xvi). Nevertheless, it is first as a Christian artist that Leonardo is generally remembered. Also, he did not accept “hundreds” of Vatican commissions, only one, which he did not finish (see “The Real Leonardo” by Elizabeth Lev).

The idea that Leonardo left “codes” in his paintings such as The Last Supper (e.g. the apostle John is actually a woman, Mary Magdalene who is the “Holy Grail”) has been called “absurd” by art historians, including one of the most learned scholars of Leonardo, Professor Judith Veronica Field of the University of London and current president of the Leonardo da Vinci Society (Gary Stern, “Experts Dismiss Theories in Popular Book,” The Journal News, November 2, 2003).

In addition, The Last Supper is not a “fresco” as called repeatedly in Dan Brown’s novel, but an experimental medium of tempera on stone which caused it to deteriorate shortly after completion. There have been several restoration attempts, the last completed in 1999.

See link below for an analysis of the painting by professional art historians and curators: Martin Kemp, A. Richard Turner, Serge Bramly, Bruce Boucher, and Elizabeth Lev; the latter has said: “Nothing in Leonardo’s writings suggests that the person next to Jesus is anyone other than John.” Included are many examples of a young St. John as he was painted during the Renaissance: curly hair, effeminate, without beard and the “rough” features associated with elder males (see especially Last Supper examples from Jacomart c. 1450, Ghirlandaio c. 1486, Bassano c. 1542, also Leonardo’s own St. John the Baptist). There is nothing unusual about Leonardo’s young apostle John, portrayed as the Renaissance type “student.”

“….St. John was invariably represented as a beautiful young man whose special affinity with Jesus was expressed by his being seated at Jesus’ right. Leonardo’s St. John conforms to this type, and parallels for the absence of a chalice appear in earlier Italian examples.” (Bruce Boucher, “Does the Da Vinci Code Crack Leonardo?”)

“A classic type, common to many Renaissance paintings is the ‘student.’ A favored follower, a protege or disciple, is always portrayed as very youthful, long-haired and clean-shaven…Throughout the Renaissance, artists portray St. John in this fashion. He is the ‘disciple Jesus loved’ ….Only a colossal fool would paint a heresy where the monks could study it day after day. While no evidence suggest that Leonardo held the church in contempt, proof abounds that he was no fool.” (Elizabeth Lev, “The Real Leonardo”)

Even admitting that Leonardo thought that the person sitting next to Christ in The Last Supper was a woman, we have to ask how this demonstrates:

(a) he thought that person to be Mary Magdalene;
(b) the fact that Leonardo thought this would somehow make it true;
(c) that Mary Magdalene participated in the Last Supper because she was Jesus’ “wife”;
(d) the two had children and established a “bloodline”;
(e) Magdalene and her “bloodline” should have governed the Church;
(f) to preserve this “truth” a secret society was born, the “Priory of Sion”;
(g) and Leonardo was a member of this Priory.

Each of these must be supported independently, but there is no evidence for any of them. If St. John is “Mary Magdalene” then where is the apostle? Leonardo is depicting a typical biblical scene, that of the Last Supper, the point at which Jesus announces one of his twelve apostles will betray him (Matthew 26:20-25; cf. John 13:18-30). And those Twelve are clearly named in the Gospels: “These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” (Matthew 10:2-4; also Mark 3:16-19)

At the end of his life, Leonardo gave an explicit confession of Catholic faith, as Vasari noted (one of his early biographers). Leonardo “desired scrupulously to be informed of Catholic practice and of the good and holy Christian religion, then, after many tears, he repented and confessed. Since he could no longer stand upright, he had himself supported by his friends and servants in order to receive the holy sacrament in piety outside his bed.” (Vasari cited in Leonardo: Discovering the Life of Leonardo da Vinci by Serge Bramly, page 406)

The Leonardo biographer Bramly also comments:

“The will appears to confirm this return to religion. Leonardo commends his soul to Almighty God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to Saint Michael and all angels and saints in paradise. The first wishes he expresses are pious arrangements for his burial. He asks to be interred at the church of Saint-Florentin in Amboise; that his coffin be carried by the chaplains of this church and followed by the prior, the curates, the minor friars of the church; that three high masses be celebrated by the deacon and subdeacon, and thirty low Gregorian masses at Saint-Florentin and Saint-Denis….” (Bramly, page 406)

So much for Dan Brown’s claim that Leonardo was some kind of arch-heretic who worshipped the “goddess.” And his art was explicitly biblical and Catholic, no hidden “codes” required: The Annunciation (tempera on wood c. 1472-75, oil on panel c. 1478-82), Benois Madonna (c. 1478), Adoration of the Magi (c. 1481-82), St. Jerome (c. 1482), The Madonna (Virgin) of the Rocks (c. 1483-85), The Last Supper (1495-1498), The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (charcoal and oil), St. John the Baptist (c. 1513-1516), possibly others.

See Restoration of Leonardo’s Last Supper, with comparisons of paintings of a young St. John, along with comments by prominent art historians.

Recommended Books and Articles:

The World of Leonardo da Vinci: Man of Science, Engineer, and Dreamer of Flight by Ivor B. Hart (Macdonald, 1961)
Leonardo the Scientist by Zammattio / Marinoni / Brizio (McGraw-Hill, 1980)
Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man by Martin Kemp (Harvard Univ Press, 1981)
Leonardo: Discovering the Life of Leonardo da Vinci by Serge Bramly (Edward Burlingame / HarperCollins, 1991)
Inventing Leonardo by A. Richard Turner (Alfred A. Knopf, 1993)
Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci by Bulent Atalay (Smithsonian Books, 2004)
Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind by Charles Nicholl (Viking Penguin, 2004)

Leonardo da Vinci (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Leonardo da Vinci (Wikipedia)

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Fiction (False Claims) on the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Gnostic Gospels

The Bible is a product of man not God; man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions (DVC 231)
More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John among them (DVC 231)
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s, the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, and in telling the true Grail story, these documents speak of Christ’s ministry in very human terms (DVC 234)
The Vatican, in keeping with their tradition of misinformation, tried very hard to suppress the release of these scrolls (DVC 234)
The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern Bible was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda — to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own power base (DVC 234)
the Nag Hammadi and Dead Sea scrolls are the earliest Christian records, and they do not match up with the gospels in the Bible (DVC 245-246)
in the Gospel of Philip, as any Aramaic scholar will tell you, the word companion, in those days, literally meant spouse….”And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene” (DVC 246)
the New Testament is false testimony and based on fabrications (DVC 341)
every faith in the world is based on fabrications since that is the definition of faith — acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove (DVC 341)

Response (Truth): At least Dan Brown is consistent: consistently wrong. The Bible is a product of God and man; that is the Catholic doctrine and is the understanding of most orthodox Christians. From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

136. God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his saving truth [cf. Vatican II, DV 11].

Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), and the Scriptures are “inspired by God and profitable for teaching” (2 Timothy 3:16). This section is not going to “prove” the divine inspiration of Scripture,but merely point out the gross errors of The Da Vinci Code.

The divine inspiration of Scripture, and the divine authority of the Catholic Church which recognized the canon of Scripture, can be shown from the divinity and authority of Jesus Christ (see above Jesus Christ). He claimed to be God, He then proved to be God by His Resurrection and miracles, and He authorized the Church, His body, to teach and pass on all that He taught His apostles in His name (Matthew 10:19-20; 18:17-18; 28:18-20; Luke 10:16; John 16:13; 20:21-23; 2 Thess 2:15) which includes His Scriptures which “cannot be broken” (John 10:35; cf. Matthew 4; 1 Cor 14:37). Jesus also promised to be with His Church to the end of time thus ensuring faithfulness to His teaching (Matthew 16:18; 28:20; John 14:16f; 1 Timothy 3:15; 2 Tim 2:2).

As for “translations, additions, and revisions,” this objection is too vague to mean anything. Are there different translations of the Scriptures? Yes, that will always be necessary since not everyone can read the original languages: OT Hebrew and NT Greek. Most Christians in the early centuries and through the Middle Ages were illiterate and depended on the Church entirely for knowledge of the Faith. The translation committees today do the best they can with the best knowledge they have in producing the most accurate translation from the original texts. Those original texts are known by textual criticism to within an accuracy of 98-99% pure (Geisler / Nix, page 474). We have well over 5000+ Greek manuscripts, over 10000+ Latin manuscripts, over 36000+ citations from the Church Fathers, from which to reconstruct an accurate original text (Geisler / Nix, page 466-467, 385, 345-346, etc).

As for “eighty gospels” that were supposedly “considered for the New Testament,” that’s simply not true. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were the only ones ever considered, and their canonical status was clearly recognized by the second century AD. The earliest Christian writings cite these Gospels as the only authoritative and authentic written words about Jesus: the epistle of Barnabas (c. 70-100 AD), the Didache (c. 70-130), St. Clement of Rome (c. 95), the epistles of St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110), Papias (c. 120), the Shepherd of Hermas (c. 140), and the Muratorian fragment (or canon c. 170 AD), all quote or allude to all four canonical Gospels (Geisler / Nix, page 288-291). The rest of the New Testament (the 27-book canon) is quoted or alluded to by these same writers, plus the earliest orthodox Church Fathers: St. Ignatius (c. 110), St. Justin Martyr (c. 150), St. Irenaeus (c. 180), St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 200), Origen (c. 220), etc. There is a growing recognition of the extent of the New Testament canon, and this began early in the second century AD.

“In the first half of the second century, then, collections of Christian writings which were due one day to be given canonical status were already taking shape — notably the fourfold gospel and the corpus of Pauline letters….from the early second century onward Paul’s letters circulated not singly, but as a collection [cf. 2 Peter 3:15f]. It was as a collection that Christians of the second century and later knew them, both orthodox and heterodox.” (F.F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture, page 123-124, 130)

There simply are not even “eighty gospels” in existence to be considered. The Gnostic writings include a few that are called “Gospels” (e.g. the Gospel of Thomas being the most popular among scholars), but they are late (second century AD or later), contain an unorthodox Gnostic theology, and were simply never considered for inclusion in the NT canon. The canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) are all first century texts so they are the earliest Gospels we have of the words and deeds of Christ. According to tradition, they are rooted in eyewitness testimony (cf. Luke 1:1-4; 24:48; Acts 1:1-4; 1:8; 2:32; 3:15; 5:32; 2 Peter 1:16; Matthew and John were apostles, Mark and Luke were associated with apostles).

The first major Church historian Eusebius (c. 260-340), writing at the time of emperor Constantine, distinguishes three categories of New Testament Scriptures: (1) universally acknowledged, (2) disputed, and (3) spurious (or simply “uncanonical”). In category (1) as universally acknowledged he places the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), the Acts of the Apostles (Acts), the epistles of Paul (which are 14 including Hebrews), the first epistle of John (1 John), the first epistle of Peter (1 Peter), and “should it seem right, John’s Apocalypse” (book of Revelation). In category (2) as “disputed, but recognized by the majority” he places the epistles of James, Jude, 2nd Peter, 2nd and 3rd John. In category (3) as non-canonical he includes the Acts of Paul, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Apocalypse of Peter, the epistle of Barnabas, and the Teachings of the Apostles (or Didache), the “Gospel According to the Hebrews,” and Revelation “should it seem right” since “some reject it, while others count it among the acknowledged books” (see F.F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture, page 198-199).

Therefore, the only books that were ever doubted by a few were James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, sometimes Hebrews and Revelation. The rest were universally acknowledged. The 27-book NT canon became explicit with St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria (Festal Letter 39, c. 367 AD), the local or regional Councils of Rome (under Pope Damasus, c. 380 AD), the Councils of Hippo (393 AD), and Carthage (397 / 419 AD), and Popes Boniface I, Innocent I, and Gelasius confirmed this same canon (see F.F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture, page 232-235).

Here is a summary of points from Handbook of Christian Apologetics (Intervarsity, 1994) by Peter Kreeft / Ronald Tacelli on why the Gospels and New Testament should be considered reliable and authentic, not myth or legend:

The style of the Gospels is radically and clearly different from the style of all myths; there are no overblown, spectacular, exaggerated events; nothing is arbitrary, everything is meaningful;
There was not enough time for myth to develop; several generations have to pass before the added mythological elements can be mistakenly believed to be facts; eyewitnesses would be around before that to discredit the new, mythic versions;
The first witnesses of the Resurrection were women; in first-century Judaism, women had low social status and no legal right to serve as witnesses; if the empty tomb were an invented legend, its inventors surely would not have had it discovered by women, whose testimony was considered worthless; if the writers were simply reporting what they saw, they would have to tell the truth;
The New Testament could not be myth misinterpreted and confused with fact because it specifically distinguishes the two and repudiates the mythic interpretation (2 Peter 1:16);
The Gospels were written by eyewitnesses from internal evidence: the style of writing in the Gospels is simple and alive; the Gospels show an intimate knowledge of Jerusalem prior to its destruction in AD 70; the Gospels are full of proper names, dates, cultural details, historical events, and customs and opinions of that time;
The stories of Jesus’ human weaknesses and of the disciples’ faults also bespeak the Gospels’ accuracy: the Gospels do not try to suppress apparent discrepancies, which indicates their originality; the Gospels do not contain anachronisms; the authors appear to have been first-century Jews who were witnesses of the events;
The disciples must have left some writings, engaged as they were in giving lessons to and counseling believers who were geographically distant; what could these writings be if not the Gospels and epistles themselves;
There were many eyewitnesses who were still alive when the books were written who could testify whether they came from their purported authors or not;
The external evidence: extra-biblical testimony unanimously attributes the Gospels to their traditional authors; with a single exception, no apocryphal gospel is ever quoted by any known author during the first three hundred years after Christ; there is no evidence that any inauthentic gospel whatever existed in the first century in which all four Gospels and Acts were written;
No other ancient work is available in so many copies and languages, and yet all these various versions agree in content;
The text has remained unmarred by heretical additions; the abundance of manuscripts over a wide geographical distribution demonstrates that the text has been transmitted with only trifling discrepancies; the quotations of the New Testament books in the early Church Fathers all coincide; no one could have corrupted all the manuscripts;
The text of the New Testament is every bit as good as the text of the classical works of antiquity; to repudiate the textual purity of the Gospels would be to reject all the works of antiquity, since the text of those works is less certain than that of the Gospels.

So much for “false testimony” and “based on fabrications.” There is no evidence for that claim and it is answered above.

The Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) were not “found in the 1950s” — they were first discovered in 1947, with subsequent finds in the 1950s. The Nag Hammadi (NH) documents are not “scrolls” — they are codices which are an ancient form of book. Neither the DSS nor the NH documents contain teachings about “Christ’s ministry in very human terms.” The DSS do not even mention Jesus Christ since they are Jewish documents dating mainly before the time of Christ. The Gnostic writings in general present a “divine” Christ who is NOT human. They deny Christ really died or even lived in a human body (also called Docetism). I shall show this with a brief examination of the Gospel of Philip and other Gnostic writings below.

The following are a summary of facts from the New Catholic Encyclopedia (2003, 2nd edition) articles “Dead Sea Scrolls” (volume 4, page 560ff) and “Gnosticism” (volume 6, page 255ff).

What are the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS); what are their contents; when are they dated; and where were they found?

the DSS is the generic title for six groups of documents discovered between 1947 and 1956 in caves and sites of the Judean Desert near the western side of the Dead Sea; the most important group was found in eleven caves near the Wadi Qumran often called the “Qumran Scrolls” (QS);
from these eleven caves came scrolls and fragments, dating from the end of the third century B.C. to A.D. 68, mostly in Hebrew, many in Aramaic, a few in Greek; four stages are recognized: Archaic (250-150 BC), Hasmonean (150-30 BC), Herodian (30 BC – 70 AD), Post-Herodian / Ornamental (after 70 AD);
in 1991 (Zurich, Switzerland) and 1995 (Tucson, Arizona) the palaeographical dates were confirmed by radiocarbon dating methods;
in total the DSS number today about 820 texts divided into three classes: biblical, sectarian, and inter-testamental Jewish writings;
of the 820 QS, about 25% are copies of OT books; in Cave 4 alone 127 biblical texts are represented including every proto-canonical book except Esther; all 66 chapters of Isaiah were preserved in Cave 1 (1QIsa) dated to 125-100 BC; this Qumran Isaiah text is 1000 years older than the previously known oldest copy (895 AD) yet testifies in general to the care with which Jewish scribes copied this book throughout the centuries;
the “inter-testamental” writings include Jubilees, 1 Enoch, forerunners of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and other literary, liturgical, and sapiential texts previously unknown, especially Aramaic writings which Qumran Jews read but probably did not compose;
in the DSS there is no mention of John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth, his apostles or disciples, or anything Christian;
the first Qumran cave (called Qumran Cave 1) was discovered by Bedouin shepherd boys in 1947, and seven major scrolls and fragments and seventy other texts were retrieved;
four of the seven (Isaiah A, Manual of Discipline, Pesher on Habakkuk, and Genesis Apocryphon) were acquired by the Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan of St. Mark’s Monastery in Jerusalem, who allowed three of them to be published almost immediately by the American Schools of Oriental Research, edited by M. Burrows, 1950-51;
the other three of seven (War Scroll, Thanksgiving Psalms, Isaiah B) were acquired by E. L. Sukenik, professor of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and published by him in 1954-55;
the fragments of Cave 1 were published by Clarendon Press (Oxford) in 1955 as volume 1 of Discoveries in the Judaean Desert which is the official publication for the vast majority of the DSS;
between 1952 and 1956 ten further caves were discovered either by Bedouins or archaeologists in the Jordan-controlled West Bank; the scrolls and fragments from Qumran Caves 1-3, and 5-11 were published with reasonable dispatch;
the big problem was the Cave 4 material discovered in 1952 from which came no full scroll, but more than 15,000 fragments which had to be assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle; in 1954 an international and inter-confessional team of seven scholars was set up to work on the fragments housed in the Palestine Archaeological Museum (Jordan-controlled East Jerusalem, which explains why no Jewish scholar was allowed to be on the team); after many delays the majority of the Cave 4 texts were finally published officially by 2001;
the complete list of the DSS can be found in Encyclopedia of the DSS, 2.1013-1049 (Qumran, Masada, Murabba’at, H ever-Seiyal, Mishmar-Nar, Mird); F. Garcia Martinez, Dead Sea Scrolls Translated, 465-519 (Qumran only); Garcia Martinez and Tigchelaar, DSS: Study Edition, 2.1311-1361.

What are the Nag Hammadi (NH) documents; what are their contents; when are they dated; and where were they found?

in the mid-18th century there began a series of discoveries of original Gnostic documents found near the site of the ancient village of Chenoboskion (modern Nag-Hammadi), Egypt in 1946 (or 1945);
all of these papyri are written in Coptic but are presumably translations from Greek originals;
most significant is these are the writings of the Gnostics themselves, many of them known previously only by title or in fragments; though detailed study will continue, it is already established that they reinforce the reliability of the patristic (orthodox Church Fathers) descriptions of these sects;
the three codices found prior to the Chenoboskion collection are the Askew Codex acquired by the British Museum in 1785, published in translation some 65 years later; the Bruce Codex discovered in 1769 was published in 1891; and the Berlin Codex 8502 discovered in 1896 was finally published in 1955; however these discoveries were dwarfed in extent and importance by the Chenoboskion texts;
the Chenoboskion find consists of 13 codices containing some 51 Gnostic works in Coptic dialects; included are two works previously known: the Apocryphon of John and another writing of the Berlin Codex; several works known by name but thought lost, the Gospel of Truth of Valentinus, and others completely unknown such as the celebrated Gospel of Thomas; the codices appear to form the library of a 4th-century AD Sethian group but includes Hermetic and Valentinian compositions;
while it is difficult to present an overview of the contents of Gnostic teaching to include all the pseudo-Christian forms, the basic structure of Gnosticism can be grouped around five headings: God, the world, man, salvation, and morality; the distinguishing traits of Gnosticism include dualism, emanationism, and salvation through esoteric knowledge (or gnosis in Greek);
as for soteriology, its most distinguishing feature is that salvation is accomplished not by the power of God nor by human faith nor by cooperation with the will of God, but by assimilation of esoteric knowledge;
the Gnostic “savior” is scarcely recognizable from the New Testament point of view; he is a semi-divine personage, a messenger from God Himself; but Christ does not become man; Gnosticism is Docetic in holding that the redeemer merely seems to become incarnate; various devices are used to explain away the Passion and death of Jesus;
one of the most common charges leveled against the Gnostics by patristic writers was immorality, made more heinous because the Gnostics defended their practice; the Gnostic attitude, called an antinomian libertarianism, is but a consequence of the Gnostic theory;
their life on earth was meant to be an ever more complete withdrawal from matter; this withdrawal could be practiced in two opposite extremes: severe ascetical abstention from the pleasures of life, such as we find in Marcionism; or reckless indulgence in them, which was more common in the popular sects; contempt for the material was best shown by systematic flouting of all earthly standards of morality;
Gnostic writings show disdain for marriage and sexual relations, while their authors practiced sexual promiscuity without fear of either convention or consequences.

As we can see, the DSS and NH documents say nothing about the “Grail” (see below Holy Grail); they say nothing about “Christ’s ministry in very human terms“; the Vatican had nothing to do with delaying or suppressing the publication of these scrolls and codices; the “glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications” are found in the “Gnostic Gospels” not the New Testament; the DSS and NH documents are definitely not “the earliest Christian records” and they have nothing to do with the canon of the New Testament which was early recognized by the Church as authoritative. Dan Brown is completely wrong on the DSS and NH documents.

As for the Gospel of Philip teaching the supposed “marriage” of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, all one has to do is read the Gospel of Philip (available online) or the summary of that “Gospel” translated by Wesley W. Isenberg (see The Nag Hammadi Library in English, edited by James M. Robinson):

The Gospel of Philip is a compilation of statements pertaining primarily to the meaning and value of sacraments within the context of a Valentinian conception of the human predicament and life after death.
The Gospel of Philip is not a gospel like one of the New Testament Gospels, but it does provide the occasional word or deed of Jesus.
It contains 17 sayings of Jesus, 9 of which are citations and interpretations of Jesus’ words already found in the canonical Gospels (55, 33-34; 57,3-5; 68,8-12; 68,26-27; 72,33-73; 77,18; 83,11-13; 84,7-9; 85,29-31).
Jesus’ three female companions were each named Mary (59,6-11), though he had an apparent preference for Mary Magdalene (63,32-36).
The most relevant point in response to The Da Vinci Code, according to the Gospel of Philip: “Defiled women” are all women who participate in sexual intercourse; i.e. in “the marriage of defilement,” which is fleshly and lustful (81,34 – 82,10); unclean spirits seek to defile men and women sexually (65,1-23).
“Free men and virgins” are those called “Christians” (74,13-16) who possess “the resurrection, the light, the cross, the holy spirit” (74,18-21), they are the opposite of “animals, slaves, and defiled women.”
The title of this text may be derived merely from the fact that Philip is the only apostle named in it (73,8), though Philip, along with Thomas and Matthew, had an eminence among Gnostics as a privileged recipient and custodian of dominical revelation.
The Coptic text is undoubtedly a translation of a Greek text which was written perhaps as late as the second half of the third century C.E. (or > 250 AD). (from Robinson, pages 139-141)

In summary, it is dated late (c. at least 250 AD), is written in Coptic (not in Aramaic, probably originally in Greek), teaches marriage and sex is defilement, and virgins are those who are Christians. Therefore Jesus and Mary Magdalene could not be married according to this “Gospel.” The best understanding of the “kiss” and “companion” passage (63-64, there are many gaps in the manuscript) is that Jesus was relaying a special knowledge or “gnosis” (esoteric teaching) to Mary, one of his close disciples. This was frequently “revealed” in Gnostic teaching with a “kiss” (see also Gospel of Philip 58-59 and detailed discussion in The Da Vinci Hoax, pages 92-96). There is no “sexual” or “marriage” connotation implied nor can there be according to this Gospel. Marriage is defilement since it is fleshly. Gnosticism seeks to do away with the flesh, which is the opposite of New Testament teaching on the Incarnation, where God became flesh (cf. John 1:1,14; 1 John 4:1-3; 1 Tim 3:16; Col 2:9; etc), and man and woman “become one flesh” in marriage (cf. Matt 19:5-6; Mark 10:8; Eph 5:31; Genesis 2:23-24).

Let’s also consider the end of the Gospel of Thomas, found on the previous page from the Gospel of Philip in the volume edited by Robinson:

“Simon Peter said to them, ‘Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.’ Jesus said, ‘I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.’ ” (Gospel of Thomas 114, from Robinson, page 138)

This “Gospel” rejects and repudiates The Da Vinci Code’s “sacred feminine” theology. Women must become men for eternal life? Did author Dan Brown even read these so-called Gospels? Apparently not!

I’ll end with John Paul II’s wonderful Letter to Women from 1995:

This word of thanks to the Lord for his mysterious plan regarding the vocation and mission of women in the world is at the same time a concrete and direct word of thanks to women, to every woman, for all that they represent in the life of humanity.

Thank you, women who are mothers! You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail. This experience makes you become God’s own smile upon the newborn child, the one who guides your child’s first steps, who helps it to grow, and who is the anchor as the child makes its way along the journey of life.

Thank you, women who are wives! You irrevocably join your future to that of your husbands, in a relationship of mutual giving, at the service of love and life.

Thank you, women who are daughters and women who are sisters! Into the heart of the family, and then of all society, you bring the richness of your sensitivity, your intuitiveness, your generosity and fidelity.

Thank you, women who work! You are present and active in every area of life-social, economic, cultural, artistic and political. In this way you make an indispensable contribution to the growth of a culture which unites reason and feeling, to a model of life ever open to the sense of “mystery”, to the establishment of economic and political structures ever more worthy of humanity.

Thank you, consecrated women! Following the example of the greatest of women, the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, you open yourselves with obedience and fidelity to the gift of God’s love. You help the Church and all mankind to experience a “spousal” relationship to God, one which magnificently expresses the fellowship which God wishes to establish with his creatures.

Thank you, every woman, for the simple fact of being a woman! Through the insight which is so much a part of your womanhood you enrich the world’s understanding and help to make human relations more honest and authentic.

— Pope John Paul II, Letter to Women (June 29, 1995)

Recommended Books and Articles:

A General Introduction to the Bible by Norman Geisler / William Nix (Moody, 1986)
The Historical Reliability of the Gospels by Craig Blomberg (Intervarsity, 1987)
The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by F. F. Bruce (Intervarsity, 1984)
An Introduction to the New Testament by Raymond E. Brown (Doubleday, 1997)
The Canon of Scripture by F. F. Bruce (Intervarsity, 1988)
The Nag Hammadi Library (The Gnostic Writings in English) edited by James M. Robinson (HarperSanFrancisco, 1990)
Jesus in the Nag Hammadi Writings by Majella Franzmann (T and T Clark, 1996)
Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? by Norman Golb (Scribner, 1995)
The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: their significance for understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity by James VanderKam and Peter Flint (HarperSanFrancisco, 2002)
The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities by Darrell Bock (Nelson Books, 2006)
Where We Got the Bible: Our Debt to the Catholic Church by Henry G. Graham (TAN Books, 1977)
What Faith Really Means: A Simple Explanation by Henry G. Graham (TAN Books, 1982)

The Bible (Catholic Encyclopedia)
The Bible (Wikipedia)
Gnosticism (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Gnosticism (Wikipedia)
www.EarlyChristianWritings.com comprehensive site compiled by Peter Kirby

TOP OF PAGE

Fiction (False Claims) on the Catholic Church

the early Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican’s campaign was to eradicate pagan religions and convert the masses to Christianity, so the Church launched a smear campaign against the pagan gods and goddesses, recasting their divine symbols as evil (DVC 37)
the vestiges of pagan religion in Christian symbology are undeniable: Egyptian sun disks became halos; Isis nursing Horus became the Virgin Mary nursing Baby Jesus; virtually all elements of Catholic ritual — the miter, the altar, the doxology, and communion, the act of ‘God-eating’ — were taken directly from earlier pagan mystery religions; nothing in Christianity is original (DVC 232)
at the Council of Nicaea many aspects of Christianity were debated and voted upon — the date of Easter, the role of the bishops, the administration of the sacraments, and, of course, the divinity of Jesus; establishing Christ’s divinity was critical to the further unification of the Roman empire and to the new Vatican power base (DVC 233)
Knights who claimed to be ‘searching for the chalice’ were speaking in code as a way to protect themselves from a Church that had subjugated women, banished the Goddess, burned nonbelievers, and forbidden the pagan reverence for the sacred feminine (DVC 239)
the early Church feared that if the lineage were permitted to grow, the secret of Jesus and Magdalene would eventually surface and challenge the fundamental Catholic doctrine — that of a divine Messiah who did not consort with women or engage in sexual union (DVC 257)
Rome has been seeking the Grail for centuries, has killed to protect itself, has wanted to destroy the documents that reveal the great deception; the Church’s version of the Christ story is inaccurate, the greatest story ever told is, in fact, the greatest story ever sold (DVC 266-267, 295)
the Church has two thousand years of experience pressuring those who threaten to unveil its lies; since the days of Constantine, the Church has successfully hidden the truth about Mary Magdalene and Jesus (DVC 407)
the Church may no longer employ crusaders to slaughter non-believers, but their influence is no less persuasive, no less insidious, the Church has a precedent of murder when it comes to silencing the Sangreal (DVC 407)

Response (Truth): Good to see Dan Brown admits the “Roman Catholic Church” and “the Vatican” goes back to the fourth century or even earlier. That’s more than many fundamentalist Christians who also oppose Catholicism will admit. The secular historian Will Durant agrees:

“If art is the organization of materials, the Roman Catholic Church is among the most imposing masterpieces of history. Through nineteen centuries, each heavy with crisis, she has held her faithful together, following them with her ministrations to the ends of the earth, forming their minds, molding their morals, encouraging their fertility, solemnizing their marriages, consoling their bereavements, lifting their momentary lives into eternal drama, harvesting their gifts, surviving every heresy and revolt, and patiently building again every broken support of her power.” (Durant, from “The Progress of Christianity” in Story of Civilization: The Age of Faith [volume 4], page 44).

Technically the Church is not the “Roman Catholic Church” since there are both eastern (Greek) and western (Latin) rites — the official name is simply the Catholic Church (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 830ff), called such since the time of St. Ignatius of Antioch early in the 2nd century AD. Also, the “Vatican” did not exist at the time of Constantine; as Carl Olson points out, it was mostly “swamp land” in the fourth century. The Vatican (and its “power base” DVC page 233-234) did not become the official residence of the papacy until the 14th century (The Da Vinci Hoax, page 34).

The Catholic Church is accused again of a “smear campaign,” of eradicating and forbidding pagan religions, at the same time of copying pagan religions (a seeming contradiction), of subjugating, banishing, burning women and nonbelievers, of hiding the truth, of lying, killing, murdering, deceiving, etc. So many anti-Catholic accusations, I’ll just deal with these briefly. For more detailed responses, see the recommended books and articles below. The following material on the supposed “pagan parallels” to Catholic teaching is adapted from Carl Olson’s original article on The Da Vinci Code in Envoy Magazine.

The halo (or nimbus) found in Christian art was used by a number of pre-Christian cultures, including the Greeks and Romans. For example, Roman emperors were depicted on coins with radiantly lit heads. Christians gradually appropriated this cultural element and used it for Christian art. Moses’ face radiated light after he came down from Mount Sinai (Exod 34:29-35) and Jesus’ face at the Transfiguration “shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light” (Matt 17:2). The use of halos in Christian iconography is simply the Church recognizing the usefulness of an artistic motif.

The pagan mystery religions were quite different from Christianity in significant ways: they were based on an annual vegetation cycle; they stressed esoteric or hidden knowledge; they emphasized emotional ecstasy over doctrine; their central goal was mystical experience. They were also very syncretistic and had little regard for an established teaching or belief system — contrary to the apostolic tradition (2 Thess 2:15; 1 Tim 6:20-21; 2 Tim 1:13-14; 2 Tim 2:2) so intensely guarded by the early Christians. There is also a sharp contrast between the mythological character of pagan mystery religions and the historical character of the Gospels and the New Testament (see above The Bible).

The image of a nursing mother is hardly unique to one religion since all cultures have mothers and children. One of the earliest pictures of Mary is a late second-century fresco found on a wall of the catacombs of Priscilla in Rome, mentioned by Pope John Paul II in a general audience on May 23, 1990. The Madonna and Child image has been depicted in numerous ways throughout history, often reflecting the culture of the respective painters or sculptors.

The word miter (or mitre) is derived from the Greek mitra, meaning “turban” or “headband.” It is the liturgical head-dress and part of the insignia of the bishop, and it didn’t appear in the West until the middle of the tenth century. It was not used by bishops in the East until after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. In the eastern Churches it appears to be derived from the crowns worn by Byzantine Emperors; in the West or Latin Church it is a variation of unofficial hat, the camelaucum, worn by the Pope in processions. In neither case is the mitre connected with pagan mystery religions.

There are over three hundred references to altars in the Old Testament. The first Christians, who were all Jewish, would hardly see the concept of an altar as new. The altar in the Temple was a focal point of the Jewish religion, and there are several references to altars in the New Testament (Matt 5:23-24; 23:18-20; Luke 1:11; Hebrews 13:10; Rev 6:9; 8:3-5; 9:13; 11:1; 14:8; 16:7; etc). Altars became a part of early Christian worship and celebration of the Eucharist with many references found in St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 AD), Tertullian (c. 200), St. Cyprian of Carthage (c. 250), etc.

A doxology is simply a hymn or ascription of praise and glory (from doxa = glory + logos = word). Virtually all religions have statements about the glory and power of a deity, reflecting the natural human desire to recognize what is sacred. In historic Christianity, there are three types of doxology: the Great, the Less, and the Metrical Forms, and the language of the doxologies (e.g. “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace….”) are taken directly from the New Testament, and reflect the unique beliefs of Christians.

“God-eating” is likely an appeal to Mithraism since it was the only mystery religion that celebrated anything resembling Holy Communion. The Christian’s sacramental outlook differed in several respects: initiates in those cults were not baptized into the name of the Savior (god or goddess), and the Christian Eucharist was strongly connected to a life of holiness and purity (1 Cor 11:23-29), while in the Mystery cults initiation was an end in itself despite any ethical considerations. In the Mithras cult, the god does not die, but is a “savior-god” by virtue of killing a bull. Although at higher stages in the cult, the members participated in a sacred meal of bread and water (or possibly wine), there is no indication that those participating believed they were engaging in “God-eating.”

The Jewish character and context of the Passover Meal, the Last Supper, and the Eucharist are the essential elements that shape the Christian understanding of the sacrament and ritual — not pagan rites.

As Amy Welborn concludes: “There is no evidence to suggest, as Brown does, a direct adaptation of the fundamentals of Christian thought and practice from pagan mystery religions. The roots of Christianity are in Judaism.” (De-Decoding Da Vinci, page 90). Carl Olson adds: “…there is little or no evidence that most pagan mystery religions such as the Egyptian cult of Isis and Osiris or the cult of Mithras existed in the forms described in their books prior to the mid-first century….much of the existing evidence indicates that the third- and fourth-century beliefs and practices of certain pagan mystery religions are read back into the first-century beliefs of Christians….” (The Da Vinci Hoax, page 145, which cites the work of Ronald Nash, Bruce Metzger, and others).

Many of the claims that Catholicism and Christianity “copied” from ancient pagan deities comes from Kersey Graves infamous 19th century book The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors. Even atheists like Richard Carrier rejects Graves history and “parallels” as poor scholarship: “Most scholars immediately recognize many of his findings as unsupported and dismiss Graves as useless. After all, a scholar who rarely cites a source isn’t useful to have as a reference even if he is right….A very helpful discussion of related methodological problems by renowned scholar Bruce Metzger is also well worth reading (“Methodology in the Study of the Mystery Religions and Early Christianity” 2002)…In general, even when the evidence is real, it often only appears many years after Christianity began, and thus might be evidence of diffusion in the other direction.” (from Carrier, Kersey Graves and The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors)

No doubt the early Christians were influenced by paganism and sometimes used the same terms and motifs as their pagan neighbors. However, the success of the Christian religion was impossible for pagans to ignore, and conversely some of them borrowed Christian ideas in their rituals and practices.

As explained earlier, while the Council of Nicaea did make many administrative decisions, that Jesus was divine was not one of them, since the teaching that Jesus is Lord, God, and Son of God (in the New Testament and the early Fathers) was clearly believed for hundreds of years before Nicaea (see above Jesus Christ).

The “fundamental Catholic doctrine” is not that Jesus was celibate. The fundamental Catholic doctrine is that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again for our salvation and justification (1 Cor 15:1-8; Rom 4:22-25). That is the basic Christian gospel. The celibacy of Jesus follows from the theological teaching of Christ as the bridegroom to His Church, the Bride (Eph 5:20-33; see above Jesus Christ). The truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene is not hidden, and is very easy to find; one simply has to read the canonical Gospels (see above Mary Magdalene).

Jesus indeed consorted with and elevated the women of His day who were some of His closest followers, but He chose twelve men to be His apostles, the leaders in His Church, with St. Peter as the head and rock upon which His Church is built (Matt 10:2ff; 16:18f). And as for supposed matriarchical societies ruled by women or “goddesses” there is no evidence such existed, so the Catholic Church could hardly have banished or forbidden such things. Critics Garlow / Jones in Cracking Da Vinci’s Code cite sociologist Steven Goldberg:

“The point is that authority and leadership are, and always have been, associated with the male in every society, and I refer to this when I say that patriarchy is universal and that there has never been a matriarchy….the findings of the past 50 years failed to include a single shred of evidence that such matriarchies had ever existed and demonstrated the inability of all such theories to deal with reality.” (Steven Goldberg, Dept of Sociology at City College, City University of New York, cited in Garlow / Jones, page 61). “[Margaret] Mead acknowledged that ‘It is true…that all the claims so glibly made about societies ruled by women are nonsense. We have no reason to believe that they ever existed.’ ” (from Steven Goldberg, Why Men Rule: A Theory of Male Dominance [Open Court, 1993], cited in Garlow / Jones, page 61)

Amy Welborn adds: “….the ideology driving these conclusions [for an ancient matriarchy], the ambiguous nature of these purported artifacts, and the discovery of weapons and clear evidence of traditional gender-based division of labor in many of these sites, has driven a stake into the myth of the Mother Goddess. There is no evidence to suggest that such an era ever existed.” (De-Coding Da Vinci, page 74).

Subjugated women? Forbidden reverence for the sacred feminine? Hello?

Has Dan Brown not heard of Catholic and Orthodox hymns to the Blessed Virgin Mary?

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope.
To Thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To Thee do we send up our sighs mourning
and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious Advocate,
Thine Eyes of Mercy toward us,
and after this our exile show us the
Blessed Fruit of thy Womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
(Hail Holy Queen, the Salve Regina)

Hail, O you, through whom Joy will shine forth!
Hail, O you, through whom the curse will disappear!
Hail, O Restoration of the Fallen Adam!
Hail, O Redemption of the Tears of Eve!
Hail, O Peak above the reach of human thought!
Hail, O Depth even beyond the sight of angels!
Hail, O you who have become a Kingly Throne!
Hail, O you who carry Him Who Carries All!
Hail, O Star who manifest the Sun!
Hail, O Womb of the Divine Incarnation!
Hail, O you through whom creation is renewed!
Hail, O you through whom the Creator becomes a Babe!
Hail, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!
(The Akathistos hymn, Byzantine prayer to the Virgin Mary)

To show this is not limited to Catholic or Orthodox piety, the original Protestant Reformers had some things to say about her. Martin Luther preached on the Feast of the Visitation (July 2, 1532) after his break with Rome:

“She, the Lady above heaven and earth, must have a heart so humble that she might have no shame in washing the swaddling clothes or preparing a bath for St. John the Baptist, like a servant girl. What humility! It would surely have been more just to have arranged for her a golden coach, pulled by 4,000 horses, and to cry and proclaim as the carriage proceeded: ‘Here passes the woman who is raised far above all women, indeed above the whole human race.’ ”

French Reformed pastor Charles Drelincourt (who well represents the Protestant Reformed/Calvinist tradition of the 17th century) wrote:

“We do not simply believe that God has favoured the holy and blessed Virgin more than all the Patriarchs and the Prophets, but also that He has exalted her above all Seraphim. The angels can only qualify as servants of the Son of God, the creatures and workmanship of his hands; but the holy Virgin is not only the servant and the creature but also the Mother of this great and living God.” (see these quotations in Calvinist theologian Max Thurian’s study Mary, Mother of All Christians)

The Blessed Mother is not a “goddess” in Catholic and Orthodox Marian piety and devotion. She surpasses the pagan “myths” of so-called “goddesses.” The Blessed Virgin Mary is the preeminent saint, the Mother of God the Son (Theotokos), the first believing Christian and therefore first member of the Church. She is the most blessed of all women (Luke 1:42) and all generations will call her blessed (Luke 1:48) since she is a perfect model, as a human creature, of Christian holiness and obedience to the Lord. Because of her loving obedience and cooperation in the Incarnation which brought the Savior into the world, by her present prayer and intercession in heaven, she is called the Co-Redemptrix of humanity and Mediatrix of all graces and Queen of Heaven in Catholic teaching, among other honorific titles.

She is highly honored; in fact the most highly honored human creature in Christianity is a woman. And Dan Brown forgets to mention her in The Da Vinci Code? A glaring omission!

“She, who is the Cosmopolitan Woman, gives us the Cosmopolitan Man, for which giving all generations shall call her blessed [Luke 1:48]. She was the inspiration to womanhood…because of a transcendence in function that made her superior to a man, inasmuch as she could encompass a man, as Isaias foretold [Isaiah 7:14; 9:6] . Great men we need….but we need women still more: women like Mary of Cleophas, who will raise sons to lift up white hosts to a Heavenly Father; woman like Magdalene, who will take hold of the tangled skeins of a seemingly wrecked and ruined life and weave out of them the beautiful tapestry of saintliness and holiness; and women, above all, like Mary [the Blessed Mother], the Lady of Equity, who will leave the lights and glamors of the world for the shades and shadows of the Cross, where saints are made. When women of this kind return to save the world with equity, then we shall toast them, we shall salute them, not as ‘the modern woman, once our superior and now our equal’ but as the Christian woman closest to the Cross on Good Friday and first at the Tomb on Easter morn.” (Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, The World’s First Love: Mary, Mother of God, page 182)

Recommended Books and Articles:

Catechism of the Catholic Church (Image, 1995 paperback, 1997 revised from the Latin)
A History of the Church by Philip Hughes (several volumes)
The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils by Philip Hughes (1961)
Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church by H.W. Crocker III (Prima Lifestyles, 2001)
The Faith of the Early Fathers edited by William Jurgens (The Liturgical Press, 3 volumes)
Mary and the Fathers of the Church by Luigi Gambero (Ignatius Press, 1999)
De-Coding Da Vinci by Amy Welborn, chapters “The Age of the Goddess?” and “Stolen Gods? Christianity and Mystery Religions”
The Da Vinci Hoax by Olson / Miesel, chapter “Constantine, Paganism, and Nicaea”
Cracking Da Vinci’s Code by Garlow / Jones, chapter “Women are More Sacred and Feminine than the ‘Sacred Feminine’ ”
Does Christianity Squash Women?: A Christian Looks at Womanhood by Rebecca Jones (Broadman and Holman, 2005)
Full of Grace: Women and the Abundant Life by Johnnette Benkovic (Charis Books, 1998)
Ungodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism by Donna Steichen (Ignatius Press, 1991)
Inquisition by Edward Peters (Univ of CA Press, 1989)
The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision by Henry Kamen (Yale Univ Press, 1998)

Council of Nicaea (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Council of Nicaea (Wikipedia)
A History of the Council of Nicaea by Philip Hughes
Decrees of the First Council of Nicaea edited by Norman Tanner
Catholic Church (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Catholic Church (Wikipedia)
Was the New Testament Influenced by Pagan Religions? by Ronald Nash
www.Catholic.com apologetics site of Catholic Answers (articles, radio programs, books, discussion forums)
see especially two issues of This Rock (May/June 2005, May/June 2006) on Jesus/Buddha, Da Vinci Code, and pagan religions
www.Tektonics.org apologetics site by J.P Holding (specializes in pseudo-Christian “parallels” and “myths”)

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Fiction (False Claims) on the Holy Grail

Holy Grail is the literal meaning of Sangreal; the phrase derives from the French Sangraal, which evolved to Sangreal, and was eventually split into two words, San Greal = Holy Grail; the word Sangreal derived from San Greal — or Holy Grail, but in its most ancient form, the word Sangreal was divided as Sang Real which literally meant Royal Blood (DVC 162, 250)
according to the Priory of Sion, the Holy Grail is not a cup at all; the Grail legend — that of a chalice — is actually an ingeniously conceived allegory; the Holy Grail is in fact a person (DVC 162, 236)
the Grail is literally the ancient symbol for womanhood, and the Holy Grail represents the sacred feminine and the goddess, which has now been lost, virtually eliminated by the Church (DVC 238)
Legends of chivalric quests for the lost Grail were in fact stories of forbidden quests to find the lost sacred feminine (DVC 238)
the legend of the Holy Grail is a legend about royal blood; when Grail legend speaks of ‘the chalice that held the blood of Christ’ it speaks of Mary Magdalene — the female womb that carried Jesus’ royal bloodline (DVC 249)
the quest for the Holy Grail is literally the quest to kneel before the bones of Mary Magdalene; a journey to pray at the feet of the outcast one, the lost sacred feminine (DVC 257)

Response (Truth): None of what Brown’s characters say in his novel about the Holy Grail is correct. The Holy Grail or legendary sacred vessel is indeed identified with the “chalice” of the Eucharist or the “dish” of the paschal lamb, and has been the theme of famous medieval romances.

The generally accepted origin of the word “Grail” is that given by the Cistercian chronicler Helinandus (died c. 1230 AD), who mentions a hermit’s vision (from c. 717 AD) concerning the vessel used by our Lord at the Last Supper. The hermit wrote a Latin book simply called “Gradale” which is the original term:

“Now in French, Gradalis or Gradale means a dish [scutella], wide and somewhat deep, in which costly viands are wont to be served to the rich successively [gradatim], one morsel after another. In popular speech it is also called ‘Graalz‘ because it is pleasing [grata] and acceptable to him eating therein.” (Migne PL 212:814, cited in the New Catholic Encyclopedia [NCE, 2003, 2nd edition], volume 7, page 26 on “Holy Grail”)

The original medieval Latin word gradale became in Old French graal, greal, or greel, which is where we get the English word grail. The explanation of San greal as sang real (kingly or royal blood) was not current until the later Middle Ages (NCE, volume 7, page 26). This “holy blood” never referred to a “royal bloodline” or the “person” of Mary Magdalene, but the literal blood of Christ transformed in the chalice or dish of the Holy Eucharist and Catholic Mass, or that saving blood of Christ shed in His sacrifice on the cross for our sins. That is why the quest for the Holy Grail relic was so noble and precious.

While originally independent, the Grail legends are closely connected with that of Perceval and King Arthur. The Perceval legend is part of the Arthurian legend. The great body of Grail romances developed between 1180 and 1240, with little being added after the 13th century. Most of these romances are in French, but there are versions in German, English, Norwegian, Italian, and Portuguese (some of which are adaptations of the French). These may be classed into “Quest” and “Early History” versions (NCE, volume 7, page 26-28).

Of the Quest versions are the Perceval or Conte del Graal of Chretien de Troyes, a vast poetic compilation of some 60,000 verses composed between 1180 and 1240. Of the Early History versions, the oldest extent is the metrical Joseph or Roman de l’estoire dou Graal composed between 1170 and 1212 by Robert de Boron.

In the Early History versions the grail is invested with the greatest sanctity; it is the dish from which Christ ate the paschal lamb with his disciples and which passed into possession of Joseph of Arimathea, to be used by him to gather the Precious Blood from Christ’s body on the cross. It becomes identified also with the chalice of the Eucharist.

The origin of the legend of the Grail is obscure, and scholars hold various views. There are Oriental, Celtic, and purely Christian origins claimed.

The most detailed history of the Grail is found in the Grand Saint Graal, also called L’Estoire del Saint Graal, a bulky French prose romance from the first half of the 13th century, where it says Christ himself presented the book containing this history to a pious hermit. This version is followed by a Merlin and a Queste del Saint Graal, well known to English readers since it was adapted in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur.

From Richard Barber, one of Britain’s leading authorities on medieval history, in a book published by Harvard University Press (2004), we learn the full story of the Grail and its legends. They are associated with the chalice of the Last Supper, the Eucharist and Catholic Mass, and the sacrifice of Christ. Needless to say, nothing about the “person” of Mary Magdalene or a “sacred feminine” appears in any scholarly works on the Grail.

“…Malory learned from his French source that the Grail is more than the container for the Holy Blood: it is the original of all chalices in which the miracle of the transformation of wine into blood occurs. It is the dish of the Last Supper, and it is for this reason that it becomes the focal point of the knights’ quest. It is the most precious of all relics, tangible evidence of Christ’s sacrifice for mankind….For Malory, then, the Holy Grail and the Eucharist were closely linked, and both the images of the Trinity and of transubstantiation were understood by him….In the power of his language and the sharp focus of his narrative, he has created the supreme version of the medieval portrayal of the Grail….The Holy Grail exists in the borderland between orthodox doctrine and lay devotion, and it reflects the religious enthusiasm for relics, and for the Eucharist as the living relic of Christ and object of intense desire and adoration….there can be no doubt that the image which the authors [such as in Galahad’s vision] had in mind was the central mystery of the performance of the Mass.” (Richard Barber, The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief, pages 217, 221, 222)

Concerning the attitude of the Catholic Church, it would seem such a distinctively Christian legend would find official favor, but it has not. Except Helinandus (above), clerical writers do not mention the Grail (the apocryphal Joseph of Arimathea story and other legends were popularly adopted), and it was ignored since it contained elements the Church could not approve. It derives from apocryphal sources, not canonical Scripture, and some of the claims for the Grail’s sanctity were extravagant. The whole tradition concerning the Grail is of late origin (see NCE, volume 7, page 29).

Recommended Books and Articles:

The History of the Holy Grail by Henry Lovelich (Kraus Reprint, 1981, orig 1874, 1875)
The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol by Roger Sherman Loomis (Columbia Univ Press, 1963)
The Grail Legend by Emma Jung and Marie-Louise van Franz (Sigo Press / Conventure, 1986)
The Grail: A Casebook by Dhira B. Mahoney (Garland Publishing, 2000)
The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief by Richard Barber (Harvard Univ Press, 2004)
The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend by Alan Lupack (Oxford Univ Press, 2005) esp. chapter 4 “The Holy Grail“

Holy Grail (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Holy Grail (Wikipedia)
For a true personal quest for the Holy Grail, see this article by former actress Ysatis

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Fiction (False Claims) on the Priory of Sion

the Priory of Sion — a European secret society founded in 1099 — is a real organization; in 1975 Paris’s Bibliotheque Nationale discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci (DVC 1)
“Da Vinci” presided over the Priory between 1510 and 1519 as the brotherhood’s Grand Master (DVC 113)
the Priory has a well-documented history of reverence for the sacred feminine and tradition of perpetuating goddess worship (DVC 113, 124)
during their years in Jerusalem, the Priory learned of a stash of hidden documents buried beneath the ruins of Herod’s temple, which had been built atop the earlier ruins of Solomon’s Temple (DVC 158)
previous Priory Grand Masters had also been distinguished public figures with artistic souls; proof of that fact had been uncovered years ago in Paris’s Bibliotheque Nationale in papers that became known as Les Dossiers Secrets (DVC 206)
every Priory historian and Grail buff has read the Dossiers which have been authenticated by many specialists and incontrovertibly confirmed what historians had suspected for a long time: Priory Grand Masters included Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and, more recently, Jean Cocteau, the famous Parisian artist (DVC 206)
the Priory of Sion to this day still worships Mary Magdalene as the Goddess, the Holy Grail, the Rose, and the Divine Mother (DVC 255)

Response (Truth): There is no “well-documented” history of an ancient secret society called the “Priory of Sion” since it is a well-known hoax created in 1956 (and later embellished in the 1960s) by convicted con man and “confidence trickster” Pierre Plantard. It has no connection to Mary Magdalene, the Holy Grail, or any “goddess worship.” Here are the relevant facts on the hoax that is Dan Brown’s (and Pierre Plantard’s) “Priory of Sion” (information based on the detailed studies of Italian researcher Massimo Introvigne of CESNUR) :

Certain documents called Les Dossiers secrets de Henri Lobineau were not “discovered” but rather deposited at the Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library) of Paris in 1967, not in 1975.
The documents are not “parchments” but rather texts on how to interpret certain parchments; the parchments were never at the National Library of Paris, but were handed over by Pierre Plantard (1920-2000), along with a manuscript he wrote, to an author of popular books about “the mysteries of France” by the name of Gérard de Sède (1921-2004).
De Sède enhanced and published them as L’Or de Rennes ou la Vie insolite de Bérenger Saunière, curé de Rennes-le-Château (Julliard, Paris, 1967).
The parchments seem to be in possession of a controversial French author, Jean-Luc Chaumeil, who claims to have received them from Plantard in the 1970s, while Les Dossiers secrets can still be found at the National Library in Paris.
There is no doubt that both Les Dossiers secrets and the parchments are false documents, compiled in the year 1967, and all the people involved in the falsification have admitted it.
De Sède, who published them first, twenty years later defined them as “apocryphal” inspired by a “market sensationalism” (Rennes-le-Château. Le dossier, les impostures, les phantasmes, les hypothèses, Robert Laffont, Paris, 1988, page 107).
According to de Sède, the parchments were fabricated by Philippe de Chérisey (1925-1985), an impoverished French marquis who was a professional TV actor and devotee of enigmatic riddles.
De Chérisey has repeatedly admitted to the fabrication of these parchments, both in letters and published texts (Circuit, The Author, Liège 1968; L’Or de Rennes pour un Napoléon, The Author, Paris, 1975; L’Énigme de Rennes, The Author, Paris 1978).
As early as October 8, 1967 (confirmed by a letter from his lawyer), de Chérisey began working (without success) on getting paid, as had been agreed, by Pierre Plantard and Gérard de Sède.
Even the third man involved in the trick, Pierre Plantard, admitted that the documents were false: in April of 1989, in the first issue of the second series of his journal, Vaincre, Plantard granted an interview and declared that Les Dossier secrets (which are signed by a certain “Philippe Toscan du Plantier”) are false documents fabricated by Philippe de Chérisey and by Philippe Toscan du Plantier, the latter being, he claimed, a young disciple of his who operated under the influence of the drug LSD; it is also possible the latter “Philippe” did not exist and he was named after the well known figure in the French movie industry Daniel Toscan du Plantier, in which case the co-author of Les Dossiers secrets with Chérisey was Plantard himself.
The essential point is that all three authors of the Dossier secrets and other “documents” deposited at the National Library of Paris have admitted, publicly and in writing, that they were false documents.
According to Les Dossiers secrets de Henri Lobineau (a name invented by the three tricksters) the legitimate heirs to the throne of France to this very day are still the Merovingians, dethroned in 751 by the Carolingians; Plantard claimed they have surviving descendants the last of which in 1967 was himself, and therefore he is the only true contender for the King of France.
In order to protect the Merovingian descendants from their enemies, a secret society was formed, the “Priory of Sion” which — according to the false documents deposited at the National Library of Paris — had as “Grand Masters” certain alchemists and esoteric personalities such as Nicolas Flamel (1330-1418) who is a historical person well known to “Harry Potter” readers; Robert Fludd (1574-1637) who is principal promoter of the Rosicrucian legend; Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654); and scientists such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519); and Isaac Newton (1642-1727).
The last of the Grand Masters would have been the writers Charles Nodier (1780-1844); Victor Hugo (1802-1885); musician Claude Debussy (1862-1918); poet and novelist Jean Cocteau (1889-1963); and Msgr. Francois Ducaud-Bourget (1897-1984), a priest with ties to the schismatic Msgr. Marcel Lefebvre (1905-1991).
Ducaud-Bourget supposedly transferred the position to Plantard.
It was also claimed that (by chance) the truth concerning the “Priory of Sion” and the famous parchments were hidden in the parish Church of a small French village, Rennes-le-Château, and were supposedly “discovered” in 1897 by the local parish priest, Berenger Saunière (1852-1917).
Saunière, supposedly thanks to knowledge of the “secret,” came into contact with the esoteric and political milieu of the time and became incredibly wealthy (the source of his wealth turned out to be his dishonest “trafficking” in Masses).
This “Priory of Sion” does not mention anything about a supposed relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene; this idea originated between 1969 and 1970, when an English actor, Henry Soskin (later known as Henry Lincoln, co-author of Holy Blood, Holy Grail), mostly known for his role in the TV series The Avengers, became interested in the “Priory of Sion.”
Lincoln re-wrote the story of L’Or de Rennes and adapted it for a British audience, which aired as three documentaries by the BBC between 1972 and 1979 and later in a book published in 1982 with the help of Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (Jonathan Cape, London).
Since Lincoln realized that the identity of the person who was supposedly “the legitimate heir to the throne of France” was not very interesting for his British audience, he meshed a story published by Robert Ambelain (1907-1997), whom he had met through Plantard; in 1970 Ambelain had published Jésus ou Le mortel secret des templiers (Robert Laffont, Paris), in which he affirmed that Jesus Christ had a partner and identified this “concubine” as “Salome.”
Lincoln incorporated Ambelain’s story about the marriage of Jesus with that of the Merovingians suggested by Plantard, and “revealed” that the Merovingians protected by the “Priory of Sion” were important, not because they were the heirs to the throne of France, but because they were the descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene (better suited than “Salome” since Magdalene had connections to the parish church in Rennes-le-Château and with Medieval legends that she eventually settled and died in southern France, although without “husband” and children which were never part of these legends).
Lincoln knew the documents were false as well not only because in the French milieu of the esoteric organizations into which he was introduced more or less everybody knew they were false, but also because Philippe de Chérisey had told him so in letters (some reproduced in Pierre Jarnac, Les Archives de Rennes-le-Château. Tome 2, Belisane, Nice, 1988).

In a pro-Dan Brown, pro-Da Vinci Code documentary “Da Vinci Code Decoded” (produced by the “Disinformation Company”) author Henry Lincoln says:

“I understand that the great part of the readership of The Da Vinci Code, this thriller, believe that it is based in fact, because there exists in the French National Library, an assemblage of documents which are known as The Dossiers Secrets, the secret dossier. That because they’re there, they are reliable. They’re not….the documents are proof of absolutely nothing….they should not be looked upon as reliable evidence, because they just aren’t….[on Plantard and the “Priory of Sion”] we know almost nothing. The demonstrable and provable facts are very, very few. All the rest is hearsay evidence, guesswork, and interpretation. None of the books that have been written, including my own, have any validity whatsoever.”

Clive Prince, co-author of The Templar Revelation (another Dan Brown source), adds during the same documentary:

“As the person behind the Priory of Sion, and the material that he had put out in the 1960s, and 70s, Pierre Plantard is obviously an important figure. A lot of the material that Pierre Plantard was responsible for is provably false, it is a hoax.”

Dan Brown got his story about the “bloodline” of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the “Priory of Sion” connection from The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (titled simply Holy Blood, Holy Grail in the U.S.) and co-authors Baigent and Leigh subsequently filed a lawsuit for plagiarism (which Dan Brown defeated in court); Brown got his ideas on Leonardo and “codes” primarily from The Templar Revelation by Picknett/Prince. All of these authors discount Pierre Plantard’s “Priory of Sion” documents as a hoax.

Since so many people knew about the dubious origin of the documents on which his story was based, in 1986 Lincoln and his associates tried to disconnect the story of the “Priory of Sion” from Plantard with the book The Messianic Legacy (Jonathan Cape, London).

Further facts on a modern “Priory of Sion” are as follows:

A modern “Priory of Sion” does exist since it was founded on May 7, 1956 at Annemasse by Pierre Plantard with statutes duly filed with the Under-Prefect of Saint-Julien-en-Genevois with the complete name of Priory of Sion — C.I.R.C.U.I.T (Cavalry of Institution and Catholic Rule and of Independent Traditionalist Union).
Article 3 of the statutes give an account of the origins of the name, which is derived not from Jerusalem but from Mount Zion (Mont Sion in French), that is a hill near Annemasse, where they were supposed to construct “a Priory which would be a center of investigation, meditation, rest and prayer” for what was intended to be one of the many small esoteric orders that were common at that time in France.
This “Priory of Sion” was built along the model of the other (failed) organizations that Plantard had founded since he was 17 years old: Union Française, Rénovation Nationale Française and Alpha Galates; the common characteristics between these organizations and the “Priory of Sion” were that they were all political in nature.
Plantard was originally interested in the monarchist movement Action Française, although at Annemasse it was involved in promoting low-income housing.
The fact is they never had more than a dozen members.
The “Priory of Sion” founded in 1956 at Annemasse in a sense still exists as a tiny organization within the larger subculture of esoteric societies of France. It was transferred to Plantard’s son, although it is now Gino Sandri, a well-known figure in the French esoteric milieu, who keeps alive Plantard’s 1956 creation.
Pierre Plantard himself died in obscurity in 2000.

André Bonhomme, one of the four founding members of the Priory of Sion in Annemasse in 1956, gave this statement to the BBC in 1996, stating it was just a club of friends:

“The Priory of Sion doesn’t exist anymore. We were never involved in any activities of a political nature. It was four friends who came together to have fun. We called ourselves the Priory of Sion because there was a mountain by the same name close-by. I haven’t seen Pierre Plantard in over 20 years and I don’t know what he’s up to but he always had a great imagination. I don’t know why people try to make such a big thing out of nothing.”

There is no connection between this “Priory of Sion” and one supposedly founded by Godefroy de Bouillon (1060-1100) as claimed in the falsely “salted” documents Les Dossiers secrets de Henri Lobineau and mentioned as so-called “Fact” by Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code (DVC, page 1).

During the 1960’s, as Plantard was preparing the Dossier secrets hoax, he borrowed the name “Priory of Sion” from a hill in Annemasse where he intended to build a center for spiritual retreats — but he also discovered in the history of the Crusades (which often inspired his fantasies) an “Abbey of Our Lady of Mount Zion” (note: Abbey, not “Priory”) founded in 1099 in Jerusalem by Godefroy de Bouillon, who later became King of Jerusalem after the First Crusade. “Our Lady” is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, not St. Mary Magdalene.

The community of monks of this Abbey (whose superior is called an “Abbot,” a “Prior” is superior of a Priory) in Palestine continued to exist until 1291, when it was destroyed by the advancing Muslims. The few surviving monks took refuge in Sicily, where their community ended sometime in the 14th century. This was a very normal community of Catholic monks with no ties to the Knights Templar, Mary Magdalene, “goddess worship” or esoteric secrets. Plantard was simply using their name and nothing more.

The names of the supposed “Grand Masters” of the Priory of Sion can (coincidentally) be found in texts by French leaders of AMORC (the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis). Many esoteric societies established from the 18th to the 20th century listed mythical “genealogies” that would include the Knights Templar, Noah, Saint John or King Solomon, etc as well as famous people of literature and art. Most of their members are aware of the merely symbolic character of these “genealogies.”

There is absolutely no evidence for any of Brown’s contentions regarding an ancient “Priory of Sion” of goddess worshippers or Jesus-Magdalene “bloodline” protectors. We do know with certainty by whom, when, where and how this legend of the “Priory of Sion” was invented. From the April 2006 CBS “60 Minutes” expose of the “Priory of Sion” and Pierre Plantard hoax:

“….Plantard gave the Priory of Sion a fictitious pedigree by drawing up that list of Grand Masters and depositing it in the Bibliotheque Nationale. [Historian Claude] Charlot says that apart from that list, no historian has found any evidence that the Priory of Sion existed before Plantard set up his version in 1956. ‘In other words, all that Plantard tells us, or what other people tell us about the Priory of Sion — that the Grand Master was Victor Hugo or Leonardo da Vinci — is sheer invention,’ says Charlot. The Priory of Sion, says Charlot, was just another figment of Plantard’s imagination.”

Recommended Books and Articles:

The Treasure of Rennes-le-Château — A Mystery Solved by Bill Putnam and John Edwin Wood (Sutton Publishing, 2005)
most other reliable books on the “Priory” and Pierre Plantard are written in French

The original 1956 “Priory of Sion” founding papers in French (PDF)
The first issue of Plantard’s C.I.R.C.U.I.T. in French (PDF)
Will the Real ‘Priory of Sion’ Please Stand Up? by Massimo Introvigne
History and Myth of the ‘Priory of Sion’ by Massimo Introvigne
Priory of Sion (Wikipedia)
Facts, Theories, Mystery by Steven Mizrach
Priory of Sion Hoax by Robert Richardson
The Da Vinci Con by Laura Miller
Priory of Sion Exposed on CBS 60 Minutes
Priory of Sion Debunked by Paul Smith
see especially www.Priory-Of-Sion.com by researcher Paul Smith

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Fiction (False Claims) on the Knights Templar

the Priory of Sion created a military arm — a group of nine knights called the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, more commonly known as the Knights Templar (DVC 158)
the idea of protection of pilgrims was the guise under which the Templars ran their mission; their true goal in the Holy Land was to retrieve the documents from beneath the ruins of the temple (DVC 158)
nobody was certain whether the Knights had blackmailed the Vatican or whether the Church simply tried to buy the Knights’ silence, but Pope Innocent II issued an unprecedented papal bull that afforded the Knights Templar limitless power and declared them ‘a law unto themselves’ — an autonomous army independent of all interference from kings and prelates, both religious and political (DVC 159)
by the 1300s, the Vatican sanction had helped the Knights amass so much power that Pope Clement V decided that something had to be done; working in concert with France’s King Philippe IV, the Pope devised an ingeniously planned sting operation to quash the Templars and seize their treasure, thus taking control of the secrets held over the Vatican (DVC 159)
Pope Clement issued secret sealed orders to be opened simultaneously by his soldiers all across Europe; Pope Clement had been asked by God to cleanse the earth by rounding up all the Knights and torturing them until they confessed their crimes against God; on that day, countless Knights were captured, tortured mercilessly, and finally burned at the stake as heretics (DVC 159-160)
the Templars’ potent treasure trove of documents, which had apparently been their source of power, was Clement’s true objective; the documents had long since been entrusted to the Templars’ shadowy architects, the Priory of Sion (DVC 160)
Pope Clement killed and interred hundreds of Knights Templar; many of them were burned at the stake and tossed unceremoniously into the Tiber River (DVC 338)

Response (Truth): Let’s start with what Dan Brown gets right on the Knights Templar: they existed as a powerful group of monk-knights; there were originally nine of them; they were named the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commili-tones Christi templi Salomonici). Everything else he gets wrong.

They were not created as a “military arm” of the “Priory of Sion” since such a Priory as described in Dan Brown’s novel did not exist (see above Priory of Sion). The Knights Templar were one of the first of 12 religious military orders of knighthood founded between 1100 and 1300 AD. It is generally accepted that the Burgundian knight, Hugh des Payens, and a knight from northern France, Godfrey of Saint-Omer, were its founders in 1119 AD (some sources suggest 1118, see Barber, page 5ff, and Lord, page 1ff for details).

The Order had been established in many kingdoms of Christendom. Gifts of money and property were lavished upon it by royal families, and spiritual gifts and privileges were bestowed by the popes. Because the Templars were defenders of the Church, they were exempt from paying tithes. At first only knights were admitted with no specific length of service required, but gradually the order began to admit three categories: knights and chaplains (priests) who generally joined for life, and sergeants consisting of wealthy bourgeois. For more than 100 years the Templars remained powerful, influential, and wealthy (see NCE, volume 13, page 803).

The protection of pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land was not a “guise” but is the exact reason they were founded according to the historical sources. William, Archbishop of Tyre (c. 1130 – 1190) wrote: “The first element of their profession, enjoined on them for the remission of their sins by the lord patriarch and the other bishops, was ‘that they should protect the roads and routes to the utmost of their ability against the ambushes of thieves and attackers, especially in regard to the safety of pilgrims.’ ” (Historia Rerum in Partibus Transmarinis Gestarum, book 12, chapter 7, cited in Barber, page 5-6). There is no evidence of “secret documents” hidden beneath the temple as the goal.

Pope Innocent II actually issued three papal bulls between 1139 and 1145, greeting the new Order of monk-knights with enthusiasm. Omne datum optimum (29 March 1139) approved the Templar Rule, took the Order under papal protection, granted free disposal of spoils of the infidel, permitted a chaplain in each house, and other housekeeping duties; Milites Templi (9 February 1143) awarded indulgences to benefactors of the Temple; Milicia Dei (7 April 1145) allowed the Order to build its own chapels, and bury its dead in their churchyards (Barber, page 8). They were also supported by the great St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) who wrote their rule patterned after his own Cistercians.

Pope Clement V did not plan any sinister “sting operation to quash the Templars” — the Templars demise was the fault of the ruthless king Philip IV (the Fair) of France. His motive was financial. The country was near bankruptcy and the Templars became quite prosperous through the donations of lands and rents from those they sought to protect. The reasons for these grants are described in charters such as those documented in Marquis D’Albon’s Cartulaire General de l’Ordre du Temple (see Lord, page 4ff). They were primarily personal and concerned with the spiritual health of the donor and the donor’s family, although grants were also made for the defense of the Holy Land. Again, there is no evidence of a “potent treasure trove of documents” as the source of their power.

It was the king’s soldiers (not the Pope’s) who ordered the Templars in France (not all of Europe) to be rounded up. They were not tortured and burned at the stake “on that day” but simply arrested. The reason for the arrests were trumped up charges made by Philip IV that were extracted by torture. As Barber notes in his Trial of the Templars: “It would now be difficult to argue, as some nineteenth century historians did, that the Templars were guilty of the accusations made against them by the regime of Philip the Fair, or that the confessions demonstrate anything more than the power of torture over the mental and physical resistance of all but the most extraordinary persons.” (Barber, page 243)

In addition, it was impossible for Pope Clement V to burn them as heretics and toss their ashes “unceremoniously into the Tiber River” since the Papacy at that time was located in Avignon, France (known as the “Avignon Papacy” 1305-1378). Rome (and the Tiber) was hundreds of miles away.

Eventually the Order was condemned as heretical based on false charges, and the Pope had no alternative but to dissolve the Templars. As noted by Barber, the trial and demise of the Templars can be explained by factors external to the Order, rather than any internal failings: the financial needs of Philip IV, the weakness of the Papacy after the defeat of Boniface VIII, the loss of Acre and its impact upon western Christiandom, and the chance that led Clement V to request (Grand Master) Jacques de Molay’s presence in France during one of the recurrent financial crises of Philip IV’s government (Barber, page 247).

For a scholarly history of the Templars, please visit a library. Or check out the two chapters in The Da Vinci Hoax written by Sandra Miesel, “The Real Templars” and “The Templar Myth.”

Recommended Books and Articles:

The Knights Templars by C.G. Addison (Longman, Brown, Green, 1853)
The Knights Templars: Their Rise and Fall by G.A. Campbell (Robert M. McBride, 1937)
The Knights Templar in England by Thomas W. Parker (Univ of Arizona Press, 1963)
The Templars in the Corona de Aragon by A.J. Forey (Oxford Univ Press, 1973)
The Trial of the Templars by Malcolm Barber (Cambridge Univ Press, 1978)
The Rule of the Templars (French text with English translation) by J.M. Upton-Ward (The Boydell Press, 1992)
The Knights Templar in Britain by Evelyn Lord (Pearson Education, 2002)
The Catalan Rule of the Templars by Judi Upton-Ward (The Boydell Press, 2003)
The Knights Templar: The History and Myths of the Legendary Military Order by Sean Martin (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2004)

Knights Templar (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Knights Templar (Wikipedia)

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Fiction (False Claims) on the Merovingians

Christ’s line grew quietly under cover in France until making a bold move in the fifth century when it intermarried with French royal blood and created a lineage known as the Merovingian bloodline (DVC 257)
the Merovingians founded Paris which is why the Grail legend is so rich in France (DVC 257)
the modern Priory of Sion has a threefold charge: the brotherhood must protect the Sangreal documents; they must protect the tomb of Mary Magdalene; and they must nurture and protect the bloodline of Christ — those few members of the royal Merovingian bloodline who have survived into modern times (DVC 258)
only two direct lines of Merovingians remain: their family names are Plantard and Saint-Clair and both families live in hiding, probably protected by the Priory (DVC 260)

Response (Truth): The Merovingians are a family of Frankish origin which established an extensive kingdom in Gaul during the late 5th century AD, ruling until 751. They are named after Merovech, a legendary chieftain of the Salian Franks; the real founder of the dynasty was Clovis (r. 481-511), grandson of Merovech, whose succession as leader of the Salian Franks was by right of blood, giving the heirs of Merovech a sacral position (see NCE, volume 9, page 516).

The Merovingians did not found Paris; the city was founded by (and named after) the “Parisii” (Celtic Gauls) when they settled the area c. 250 BC. There is no evidence the Merovingian kings had anything to do with the Priory of Sion either which did not exist as Brown claims (see above Priory of Sion). There is no modern “Priory of Sion” with any charge to pass on anything to a “royal Merovingian bloodline.” There is no evidence the Merovingian bloodline survived after Pepin III who deposed the last Merovingian, Childeric III in 751. The Carolingians succeeded the Merovingians in the 8th century.

Brown’s ideas on this subject were taken from pseudo-historical books such as Holy Blood, Holy Grail. These claims originated with the fraudulent documents of Pierre Plantard salted into the National Library of Paris such as Genealogie des rois merovingiens (“a geneology of the Merovingian kings”) and Les descendants Merovingiens ou l’enigme du Razes Wisigoth (“the Merovingian descendants, or the enigma of the Visigothic Razes”) in his attempt to prove the bizarre claim that he was the “true king of France.” The Jesus-Magdalene “bloodline” concept was later combined with Plantard’s “Merovingian” fantasies by Henry Soskin (author Henry Lincoln). All of it is unsupportable and bogus history.

Recommended Books and Articles:

Before Germany and France: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World by Patrick J. Geary (Oxford Univ Press, 1988)
The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751 by Ian Wood (Longman, 1994)
Settlement and Social Organization: The Merovingian Region of Metz by Guy Halsall (Cambridge Univ Press, 1995)
Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul A.D. 481-751 by Yitzhak Hen (E. J. Brill, 1995)
Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography 640-720 by Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding (Manchester Univ Press, 1996)
Dreams, Visions, and Spiritual Authority in Merovingian Gaul by Isabel Moreira (Cornell Univ Press, 2000)

Merovingians (Wikipedia)

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Fiction (False Claims) on Opus Dei

the Vatican prelature known as Opus Dei is a deeply devout Catholic sect that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brainwashing, coercion, and a dangerous practice known as ‘corporal mortification’ (DVC 1)
Opus Dei is a Catholic Church (DVC 29)
Opus Dei is a personal prelature of the Pope himself (DVC 30)
Opus Dei’s elevation occurred the same year the wealthy sect allegedly had transferred almost one billion dollars into the Vatican’s Institute for Religious Works — commonly known as the Vatican Bank — bailing it out of an embarrassing bankruptcy (DVC 40-41)
Silas, an Opus Dei albino “monk” killed the only four people who knew where the keystone was hidden, and he had killed a nun inside Saint-Sulpice since “She was working against God! She scorned the work of Opus Dei!”….”the gun into which she [Sophie] was now staring was clutched in the pale hand of an enormous albino monk with long white hair; he looked at her with red eyes that radiated a frightening, disembodied quality; dressed in a wool robe with a rope tie, he resembled a medieval cleric” (DVC 166, 276)

Response (Truth): Opus Dei is perfectly capable of defending themselves (see recommended books and articles below), but I will give a brief description of what I have learned about them.

Opus Dei is Latin for “work of God.” It is called a personal prelature which is a type of jurisdiction within the Catholic Church. It is wrong to call them a “sect” or a “cult” or a “Catholic Church” or a “personal prelature of the Pope himself.” All members of Opus Dei are subject to their local Catholic bishop, who in turn are under the Pope. The overall leader of a personal prelature is called the “prelate.”

As has been stated repeatedly in response to the nonsense in Dan Brown’s novel, there are no monks in Opus Dei, neither albino, hunchback, cyclops, frightening, enormous, or otherwise. It is not an Order within the Catholic Church like the Jesuits, Dominicans, or Franciscans. It is primarily a lay organization helping individual Catholics live out their faith in God in their daily lives, while a few of its members are priests and bishops.

Opus Dei was founded by St. Josemarie Escriva in 1928 (he was canonized a saint under John Paul II’s papacy in 2002). His classic devotional book The Way (recently re-published by Doubleday) has been widely read and is how many are introduced to Opus Dei. There is no brainwashing, coercian, or dangerous practices unless one thinks living the faith in love (Gal 5:6), doing good (James 2:14-26), making sacrifices for holiness (Col 1:24; Rom 12:1; Heb 12:14), preaching the gospel and passing it on to others (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15) involves such things.

According to the Opus Dei FAQ in response to The Da Vinci Code: “Neither Opus Dei nor any of its members helped ‘bail out’ the Vatican bank. The Church authorities made Opus Dei a personal prelature in 1982 because they recognized that this new canonical category was a good fit for Opus Dei’s mission and structure….the personal prelature status is nothing special: it is simply one of several canonical categories the Church has for designating an institution that carries out special pastoral activities.”

However, Dan Brown is free to donate his recently acquired millions to Opus Dei or other Catholic charitable organizations such as Catholic Relief Services or Catholic Charities for helping those in need in the U.S. and internationally.

Corporal mortification is part of the Catholic doctrine of “redemptive suffering” where Christians identify with their Savior in suffering by making small sacrifices to increase in holiness and sanctification as part of His body, the Church. It has a long tradition within the historical Church and even non-Christian religions. Well known and beloved saints as St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas More, St. Padre Pio, Blessed Mother Teresa, and the founder of Opus Dei all practiced forms of this discipline. “Mortification is by no means the centerpiece of the Christian life, but nobody can grow closer to God without it….Opus Dei emphasizes small sacrifices rather than extraordinary ones, in keeping with its spirit of integrating faith with secular life….Some Opus Dei members also make limited use of the cilice and discipline, types of mortification that have always had a place in the Catholic tradition because of their symbolic reference to Christ’s Passion.” (Opus Dei FAQ)

It is a biblical concept. Fasting is frequently recommended in the Bible (Jesus fasted 40 days in the desert, etc). The word “cilice” means “haircloth” — a French word, derived from the Latin cilicium and from the Greek word for “Cilicia.” In the Latin Vulgate, the word cilicium (or some variant) is quite prevalent, and frequently translated into English as “sackcloth” (synonym of haircloth). In the Old Testament, people would wear or sit upon haircloth and sackcloth for the purpose of fasting, mourning, lamenting, repenting and humility. Jesus continues this tradition, admonishing the residents of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum that the gentiles of Tyre and Sidon would use sackcloth in repentance of their sins (Matt 11:21; Luke 10:13). John the Baptist wears a garment of camel hair (Matt 3:4; Mark 1:6; cf. Rev 11:3). Other NT passages clearly teach the necessity of sacrifice and benefits of suffering for Christian sanctification and increasing in holiness:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1, all verses are Douay-Rheims translation)

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church…. (Colossians 1:24)

But I chastise my body and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway. (1 Corinthians 9:27)

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us: so also by Christ doth our comfort abound. Now whether we be in tribulation, it is for your exhortation and salvation: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation: or whether we be exhorted, it is for your exhortation and salvation, which worketh the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. That our hope for you may be steadfast: knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation. (2 Corinthians 1:5-7)

Christ therefore having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sins… (1 Peter 4:1)

Looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who, having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God…Follow peace with all men and holiness: without which no man shall see God. (Hebrews 12:2,14)

Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it. For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then will he render to every man according to his works. (Matthew 16:24-27)

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June 10, 2012

In related to the topic of the shroud of Turin I’ve mentioned about.

Citizen WElls

Easter 2012, Jesus face from Shroud of Turin, April 8, 2012, Italian scientists created by flash of supernatural light, God save us

“Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”…First Corinthians 1:25

Have a blessed Easter

From Citizen Wells April 23, 2011.

What I am about to present is intended primarily for the Doubting Thomases out there. First some observations. Jesus was born in the Middle East. His skin color, neither lilly white or black, was average. He was born into a lowly existence and therefore could speak to everyone regardless of status. His message is simple and true. I can find no fault with it. He was crucified. No other method of death would have gotten the attention of humans. If that is not enough for you, I have studied the Shroud of Turin for years. I believe…

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June 10, 2012

Disprove to Proven

For the past three weeks, I was attempting to disprove the authentic of the existence of Christ and the physical evidence being left behind for over 2,000 years. Such evidence like the shroud of Turin, and the mercy bowl of the Ark of the Covenant, which I happened to came across it during the three weeks of being a free-thinker, attempting to disprove the faith of Christianity, through many methods, including comparing with Judaism and Islam. Though from my previous post, it is proven that Christianity’s parent faith was Judaism, also known as Judeo-Christianity. For the past three weeks, I have been studying the three faiths altogether, and I can finally summarized it out in summarized form of my research, from disproving Christianity to proving the validity of Christ himself despite being a free-thinker now.

As a child grown up in a Christian background, and also been into years of turbulences of backsliding away, I’ve long wanting to find the actual truth; but what I was taught in church wasn’t enough. and all I want is to read up the history of the church, Jewish synagogue and Muslim mosque, knowing and understanding the history of religious conflicts, warfare, doctrines, origins, and most of all–the historical figure of Jesus Christ the Nazareth, which I was told to have a simple faith in the messiah, despite being myself wanting to know the real truth–in depth.

Here’s the extracted article from: http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/ark_of_the_covenant.htm

This is the most fascinating real life “Indiana Jones ” tale of all and combined with today’s electron microscope technology; provides the absolute final ounce of proof of not only Jesus’ existence but that he WAS born of a virgin and WAS the son of God the Father conceived with the help of the Holy Spirit. A video of this discovery can also be found at Ron Wyatt’s site http://www.pilgrimpromo.com/WAR/index.html but I have some information here you won’t find on Ron’s site obtained from those close to him. There are some things entrusted to me I will not disclose here also but for all you fencesitters; this means there should no longer be ANY doubt.

Here’s the low down. One day when Ron Wyatt was in Jerusalem he was walking with a gentleman from the antiquities dept and all of a sudden Ron stopped, pointed ahead, and said,” That’s Jeremiah’s Grotto and that is where the Ark of the Covenant is”. The Ark of the Covenant is the box that contained the stone tablets with the ten commandments written on them God made for Moses at Mt. Sinai; the second set. They broke the first ones. He had no reason to say that; he had never before considered looking for the Ark of the Covenant; he was at a loss for why that came out of his mouth; but it did. He did not even know if there was reason to believe it might be there; but the antiquities man gave him permission to snoop so Ron went back to the states and started studying. He discovered that when the temple was still standing (which was where the Ark was kept) about 600 years before the crucifixion of Christ that Jerusalem came under siege. The Levites had a system of tunnels under the city and using an elevator system, they whisked the ark away underground. The tunnel (actually more like a catacomb system – and waterway to the water supply) went to a location that was outside of the city walls but still well underground. Ironically the final cavern where they placed the Ark turned out to lie immediately underneath the place where Jesus was to be crucified 600 years hence. Why that is important, later. They placed the ark there under a number of animal skins, filled the cave nearly to the top with rocks and sealed the entrance. While going back to the temple, they also made a number of other seals and wrong directions to throw off anyone who might have discovered the tunnel system. They did a good job. In 2600 years, no one has found it until now.

This is better explained in a two video set that by Michael Rood and Richard Rives made available at www.toolonginthesun.com , as well as in Ron Wyatt’s video “Ark of the Covenant Update” available at http://www.pilgrimpromo.com/WAR/index.html

After almost ten years of making trips to Jerusalem digging in the tunnels , Ron was almost ready to give up, when an angel appeared outside the entrance topside and told Ron what he was doing was very important and not to give up. Another gentleman who was with Ron also heard and saw the angel. Shortly thereafter Ron found the entrance to the cavern as well as what looked like dried blood along a crackline that entered the cave from the top. Upon closer inspection it was determined that the crack went up 20-25′ and aligned almost perfectly with the crucifixion hole (it’s still there today) where Jesus was crucified. But the crack was almost sealed. Relevance? Here goes. When Jesus was crucified, His cross was on a hill outside the old city’s walls.

There is a garden there now but you can still make out the skull and the holes where the Romans placed the boards that told the reason for the execution. Anyway, the hole for the cross is still there today. Interestingly, there is a crack next to the base. Remember that the crucifixion story tells of an earthquake occurring just before the soldier shoved a spear into Jesus. Here’s what happened. When the blood and water poured out of Jesus, it ran down this crack opened up by the earthquake, through the earth, and landed….ooh this is good…..on the right side of the Mercy Seat of the Ark! The Mercy Seat is very important; it is the lid of the Ark itself. In Leviticus, the Levites were told to sprinkle the blood offering on the left side of the Mercy Seat for the covering of the sins. The significance being that the blood of Jesus was the final offering for our sins! Cool, huh? But there’s more.

When Jesus was resurrected and the angel came down from heaven to roll the huge stone away from the entrance, there was another earthquake. This earthquake for most part resealed the crack so rainwater over the years would not go down the crack and dilute the blood that God had intentionally placed there for someone to find when it was time for such to be revealed. After taking samples of what appeared to be dried blood outside the cave Ron then made his way into the cavern and actually witnessed for the first time the Ark of the Covenant itself; even though the cave was still full of rocks at that time and only the top could be seen. It’s hard to describe it this way but it’s about three feet wide and 2 1/2 feet deep and tall. There is an angel (cherubim) on each end with one wing forming a back and the other forming a side (armrest). Each angel has on a little beanie sort of thing and each has a staff in their backside hand. The staffs are at an angle so as to form an ‘x’ across the back.

The ark of the covenant was the representation of God on earth. It was the centerpoint of worship for the Hebrews. See: Numbers 10:33, 14:44; Deut. 10:8, 31:9, 31:25-26; Joshua chapter 3:1-4:18, 6:6-8, 8:33; Judges 20:27, 1 Sam. chapter 4, 2 Sam. 15:24; 1 Kings 3:15, 6:19, chapter 8; 1 Chron. 15:25-17:1, 22:19, 28:2-18; 2 Chron. chapter 5 & 6, Jeremiah 3:16, Hebrews 9:4 for starters. Ron also found dried blood on the Mercy Seat itself and took some samples of that. Ron then resealed the cavern and left back for home from that trip. Meantime four Levites tried to enter the cavern to steal from the Ark and God killed them. Ron was called back to remove them as Ron was the only one God was going to allow to touch the Ark without undergoing instant death. Ron’s next trip was to try to discover what was inside the Ark. When he got to the cavern and unsealed the entrance again he found not only all the rocks and debris removed but things that had been removed from the temple and taken to the cavern 2600 years previously were laid out in order; the sacrificial table the temple priests used for sacrifices, a seven candle candle holder, and the Ark of the Covenant itself.

Inside the cavern Ron encountered four angels who told him they cleaned the cavern out, and to remove the stone tablets when they lifted the heavy Mercy Seat lid up. He did so; and then handed them to one of the angels who set the tablets up on a ledge. The angel told Ron God wanted them to be brought out and shown as soon as the beast has commanded that everyone receive the mark. That’s heavy; what does that tell you about where we’re at regarding the end times. Also inside the Ark Ron found a jar of manna, and Aaron’s staff or rod; just as the bible said was in it. Ron resealed the cave entrance and went back home. Ron tired to take pictures of the cavern’s contents but God didn’t allow it. He used a polaroid, a 35mm, and a video camera and all film turned out blank.

No one dares to enter the cave. The Israeli government is OK with where it is now so they can pull it out when the time is right (maybe during the invasion, just before God destroys 5/6 of the invading army).

The tablets are made out a red granite; just as the bible says Moses went up Mt. Sinai, the mountain of red granite. Written in Hebrew, the way the letters on the tablets were written is very interesting. It’s almost like one of us trying to write in butter. You know how at the end of a letter there would be a little ridge? It’s the same way on the commandments. Imagine God’s finger turning red granite as soft as butter! Wowzers. The ark is still in perfect shape. God has preserved it just like He has with His word (KJV), no matter what people have tried to do to it.

One reason that there isn’t much said about the Ark is that Ron has died. Another is that most of the rest of the info is being kept quiet until the Ark’s unveiling unveiling to help convince the Jews that Jesus is who He said He is. The ark cannot come out until God is ready for it (remember, everything in God’s perfect timing).

But HERE’S the clincher folks. Remember Ron had samples of the blood from along the cracks in the rocks above the cavern and from the Mercy Seat itself below the crack in the cavern ceiling. What he found was amazing to say the least. This is very similar to the Shroud of Turin story. The significance of the Shroud was not known until the age of photography and a negative of the Shroud revealed all the detail God had placed there for us. Well in the 1990’s a man named Mason in France came up with an electron microscope that could make out detail in microns; a millionth of a meter, and he made a discovery that blood never dies. No matter how old it is, how battered ,whatever it’s condition – it never dies. There are things called somatids in blood that are alive forever. These are like 1/10 of a micron in size but looking at them under this extremely powerful microscope, you could definitely see the activity and the fact there was life there. Well, in the US another gentleman picked up where Mr. Mason left off and made an even better micron microscope. Somehow he got wind of Ron’s work and came to see him. Ron took some of this dried blood he had been saving for several years in for testing using this gentleman’s super microscope. They reconstituted some of the blood and sure enough, the somatids appeared on screen and very active. The microscope was so powerful it could also see the genetic structure of the chromosones on the DNA molecules.

Humans are made up of a certain number of chromosomes (46). You get 23 from each parent, right? Well, this blood was very unique. It was identified as human blood for sure but there was a difference. This blood only had 24 chromosomes! What this means is that there was 23 from one parent (Mary) and one additional “y” chromosone gene to make Him a him! Sounds confusing but think about it and it should help you to understand. You can hear the story for yourself in a video from Ron’s archeology group called “Ark of the Covenant Update” ; www.prophecyclub.com has it also. This finding disproves all the non believers who claimed Mary was impregnated by the high priest Gabriel at the Temple School before being handed over to Joseph in marriage. This DOES prove the immaculate conception and that Jesus WAS fathered by the holy spirit.

Ron Wyatt has many such discoveries proving the historical authenticity of biblical times; such as the discovery of the land bridge under the Red Sea, the discovery of all the chariot parts of the right age at the bottom of the Red Sea. The discovery of the REAL Noah’s Ark. Visit his site at http://www.pilgrimpromo.com/WAR/index.html and be prepared to spend some time there as history unfolds.

Well, to me, I heard of Ron Wyatt, though he’s is long dead, possibly if you watched the videos about him discovering not only the Ark of the Covenant, but also the Noah’s Ark, you will then know that he was that old back then, and I’ve only managed to watched one of the video on YouTube of Ron’s discovery of the Ark of the Covenant (video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNr_U1EWRTY) and the validity of the number of chromosomes of the blood of Jesus (which scientifically proven after DNA lab testing research Jesus has 24 chromosomes in his blood, when Ron asked the Israeli scientist to do the test in Israel). And this is not enough. Another significant evidence was the History channel documentary of the shroud of Turin of the true image of Jesus Christ, which can be found here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvAJRp4CXdU&feature=share).

Mentioning about the shroud of Turin, here’s an extracted article from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1262317/Shroud-Turin-reveals-face-Jesus-History-Channel-artists-claim.html

Computer artists claim to have recreated the face of Jesus Christ using digital technology.

The image was created by taking information and blood encoded on the Turin Shroud – the blood-stained linen that many believe was the burial cloth of the crucified Jesus Christ – and transforming it into a 3D image.

In a two-hour TV special on the History Channel, to air in the U.S. tonight, the computer artists will reveal their image of Jesus in full.

Revealed: A computer image shows a 3D recreation of the face of Jesus Christ

But the results may surprise some viewers. According to the company that made the image it does not resemble the popularized version of Jesus.

Computer artist Ray Downing, the president of Studio Macbeth, said: ‘We ‘lifted’ the blood and isolated it [on the computer] so that it would sit ‘in air’ [on a transparent background].’

He explained that because the Turin Shroud was wrapped around, rather than being draped on the body, the blood was transferred to the cloth as it was wound.

The image was made by taking information and blood encoded on the Turin Shroud transforming it into a 3D image

The image was made by taking information and blood encoded on the Turin Shroud, below, and transforming it into a 3D image

The Shroud of Turin, which is to go on display for the first time in 10 years later this month

Therefore it did not align with the places on the face from which it originated.

The ancient shroud contains a faint impression of the front and back of a human body, along with blood, dirt and water stains.

The year-long project culminated with a team of graphic artists using the newest technology to create a computer-generated image.

‘I have a lot of information about that face and my estimation is we’re pretty darn close to what this man looked like,’ Mr Downing said.

Mr Downing claims that his technique of computer imaging actually uncovered what substance created the image on the shroud and enabled him to see for the first time the actual face of Jesus.

And he said he said he would offer an explanation for how the image ended up on the shroud.

Downing added: ‘I will reveal at the end of the show the type of event that must have occurred 2,000 years ago.’

From the extracted article, plus with the modern technology advances we do have today, it is possible to resurrect the true image of Jesus Christ himself. As a former Christian, I have longed to seek the true face of Jesus himself, how he looked like when he was walking among us over 2,000 years ago, and how the shroud of Turin comes about, though was once concluded as a forgery of the 13th Century, but was proven to be authentic due to the evidence of the fabric’s origins and the pollen found on the shroud cloth itself, plus the authenticity of the shroud image, which isn’t possible so far for any man to forge so perfectly and also evidence of human blood of Jesus as mentioned (also about the Ark of Covenant as mentioned earlier) on the shroud cloth, with the images of modern technology to resurrect the image of Jesus Christ himself (personally I was taken aback when I saw the true image of Jesus Christ himself, with his blood from his head all the way to his feet).

Lastly, I wasn’t totally convince either–strangely. But one thing for sure, until I find out the authenticity of who Christ is, through the historical records Jesus left behind, along with his followers and disciples of their time, I still remain as free-thinker, till I get the whole full picture of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

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June 9, 2012

一神教的基础：在历史上的反犹太主义

介绍

理解三个一神教犹太教，基督教和伊斯兰教的宗教冲突的根本理解，首先我们将看看犹太人的情况下，为什么在历史记录显示在中世纪时代，基督徒和穆斯林的迫害和侮辱犹太人，基督徒在1948年开始在²⁰世纪，交叉对话与犹太人和以色列国成立后，直到现代时代。要了解如何以及为什么的概念，首先我们必须明白环节之间的三个一神教我的同龄人大多不认识，有一个犹太人，基督徒（包括天主教）和穆斯林之间的连接方面，宗教神学和它是如何在历史书上互相交织在一起。

从分裂之前，基督教和犹太教曾经同样的信念，历史学家称为犹太教，基督教，犹太教，基督教分裂可能在耶稣的时间和前。对于伊斯兰教的情况下，有许多伊斯兰教的起源，虽然教义是惊人相似的，这是不册封的，由早期的教会，并拒绝为异端，巴拿巴福音，虽然伊斯兰教先知穆罕默德的教诲，他们看到基督徒和犹太人为“书人”，作为新发现的信念于公元625的结果，无论是阿拉伯异教徒，犹太人和基督徒的人群的某些部分，其中在皈依伊斯兰教，我个人认为，可能是从部分犹太人和基督徒的分裂，穆罕默德机关的名称，收到了上帝的启示下，声称圣经，犹太人和基督徒已被损坏，“古兰经”是从神通过先知穆罕默德最准确。

在欧洲的犹太人和犹太教

欧洲犹太教具有悠久的历史，开始在东地中海的庞培征服63公元前，从而开始在罗马帝国的犹太人的历史，虽然可能亚历山大犹太人已迁移到罗马庞培的征服东前略。

前第二次世界大战欧洲犹太人的人口估计接近9万。据认为，在1940-1945大屠杀中死亡的约600万欧洲犹太人。由于移民人口的进一步流失，目前欧洲的犹太人人口估计在CA。 2万美元（0.3％），组成

Ashkenazi犹太人（约140万，主要集中在法国，德国，俄罗斯，乌克兰和英国）
Sephardi犹太人（约0.3亿美元，主要集中在法国，西班牙和葡萄牙）
米兹拉希犹太人（约0.3亿美元，主要在法国）
意大利犹太人（约5万，主要是意大利）
romaniotes（约6000个，主要是希腊）

历史

早期存在

从亚历山大的希腊犹太教，是整个罗马帝国甚至在罗马犹太战争。早在公元前2世纪中叶，犹太作家的Oracula Sibyllina第三本书，解决“选择的人，说：”每一块土地是你和每一片海域。“ 最多样化的证人，如斯特拉波，斐洛，塞涅卡，西塞罗，和约瑟夫，都提到犹太人口在地中海盆地的城市。这一时期的大多数犹太人人口中心是然而在的东Iudaea和叙利亚和埃及仍然（亚历山大是由迄今为止最重要的犹太社区，犹太人在Philo的时间分别居住在两个城市的五个宿舍）。然而，在开始的凯撒，奥古斯都统治时期（27BC）有7000多犹太人在罗马：这是护送使节前来要求的阿基劳斯的沉积。

克罗地亚日至2世纪，在潘诺尼亚的第3，第4个世纪的罗马帝国时期的犹太人存在。在奥古斯塔Raurica（Kaiseraugst，瑞士）在2001年发现的一个与灯台描绘无名指证明日耳曼高级犹太存在。在城镇卢瓦尔河以北或在高卢南部日至5世纪和6世纪的证据。

中世纪

早在中世纪时期，是一个蓬勃发展的犹太文化的时间。在罗马帝国的最后几个世纪，犹太教和基督教生命的进化过程中“截然相反的方向”。犹太人的生活成为自主的，分散的，以社区为中心。基督徒的生活，成为僵化的等级制度下的教皇和罗马帝国皇帝的至高无上的权威。

犹太人的生活，可以是民主的特点。在犹太法典拉比解释申。 29:9，“你的头，你的部落，你的长辈，和你的人员，即使所有的以色列人”，“虽然我已任命为您负责，长老，和官员，你都是我面前人人平等”（Tanhuma）强调政治分享权力。分享权力entailed的责任：“你们都对彼此负责。如果有你们中间只有一个正直的人，你将所有利润从他的优点，而不是你一个人，而是整个世界……但如果你的罪，整整一代人将受到影响。“

800和1100之间有150万犹太人在基督教欧洲。他们是幸运的，在封建农奴或骑士制度的一部分，因而得以幸免，使大多数基督徒的悲惨生活的压迫和不断的战争。

在与基督教社会的关系，他们受国王，王子，甚至主教，因为他们在三个领域提供重要的服务：财务，行政和医生。感兴趣的基督教学者在“圣经”塔木德拉比会征询。这一切都改变了改革和加强的罗马天主教教会和羡慕和竞争力的中产阶级，城镇住宅基督徒的崛起。由1300修士和当地的祭司使用的激情能在复活节期间，描绘在当代服饰杀害基督的犹太人，教导一般民众的仇恨和谋杀犹太人。正是在这一点上，迫害和流亡成为流行。终于在1500左右，犹太人发现安全和重建了在波兰的繁荣。

在十字军东征的背景下，在高中世纪欧洲犹太人的迫害开始。莱茵河和多瑙河上的繁荣社区，在第一次十字军东征（1096）被彻底摧毁，德国十字军东征，1096。在第二次十字军东征（1147）在法国的犹太人受到频繁的大屠杀。犹太人也受到攻击1251和1320的牧羊人“十字军东征。随后被驱逐出境，其中包括，1290十字军东征，驱逐所有英国犹太人，在1396年，100,000名犹太人被驱逐来自法国，奥地利于1421年数千名被开除。许多被驱逐的犹太人逃往波兰。

在中世纪晚期，由于黑死病疫情重创欧洲在14世纪中叶，歼敌超过一半[需要的引证]人口。经常说这是一个神话，然而，由于其更好的营养和清洁，犹太人不感染类似的号码;犹太人确实感染类似数字作为替罪羊，他们仍然针对性他们非犹太neighborsYet的。散布谣言，他们故意中毒井引起的疾病。以暴力，数百名犹太社区被摧毁。虽然教皇克莱门特六世1348年7月6日，罗马教皇的公牛和另外1348多头试图保护他们，几个月后，900犹太人被活活烧死在斯特拉斯堡，瘟疫尚未影响到城市。

在面对外部的压力，从罗马天主教帝国和波斯琐罗亚斯德教的帝国的犹太人的生存是“高深莫测”的史学家。

男爵解释由八个因素：

救世主的信仰。最终取得的积极成果和恢复以色列的信仰。
此后越来越阐述的教义。调和与痛苦在这个世界上的犹太人和帮助他们抵御外界的诱惑，转换。
通过诱导希望解释他们的历史和自己的命运意味着痛苦。
殉道的和迫害inescapability的学说转化为社区团结的源泉。
犹太人的生活是非常令人满意的。犹太人居住在犹太人。在实践中，个人的一生中，只有少数的戏剧性场合遇到公开的迫害。犹太人大多生活在歧视，影响每个人，他们习惯于。由日常生活的礼仪要求的多样性，使每一个犹太人是全天不断意识到神。 “在大多数情况下，他发现这个包罗万象的生活犹太如此突出的满意，他准备牺牲自己……为保存其基本面。”这些诫命为犹太人牺牲自己的生命，如不畏偶像崇拜，不食用猪肉，遵守割礼，最严格遵守的。
企业发展和后期罗马帝国和波斯帝国的种族隔离政策，有助于保持犹太社区组织强烈。
犹太法典提供了一个非常有效的力量，以维持犹太人的伦理，法律和文化，司法和社会福利制度，普及教育，调节强大的家庭生活和宗教生活，从出生到死亡。
犹太群众集中在“中下阶层”， ^[12]与性自我控制的中产阶级的美德。禁欲主义和放荡之间有一个温和的路径。婚姻被认为是民族的根基，道德，生活。

境外敌对不仅有助于水泥犹太人的团结和内部的实力和承诺。

在西班牙犹太文化的黄金时代

在西班牙犹太文化的黄金时代，是指在犹太人被普遍接受社会和犹太宗教，文化和经济生活中开花在伊比利亚半岛的穆斯林统治的历史时期。这个“黄金时代”，从不同月8日至12世纪。

安达卢斯是犹太人生活的一个重要中心，在中世纪，产生重要的学者和最稳定和富裕的犹太社区之一。著名犹太哲学家和学者在这段时间内蓬勃发展，最显着迈蒙尼德。

西班牙宗教裁判所

他在西班牙宗教裁判所成立于1478年由天主教君主费迪南德和伊莎贝拉，以维持他们的王国天主教正统和西班牙王室的直接控制下。它没有明确取消，直到1834年，伊莎贝尔二世在位期间。

宗教裁判所，作为一个教会法庭有管辖权只以上受洗的基督徒。然而，由于犹太人（1492年）和穆斯林摩尔人（1502年）被放逐来自西班牙的宗教裁判所管辖，在其历史的大实践所有皇家科目的延伸部分。侦查工作中的很大一部分，以确保正统的最近称为作为conversos或marranos的皈依。

波兰的犹太世界的中心

在1492年从西班牙驱逐的犹太人，以及来自奥地利，匈牙利和德国，激发了广泛的更为宽容的波兰犹太移民。事实上，从西班牙驱逐的犹太人，波兰成为旁边的荷兰，为流亡在欧洲的许多国家认可的避风港;并加入波兰犹太人的行列，使犹太人民的文化和精神中心。

波兰犹太人最繁荣的时期，开始新涌入这个犹太人的统治，，齐格蒙特我（1506年至1548年），保护犹太人在他的境界。随后他的儿子，，齐格蒙特二八月（1548年至1572年），主要在他父亲的宽容政策，并在社区管理的事项给予自主权的犹太人的Qahal，或自治的犹太社区的力量奠定了基础。这期间导致建立一个关于波兰是一个“犹太人天堂”的谚语。据一些消息来源，约四分之三的所有犹太人居住在波兰，16世纪中叶。波兰在16世纪中叶，欢迎来自意大利和土耳其的犹太新人，大多起源Sephardi，但是一些从奥斯曼帝国的移民仍自称是Mizrahim。犹太宗教生活的蓬勃发展在许多波兰人社区。 1503年，波兰君主任命，波兰官方犹太教拉比雅各布波拉克，标志着首席拉比的出现。到1551年，犹太人被获准选择适合自己的首席拉比。首席拉比举行了法律和财务的权力，任命法官和其他官员。一些与地方议会分享权力。波兰政府允许拉比增长动力，对税收征管的目的使用它。只有30％的钱拉比提出担任犹太人的原因，该休息了官方的保护。在此期间，波兰，立陶宛成为德系犹太人的主力中锋，从16世纪初其yeshivot取得名声。

一个16世纪的的杰出Talmudist，，摩西伊塞莱斯（1520至1572年），在克拉科夫成立了他的神学院。除了是一个著名的犹太法典和法律学者，伊塞莱斯还了解到，在卡巴拉，研究历史，天文学和哲学。

在波兰和英联邦犹太教的发展

在波兰的犹太社区的文化和智力输出犹太教作为一个整体产生深远的影响。一些犹太历史学家们讲述了波兰这个词的发音Polin在Polania或希伯来语，希伯来语译音，波兰这些名字，因为Polania可以分为三个希伯来文的话：PO（“在这里被解释为”好兆头“ “），LAN（”住“），雅（”上帝“），并Polin成两句话：PO（”“）林（”你应该住]“）。 “消息”是波兰本来是一个犹太人的好地方。在西吉斯蒙德规则的时候，我旧直到纳粹大屠杀，波兰将在犹太宗教生活的中心。

yeshivot拉比的指导下，建立在更加突出的社区。这类学校被正式称为体育馆，作为校长的拉比校长。在克拉科夫，波兹南，和其他城市的重要yeshivot存在。在第一季度的16世纪，犹太印刷企业进入了存在。一个希伯来五（圣经）于1530年被印在克拉科夫，并在本世纪末，城市和卢布林的犹太印刷厂发出的大批犹太人的书籍，主要是宗教性质的，。塔木德奖学金在波兰的增长是与更大繁荣的波兰犹太人的重合;全片面和沿塔木德线，是因为他们的社区自治教育发展。例外被记录下来，然而，在犹太青年在欧洲的大学寻求世俗的指令。不仅是博学的拉比成为的法律expounders，但还精神的顾问，教师，法官，立法者;和他们的权力迫使社区领导人，使自己熟悉的犹太法律的深奥问题。波兰犹太人发现，塔木德和犹太文学，其影响力在家里，在学校，在犹太教堂，感到精神塑造其生活的看法。

上半年，在16世纪的塔木德学习的种子已被移植到波兰，从波希米亚，特别是从学校雅各波拉克，的Pilpul的的的创造者（“尖锐的推理”）。沙洛姆Shachna（约1500至1558年），波拉克的瞳孔，在波兰的塔木德学习的先驱者之一。他住在卢布林去世，他在那里的yeshivah以下世纪犹太教名人头。成为shachna的儿子以色列卢布林拉比对他的父亲去世，和Shachna的瞳孔，摩西伊塞莱斯（被称为“REMA）（1520年至1572年）取得的Shulkhan Arukh合著者之间的犹太人的国际声誉，（”犹太“守则”）。他的当代和所罗门群岛卢里亚通讯员（1510至73年）卢布林他的教友之间也享有广泛的声誉;和整个欧洲犹太人确认双方的权力。激烈宗教disputations共同的，犹太学者参加。在同一时间，卡巴拉已成为盘踞在保护的Rabbinism;和末底改谢斐和Sirkis Yoel等学者投身到它的研究。此伟大犹太教奖学金期间被打断的Chmielnicki起义和洪水。

的Ḥasidism的崛起

从哥萨克起义十年，直到瑞典的战争（1648至1658年）后不仅对波兰 – 立陶宛的犹太人的社会生活，但他们的精神生活，以及留下了深刻而持久的印象。波兰犹太人的智力输出减少。这期间一直是广大人民的共同占有的talmudic学习的学生只有数量有限的访问。有什么宗教研究变得过于形式化，一些拉比忙于狡辩有关宗教的法律，别人写的塔尔穆德不同的部分提出并讨论了在头发分裂参数的评论;有时这些参数与事项的处理没有实际意义。同时，波兰的犹太人之间的许多奇迹工人自己的外表，在一系列虚假的“救世主”的运动，最有名的高潮，作为Sabbatianism是由Frankism成功。

在这一次的神秘主义和过于正式rabbinism称为巴尔闪Tov，或贝施特（1698年至1760年），其中有深远的影响对中欧和东欧的犹太人，以色列本·埃利泽和波兰的教诲特别是。他的弟子们的教导和鼓励新犹太教热切的品牌的基础上卡巴拉Hasidism已知。哈西德派犹太教崛起在波兰的边界和超越1通过其许多包括恰巴德-卢巴维特奇克瓦希Bobov，德国，Nadvorna的哈西德朝代持续影响Haredi犹太教崛起在世界各地的影响，其中等等。波兰血统更近rebbes包括犹太教教士Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn（1880-1950年），卢巴维特奇恰巴德哈西德运动的六字头，谁住在华沙直到1940年，当他搬到卢巴维特奇从华沙到美国。

19世纪

在教皇国的存在，直到1870年，犹太人被要求只能住在指定的街区被称为贫民区。直到19世纪40年代，他们被要求定期参加敦促他们皈依基督教的说教。只有犹太人被征税，以支持犹太人皈依基督教国家的寄宿学校。它是非法的转换犹太教，基督教。身不由己，有时犹太人的洗礼，即使这样的洗礼是非法的，被迫实行基督教。在许多这类案件中的国家脱离他们的家庭。埃德加Mortara帐户天主教徒和犹太人之间的恶语相向的最广泛的宣传，在下半年的19世纪的教皇国的实例之一。

犹太复国主义运动起源于19世纪后期。在1883年，弥敦道伯恩鲍姆成立Kadimah，首次在维也纳的犹太学生协会。在1884年，第一Selbstemanzipation的问题（自我解放）出现，伯恩鲍姆自己印制。爆发于1894年在法国的德雷福斯事件，深感震惊的解放犹太人。反犹太主义在一个国家的深度作为思想启蒙和自由的家，导致许多人怀疑他们在欧洲未来的安全。在那些目睹了这一事件是（出生在布达佩斯，住在维也纳）奥匈帝国的犹太记者，西奥多·赫茨尔，出版了他的小册子德犹太国在1896and古老的新国家（“犹太国”）（“新老土地”）在1897年。他形容婚外情婚外情之前，作为个人的转折点，赫茨尔一直反犹太复国主义;之后，他成为热烈亲犹太复国主义者。在德国民族主义与19世纪的思想赫茨尔认为犹太民族在一个犹太国家。他认为，这样一来，犹太人有可能成为像所有其他民族的人民，和反犹太主义将不复存在。

赫茨尔注入一个新的和现实紧迫性，政治犹太复国主义。他带来了世界犹太复国主义组织应运而生，加上弥敦道伯恩鲍姆，计划于1897年在巴塞尔第一次代表大会。前四年，会见了世界犹太复国主义组织（犹复组织）每年，那么，第二次世界大战，他们聚集每隔一年。战后以来，美国国会已达到每四年。

第二次世界大战和大屠杀

大屠杀（从希腊ὁλόκαυστον（holókauston）：holos，“完全”和kaustos，“烧”），也被称为哈浩劫（希伯来语：השואה）的，Churben（意第绪语：חורבן），是通常用于长期描述杀害约600万欧洲犹太人，在第二次世界大战期间，带领由阿道夫·希特勒的蓄意灭绝在纳粹德国的国家社会主义政权的计划和执行方案的一部分。

基督教和反犹太主义

基督教对犹太教和犹太人民从早年的基督教，在新约圣经的基督徒的迫害，并坚持在随后的几百年，由许多因素，包括神学分歧，教会和犹太教之间的竞争，基督教驱动器驱动的态度为convertsdecreed大委员会，犹太人的信仰和习俗的误解，认为犹太人对基督徒的敌意。

这种态度得到了加强，在基督教的说教，在含有对犹太人的蔑视世纪的流行艺术和教学。基督教在许多国家，它导致了对公民权利和政治歧视犹太人，残疾人的法律，并在一些情况下，以物理攻击犹太人移民，驱逐，甚至死亡偶尔结束。

不时，在欧洲社会的反犹太人的情绪受到剥削或煽动内部的政治目的，有时提取犹太臣民的金融优势。这种情绪反犹太人的措施扩大在政治上可以接受的。

已被描述为反犹太主义的主要仇恨针对犹太人的种族作为一个植根于19世纪的种族理论及其现代表达，而反犹太教称为敌视犹太宗教，但在西方基督教，它有效地合并成反犹太主义在12世纪。学者们基督教反犹主义辩论如何在纳粹第三帝国，第二次世界大战和大屠杀可能发挥作用。然而，“一个历史学家，教会领袖和学术神学广泛的共识，是基督教神学反犹太教是一种有别于现代反犹太主义，这是在经济和种族思想根深蒂固的现象，使基督教教义不应持有反犹太主义“ 这一共识的立场，基本上是一个现代反犹太主义的基督教辩解，articluated，在其他地方，由教皇约翰·保罗二世“我们重新成员：浩劫的反思，”犹太基督教，Dabru EMET声明。

在整个基督教历史上，一些教皇，主教和一些基督教首领加紧保护犹太人。但它是在20世纪中叶，天主教教会和许多新教教派发出批判反犹太教神学的主要报表，并开始了建设性的基督教和犹太教的相互作用的过程。

反犹太教

许多基督徒不考虑反犹太教是反犹太主义。他们认为，作为一个真诚的人与犹太教的教义，宗教分歧反犹太教，而作为一种情感的偏见或仇恨不是专门针对犹太教宗教反犹太主义。根据这一办法，反犹太教不认为作为反犹太主义，因为它拒绝犹太教的宗教思想和不涉及实际的犹太人民的敌意。

别人看反犹太教的信仰和习俗基本上是因为他们在犹太教的来源或拒绝或反对，因为信仰或实践与犹太人民。（但是看到supersessionism）

虽然在过去的一些基督徒没有考虑反犹太教是违背基督教教义，这种观点没有得到广泛的领导人表示，奠定人。在许多情况下，对犹太宗教和犹太人的实际公差占了上风。一些基督教团体，特别是在早年，谴责口头抗犹太教。

来路的基督教反犹太人主义

在罗马和整个罗马帝国，宗教是一个不可分割的一部分的文官政府。皇帝是不时宣布为神，并要求将相应的崇拜。这造成了困难，对犹太人的宗教，禁止崇拜任何其他神的希伯来文圣经。这在罗马和犹太臣民之间的关系问题，以及为密特拉，崇拜者的Sabazius，和基督教信徒。在犹太人的情况下，这导致了罗马几个起义反对罗马和严重迫害，作为惩罚。

可能来自许多早期异教徒皈依基督教和共享这种文化偏见。氏族转换，他们也不能很好地与熟悉的犹太社区内部生活。因此，他们看到许多新约经文的犹太教等，而不是内部的分歧，这是犹太社区内普遍谴责。

早期的差异

“这并不是一种罕见的印象，人们发现它有时在犹太人以及基督徒 – 。犹太教是宗教的希伯来文圣经，当然这是，似是而非的印象，犹太教是不是”圣经“的宗教。” [本锡安Bokser拉比，犹太教和基督教的困境，纽约：Alfred A. Knopf出版社，1967年，P。 59，159]

“因为它是今天的犹太宗教追溯其血统，没有休息，通过所有的世纪，从法利赛人。领导的思路和方法，发现在很大程度的文学表达，其中一个非常伟大的交易仍然存在。塔木德是最大和最重要的单个成员，文学，和圆形聚集的米大示，部分法律（哈拉哈）和部分作品的熏陶（阿haggadic）。文学，在其最古老的元素，可以追溯到一共同的时代的开始前的时间，归结到中世纪。通过它运行的思想，首次制定的法利赛人，和它的研究是必不可少的任何真正了解法利赛线。“ [环球犹太百科全书，卷。 3皮克。 474]

“法利赛成为Talmudism，Talmudism成为中世纪Rabbinism，和中世纪的Rabbinism成为现代Rabbinism。但整个这些名称的变化，自定义的必然适应和调整法，古法利赛人的精神生存不变“拉比芬克尔斯坦博士，法利赛人：自己的信仰的社会学背景，PG。二十一]

“塔木德是书面形式的，在耶稣的时代，被称为”长辈的传统，“和他经常典故。” [迈克尔L.塔尔穆德历史Rodkinson：从及其形成时间约在公元前200年到现在，Kessinger出版有限责任公司（2006年6月8日），国际标准书号978-1-4286-3136-6，P 。 70]

“复杂rabbinically任命的做法… 包括圣经的治疗大部分的规则本身并不从圣经中得到所有。拉比犹太教的最初关注的是制定和完善自己的系统。系统连接到经文是次要的。因此，它是在误导训诂过程主要是作为一个后果或有机展开圣经描绘的拉比犹太教。相反，犹太教拉比开始作为一个小伪祭司，有事业心，和齐组的工作，到了第三世纪（公元）拉比在“口头诵读经文”的思想，认为一个表示他们的自我概念神通过摩西被赋予了不包括在圣经中的教义和做法（halachot）的综合体，只有拉比建立“（犹太教拉比：体制和制度，雅各Nuesner，第31-34页）。

基督教成立以来，已经有基督教和犹太教犹太教之间的哲学差异。基督徒承认在犹太教，基督教的根。有些人声称犹太宗教遗产作为自己的全部，而非常不同的解释。

谁在第一次看到自己作为一个在犹太教，而不是作为一个独立的宗教运动，早期的基督徒，并初步解决的问题，是否耶稣是弥赛亚，其中包含了他的神性的问题围绕其他犹太人之间的辩论。一旦外邦人皈依基督教，由此产生的问题是否多远，这些外邦基督徒必须遵守犹太法律，以跟随耶稣（见保罗的信中向加拉太）。 [使徒在耶路撒冷的议会，15]，它是决定新的异教徒皈依并不需要是割礼（徒15:19-21使徒法令），同时要求接受一套类似犹太教的挪亚律法的法律，（另见旧约＃基督教现代辩论法），但保罗还质疑犹太基督徒坚持在基督信仰的犹太法律的有效性，根据一些解释。保罗塔尔苏斯和犹太教的问题仍然是激烈的辩论。

在基督教和犹太教之间的裂痕，这是进一步增加的犹太罗马战争（66-73和132-135），开车到散居各地的许多犹太人的犹太基督徒比较外邦基督徒的人数增加，最终导致减少的影响，第一个基督教教会领袖耶路撒冷的主教。早期的基督徒，也发现在旧约中，这似乎表明上帝与犹太人的原始公约将扩大，也包括外邦人，换句话说，或是进，神fearers，并Noachides的预言。因此，教父往往强调，教会是新的“精神”以色列，完成或更换地上的以色列，但它的原型。在近代，这种观点将来到被称为“Supersessionism”。

此外，这两个宗教他们在罗马帝国的法律地位不同：犹太教，犹太民族和犹太或是进限制，一般是免除义务的罗马帝国邪教和凯撒大帝统治以来享有“合法地位宗教“，虽然也有偶尔的迫害，例如，在19泰比里厄斯驱逐犹太人从罗马，作为克劳迪斯49。基督教但不局限于一个人，作为犹太基督徒被排除从犹太教堂（见詹姆尼会），他们也失去了保护犹太教的地位，虽然说保护有其局限性（例如看到提图斯弗拉菲乌斯克莱门斯（领事），秋叶贲约瑟夫，和十大烈士）。

从尼禄起，据说指责基督徒的罗马大火灾的统治，基督教被认为是非法的和基督徒经常受到迫害，不同的区域。相对而言，犹太教记住的十大烈士遗留下来的犹太罗马战争，遭受挫折。罗宾巷福克斯追溯起源晚得多的敌意的迫害期间，当局怀疑基督教的最常见的测试要求应支付给神化皇帝的敬意。犹太人豁免这项规定，只要他们支付的元首私库Judaicus，基督徒（犹太人的起源许多或大部分）会说他们是犹太人，但仍拒绝缴纳税款。这必须由当地的犹太当局，有可能拒绝接受犹太基督徒，往往导致其执行确认。经常被提出的Birkat haMinim支持这项指控犹太人负责的基督徒在罗马帝国的迫害。系统迫害的基督徒，在第三个世纪开始，历时直到君士坦丁对基督教的转换。我在390狄奥多西基督教的罗马帝国的国教。虽然被压制异教邪教和摩尼教，犹太教保留其法律地位，作为一个合法的宗教，虽然反犹太人的暴力事件仍时有发生。在公元5世纪，一些法律措施，恶化了犹太人在罗马帝国（现在更恰当地称为自搬迁到君士坦丁堡，拜占庭帝国）的地位。

新约圣经犹太教拒绝

在新约圣经的段落数可考虑作为一个Judaismgiven的排斥某种解释方法。其中包括：

为你，弟兄们，成为在基督耶稣里神的各教会，在犹太的模仿;你从自己的同胞遭受了同样的事情，因为他们没有从犹太人，谁杀了主耶稣和先知，驱使我们出来，得罪上帝，并反对所有的人。

犹太狭隘或特殊主义的批评
批评犹太人的魔鬼像[若8:44-47]儿童
批评的法利[山。 23]
断言犹太人与上帝立约，已被一个新的“公约”所取代
解释犹太人在耶稣受难的作用。这是体现以1帖撒罗尼迦前书2:14-15：

这些元素的新约在第一世纪的历史渊源。基督教开始作为犹太教修订。许多耶稣的追随者在他的生命是犹太人，甚至是混乱的问题，多年来，他去世后，作为非犹太人是否甚至可以被认为是基督徒所有，根据一些解释耶路撒冷委员会。

虽然福音耶稣和犹太人之间的对抗和辩论提供的帐户，这样的冲突在犹太人中常见。学者不同意历史性的福音，犹太当局和基督徒之间的复杂关系提供了不同的解释之前，耶稣的死。这些字的“救世主”和早期基督徒的索赔的意义上的辩论铰链。

耶稣为弥赛亚的拒绝

基督教说耶稣是弥赛亚犹太教不接受。福音声称，耶稣是一位牧师，治疗师，和弥赛亚。有没有理由相信耶稣会在第一世纪犹太犹太当局发生冲突，他的说教和愈合，但福音记录的一部分，是洁净圣殿。然而，声称他是弥赛亚，是较具争议。希伯来字mashiyakh（משיח）通常标志着一个人，所选择的上帝，或选择由神，一个人作为民事和军事机关的后裔。如果耶稣在他的生命，这种说法，这并不奇怪，许多犹太人，罗马人的占领感到厌倦，会支持他作为解放者。这也是有可能的犹太当局一直谨慎，罗马报复的恐惧。

基督徒耶稣被认为是弥赛亚，而大部分犹太人死亡的耶稣会已经足以证明他是不是犹太人的弥赛亚。如果早期的基督徒宣讲耶稣是即将返回，这是犹太当局将反对罗马报复的恐惧，他们几乎可以肯定。

这种担忧已经良好接地：犹太人反抗罗马人在公元66年，最终毁灭的第二圣殿在公元70。他们再次起义，自称弥赛亚西蒙酒吧Kokhba在132 CE，最终在哈德良到Aelia Capitolina改名企图消灭犹太人的内存有从耶路撒冷，犹太人驱逐的领导下。

当时，基督教仍被视为一个犹太教的教派，但救世主声称疏远了许多基督徒（包括犹太人皈依）和急剧加深的分裂。

遵守摩西律法

早期的基督徒和犹太人之间的紧张局势的另一个来源是遵守摩西律法也或是进之间辩论的问题。早期的基督徒分歧的问题，认为基督徒必须遵守摩西的律法，而保罗也许认为，只有部分镶嵌法适用于基督徒虽然保罗塔尔苏斯和犹太教的问题是：一些犹太基督徒或所谓的犹太化仍然激烈辩论，有人主张完全废除。问题有人认为，尤其是在外邦信徒是否有义务接受割礼，这是一个犹太男孩的要求的背景下。在第一世纪的问题激烈辩论，并定居在耶路撒冷的议会，其中保罗和巴拿巴在安提阿教会的代表参加。理事会决定，外邦信徒不受大多数的镶嵌法，包括割礼，但要求他们远离血液仍然吃的肉，吃勒死的动物的肉，吃祭偶像的食物，和淫乱。见也挪亚律法和改变宗教信仰。

许多解释保罗的著作，作为结束犹太法律的要求的新约的其他部分。详情请参阅保罗改变宗教信仰和新视角。另一种观点的一个例子是表示对犹太化的天主教百科全书文章。

另一方面，保罗，不仅没有反对镶嵌法，只要遵守外邦人的自由，因为它不干扰，但他也符合其处方场合需要时。 [哥林多前书9时20]因此，他后不久，耶路撒冷委员会割礼霍震霆，徒16:1-3，他在观察马赛克仪式在耶路撒冷被捕时，他非常行为。

转换为犹太教的外邦人

保罗去世后，基督教出现1独立的宗教，宝莲基督教出现在基督教统治的形式，尤其是后，保罗，詹姆斯和要求设置1妥协同意的其他使徒，。[徒15]有些基督徒坚持犹太法律，但他们在少数，往往被视为异端教会。一个例子是，根据“天主教百科全书，（语言，犹太人找到进攻”感染与Judaistic错误“，例如，他们否认耶稣，耶稣的身体复活，处女生育和大部分的书籍，以便尼派，后来被册封为“新旧约，见”犹太化“（犹太人找到进攻的一个术语）。例如，埃塞俄比亚东正教往往是因为他们仍然遵守旧约的教导，如安息日的犹太化的指责，相反，他们指责他们的对手残余马吉安。直到第四世纪教会的父亲约翰金口抱怨（见约翰金口讲道的犹太人和犹太化的基督徒），有些基督徒仍然参加犹太会堂。

法利赛人的批评

许多新约经文批评和法利赛人一直认为，这些通道形成基督徒视为犹太人的方式。然而，像大多数圣经经文，他们可以而且已经在各种不同的方式解释。

法利赛人在耶稣的一生和他的执行时间，一些犹太团体，如撒，狂热者，和essenes只有一个，事实上，有人认为耶稣是自己一个法利赛人。耶稣和他的弟子对法利赛人和他看到他们的虚伪的论据是最有可能的例子，犹太人和内部当时在共同犹太教之间的纠纷，例如希勒尔和沙麦。（路德会牧师约翰斯滕达尔指出，“基督教作为一种犹太教开始，我们必须承认，在一个家庭中的冲突中所说的话被不适当地在家庭以外的拨款”。）

最近反犹太主义的研究，在新约

教授莉莲C. Freudmann，反犹太主义在新约圣经（美国大学出版社，1994年）“的作者已出版的新约圣经中描述犹太人的详细研究，历史的影响，这些段落在整个基督教社会有历史。基督教和犹太教的学者，包括Hyam Maccoby教授克拉克Williamsom（基督教神学院），（利奥Baeck研究所），诺曼·A.贝克（德州信义书院），迈克尔·贝伦鲍姆（乔治敦已作出类似的研究，这样的诗句大学）。最拉比认为这些经文是反犹太人，和许多基督教学者，在美国和欧洲，都得出同样的结论。另一个例子是约翰·多米尼克Crossan 1995年的谁杀死了耶稣？在死亡的耶稣的福音故事，揭露反犹太主义的根源。

教父

如奥古斯丁的教父时代的教父主教认为，犹太人应该活着离开，作为永久的提醒他们谋杀基督的痛苦。其他教会的父亲，如约翰金口，就不再在他们的谴责。以法莲叙利亚写在4世纪对犹太人的论战，包括重复的指控，撒旦，其中居住作为合作伙伴。这些著作冲着基督徒被犹太人和以法莲担心谁proselytized滑入犹太教的宗教，因此，他描绘成基督教的敌人的犹太人，就像撒旦，强调两个宗教之间的对比，即，基督教的虔诚和真实和犹太教是撒旦和虚假。金口约翰一样，他的目标是劝阻强调他看到邪恶的犹太人和他们的宗教回归到犹太教的基督徒。

基督徒和犹太人在穆斯林的土地

而在基督教欧洲的基督教了上风，因为宗教的国家，根据伊斯兰教的犹太人和基督徒，更甚至基础。

中世纪

皇帝利奥我

拜占廷皇帝利奥，我编译的法码，狮子座的新宪法下，犹太人被强迫遵守基督教的仪式。

“犹太人应住在按照基督教的仪式。那些曾与帝国权威投资参考的希伯来人，是谁，一旦神圣的保护滋养，成为著名的颁布的各项法律，但现在后，造成的灾害明显基督和神的contumacy对这些法律，因为，同时调节他们的生活模式，迫使他们阅读圣经，并命令他们不要离开他们的崇拜仪式，他们还提供了自己的孩子要坚持。他们的宗教义务，以及做血液的关系，如割礼机构帐户上。这些都是我已经说过了以前整个帝国强制执行的法律，但最神圣的主权，我们从其中下降，多关心他的前任为拯救犹太人，而不是让他们（像他们那样）只服从他们古老的法律，企图，所预言的解释和结论，这是他从他们提请，将它们转换，生机水的洗礼的手段。基督教，他完全成功地转化为新的男子在他的企图，按照基督的教义，并诱导他们谴责他们古老的教义和放弃自己的宗教仪式，如割礼，遵守安息日，和所有其他仪式。但是，他虽然在一定程度上，克服了顽固的犹太人，他无法迫使他们取消了法律，允许他们住在按照自己的古老因此，我们希望实现我们的父亲没有效果，特此废除所有旧的法律与希伯来制定的，我们的订单，他们必不敢比按照既定的规则，生活在其他任何方式习俗。由纯和有益的基督教信仰。忽略了观察基督教仪式，又回到他的前任的做法，如果其中的任何人都必须证明，他应支付变节法律规定的处罚。“

罗马教皇格里高利一世

并非所有的早期基督徒反犹太主义虽然。一些诸如教皇格里高利一世，说出了对他们一天的反犹太主义。

sicut Judaeis

sicut Judaeis（“宪法”为犹太人“）是关于犹太人在整个中世纪，后来的教皇的官方立场。 Calixtus二，为了保护犹太人第一次十字军东征期间遭受约1120发行第一牛市，并重申了许多教皇，甚至直到15世纪，。

公牛禁止，除其他事项外，强迫犹太人转换，或伤害他们或他们的财产，或扰乱庆祝自己的节日，或干扰他们的坟场，对疼痛的禁教的基督徒。

后来的基督教作家

教皇约翰·十八

1007：“法国的犹太人，迫害的受害者，采取下教皇保护。”

教皇亚历山大二世

1063年：“赞美温弗雷德，纳博讷大主教为保卫犹太人。
1063年：“赞美的纳博讷子爵，为Berengar，保护犹太人。”
1065：“谏到Landulf，贝内文托主，犹太人的转换不是通过武力获得。”

圣伯纳德的克莱尔沃

“这难道不是一个教会好得多的胜利，说服和转换的犹太人，而不是把他们所有的剑？有祷告的教会被白白提起犹太人…提供吗？”

托马斯蒙默思

1173年写了详细的反犹太人的短文，叫做生活和诺威治威廉街的奇迹，控股，犹太人迫害基督徒的孩子死在逾越节。

诺森三世

1199：犹太人宪法
1199：对犹太人的信

托马斯·阿奎那

没有气势，他说，他自己的判断，而是敦促专家们的判断，宣布说，“作为法律说，其故障原因的犹太人被判处永久的奴役和他们住在其中的土地的领主可能需要的东西，从他们身上，他们仿佛是自己的 – 尽管如此，指出，生活在没有办法的必要的补贴，从他们采取克制… [和]被迫从他们的服务不要求的东西，他们尚未习惯于在过去的时代。“ 不过，他也认为，犹太人不应该违背自己的意愿受洗，引用托莱多委员会：“关于犹太人的主教被迫从今以后，他们没有相信的命令。”

罗马教皇格雷戈里九

写了几个法令，以防止对犹太人的歧视（见罗马教皇格雷戈里九和犹太教）。

罗马教皇格雷戈里：

“最虚假的做这些基督徒声称犹太人已经偷偷偷偷带走这些孩子和他们杀害，并从这些儿童的心脏和血液的犹太人提供的牺牲，因为他们正是在这个问题上的法律明文禁止犹太人牺牲，吃，或喝血，或吃有爪子的动物的肉，这已被证明在我们的法庭多次转换为基督教信仰的犹太人：但很多犹太人常常因为这个收缴和扣留不公正。我们的法令，因此，基督徒不需要对犹太人服从于这种类型的案件或情况，我们为了这样一个愚蠢的借口下查获犹太人被从监狱释放，他们不得这么惨今后被捕为借口，除非的，我们不相信他们在对犯罪被抓。我们的法令，没有基督教敢惹他们对新事物，但他们应保持在这一身份和地位，它们在时间从古代到现在，我们的前辈。“

杰弗里·乔叟

他的一个虔诚的基督教儿童，被他唱赞美诗侮辱犹太人被谋杀，他通过在亚洲城市中，犹太人或犹太季度坎特伯雷故事“女修道士的故事”中写道。一个关键的和学术见解相当的身体拥有的这篇讲话，在修女院院长的嘴，代表1乔叟自己的情绪具有讽刺意味的反演：那是，修女院院长被作为1伪君子，其残忍和偏执掩盖她的传统虔诚的姿势看出 – 1乔叟的意图的不确定性的典型情况。

教宗马丁五世

宣布1419年：“鉴于犹太人有一天会被保存，而他们恳求我们的保护神的形象和他们的残余在我们的前辈，我们命令的脚步，他们不是在他们的调戏犹太教堂;不是抨击他们的法律，权利和海关，他们没有被洗礼力，约束遵守基督教的节日，也不穿新的徽章，他们将不会阻碍他们的业务关系与基督徒“马丁然而发出于 1425年的牛市订购犹太人穿“徽章”的骂名。他呼吁后，奥地利和德国的犹太人，他在发言中对他们有利于1420年，“1422年，证实了他们的种族古老的特权”。

教皇克莱门特八

“世界上所有患有从犹太人的高利贷，他们的垄断和欺骗。他们带来了许多不幸的人，到贫困状态，特别是农民，工人阶级和很差。然后像现在，犹太人必须间歇性地提醒，他们享受在任何国家的权利，因为他们离开巴勒斯坦和阿拉伯沙漠，随后他们的伦理道德学说，以及他们的事迹理应得到暴露他们碰巧居住在任何国家的批评。“

主教米龙克里斯蒂亚

“一个基督徒的责任是首先要爱自己，并看到他的需求得到满足。只有这样，他可以帮助他的邻居……我们为什么不摆脱这些寄生虫[犹太人]谁吸罗马尼亚基督教血？对他们的反应是合乎逻辑的和神圣的。“

流行的反犹太主义

在13世纪初在欧洲流行的基督教文化的反犹太主义升级。血液诽谤和主机亵渎流行提请注意，并导致许多情况下，对犹太人的迫害。反犹太主义，如Judensau和教会等Synagoga图像复发基督教艺术和建筑。

在冰岛，在复活节几天反复的赞美诗包括线路，

的摩西义“

犹太人在这里误，

他们的欺骗暴露，

他们的仇恨和他们的骄傲。

该判决是主的。

当通过伪造

敌人使指控，

这是他作奖励。

驱逐

从英国驱逐犹太人

国王爱德华一世驱逐出英格兰所有的犹太人在1290年（后才其中最富裕的ransoming约3000），高利贷的指控和破坏王朝的忠诚。

从西班牙驱逐犹太人

在1492年斐迪南二世的阿拉贡和卡斯提尔的伊莎贝拉一世，资助哥伦布航行到新大陆在1492年短短几个月后，宣布在其领土上的所有犹太人应该转换为天主教或离开该国的西班牙统治者。而一些转换，许多人离开了葡萄牙，法国，意大利（包括教皇国），荷兰，波兰，奥斯曼帝国和北非。许多那些逃到葡萄牙后者驱逐国王曼努埃尔在1497年或离开，以避免被迫转换和迫害。

新教改革

马丁·路德在第一对犹太人的序曲，相信天主教的“罪恶”妨碍了他们皈依基督教。当他的电话转换到他的基督教版本是不成功的，他成为了敌视他们。

在他的书在犹太人和他们的谎言，他excoriates“毒蛇野兽，毒蛇，恶心的败类，canders，魔鬼的化身。” 他为大屠杀对他们的详细建议，呼吁他们永久的压迫和驱逐，写“他们的私有房屋，必须予以销毁和破坏，他们可以提出在马厩，让裁判烧他们的犹太教堂，并让任何逃脱被沙土覆盖和泥。让他们强制工作，如果这样的品性，我们将被迫驱逐他们像狗一样，为了不暴露自己招致神的愤怒和永恒的诅咒，从犹太人和他们的谎言。“ 在一个点上，他写道：“……我们在故障是在不杀死他们……” 一段话，“可能被称为现代反犹太主义的第一部作品，大屠杀的道路上前进了一大步。”

路德对犹太人的苛刻的评论，看到许多中世纪基督教的反犹太主义的延续。然而，在他去世前不久的最后讲道，路德讲道：“我们要与基督的爱来对待他们，并为他们祈祷，使他们有可能成为转换，并会收到主。”

18世纪

按照俄罗斯东正教的反犹太人戒律，对犹太人的俄罗斯的歧视性政策加剧时，波兰在18世纪的分区结果，首次在俄罗斯历史上的土地1大型犹太人人口占有，。 [31]这片土地被指定为从犹太人被禁止迁移到俄罗斯的内部结算苍白。叶卡捷琳娜二世于1772年，俄罗斯的皇后，被迫帕莱结算的犹太人留在他们的shtetls，并禁止他们返回他们之前，波兰的分区占领的城镇。

19世纪

整个19世纪到20世纪，罗马天主教会仍然纳入强烈的反犹太主义的元素，尽管越来越多独立的反犹太教（宗教理由反对犹太宗教）和种族反犹太主义的尝试。教皇庇护七世（1800年至1823年）重建后，犹太人在罗马的犹太贫民窟的墙壁被解放拿破仑，犹太人被限制在1870年通过教皇国的贫民窟。官方的天主教组织，如耶稣会士，禁止候选人“谁是从犹太种族的后裔，除非它是明确的，他们的父亲，祖父，曾祖父都属于天主教教会”直到1946年。

布朗大学历史学家大卫·Kertzer，从梵蒂冈归档工作，认为在他的书中反对犹太人在19世纪和20世纪初，罗马天主教坚持“良好的反犹太主义”和“坏的反犹太主义”之间的区别教皇。 “坏”的一种推动，因为他们的后裔对犹太人的仇恨。这被认为是联合国的基督徒，因为基督徒的讯息的目的是为全人类不分种族，任何人都可以成为一个基督徒。 “好”的那种批评指称犹太阴谋控制的报纸，银行和其他机构，只关心财富的积累，等许多天主教主教写文章，批评犹太人的理由，并促进仇恨犹太人的指责时，将提醒人们，他们谴责反犹太主义的一种“坏”。 kertzer的工作是不是没有批评。犹太 – 基督教的关系拉比大卫G大林学者，例如，在标准周刊“批评为选择性地使用证据Kertzer。

20世纪

第一次世界大战到二战前夕

1916年，在第一次世界大战之中，美国犹太人请愿代表的波兰犹太人教宗本笃十五。

纳粹反犹太主义

1933年4月26日，希特勒宣布与罗马天主教主教会议期间威廉Berning的奥斯纳布吕克：

“我一直在攻击，因为我对犹太问题的处理。一千五百年的天主教教会认为犹太人瘟神，把它们在贫民区等，因为它承认他们是犹太人。在自由主义时代的危险不再承认。我搬回来朝十五百年的悠久传统，在实施时间。我不超过宗教种族，但我承认这场比赛的代表，为国家和教会的瘟神，也许我做基督教推他们的学校和公共职能的一项伟大的服务。“

本次讨论的成绩单，包含没有主教Berning响应。马丁Rhonheimer不考虑这种不寻常的，因为在他看来，在1933年的天主教主教，没有什么特别反感“，”在这个历史正确的提醒。

纳粹用犹太人和他们的谎言（1543），马丁·路德的书，声称对他们的思想道德正义。路德竟然以书面倡导拒绝皈依基督教，“在不杀死他们的过错，我们是那些犹太人的谋杀”

大主教罗伯特Runcie断言：“没有基督教的反犹太主义的世纪，希特勒的热情仇恨绝不会一直如此热切地回荡……因为世纪基督徒举行的犹太人集体死亡的耶稣受难节犹太人，在倍过去，畏缩害怕寻求’报仇’为杀神的基督教暴民锁着的门背后。没有经过几百年的基督教思想中毒，大屠杀是不可想象的。“ 持不同政见的天主教神父汉斯昆撰文指出，“纳粹反犹太教的无神论，反基督教的罪犯的工作，但它不会一直不近两千多年的历史前基督教”反犹太教的可能。 ……“

文件Dabru EMET是在2000年发行超过220拉比和犹太教的所有分支机构的知识分子作为有关犹太基督教关系的声明。该文件指出，

“纳粹主义是不是一个基督徒的现象。没有历史悠久的基督教反犹太教和基督教的针对犹太人的暴力行为，纳粹思想不能已持有或可能已经进行了太多的基督徒参加，或同情，纳粹其他基督徒对犹太人的暴行。没有抗议足以对这些暴行。但纳粹主义本身不是一个基督教的必然结果。“

据美国历史学家露西Dawidowicz的，反犹太主义有一个在基督教的历史悠久。行“反犹太人的后裔”，笔者对犹太人和他们的谎言，从路德到希特勒是“很容易得出。” 她反对犹太人，1933年至1945年的战争中，她争辩说，路德和希特勒痴迷的“demonologized宇宙”犹太人居住。 dawidowicz写道，路德的反犹太人的著作和现代反犹太主义之间的相似性并非巧合，因为他们从一个Judenhass共同的历史，可以追溯到哈曼的意见，亚哈随鲁派生。尽管现代德国的反犹太主义也有它的根，1848年在德国的民族主义和自由主义革命，她写道：基督教反犹主义是一个奠定了基础，由罗马天主教教会和“路德建。” dawidowicz的指控和立场，大多数历史学家的批评和不接受。例如，在“学习犹太人”阿兰Steinweis注意到，“老式的反犹太主义，希特勒认为，这是不足，只会导致大屠杀，一个永久性的解决方案贡献不大。这是为什么，希特勒保持，这是重要的是促进“反犹太主义的原因，”一个承认对犹太人的种族基础。“ 其他历史学家与纳粹的采访表明，纳粹认为植根于生物学，而不是历史的偏见，他们的意见。例如，“与此生物医学的愿景成为一个传教士……至于反犹太主义的态度和行动，他坚持认为”种族问题… [和]犹太种族的反感……无关与中世纪的反反犹主义…“ 也就是说，它是所有的生物科学和社会问题。“

合作基督徒

德国基督徒

Gleichschaltung

汉斯·Kerrl，宗教事务部长

积极基督教（批准纳粹基督教版本）

新教帝国教会

反对大屠杀

承认的教会，在1934年，第一个基督教反对派团体。天主教教会的正式谴责1937年在德国纳粹的种族主义理论与谕“麻省理工学院Brennender佐尔格”教皇Pius XI签署，枢机主教迈克尔·冯·冯哈伯领导的天主教反对，反对种族主义说教。

许多个人所有教派的基督教神职人员和教友不得不支付他们的反对，他们的生活，包括：

天主教神父，马克西米利安科尔贝。
路德派牧师潘霍华
柏林大教堂的天主教牧师，伯恩哈德·利希滕贝格。
大多是天主教成员慕尼黑抵抗组白玫瑰围绕汉斯和索菲舍尔。

由20世纪40年代较少的基督徒愿意公开反对纳粹的政策，但许多暗中帮助拯救犹太人的生命。以色列大屠杀纪念博物馆，纪念馆，致力于履行“列国中的正义”，其中有许多路段。

教皇Pius XII

成为教皇之前，主要Pacelli主持了在布达佩斯的国际圣体大会于1938年5月25-30罗马教皇的legate。在这个时候，反犹太人的法律，在匈牙利正在制定过程中。 pacelli提到犹太人“的嘴唇诅咒[基督]，他们的心拒绝他即使在今天”。

1937年谕麻省理工学院brennender佐尔格发出教皇Pius XI，但未来的教皇Pius从所有德国天主教教堂的讲坛上读XIIand起草，谴责纳粹意识形态和学者已定性为“第一个伟大的官方公开文件，敢于面对和批评纳粹主义“和”梵蒂冈发出了有史以来最大的这种谴责“。

碧岳在1942年夏天，他的主教学院解释犹太人和基督徒之间存在的神学水平之间的巨大鸿沟的原因：“耶路撒冷已经具有相同的刚性的盲目性和顽固忘恩负义回应他的号召和他的恩典导致沿路径神谋杀有罪。“ 历史学家圭多的诺普描述为“不可理解”在这个时候“耶路撒冷被杀害的100万”的庇护，这些意见。这与犹太教的传统敌对关系将逆转诺斯特拉酯类化合物在梵蒂冈第二次会议发出的。

著名的犹太社区成员有矛盾庇护的批评，并高度评价他的努力，以保护犹太人。以色列历史学家平夏斯哥尼流采访战争幸存者，并得出结论，庇护十二世“节省至少70万，但是从某一死亡可能多达86万犹太人在纳粹手中”。一些历史学家质疑这个估计。

“白色力量”运动

基督教认同运动，在Ku Klux Klan并且其他白人至上团体都表达了反犹太人的意见。他们声称，他们的反犹太主义声称犹太人控制媒体，国际银行，激进的左翼政治和多元文化的推广，反基督教团体，自由主义的和有害的组织基础。他们指责谁分享他们的意识形态的种族主义，并声称犹太人的收费维持在其组织中的成员资格。这些群体中常见的，但不是万能的，种族的信念，是一种替代的历史学说，有时也被称为英国Israelism。这一学说在某些形式的绝对否认现代犹太人的圣经以色列有任何种族的连接。相反，根据这一学说的极端形式，真正的种族以色列和真正的人类是亚当（白）比赛。

这些团体经常拒绝和不被认为是主流的基督教教派以及世界各地的基督徒绝大多数的基督教团体。

战后第II反犹太主义

反犹太主义在欧洲仍然是一个很大的问题。反犹太主义的存在或多或少在其他许多国家，包括前苏联，东欧，和偶尔一些穆斯林移民和欧洲各地的犹太人之间的紧张。美国国务院报告，反犹太主义在欧洲和欧亚大陆，自2000年以来急剧增加。

而在20世纪40年代以来的下降，仍是有衡量的数额以及美利坚合众国的反犹太主义，虽然是罕见的暴力行为。反诽谤联盟在2001年的调查报告，1432在美国这一年的反犹太主义行为。这一数字包括877的骚扰行为，包括口头恐吓，威胁和殴打。反犹太人的言论仍时有发生，但是。约翰Hagee的领先倡导者“基督教犹太复国主义”，重申了普及，这是很难衡量，但也必须被考虑，不是简单孤立的，犹太人带来了大屠杀后，自己被激怒神。

犹太人皈依

美南浸信会（SBC）在美国最大的新教的基督教教派，已明确拒绝的建议，它应该回到远离寻求转换犹太人，一个评论家们称为反犹太主义的立场，但浸信会看到与他们的观点一致，救恩是发现仅仅通过对基督的信心。的SBC在1996年通过一项决议，呼吁努力寻求犹太人的转换“，以及为每亲属和舌头和人民和中华民族的救赎’。”

大多数新教徒同意与SBC的位置，和一些支持力度，特别是寻求犹太人的转换。同时，这些群体之间最亲以色列的团体。（如需更多信息，见基督教犹太复国主义）。其中争议的群体，已发现一些福音派教会的支持是犹太人耶稣，声称犹太人可以“完成”接受耶稣为弥赛亚的犹太信仰。

长老教会（美国），美国基督教卫理公会，加拿大联合教会已经结束了他们的努力转换犹太人。虽然圣公会不，作为一项规则，寻求从其他基督教教派的信徒，总主教肯定耶稣基督救恩的好消息是，“所有必须与其他信仰的一切，包括没有信仰的人或共享和，做任何事情，将是制度化的歧视“。

罗马天主教会的前身曾宗教团体专门针对犹太人的转换。其中一些是由犹太人创立的转换，像圣母锡安，这是受戒尼姑和教士组成的社区。许多天主教圣徒特别指出，因为他们在转换的犹太人，如文森特·费雷尔的传教热情。梵蒂冈第二次会议的许多传教士订单后，旨在转换犹太人基督教不再积极寻求传教之间的犹太人（传教）。因循守旧罗马天主教团体，教会和神职人员，然而，继续支持传教的犹太人按照传统的模式，有时成功，（例如，具有显着的犹太人皈依在其忠实的，其中许多人已成为因循守旧祭司的圣皮乌斯X协会）。

一些犹太人组织所描述的传福音和传教活动的指示专门在犹太人为反犹太主义。

犹太教和基督教团体之间的和解

近年来，已经有很多需要注意的一些基督教团体和犹太人之间的和解方式。大部分和解的犹太社区和天主教，基督教组织之间发生的。

伊斯兰教和反犹太主义

伊斯兰教和反犹太主义有关针对犹太人和犹太教的的伊斯兰theologicial教学和犹太人在穆斯林国家的治疗。

在公元7世纪伊斯兰教的起源和其在阿拉伯半岛和超越的迅速蔓延，犹太人（和许多其他国家的人民）来受到穆斯林统治者的统治。规则的质量相差很大，在不同的时期一样的统治者，政府官员，神职人员和一般人群中不时各种受人民的时间，这是体现在对待这些科目的态度。鲁文凡世通指出，“负面评价，甚至之前的宗教和他们的追随者谴责发生在所有三个犹太教，基督教和伊斯兰教经文。” 本文着眼于穆斯林的态度，和伊斯兰思想和社会的整个历史上，犹太人的治疗，并探讨这些态度在当代世界所带来的后果。

意见的范围

克劳德擦痕和Shelomo多夫Goitein的反对反犹太主义的历史，在穆斯林土地上，书面反对非穆斯林实行歧视是一般性质的，而不是专门针对犹太人。对于这些学者，在中世纪伊斯兰反犹太主义是局部和零星的，而不是一般和地方性的。对于Goitein反犹太主义是不存在的，所有的擦痕，这是很少存在。
伯纳德·刘易斯写道，而穆斯林也举行了关于犹太人的负面刻板印象，伊斯兰历史的大部分时间，这些成见并不表明反犹太主义，因为不像基督徒，穆斯林视为犹太人作为嘲笑的对象，而不是恐惧。他认为，穆斯林不归咎于“宇宙邪恶的”犹太人。刘易斯认为，这是只有在19世纪后期的运动，可以合法地描述为反犹太主义的穆斯林之间的首次出现。
研究施韦泽冯检基和马文·佩里的状态，大多有犹太人在“古兰经”和圣训的负面引用，伊斯兰政权在有辱人格的方式对待犹太人。犹太人和基督徒有的地位dhimmis。他们指出，在整个历史基督徒更糟糕的是，对待犹太人说，更糟的论战，迫害和屠杀穆斯林统治下的犹太人在基督教的土地受到。
据沃尔特·拉克尔，“古兰经”的不同解释，理解穆斯林的态度是很重要的。许多古兰经经文宣扬对犹太人容忍别人（这是类似的敌对言论，对那些没有接受伊斯兰教）的敌对言论。穆罕默德犹太人居住在阿拉伯互动：他鼓吹说，他们希望转换，他反对，并杀害了许多犹太人，而他与其他犹太人的朋友。
对于马丁·克雷默，穆斯林当代反犹太主义的想法，是正宗的伊斯兰“涉及一些真理，但它忽略了许多其他”。克莱默认为，当代反犹太主义，只有部分是由于以色列的政策，哪个穆斯林可能有浓浓的不公正和损失。但克莱默现代欧洲的意识形态，已经感染了穆斯林世界的穆斯林的反犹太主义的首要原因。

在它的历史背景对犹太人的古兰经

“古兰经”四十三个具体提及“巴尼ISRAʾIL”（即以色列的儿童）。阿拉伯语长期yahud，表示犹太人，和“yahudi”的出现11次，口头形式的哈达（意为“是一个犹太人/犹太人”）发生的十倍。据哈立德·杜兰，负通道使用Yahūd，而积极引用发言主要的巴尼Isrā’īl的。犹太人没有提到在所有Meccan期间约会的诗句。据伯纳德·刘易斯，给予犹太人的覆盖面是相对较少。

在犹太人的“古兰经”的提述都以不同的方式解释。据弗雷德里克M. Schweitzer和马文·佩里，这些引用“大多是负面的”塔希尔·阿巴斯一般犹太人有利于解决犹太人的特殊群体，包含严厉的批评，只有那些根据。

据伯纳德·刘易斯和其他学者，最早的“古兰经”的诗句，主要是同情犹太人。穆罕默德敬佩他们作为一神教，看到他们作为新的信仰和犹太习俗的自然信徒帮助模型早期伊斯兰的行为，如正午的祈祷，祈祷，上周五，斋月（10月后，犹太人的赎罪日快速建模tishrei），最有名的事实，直到623穆斯林对耶路撒冷，不麦加祈祷。随后他的飞行后，宗教不容忍622穆罕默德统治，与他的追随者在Yathrib落户，从麦加（AL-希吉拉）更名为麦地那的彩蝶（“先知之城”），他设法制定了“社会契约“，被广泛称为”麦地那宪法“。本合同，作为叶（ṣaḥīfa）坚持穆斯林，犹太人和基督徒之间的和平共处，他们所有的定义，在一定条件下，乌玛，或该城市的社会构成，并给予后者的宗教思想和实践自由。 yathrib /麦地那是不是均匀。除了从麦加（Muhājirūn），曾跟随穆罕默德的200多名移民，其人口组成的梅迪纳（安萨，“佣工”），阿拉伯异教徒，三个犹太部落和一些基督徒的忠实。 “宪法”的基础寻求建立在历史上第一次，根据阿里·汗，正式协议保障信仰欢乐，尽管文章强调，在城市的防御的战略合作环绕。

在本文件第16段，它指出：“谁跟我们这些犹太人有权这么久，因为他们没有冤枉我们对我们的援助或借出任何敌人”我们的援助和支持。

第37段有“犹太人自己的开支和穆斯林他们。他们应当帮助，对本文件所涵盖的人的任何攻击事件。须有真诚的友谊，交流的好律师，公平的行为和他们之间没有背叛。“ 三个当地犹太部落的巴努纳迪尔，巴努Qurayza，和巴努Qaynuqa的。虽然穆罕默德显然没有对他们的偏见，似乎到已经算是大大的，收到由犹太人在西奈半岛，部落政治，和穆罕默德的深深无奈犹太人拒绝接受他的先知，迅速带领1与休息同样他自己的消息所有三个。不幸语言的误解也可能给人的印象，在“古兰经”证明，犹太社区的公开羞辱穆罕默德。一个家族被赶出了从麦地那，在624。巴努纳迪尔犹太部落在625，从麦地那被赶出。最后，在麦地那麦加627围困，最后一个主要的犹太部落最初帮助穆斯林在巩固麦地那的背面部分，但由于他们后来暴露在试图协助麦加的异教徒军队倒戈，穆斯林围攻最后一组的犹太人。托拉规定死刑的背叛，这最后的犹太部落的成年男性被杀害，妇女和儿童被奴役（但后来释放）。从耶路撒冷祈祷的方向转向麦加，并分别设置在此时间后，对犹太人的最消极的诗句。

根据拉克尔，“古兰经”中有关犹太人的冲突报表已影响到这一天穆斯林对犹太人的态度，尤其是在伊斯兰原教旨主义的上升时期。

犹太教神学

据伯纳德·刘易斯，有没有可以考虑驳斥犹太教或凶猛的反犹太人谩骂穆斯林神学（只有一个例外）。刘易斯和Chanes建议的是，由于各种原因，穆斯林不为大部分反犹太主义。 “古兰经”，犹太教一样，订单穆斯林信奉严格的一神教。它还拒绝作为亵渎荒谬的犹太人杀神的故事，和其他类似的故事在福音发挥在穆斯林教育系统的任何部分，古兰经并没有提出自己作为一个履行的希伯来文圣经，而是恢复了其原有的消息 – 因此，没有诠释犹太教和伊斯兰教之间的冲突可以出现。

此外，刘易斯认为，“古兰经”内疚和背叛“缺乏流行的西方传统。罗森布拉特和潘松建议，“古兰经”教导容忍犹太教作为同胞一神教信仰。

刘易斯补充说，归因于受宗教（犹太教和基督教在这种情况下）通常是在宗教和社会方面的表达，但只有很少在民族或种族方面的负面属性。然而，这有时会发生。语言的滥用往往是相当强的。它已被认为是犹太人，猿，和基督徒的穆斯林传统的绰号，猪Qu’ranic使用派生。刘易斯引证三个通道中的古兰经（古兰经2:61]，[古兰经5:65]，[古兰经7:166]）用于接地这种观点。这些“伊斯兰训诂学enigmatic’passages的解释是非常复杂，处理，因为他们做的违法行为，像犯了安息日。猿转向犹太安息日断路器的理念据以Goitein，可能反映了也门米大示的影响。凡世通指出，Qurayza部落本身使用的被打开成猿，如果一个休息的安息日理由不利用安息日以攻击穆罕默德，当他们被围困的比喻形容为穆斯林的来源。

根据斯蒂尔曼，“古兰经”称赞摩西，描绘了以色列人神圣的赞成票者。致力于许多古兰经经文的希伯来先知的赞颂，莱昂Poliakov说。他引用的诗句[古兰经6:85]作为一个例子，

以撒和雅各：所有（三）引导：我们给了他，在他之前，我们引导诺亚，在他的后裔，大卫，所罗门，工作，约瑟，摩西，亚伦：因此我们奖励那些做好：Zakariya的和约翰，耶稣和埃利亚斯：所有在义人的行列：伊斯梅尔和以利沙，乔纳斯，地段：所有我们给上述国家的青睐。

对犹太人的注记

莱昂Poliakov，沃尔特·拉克尔，简格柏，认为他们拒绝承认是神的先知穆罕默德在古兰经责备犹太人通道。 “古兰经”主要从事处理与犹太人之间的罪人，并形成对他们的攻击是根据模型，在新约的遭遇。“ 穆斯林的神圣文本定义这一天对犹太人的阿拉伯和穆斯林的态度，尤其是伊斯兰原教旨主义的兴起是在期间。

沃尔特·拉克尔指出，“古兰经”和其口译有许多相互矛盾的一个伟大的事情说犹太人。犹太人说成是险恶和虚伪，不可能是一个穆斯林朋友。

冯检基M. Schweitzer和马文·佩里的状态，引用“古兰经”中的犹太人大多是负面的。 “古兰经”指出，加盖后，犹太人的悲惨和卑鄙，并参观了他们与来自真主的愤怒，是因为他们不信真主的启示和转换错误的先知。并为他们以放高利贷，这是禁止他们，因为他们的消费人虚假的幌子下的财富，为他们准备一个痛苦的惩罚。 “古兰经”，要求他们的“屈辱和贫穷”的人头税jizya形式。在他的“愤怒”上帝“诅咒”犹太人会变成猩猩/猴子和猪和偶像崇拜者，因为他们是“异教徒”。

据马丁·克雷默，“古兰经”讲犹太人在伊斯兰先知穆罕默德的一种消极的方式和对犹太人的背叛报告的实例。然而，伊斯兰没有撑起谁实行倒戈反对穆罕默德为原型，也没有体现在所有的时间和地点的犹太人描绘成背信弃义的犹太人。 “古兰经”，也证明了穆罕默德与犹太人的友好关系。

而传统的宗教至上主义发挥作用，在犹太人的伊斯兰观点，同样的态度，基督徒和其他非穆斯林。伊斯兰传统视为犹太人的上帝信徒的合法社会依法享有默许（称为“书人”）。

古兰经（古兰经4:157）清除犹太人指控杀神，“他们[犹太人]杀了他[耶稣]”。他们还认为，犹太圣经并没有被纳入在伊斯兰的文字，和“良性穆斯林”与“硬着颈项，刑事犹太人”不对比。

标准古兰经犹太人的诗句[古兰经2:61]。它说：

和屈辱和贫穷被投在他们身上，他们挟带着上帝的愤怒负担，因为他们不信神的标志和杀害先知unrightfully，因为他们不服从，是犯法。

然而，由于“古兰经”的讲故事的及时处理，多数学者认为，在古兰经所有犹太人或其他团体的提述，是指只有特定人群或在某一点，在历史上和裸露的任何种族貌相宗教貌相，它也提供了一些合法性，他们的宗教[古兰经5:69]“谁相信，犹太人和Sabi’un，基督徒，他们相信上帝和最后一天，做的好，有是他们没有恐惧，也不忧愁。“

“古兰经”给策划反对耶稣，犹太人的基督教主张“……但上帝也处心积虑，上帝是最好的阴谋家。”（古兰经古兰经3:54]）在穆斯林看来，耶稣受难是一种错觉，从而对他的犹太阴谋以失败告终[45]根据格柏，在众多的经文（古兰经3:63] [古兰经3:71] [古兰经4点46] [古兰经4:160-161] [古兰经5:41-44]，[古兰经5:63-64]，[古兰经5:82] [古兰经6:92）[46]“古兰经”指责犹太人改变了圣经。

但“古兰经”区分“好的和坏的”犹太人，犹太人民或他们的宗教本身的想法，是不是讲故事的过程中目标。[39]的批评，主要处理之间的罪人“犹太人和他们的攻击根据模型的形状，在新约的遭遇。“

“古兰经”还谈到犹太人毫不逊色。虽然它也批评他们不感谢上帝对他们的祝福，严厉批评，只对特定群体的犹太人解决，因为它是从古兰经经文中明确，但通常的翻译混淆使用的总称“犹太人”。一些他们的祖先的事迹为基础，以判断犹太人是一个反古兰经“的想法。

阿里·Asani建议“古兰经”通过建立宗教和文化的多元社会和代言已经影响到治疗的整个历史上在穆斯林土地上的宗教少数。他列举了多元化的代言，来解释为什么在中世纪和近代欧洲反犹太主义的暴力形式，最终在大屠杀中，从来没有在穆斯林统治下的地区发生。

一些“古兰经”的诗句，尤其是古兰经2:256]，宣扬容忍对犹太信仰的成员。据克莱默，犹太人被视为一个信徒在神的合法的社会成员，“这本书的人”，因此，法律上有权以默许。

失真

马丁·克雷默认为，穆斯林抵达“永恒的犹太人”的概念，在工作时必须有更多的比伊斯兰传统。然而，伊斯兰的传统，并提供伊斯兰反犹太主义的来源。他说，花了许多伊斯兰思想家在西方的时间其实已经导致反犹太主义的吸收。现代文本进一步扭曲除了如锡安协议的文本，它引用“古兰经”。因此，克莱默的结论，毫无疑问是现代穆斯林有效使用“古兰经”，伊斯兰传统的反犹太主义的今天饲料来源，但它也是一种选择性和歪曲使用。

穆罕默德

穆罕默德的生活期间，犹太人居住在阿拉伯半岛，尤其是在和周围麦地那。穆罕默德也有犹太朋友，有一个犹太人的妻子（Safiyya）谁成为一个穆斯林。据Poliakov“的程度，其中穆罕默德显示他尊重每一个宗教，犹太人和基督徒是显着的”。

据潘松，罗森布拉特和FE彼得斯，他们也开始纵容与穆罕默德在麦加的敌人，推翻他（尽管已经签署了一项和平条约）。据彼得斯有限，他们也开始暗中给穆罕默德的敌人在麦加推翻他（尽管已被他们的征服者被迫签署了和平条约。）合谋每一个重大战役后，穆罕默德指责背信弃义的犹太部族之一，并攻击它。两名犹太部落被驱逐和消灭了最后一个，巴努Qurayza后扔在穆罕默德的怜悯。

塞缪尔·罗森布拉特指出，这些事件不是专门针对犹太人，穆罕默德的政策的一部分是与他的阿拉伯异教比外国人一神教亲属更为严重。此外，穆罕默德与犹太人的冲突被认为是比较轻微的重要性。根据刘易斯，犹太教和伊斯兰教之间的冲突，因为解决，在穆罕默德的一生与穆斯林的胜利结束，没有穆斯林神学教会和以色列之间的争端仍然悬而未决相当于反犹太主义推波助澜。也有犹太人拒绝基督教和穆斯林的消息之间的区别，因为穆罕默德从来没有声称自己是一个救世主或神的儿子。它是重要的，穆罕默德的死亡没有引起犹太人。

穆罕默德与他相邻的犹太部落的纠纷留下了他的直接继承人（哈里发已知）没有明显的痕迹。第一的哈里发根据他们的治疗后，鼓励宽容的古兰经经文。古典评论家在他的职业生涯的小插曲视为穆罕默德与犹太人的斗争，但改变这在近代由于外部影响。 poliakov opines穆罕默德的行动和教诲，给人们带来一个开放的和更温和的社会，穆斯林被迫以保护犹太人的生活和宗教。

圣训

圣训（事迹和格言，录音归功于穆罕默德）使用犹太人的条款巴努Israil和Yahud，后者长期变得越来越频繁，主要出现在负面的背景下。据诺曼斯蒂尔曼：

在麦地那的犹太人单挑“男人的恶意和敌意，目的是在神的使者”。在这个文学Yahūd出现不仅为恶意，但也欺骗，懦弱，完全缺乏解决。然而，他们有没有归因于中世纪基督教文献的恶魔素质，也不是有什么可比（也许除了穆罕默德Medinan犹太人的遭遇叙述）在穆斯林传统文学与犹太人和犹太教的压倒性的当务之急。除了一些值得注意的例外… 在特希拉的迈加兹的犹太人甚至是英雄恶棍。他们的耻辱，屹立在穆斯林英雄主义的鲜明对比，在一般情况下，符合的“悲惨和卑鄙Qura’nic形象印在他们”

他说：

“审判日不会来，直到穆斯林对抗犹太人时，犹太人将躲在石头和树木。石头和树木会说，澳阿卜杜拉Ø穆斯林，我身后有一个犹太人，并杀死他。只有Gharkad树，（某种树）不会做，因为这是犹太人的树木之一。“（布哈里和穆斯林相关）。穆斯林圣训，41:6985，也见圣训穆斯林， 41:6981，“穆斯林圣训，41:6982，穆斯林圣训，41:6983，穆斯林圣训，41:6984，人，布哈里圣训4:56:791（布哈里圣训 4:52:177）

这圣训已被引用了无数次，它已经成为哈马斯的章程的一部分。

根据史怀哲和佩里，圣训“更严厉的攻击犹太人（比”古兰经“）”：

他们庸俗，诅咒，诅咒上帝永远，所以永远不能悔改，被原谅，他们是骗子和叛徒;挑衅和倔强，他们杀害先知，他们是骗子伪造的经文和受贿，他们为异教徒仪式不洁，从他们身上发出难闻的气味-这就是犹太人在伊斯兰教经典，退化和恶意的形象。

古兰经

“谦逊”和“羞辱”的话经常出现在“古兰经”和后来穆斯林与犹太人文学。根据刘易斯的观点，“这在伊斯兰认为，他们只是惩罚他们过去的叛逆，表现在其强大的权力，基督教和伊斯兰教之间的阳痿。” 犹太人标准古兰经经文[古兰经2:61]：“记得你们说：”穆萨！我们能不能忍受之一实物的食物（总是）;所以求你为我们的主到我们生产的地球groweth，其锅草药，和黄瓜，Itsgarlic，扁豆，和洋葱“，他说：”请问你们。交换越差越好呢？你们去任何城市，你们会发现你们想要什么，“他们盖的屈辱和苦难;！他们画上自己的真主的愤怒，因为他们拒绝师出无名真主的迹象和杀害他的使者去这因为他们反叛和逾越了。“

两个诗句后，我们读到：“记住，以色列的孩子，当我们与你立约，提出了西奈山之前，你说，”不放，我们已经向你透露什么，记住它，这样你就可以防范邪恶的。 “，然后你转身，如果它已经不是安拉的恩典和merecy了，你必定会之间丢失了。而且你知道那些之间谁在安息日罪。我们说他们，”你将是转化成鄙视猩猩。“因此，我们用他们为他们的人民，并警告以下的世代，以及敬畏真主的教训。”（古兰经[古兰经2:63]）的指控，说犹太人将最终转化成猿和猪的传统字面上理解，并从这样的古兰经和其他早期的穆斯林来源所得。

联营公司以上所有拒绝上帝的先知，包括耶稣和穆罕默德的古兰经犹太人，因此他亲自解释他们的抵抗。（参见古兰经2:87-91; 5:59，61，70，82）指出，他们是一起彻底的偶像崇拜者，伊斯兰教的最坏和最根深蒂固的敌人，因此不仅会遭受永远地狱，但在这个世界将是退化最严重的这本书的人民，甚至基督徒，无处不在。（见古兰经5:82; 3:54-56）也声称，犹太人相信他们（古兰经5:18）神的唯一的孩子，只有他们将实现救赎（古兰经2:111）。据“古兰经”，亵渎犹太人声称以斯拉是神的儿子，作为基督徒声称耶稣（古兰经9:30）上帝之手束缚（古兰经5:64 – 也就是说，他们可以自由违抗神）。那些是犹太人，（古兰经4:44），神，因为他们所犯下的过错，“禁止一些先前允许他们的好东西”“从它们的含义色狼的话：”一些，从而解释犹太戒律有关食品，安息日工作，限制和其他裁决（古兰经4:160）从神的惩罚。他们倾听的谎言（古兰经41）的缘故，扭曲真理，实践禁高利贷，因此他们将获得“一个痛苦的末日”（古兰经4:161）。 “古兰经”给策划反对耶稣，犹太人的基督教主张“……但上帝也处心积虑，上帝是最好的阴谋家”（古兰经3:54）。在穆斯林看来，耶稣受难是一种错觉，因此，应该对他的犹太阴谋彻底失败结束。在众多的经文（古兰经3:63，71; 4点46分，160-161; 5:41-44，63-64，82; 6:92）古兰经指责犹太人故意掩盖和曲解经文。

前现代伊斯兰教

erome Chanes，潘松，罗森布拉特，马克·科恩，诺曼·斯蒂尔曼，Avnery开放，研究克莱恩和伯纳德·刘易斯认为，在现代伊斯兰反犹太主义是罕见的，并没有出现，直到近代。刘易斯认为，很少有签署任何情绪根深蒂固的敌意针对犹太人，或任何其他团体，可以作为反犹太主义的特点。然而，有明确的消极态度，其中部分对学科组（几乎在任何一个社会中存在）的“正常”的一个主要群体的感情。更具体地说，蔑视包括穆斯林不信道的蔑视。

文学

根据刘易斯，古典伊斯兰认为犹太人的突出特点是他们敢为天下先。宗教，哲学和伊斯兰文学著作往往忽视犹太人和基督教更集中。虽然犹太人很少得到好评，甚至尊重，有时各种不当行为的指责，但有犹太阴谋和统治，也没有中毒的水井，也不传播瘟疫的恶魔般的邪恶，也不指责任何费用，甚至指责没有恐惧，也不从事血液诽谤，直到奥斯曼帝国的概念在15世纪从希腊科目。

poliakov写道，各种中世纪的穆斯林文学的例子描绘成一种信念的模范巅峰犹太教和以色列被运往这种美德。他引用了一千年“的故事，”一千零一夜“描绘成虔诚，善良，并致力于向上帝的犹太人，似乎借米大示图。然而，穆斯林文学Poliakov写道，犹太人的治疗变化，故事没有说教的目的，为了纯粹的娱乐。

后，一个犹太人，伊本·Nagraela袭击指控中的各种矛盾的“古兰经”，伊本·哈兹目，荒原，批评他奋力前行。伊本·哈兹目写道，伊本·Nagraela是“充满仇恨”和“在他的卑鄙灵魂自负。”

据施魏策尔和佩里，一些在第10和11世纪的文学“作了犹太人是不可信的，奸诈的压迫者和穆斯林的剥削”。这样的宣传，有时甚至导致对犹太人的暴力的爆发。 11世纪摩尔人的诗描述为“犯罪人”的犹太人，并指责他们造成严重的社会倒退的，出卖穆斯林和中毒的食物和水。

马丁·克雷默写道，在伊斯兰教的传统，在与永恒的犹太人的基督教概念形成鲜明对比，当代犹太人不为原型，体现在所有的时间和地点的犹太人提出。

穆斯林统治下生活

被称为早期的穆斯林统治下的犹太人和基督徒生活dhimmis，后来也扩展到像印度教徒其他非穆斯林的地位。作为dhimmis，他们是不能容忍的，有权保护和资源的乌玛，穆斯林联邦。作为回报，他们不得不支付按照古兰经jizya税。刘易斯和Poliakov认为，犹太社区享有宽容和有限的权利，只要他们接受穆斯林的优越性。依法设立和实施这些权利。对dhimmis的限制包括：支付更高的税收;在一些地方，被迫穿衣服或其他一些徽章，区分他们从穆斯林;有时禁止担任公职，携带武器或骑马;作为诉讼涉及穆斯林证人被取消资格在一些地方和时间，dhimmis修复现有的崇拜或树立新的地方被阻止。代表任何信仰的传教，但伊斯兰教禁止。

后面的代码包括禁止采用阿拉伯名称，学习“古兰经”，出售含酒精饮料。阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹说写道，伊斯兰dhimmi的概念，应用时，允许其他文化的繁荣发展和防止反犹太主义的普遍上涨。

施韦泽和佩里给早期穆斯林的反犹太主义的例子：9世纪“的迫害和暴力的爆发”，第10和11世纪的反犹太人的宣传，“让犹太人是不可信的，奸诈的压迫者，和穆斯林的剥削”。这种宣传“灵感爆发的暴力行为，并造成大量人员伤亡，在埃及”。 11世纪摩尔诗中描述为“犯罪人”的犹太人，并声称，“社会已接近崩溃犹太人的财富和统治，对他们的剥削和背叛穆斯林帐户，犹太人崇拜魔鬼，医生毒死病人，和犹太人的毒药食物和水的要求，犹太教等。“

穆斯林统治下的犹太人很少面临殉难或流放，或被迫转换和他们相当自由地选择自己的居住地和职业。他们的自由和经济条件的变化，不时和地方放置。被迫转换主要发生在马格里布，尤其是在阿尔摩哈德王朝，一个救世主索赔的好战王朝，以及在波斯，其中什叶派穆斯林一般小于容忍他们的逊尼派。选择居住的地方远离他们的案件显着的例子包括围壁季度至（mellahs）开始在摩洛哥的犹太人，从15世纪以来，特别是19世纪初。

埃及

在埃及法蒂玛王朝的哈里发被称为是Judeophiles，根据莱昂Poliakov。他们定期支付，支持犹太机构（如耶路撒冷的犹太教学院）。相当数量的部长们和辅导员是犹太人。本杰明Tuleda，12世纪著名的犹太探险，形容为“伟大的国王……对以色列的一种”哈里发人阿巴西。他进一步提到穆斯林和共同的热爱，如访问结，宗教作为一个先知认为他们两人的坟墓，在涉及犹太人。

伊比利亚半岛

犹太教与穆斯林征服伊比利亚半岛，西班牙蓬勃发展了几百年。因此，有些是指对犹太人的“黄金时代”开始。在此期间，穆斯林（至少在西班牙）容忍其他宗教，包括犹太教，并创建了一个异端社会。

在西班牙的犹太人与穆斯林关系并不总是和平的，但是。十一世纪在西班牙看到的穆斯林对犹太人的大屠杀;那些发生在1011和科尔多瓦在1066年在格拉纳达。在1066格拉纳达屠杀的，一个穆斯林暴徒钉在十字架上的犹太大臣约瑟夫·本·Naghrela和屠杀了约4000名犹太人。涉及穆斯林的不满，一些犹太人已成为富裕，别人都提前到权力地位。

阿蒙哈德王朝，推翻清王朝，跑了西班牙在早期的穆斯林时代，提供了基督徒和犹太人选择转换或开除; 1165，下令统治者之一，在全国所有的犹太人死亡的痛苦转换（强制犹太拉比，神学家，哲学家和医生迈蒙尼德逃离该国前假装皈依伊斯兰教）。在埃及，迈蒙尼德恢复执业犹太教公开只被指控叛教。他从死亡保存萨拉丁的首席管理员，威逼下举行的转换是无效的。

在他的流浪，迈蒙尼德也写书信，也门，也门的犹太人的一个著名的信，然后在他们的穆斯林统治者手中的严重迫害。迈蒙尼德，描述他治疗的犹太人在穆斯林手中的评估：

… 我们的罪而神已投我们到这个人，以实玛利的国家中，即穆斯林]我们严重迫害，想方设法伤害我们，贬低我们。…… 没有一个国家曾经做过以色列造成更大的伤害。没有匹配的贬低和羞辱我们。一直没有能够减少我们，因为他们有…. 我们已经承担他们强加退化，他们的谎言，他们的谬论，这是超越人类的力量来承担…… 我们已经做了记错我们的先贤教导我们，轴承和以实玛利的荒谬的谎言…. 尽管这一切，我们都不能幸免在任何时间，从他们的邪恶和他们的爆发凶猛。相反，我们更受苦，选择调解，他们更多的选择好战的行动向我们。

马克·科恩引用哈伊姆希勒尔本萨松，在中世纪欧洲的犹太历史的专家，他们告诫迈蒙尼德谴责“伊斯兰应理解在12世纪的严酷迫害的情况下，”此外，有人可能会说，他是不够的了解犹太人在基督教的土地状况，或没有注意这一点，当他写了一封信。“ 科恩继续引用本萨松，他认为犹太人普遍有一个更好的法律和安全的情况比在基督教的穆斯林国家。

奥斯曼帝国

虽然一些穆斯林国家的拒绝，奥斯曼帝国的上升为“历史上最大的穆斯林国家”。只要帝国的兴盛，以及犹太人，根据史怀哲和佩里。奥斯曼帝国的犹太人更多的宽容和促进其经济发展。犹太人的蓬勃发展为伟大的商人，金融家，政府官员，商人和工匠。

与基督教欧洲的对比

刘易斯状态，相反基督教反犹主义，穆斯林对非穆斯林的态度是不恨，恐惧，或嫉妒，而是简单地蔑视。以各种方式表示，如论战文学的丰富攻击基督教徒，偶尔也犹太人，这种蔑视。 “归因于受宗教和他们的追随者的负面属性，通常是在宗教和社会方面表示，很少在民族或种族方面，虽然这样做有时会发生。” 语言的滥用往往是相当强的。传统的绰号是猿，为犹太人和基督徒的猪。刘易斯将继续与几个例子法规象征劣势，非穆斯林在穆斯林统治下生活的人住在一起，如不同的公式解决犹太人和基督徒时的问候，比解决穆斯林（无论在谈话或书信）时，禁止犹太人和基督徒选择用于子女穆斯林奥斯曼帝国时代的名字。

施魏策尔和佩里认为，有两个一般性意见根据伊斯兰教的犹太人的地位，传统的“黄金时代”修正主义“的迫害和大屠杀”的诠释。前颁布的犹太历史学家在19世纪作为一个犹太人的基督教治疗的指责，并采取了1948年后由阿拉伯穆斯林“主要是针对以色列的思想斗争和政治斗争中的阿拉伯 – 伊斯兰武器”。修正主义者认为，这种理想化的观点忽略“一个鲜为人知的仇恨和屠杀的目录”。马克·科恩同意这种看法，认为“一个信仰的乌托邦神话”去为所欲为，直到它被作为“反对犹太复国主义的宣传武器”，“阿拉伯论战剥削”与“反神话会见由阿拉伯人通过“”爱哭的新的犹太人和阿拉伯人的历史“，也”不能被维持在历史现实“的概念。

反犹太主义在中东伊斯兰

增加在穆斯林世界的反犹太主义在近代。虽然伯纳德·刘易斯和开放Avnery最新的反犹太主义的崛起，以色列的建立，M.克莱因提出的反犹太主义，可能已经在19世纪中叶。

学者指出，欧洲的影响，包括纳粹的反犹太主义的根源和以色列的建立。诺曼·斯蒂尔曼说，增加在19世纪和20世纪的欧洲商业，传教和帝国主义的活动带来了穆斯林世界的反犹太主义的思想。最初，这些偏见，只找到了一个阿拉伯基督徒之间的接待过任何穆斯林之间的广泛接受的外国。然而，阿拉伯 – 以色列冲突的崛起，欧洲的反犹太主义开始在现代文学中获得的验收。

19世纪

据阿拉伯反犹太主义在现代世界中的马克·科恩，最近出现了相对的，在19世纪，对冲突的犹太和阿拉伯民族主义的背景下，进口到阿拉伯世界的主要是由民族主义思想基督教的阿拉伯人（和后来才“伊斯兰”）。

大马士革事件发生在1840年，当意大利和尚和他的仆人在大马士革消失。紧接着，一个仪式谋杀的罪名被带到反对犹太人大量在城市。全部被裁定罪名成立。英国，法国和奥地利以及奥斯曼当局，基督徒，穆斯林和犹太人的领事，所有在这件事起到了巨大的作用。大马士革事件之后，大屠杀传播到中东和北非。大屠杀发生在阿勒颇（1850，1875），大马士革（1840年，1848年，1890年），贝鲁特（1862年，1874年），代尔，卡马尔（1847 年），耶路撒冷（1847年），开罗（1844年，1890年，1901-1902） Mansura（1877年），亚历山大（1870年，1882年，1901至1907年），塞德港（1903年，1908年），达曼胡尔（1871 年，1873年，1877年，1891年），伊斯坦布尔（1870年，1874年），Buyukdere（1864年），Kuzguncuk（ 1866年），Eyub（1868年），埃迪尔内（1872年），伊兹密尔（1872年，1874年）。这是在1828年在巴格达的犹太人的大屠杀。还有另一个在Barfurush在1867年的大屠杀。

在1839年，波斯的网状，暴徒冲进犹太区，在东部城市焚烧犹太教堂，并摧毁了托拉卷轴。这被称为作为Allahdad事件。这是只有通过强制转换，避免了一场大屠杀。

班尼·莫里斯写道，犹太人退化的象征之一，是穆斯林儿童的犹太人投掷石块的现象。莫里斯引用了19世纪的游客：“我曾见过一个6岁的小家伙，一个只有三，四，脂肪幼儿部队，教他们扔石头，一个犹太人和一个小顽童，最大的凉意，摇摇摆摆地向这位男子字面上吐唾沫在他的犹太华达呢这一切犹太人必须提交;这将是比他的生命是值得提供取得Mahommedan“。

20世纪

在穆斯林国家的犹太人的大屠杀一直持续到20世纪。穆斯林暴徒在1912年几乎被摧毁的菲斯犹太季度。有灵感纳粹屠杀，在阿尔及利亚，在20世纪30年代，犹太人在伊拉克和利比亚在20世纪40年代的大规模袭击。亲纳粹屠杀的穆斯林于1941年在巴格达数十名犹太人。

美国学者伯纳德·刘易斯等人已收取标准的反犹太人的主题已成为阿拉伯伊斯兰运动，如真主党和哈马斯的出版物司空见惯，在伊朗伊斯兰共和国各机构的声明，甚至在报纸和其他出版物refah Partisi，土耳其的伊斯兰党担任总理在1996-97年度，“刘易斯也撰文指出，滥用的语言往往是相当强烈，认为犹太人和基督徒的传统绰号是猿和猪，分别其头部。

纳粹德国和穆斯林国家之间的连接

尽管估计有10万穆斯林（主要是波什尼亚克族后裔）在大屠杀中杀害的事实，在阿拉伯纳粹运动的第一次尝试发生在1933年，当雅法的开罗报纸“金字塔报通讯员适用于帮助德国议会。许多阿拉伯人是纳粹德国的全力支持，并表示相信，如果希特勒赢得了战争，阿拉伯事业蓬勃发展。纳粹在阿拉伯世界的影响，尽管20世纪30年代持续增长。纳粹影响的政党出现在20世纪30年代和40年代，其中许多在阿拉伯世界的领导后第二次世界大战中发挥了重要作用。埃及，叙利亚和伊朗被认为有包庇纳粹战犯，虽然他们已经拒绝充电。我的奋斗已公布，并根据中东媒体研究所（MEMRI），在1999年对巴勒斯坦的畅销书列表6。

穆罕默德·阿明人，侯赛尼

耶路撒冷穆夫提穆罕默德·阿明人，侯赛尼试图创建一个与纳粹德国对犹太人的联盟。

历史学家辩论到什么程度，侯赛尼的激烈反对犹太复国主义，民族主义和反犹主义或两者兼而有之接地。

在三月三十一日止，1933年，希特勒的崛起，德国权力星期内，人的侯赛尼发出了一份电报到柏林的巴勒斯坦说，在巴勒斯坦穆斯林和其他地方的期待，传播他们的思想在英国授权的德国领事，总中东。阿尔 – 侯赛尼秘密会见了在1933年在死海附近的德国总领事，并表示他在德国的反犹太人的抵制批准，并要求他不要发送任何犹太人向巴勒斯坦。那年晚些时候，穆夫提的助手走近沃尔夫，寻求他的帮助下，在巴勒斯坦建立一个阿拉伯国家的社会主义党。在柏林达成的国外办事处的报告表明阿拉伯钦佩希特勒的高水平。

铝 – 侯赛尼，1941年11月20日会见了德国外长，约阿希姆·冯·里宾特洛甫和1941年11月30日，希特勒在柏林正式收到。他问希特勒公开宣布“承认和同情与阿拉伯国家的独立和解放的斗争，并且将支持消除一个国家的犹太家园”，他向德国政府提交了这样的声明草案，其中包含该条。

侯赛尼辅助轴事业在中东圣战反对英国在1941年5月1发出教令。穆夫提的广泛预示宣布对英国在伊拉克被宣布，他是在1941年伊拉克的反英起义的地方。穆夫提在战争期间，多次请求德国政府轰炸特拉维夫。“

阿尔 – 侯赛尼是涉及到党卫军和其他单位的几个部门对波斯尼亚穆斯林的组织和招聘。也祝福由德国训练的破坏队之前，他们被派往巴勒斯坦，伊拉克，外约旦。

伊拉克

在1940年3月，拉希德·阿里，一个民族的伊拉克官员被迫亲英的伊拉克总理努里说，怕啥，辞职。在5月，他宣布对大不列颠圣战。 40天后，英国军队占领该国。伊拉克在1941年政变发生在1941年4月3日，摄政阿卜德伊拉政权被推翻时，拉希德·阿里作为首相安装。

在1941年，拉希德·阿里的亲轴心国政变后，作为Farhud称为骚乱爆发在巴格达，其中约180名犹太人被杀害，约240人受伤，586犹太人国有企业被洗劫一空，99个犹太人房屋被摧毁。

伊拉克最初的犹太人移民后的1948年战争的理由，让他们去以色列将加强该州禁止，但他们被允许在1950年之后再次移民，如果他们同意放弃他们的资产。

奥斯曼帝国，土耳其，伊拉克和库尔德斯坦

犹太人和亚述基督徒被迫1843年和21世纪之间的迁移

在他最近的博士论文，并在他最近的一本书[104]以色列学者莫迪凯Zaken讨论在过去180多年的历史，从1843年起，土耳其和伊拉克的亚述基督徒（库尔德附近）。在他的研究Zaken概述了1843年和1933年之间发生在此期间，亚述基督徒在他们的栖息地在土耳其东南部的哈卡莱（或Julamerk）的地区失去了他们的土地和霸权，并成为其他土地的难民，特别是伊朗和伊拉克的主要喷发，并最终在欧洲和西方国家（美国，加拿大，澳大利亚，新西兰，瑞典，法国，更何况其中一些国家）流亡社区。莫迪凯Zaken写了这个重要的研究，从一个角度分析和比较点，比较亚述基督徒的经验与库尔德犹太人一直居住在库尔德斯坦两千年左右的经验，但被强迫移民到以色列在50年代初。库尔德犹太人被迫离开作为反对在伊拉克和库尔德人城镇和村庄的犹太人日益增长的敌意和暴力行为的结果，作为阿拉伯 – 以色列战争的结果，并作为一个发展，在新形势下的结果在伊拉克和库尔德人在20世纪40年代的犹太人生活在相对舒适和宽容的能力（也被打乱，不时之前，期间）与阿拉伯和穆斯林邻居，因为他们已经多年，几乎走到了结束。在年底，库尔德犹太人不得不离开他们的库尔德人的栖息地集体迁移到以色列。另一方面，亚述基督徒，遭受类似的命运，但在迁移后，每一个在其边界他们住政权的政治危机或每个冲突后，与他们的穆斯林，土耳其，阿拉伯或库尔德人的邻居，或离境或者驱逐出境后的阶段他们的族长月佩雷斯在1933年，第一塞浦路斯，然后到美国。因此，虽然仍有小和脆弱的社会在伊拉克的亚述人，数以百万计的亚述基督徒今天生活在流亡和西部地区的繁荣社区。

伊朗

礼萨·巴列维国王在伊朗，同情与纳粹德国的犹太社区可能迫害的恐惧。虽然这些担心并没有实现，反犹太人的文章，在伊朗媒体公布。传言说希特勒皈依伊斯兰教什叶派神职人员在伊朗的新生，极端民族主义的世俗偏见，导致婚姻。

埃及

艾哈迈德·侯赛因在埃及，青年埃及党成立于1934年。德国驻埃及大使，他立即表示他对纳粹德国的同情。侯赛因派遣了一个代表团到纽伦堡集会和热情。苏台德危机后，党的领导人谴责侵略小国的德国，但仍保留元素类似纳粹主义或法西斯主义，如致敬，火炬游行，领袖崇拜，和反犹太主义和种族主义。 1939年前，党的影响是微不足道的，价值不大的德国间谍努力。

第二次世界大战期间，开罗是整个战争期间，为代理商和间谍的天堂。埃及民族主义者活跃，许多埃及人，包括埃及法鲁克和总理阿里Mahir帕夏，他们都希望为轴心国的胜利，从英国和埃及的完全独立。

伊斯兰团体

许多伊斯兰恐怖组织已公开表示，反犹太主义的观点。

拉什卡 – 多巴的宣传部门已经宣布犹太人是“伊斯兰的敌人”，以色列是“巴基斯坦的敌人”。

哈马斯已被广泛形容为反犹太主义。它发出反犹太人的宣传单张，并依靠其著作和宣言反犹太人的文件（锡安长老议定书“，和其他欧洲基督教文学），参展反犹太主义主题。以斯帖Webman的反犹太主义在特拉维夫大学的研究项目在1998年写道，虽然上述是真实的，反犹太主义不是哈马斯的意识形态的主要宗旨。

在2006年1月“卫报”的一篇社论，马沙尔，哈马斯政治局首席否认反犹太主义，哈马斯“的一部分，并表示，以色列 – 巴勒斯坦冲突的性质是不是宗教，而是政治。他还表示，哈马斯有“犹太人没有攻击我们的人没有问题。”

阿迈勒·萨阿德 – Ghorayeb，什叶派学者和黎巴嫩美国大学助理教授写了真主党反犹太复国主义，而是反犹太人的。她引述哈桑·纳斯鲁拉的话说：“如果我们搜查了整个世界，一个人更懦弱，卑鄙，软弱，在心理，思想，意识形态和宗教的软弱，我们不会找到像犹太人通知任何人，我不说以色列。“ 她说，关于真主党的官方公开的立场，作为一个整体，而真主党“，试图掩盖其反犹太教公共关系的原因…语言研究，口头和书面，揭示了一个基本的真理。” 她在她的书，真主党：政治与宗教，探索真主党的意识形态的反犹太人的根源，认为真主党“认为，犹太人，犹太教，具有致命的性格缺陷的性质。” 萨阿德 – Ghorayeb也说：“真主党的犹太历史的古兰经阅读导致其领导人认为是邪恶的犹太神学。”

21世纪

法国是欧洲最大的穆斯林人口 – 约600万 – 以及大陆最大的犹太人社区的家庭，约60万。 2000年，穆斯林袭击报复他们的穆斯林兄弟在巴勒斯坦领土上的伤害犹太教堂。（参见：第二次起义）抗议，许多犹太人的行为被宣布为“穆斯林的反犹太主义”。然而，到2007年，袭击事件是严重的要少得多，“清晰”被察觉。然而，在2008-2009年的加沙战争，两族之间的紧张局势增加，并有数十报道暴力事件，如纵火和袭击。法国犹太领袖抱怨，而穆斯林领袖回应，问题是“政治而非宗教”和穆斯林的愤怒是“不反对犹太人，对以色列的”。“反犹太主义成为盘踞在穆斯林社会弥漫一种”

2006年07月28日，在太平洋时间下午4:00左右，西雅图犹太联合会枪击事件发生时Naveed阿夫扎尔·哈克枪杀六名女子，一个致命的大西雅图建设的犹太联合会，在美国华盛顿州西雅图，Belltown邻里国。他喊道，“我是一个美国穆斯林，我在以色列的愤怒”之前，他开始了他的枪击案。警方已列为哈克9-1-1呼叫中心的过程中说，根据仇恨犯罪的拍摄。[116]在2012年，耶路撒冷，穆罕默德·艾哈迈德·侯赛因，巴勒斯坦民族权力机构大穆夫提引述圣训，呼吁所有杀害犹太人。

在埃及，达累斯萨拉姆AL-Fadhilah的“亨利·福特的国际犹太人，反犹太人的论文，具有明显的反犹太人的封面上的图像完整的翻译出版。

穆斯林领导人和学者的反犹太人的评论

优素福人，卡拉达维

在说教，在半岛电视台播出，1月9日，2009（翻译MEMRI），埃及穆斯林学者和传教士优素福人卡拉达维说：

“噢，安拉，你的敌人。哦，真主伊斯兰教的敌人，犹太人，奸诈的侵略者。噢，安拉，这个挥霍无度，狡猾，傲慢的人带。噢，安拉，他们已经蔓延多暴政和腐败土地。你的忿怒倒在他们身上，哦，我们的上帝。躺下等待他们。噢，安拉，你全军覆没人民Thamoud在暴君的手，和你全军覆没“特质与人激烈的，冰冷的大风。真主，你歼灭在手 Thamoud暴君的人，你全军覆没“与激烈的，冰冷的大风特质与人，与你破坏了法老和他的士兵-哦，真主，借此压迫，残暴的人带哦。真主，人压迫，犹太人，犹太复国主义乐队。哦，真主，不饶了他们。哦，真主，计算它们的数量，并杀死他们，最后一个。“

随后于2009年1月30日，在半岛上的讲话，卡拉达维表示，他对希特勒和纳粹大屠杀的意见，说明（翻译MEMRI）：

“纵观历史，真主已强加于[犹太人]的人会惩罚他们的腐败进行最后的惩罚希特勒通过他对她们做的所有事情-即使他们夸大这个问题-他管理把他们的地方，这是他们神圣的惩罚。安拉愿意，下一次将在信徒的手“。

穆罕默德·侯赛因雅各布

在沙拉菲埃及伊斯兰学者穆罕默德·侯赛因·雅各布，拉赫马电视上播出于2009年1月17日，发表了讲话，他说（翻译MEMRI）：

“我们必须相信，我们与犹太人的战斗是永恒的，它不会结束，直到最后一战……你必须相信，我们将战斗，打败，消灭他们，直到上仍然面对的不是一个单一的犹太人地球……至于你的犹太人- 。真主诅咒后，你后，你的真主的诅咒，他们的祖先是猿和猪的犹太人都在我们的心中播下了仇恨，我们留给我们的子孙。你将无法生存只要保持我们的一个… 哦犹太人，可能真主诅咒你。哦犹太人……噢，安拉，使你的愤怒，惩罚，和对他们的折磨。真主，我们祈祷你转换一次，使穆斯林再次高兴看到他们作为猿和猪。你地球的猪！猪的地球！你杀了，[血]的你冷猪的穆斯林。“

易卜拉欣·马赫迪

巴勒斯坦传教士易卜拉欣·马赫迪在讲道中说：

“巴勒斯坦将成为过去，侵略者的墓地，因为它是-只是因为它是一个鞑靼人的墓地和十字军侵略者，[和侵略者的和新老殖民主义的一个可靠圣训[传统]说：“犹太人会打你，但你将统治他们。” 有什么能比这个传统更美丽“犹太人会打你” -这是犹太人已经开始打我们，您将统治他们“ -谁将设置穆斯林统治的犹太人？安拉……直到犹太人背后隐藏的岩石和树，但在岩石和树会说：“哦，穆斯林，安拉的仆人哦，我身后的一个犹太人隐藏，并杀死他” 除为Gharqad树，这是犹太人的树，我们相信，在这个圣训，我们也相信，这圣训预示着伊斯兰教的传播和其统治所有的土地……噢，安拉，在接受我们的烈士最高的天堂……哦，真主，表明犹太人的一个黑色的日子……哦，真主，消灭犹太人和他们的支持者……哦，真主，圣战的旗帜提高全国的土地……噢，安拉，赦免我们的罪。 ……“

在另一个场合，谢赫·马齐说：

“哦，真主心爱的…犹太人的恶行之一是已经到了被称为”大屠杀“，即，由纳粹对犹太人的屠杀。但是，修正主义历史学家已经证明，这种犯罪，对一些犹太人，犹太人领袖计划，是其政策的一部分……这些都是针对的人，我们打的犹太人，真主喜爱哦。另一方面，我们的信念是什么]关于犹太人？真主形容他们为驴。“

AMI阿尔 – 阿里安

萨米·阿里安，穆斯林在美国一家领先的扬声器一个伊斯兰恐怖组织提供资金，直到他的逮捕和定罪，1991年09月29日，在芝加哥会议上发表讲话说，“上帝诅咒那些是以色列的儿子”真主犹太人“猴子和猪”，和他们在这个世界上，阴间诅咒。

阿卜杜勒·拉赫曼·-Sudais

阿卜杜勒·拉赫曼铝Sudais是领先的伊斯兰圣地沙特阿拉伯麦加城位于大清真寺伊玛目。[135] [136]英国广播公司播出了一部全景情节，题为“领导权问题，据报道，AL-Sudais的犹太人被称为“人类的败类”，“猴子和猪的后代”，并表示， “最坏的伊斯兰的敌人…是…他…自制的猴子和猪，咄咄逼人的犹太人和压迫的犹太复国主义者和那些跟随他们的人…猴子和猪，谁是犹太人和犹太复国主义者的假神的崇拜者。“

在另一个讲道，2002年4月19日，他宣布：

“读历史，你就会明白，昨天的犹太人是邪恶的父亲是犹太人的今天，谁是邪恶的后代，异教徒，distorters [他人”的话，小牛的崇拜者，先知的凶手，预言否认… 。其中真主诅咒和人类的败类变成猿和猪……“

哈齐姆·舒曼

在 1对埃及的阿尔 – 拉赫马电视于10月三十一日止，二零零九年通道讲道广播，埃及神职人员哈齐姆·舒曼表示方面对犹太人说：“轮到你了，最后来，猿和猪的后代，你最该死的真主创造的生物你伤害了一次又一次的先知“，并进一步指出，”它已被证明，犹太人像癌症的人 – 如果他们不从国家体中删除，他们会杀了整个国家“。

谢赫·本·阿卜杜拉·Ajameh铝Ghamidi Ba’d

据到利亚Kinberg博士，“谢赫·沙特阿卜杜拉·Ajameh铝，Ghamidi斌Ba’d，在塔伊夫讲道，解释说：”：

“猿和猪兄弟，他们的背信弃义，违反了协议，和亵渎神圣的地方，目前的行为… 连接与他们的祖先的事迹，在伊斯兰教初期-这证明了很大的相似性之间的所有犹太人生活在今天和犹太人，谁住在伊斯兰教的黎明“。

他还表示，犹太人是“人类的败类，世界的大鼠，违反条约和协定，先知的凶手，猿和猪的后代。” 埃及谢赫·穆罕默德·赛义德Tantawy爱资哈尔清真寺和爱资哈尔大学的大酋长，大伊玛目，“也许是最重要的逊尼派阿拉伯权威”，已在2002年4月所发表的言论批评，描述了他每周讲道的犹太人“安拉的敌人，猿和猪的后代。“

马哈蒂尔·本穆罕默德

从1981年至2003年担任马来西亚总理马哈蒂尔·本·穆罕默德取得了一些关于犹太人的公开讲话。

1970年，他写了马来人的困境，在他的有争议的书：“例如犹太人不仅钩鼻，但本能地明白钱。”

在取得举办一个穆斯林国家对恐怖主义的国际会议之前发表的声明中，马哈蒂尔说，恐怖主义：

“目前的定义往往只限于伊斯兰国家和广大穆斯林，而以色列和犹太人的恐怖国家或人民。”

马哈蒂尔在联合国关于伊斯兰教研讨会在联合国在东京大学的地址：

“如果他们之前是不是恐怖分子的阿拉伯人今天愿意为了打击以色列人或美国人自杀，必须有它的理由。其原因就在于，他们认为，犹太人和欧洲人和美国人已经对他们的不公正。“

2003年10月16日，他不久之前下台，作为总理，马哈蒂尔在普特拉贾亚组织伊斯兰会议组织首脑会议期间，穆罕默德说：

“我们穆斯林其实很强大，有1.3亿人不能简单地消灭了。纳粹杀害的600万犹太人[大屠杀期间的1200万。但是，今天的犹太人排除由代理世界。他们让别人打，死他们。他们发明了社会主义，共产主义，人权和民主，迫害他们似乎是错的，所以他们可以享受与其他人平等的权利。有了这些，他们现在已经获得了最强大的国家控制。他们，这个小社会，已成为一个世界强国。“

沙特学校教科书

2006年5月研究发现，八年级的书籍包括以下语句沙特阿拉伯的修订教科书课程，

“他们是安息日，神猿变成年轻人，老人们的神猪转身来惩罚他们的人。作为援引伊本·阿巴斯：类人猿是犹太人的安息日看守;而猪是耶稣的共融的基督教的异教徒“。

“安息日的人受到惩罚变成猴子和猪被打开。其中一些人崇拜魔鬼，不是神，通过奉献，牺牲，祷告，寻求帮助的呼吁，和其他类型的崇拜。一些犹太人崇拜的魔鬼。同样，一些本民族的崇拜魔鬼的成员，而不是上帝。“

其他报表

2001年5月5日之后，佩雷斯访问了埃及，埃及的消息报互联网文件指出：

“谎言和欺骗没有外国的犹太人……因为这个原因，安拉改变它们的形状和制成猴子和猪。”

写作者埃雷尔沙利特，犹太人必须听取来自阿拉伯世界对他们作出的陈述，不管他们是否有积极或消极的。他列举了以下例子：

昨天的犹太人是邪恶的父亲今天的犹太人，谁是邪恶的后代…… 人类的败类，其中安拉诅咒变成猿和猪……“ 这些都是犹太人，欺骗，固执，淫，恶正在进行的连续性，和腐败… （在麦加的Al-非法清真寺的伊玛目;煽动同样的话重复在加沙和拉马拉的清真寺和时间。）

和解的努力

在西方国家，一些伊斯兰团体和个人的穆斯林零散的努力调和与犹太社区，通过对话和反对反犹太主义。例如，在英国有组打击反犹太主义的穆斯林。伊斯兰研究学者塔里克·拉马丹一直直言不讳，反对反犹太主义，指出：“在他们的信仰和良知的名义，穆斯林必须采取明确的立场，这样一种有害的气氛并不在西方国家在伊斯兰中没有任何东西可以合法化仇外心理或拒绝一个人是由于他/她的宗教信仰或种族。我们必须毫不含糊地说，用武力，反犹太主义，是不可接受的，站不住脚的。“ 伊朗前总统哈塔米宣布反犹主义是一个“西部现象”，有没有先例，在伊斯兰教和说明穆斯林和犹太人生活在过去和谐。一家伊朗报纸说，一直在历史上的仇恨和敌意，但他承认，必须区分从犹太复国主义的犹太人。

在北美，美国伊斯兰关系委员会发言反对一些反犹太人的暴力事件，如2006年西雅图犹太人联合会拍摄，。据CAIR的反诽谤联盟，也被下属与反犹太主义组织，例如哈马斯和真主党。

沙特常服，谢赫·阿卜杜勒 – 阿齐兹·本·巴兹了追杀令执政党与以色列的和平谈判是允许的，因为耶路撒冷是穆斯林的CIST。他明确表示：

先知绝对和平与麦地那的犹太人，当他作为一个移民。这并不意味着他们或爱娇与他们任何爱。但处理与他们的先知，从他们那里购买，他们谈话，称他们为上帝和伊斯兰教。他去世时，他的盾是抵押给一个犹太人，他抵押他的家人购买食品。

马丁·克雷默认为，作为“的正常关系与犹太人的明确支持”。

趋势

根据诺曼·斯蒂尔曼，反犹太主义在穆斯林世界的增加大大超过二十年后，1948“由20世纪70年代达到顶峰，并作为发展在20世纪80年代和90年代，阿拉伯世界和以色列国之间的和解进程缓慢有些下降。 “ 约翰内斯·的JG詹森认为，反犹太主义，没有在阿拉伯世界的长远未来。在他看来，像其他从西方进口，反犹太主义是无法建立在穆斯林的私人生活本身。在2004年Khaleel穆罕默德说，“反犹太主义已成为1穆斯林神学根深蒂固的宗旨，教到95％％，在伊斯兰世界的宗教的信徒”，立即虚假和种族主义驳回穆斯林领袖，谁指责穆罕默德的索赔摧毁犹太人和穆斯林之间的关系建设的努力。

据皮尤全球态度项目，2005年8月14日公布，6个穆斯林占多数的国家，人口的高比例有犹太人的负面看法。一份调查问卷，要求受访者给予频谱上的各种宗教的成员，他们的意见，从“非常有利”，“非常不利”，60％的土耳其人，74％的巴基斯坦人，76％的印尼人，88摩洛哥人％，99％黎巴嫩穆斯林和100％的约旦人检查“有些不利”或“非常不利”为犹太人。

在荷兰的反犹事件，从口头滥用暴力，报告，据称与伊斯兰青年，大多是男孩从摩洛哥血统的连接。据中心的信息和文件，亲以色列的游说团体在荷兰，以色列在2009年，在阿姆斯特丹的城市，是家庭约40,000荷兰犹太人的反犹主义事件数量说与2008年相比将增加一倍。

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June 9, 2012

Principes de base du monothéisme: l’antisémitisme dans l’histoire

Introduction

Pour comprendre le fondamental de comprendre les conflits religieux des trois religions monothéistes-le judaïsme, le christianisme et l’islam, d’abord, nous examinerons le cas pour les Juifs comme cela dans l’historique, montrant les chrétiens et les musulmans à l’époque médiévale persécuter et humilier l’ Juifs, jusqu’à l’époque moderne, lorsque les chrétiens ont commencé la croix-dialogue avec les juifs dans le 20 ^ème siècle, et après la création de l’Etat d’Israël en 1948. Pour comprendre le concept de comment et pourquoi, nous devons d’abord comprendre le lien entre les trois religions monothéistes, comme la plupart de mes pairs ne s’est rendu compte que il ya un lien entre les Juifs, les chrétiens (y compris les catholiques) et les musulmans, en ce qui concerne la la théologie religieuse et comment elle se confond avec l’autre dans les livres d’histoire.

Le christianisme avait divisé à partir du judaïsme, qui, avant la scission, le christianisme et le judaïsme étaient autrefois la même foi, que les historiens appelés judéo-christianisme, probablement au cours du temps de Jésus et avant. Pour le cas de l’Islam, il ya de nombreuses origines de l’Islam, bien que les doctrines sont similaires à la suppression de l’évangile de Barnabé, qui n’a pas été canonisé par l’Église primitive et a été rejetée comme une hérésie, si l’islam est basé sur les enseignements du prophète Muhammad, laquelle ils voient les chrétiens et les Juifs comme les «gens du livre», et comme le résultat de la foi retrouvée en l’an 625, certaines parties des populations qui sont païens, soit arabes, juifs et chrétiens ont été convertis à l’islam, dans lequel, en ma propre opinion, pourrait être la scission de certaines parties de juifs et les chrétiens, sous l’autorité du nom de Muhammad, qui a reçu la révélation de Dieu, affirmant que la Bible que les Juifs et les Chrétiens ont sont corrompus, et le Coran est la plus précise de Dieu par le prophète Muhammad.

Juifs et le judaïsme en Europe

Le judaïsme en Europe a une longue histoire, en commençant par la conquête de la Méditerranée orientale par Pompée en 63 avant notre ère, marquant ainsi le début de l’histoire des Juifs dans l’Empire romain, mais probablement les Juifs d’Alexandrie avaient émigré à Rome un peu avant la conquête de Pompée de l’Est.

Le pré-Seconde Guerre mondiale de la population des Juifs d’Europe est estimé à près de 9 millions d’euros. On croit que près de 6.000.000 Juifs européens morts dans l’Holocauste de 1940-1945. Vidange de la population de plus amples en raison de l’émigration, et la population juive actuelle de l’Europe est estimé à env. 2 millions (0,3%), composé d’

Les Juifs ashkénazes (d’environ 1,4 millions de dollars, principalement en France, l’Allemagne, la Russie, l’Ukraine et le Royaume-Uni)
Les Juifs sépharades (environ 0,3 millions de dollars, principalement en France, Espagne et Portugal)
Juifs Mizrahi (environ 0,3 millions de dollars, principalement en France)
Juifs italiens (environ 50.000, pour la plupart italiens)
Romaniotes (quelque 6.000, la plupart du temps grec)

Histoire

Présence précoce

Le judaïsme hellénistique, originaire d’Alexandrie, était présent tout au long de l’Empire romain avant même que les guerres romano-juifs. Dès le milieu du 2ème siècle avant JC, l’auteur juif du troisième livre de l’Sibyllina Oracula, s’adressant aux «peuple élu», dit: «Chaque pays est rempli de toi et toutes les mers.” Les témoins les plus divers, tels que Strabon, Philon, Sénèque, Cicéron, et Josèphe, toute mention des populations juives dans les villes du bassin méditerranéen. Centres de population plupart des Juifs de cette époque étaient cependant encore à l’Est (Iudaea et la Syrie) et en Egypte (Alexandrie était de loin la plus importante des communautés juives, les Juifs dans le temps de Philon ont été habiter deux des cinq quartiers de la ville) . Néanmoins, au début du règne de César Auguste (27BC), il y avait plus de 7000 Juifs à Rome: c’est le nombre qui ont escorté les envoyés qui sont venus à exiger le dépôt d’Archélaüs.

La présence romaine période de l’Empire des Juifs en date de la Croatie au 2ème siècle, en Pannonie à la 3e à la 4e siècle. Une bague avec une représentation Menorah dans Augusta Raurica (Kaiseraugst, Suisse) en 2001 atteste de la présence juive en Germanie Supérieure. Preuve dans les villes au nord de la Loire ou dans le sud de la Gaule date du 5ème siècle et 6ème siècles.

Moyen-Age

Début de la période médiévale fut un temps de la culture juive florissante. La vie juive et chrétienne a évolué dans des directions diamétralement opposées des cours des derniers siècles de l’empire romain. La vie juive est devenue autonome, décentralisée, axée sur la collectivité. La vie chrétienne est devenue un système hiérarchique rigide sous l’autorité suprême du pape et l’empereur romain.

La vie juive ne peut être caractérisé comme démocratique. Rabbins dans le Talmud interprété Deut. 29:9, “vos têtes, vos tribus, vos anciens et vos officiers, tous les hommes d’Israël» et «Bien que j’ai nommés pour vous dirige, les aînés, et les dirigeants, vous êtes tous égaux devant moi” (Tanhuma) d’insister sur le pouvoir politique partagé. Responsabilités partagées de puissance implique: “vous êtes tous responsables les uns des autres. S’il ya un seul homme vertueux d’entre vous, vous voulez tous les profits de ses mérites, et non pas vous seul, mais le monde entier … Mais si un de vous péchés, toute la génération va en souffrir. ”

Entre 800 et 1100 il y avait 1,5 millions de Juifs dans l’Europe chrétienne. Ils ont eu la chance de ne pas faire partie du système féodal comme des serfs ou des chevaliers, ainsi ont été épargnés par la guerre oppression et constante qui a rendu la vie misérable pour la plupart des chrétiens.

Dans les relations avec la société chrétienne, ils étaient protégés par les rois, les princes et même des évêques, à cause des services essentiels qu’ils fournissent dans trois domaines: les médecins financières, administratives et que. Érudits chrétiens qui s’intéressent à la Bible tiendrait des consultations avec les rabbins du Talmud. Tout cela a changé avec les réformes et le renforcement de l’Église catholique romaine et de la hausse des envieux et la concurrence de la classe moyenne, les chrétiens vivant dans la ville. En 1300, les frères et les prêtres locaux ont été en utilisant la Passion Plays au temps de Pâques, qui dépeint les Juifs en robe contemporaine meurtre du Christ, pour enseigner la population en général à la haine et assassiner les Juifs. Il était à ce point que la persécution et l’exil est devenue endémique. Enfin vers 1500, les Juifs ont trouvé la sécurité et un regain de prospérité en Pologne.

La persécution des Juifs en Europe commence dans le haut Moyen Âge dans le contexte des croisades. Dans la première croisade (1096) des communautés florissantes sur le Rhin et le Danube ont été entièrement détruits; voir croisade allemande, 1096. Dans la deuxième croisade (1147) les juifs en France ont fait l’objet de massacres fréquents. Les Juifs ont aussi été soumis à des attaques par les croisades des bergers de 1251 et 1320. Les croisades ont été suivis par les expulsions, y compris dans, 1290, le bannissement de tous les Juifs anglais; en 1396, 100.000 juifs ont été expulsés de France, et, en 1421 des milliers ont été expulsés de l’Autriche. Beaucoup de Juifs expulsés ont fui vers la Pologne.

Au Moyen Age tardif, comme les épidémies Black Death dévasté l’Europe dans le milieu du 14e siècle, anéantissant plus de la moitié [citation nécessaire] de la population. Il s’agit d’un mythe souvent dit, cependant, qu’en raison de leur meilleure nutrition et de la propreté, les Juifs n’ont pas été infectés dans des proportions similaires, les Juifs ont effectivement été infectées dans des proportions similaires à leur non-juive neighborsYet ils étaient encore ciblés comme boucs émissaires. Rumeurs qu’ils ont causé la maladie par l’empoisonnement des puits délibérément. Des centaines de communautés juives ont été détruites par la violence. Bien que le pape Clément VI a essayé de les protéger par le Juillet 6, 1348 bulle papale et un autre taureau 1348, quelques mois plus tard, 900 Juifs ont été brûlés vifs à Strasbourg, où la peste n’avait pas encore touché la ville.

Survie du peuple juif face à des pressions extérieures de l’empire catholique romaine et perse zoroastrien empire est «énigmatique» pour les historiens.

Baron l’explique par huit facteurs:

Foi messianique. La croyance en un résultat finalement positif et la restauration d’Israël.
La doctrine de l’au-delà de plus en plus élaboré. Réconcilié les Juifs de la souffrance dans ce monde et les a aidés à résister aux tentations extérieures à convertir.
La souffrance a été donné un sens par l’espoir d’induction interprétation de leur histoire et leur destin.
La doctrine du martyre et inéluctabilité de la persécution l’a transformé en une source de solidarité communautaire.
La vie quotidienne juive a été très satisfaisant. Les Juifs ont vécu parmi les Juifs. Dans la pratique, dans une vie, les individus rencontrés persécution manifeste seulement à quelques occasions dramatiques. Juifs vivaient pour la plupart en vertu de la discrimination qui a touché tout le monde, et à laquelle ils ont été habitués. La vie quotidienne a été régi par une multitude de prescriptions rituelles, de sorte que chaque Juif était constamment conscient de Dieu tout au long de la journée. “Pour la plupart, il a trouvé cette façon englobe tout juif de la vie si éminemment satisfaisante qu’il était prêt à se sacrifier … pour la préservation de ses fondamentaux.” Ces commandements pour laquelle les Juifs ont sacrifié leur vie, tels que l’idolâtrie défiant, ne pas manger de porc, en observant la circoncision, étaient les plus strictement respectées.
Le développement de l’entreprise et les politiques ségrégationnistes de l’empire romain et la fin empire perse, a contribué à maintenir l’organisation communautaire juive forte.
Talmud fourni une force extrêmement efficace pour soutenir l’éthique juive, le droit et la culture, le système de bien-être social, judiciaire et à l’éducation universelle, la réglementation de la vie familiale forte et la vie religieuse de la naissance à la mort.
La concentration des masses juives au sein de «la classe moyenne inférieure», ^[12] avec les vertus de la classe moyenne de l’auto-contrôle sexuel. Il y avait une voie modérée entre l’ascétisme et le libertinage. Le mariage a été considéré comme le fondement des minorités ethniques, et éthiques, la vie.

L’hostilité extérieur seulement aidé l’unité de ciment juive et la force interne et de l’engagement.

L’âge d’or de la culture juive en Espagne

L’âge d’or de la culture juive en Espagne se réfère à une période de l’histoire au cours de la domination musulmane de la péninsule ibérique où les Juifs étaient généralement acceptées dans la société et la vie religieuse juive, culturelle et économique épanouie. Ce “Golden Age” est diversement datée du 8 au 12ème siècles.

Al-Andalus était un important centre de la vie juive au Moyen Age, la production de savants importants et l’une des communautés les plus stables et les plus riches juifs. Un certain nombre de célèbres philosophes et savants juifs ont prospéré pendant ce temps, plus particulièrement Maimonides.

Inquisition espagnole

il Inquisition espagnole a été créé en 1478 par le Rois Catholiques Ferdinand et Isabelle de maintenir l’orthodoxie catholique dans leurs royaumes et était sous le contrôle direct de la monarchie espagnole. Il n’a pas été définitivement aboli qu’en 1834, sous le règne d’Isabelle II.

L’Inquisition, comme un tribunal ecclésiastique, avait compétence seulement sur les chrétiens baptisés. Cependant, depuis les Maures Juifs (en 1492) et Muslim (en 1502) avait été banni de l’Espagne, la compétence de l’Inquisition pendant une grande partie de son histoire étendue dans la pratique à tous les sujets royaux. L’Inquisition a travaillé en grande partie à assurer l’orthodoxie des convertis récents connus sous le nom conversos ou marranes.

La Pologne comme le centre du monde juif

L’expulsion des Juifs d’Espagne en 1492, ainsi que de l’Autriche, la Hongrie et l’Allemagne, a suscité une migration généralisée des Juifs à la Pologne beaucoup plus tolérante. En effet, avec l’expulsion des Juifs d’Espagne, la Pologne est devenue, à côté des Pays-Bas, le havre reconnu pour les exilés de nombreux pays en Europe, et l’adhésion en résulte pour les rangs des Juifs de Pologne a fait le centre culturel et spirituel du peuple juif .

La période la plus prospère pour les Juifs polonais ont commencé à suivre ce nouvel afflux de Juifs avec le règne de Sigismond I (1506-1548), qui a protégé les Juifs de son royaume. Son fils, Zygmunt II Août (1548-1572), principalement suivie dans la politique de tolérance de son père et a également accordé l’autonomie aux Juifs dans l’affaire de l’administration communale et jeté les bases de la puissance de la communauté qahal, ou autonome juive. Cette période a conduit à la création d’un proverbe sur la Pologne étant un «paradis pour les Juifs”. Selon certaines sources, environ les trois quarts de tous les Juifs vivaient en Pologne d’ici le milieu du 16ème siècle. Au milieu du 16ème siècle, la Pologne a accueilli les nouveaux arrivants juifs en provenance d’Italie et la Turquie, la plupart d’origine séfarade, mais certains de ces immigrants de l’Empire ottoman sont toujours prétendu être Mizrahim. La vie religieuse juive a prospéré dans de nombreuses communautés polonaises. En 1503, la monarchie polonaise nommé Rabbi Jacob Polak, le rabbin officielle de la Pologne, marquant l’émergence du Grand Rabbinat. En 1551, les Juifs ont été autorisés à choisir leur propre rabbin. Le Grand Rabbinat a le pouvoir sur le droit et la finance, la nomination des juges et autres fonctionnaires. Certains le pouvoir est partagé avec les conseils locaux. Le gouvernement polonais autorisé le rabbinat de grandir en puissance, de l’utiliser à des fins de recouvrement de l’impôt. Seulement 30% de l’argent amassé par le rabbinat a servi des causes juives, le reste est allé à la Couronne pour la protection. Dans cette période la Pologne-Lituanie est devenue le principal centre de la communauté juive ashkénaze et de son yeshivot atteint la célébrité à partir de début du 16ème siècle.

Moïse Isserles (1520-1572), un talmudiste éminent du 16ème siècle, a établi sa yeshiva à Cracovie. En plus d’être un érudit de renom talmudique et juridique, Isserles a également appris dans la Kabbale, et a étudié l’histoire, l’astronomie et la philosophie.

Le développement du judaïsme en Pologne et dans le Commonwealth

La sortie de la culture intellectuelle et de la communauté juive en Pologne a eu un impact profond sur le judaïsme dans son ensemble. Certains historiens juifs ont raconté que la Pologne mot est prononcé comme Polania ou Polin en hébreu, et comme translittéré en hébreu, ces noms pour la Pologne ont été interprétés comme “bons présages” parce Polania peut être décomposé en trois mots hébreux: PO (“ici »), LAN (« demeure »), ya (« Dieu »), et Polin en deux mots de: PO (« ici ») lin (« [il faut] habiter “). Le «message» est que la Pologne devait être un bon endroit pour les Juifs. Pendant le temps de la règle de Sigismond le Vieux jusqu’à l’holocauste nazi, la Pologne serait au centre de la vie religieuse juive.

Yeshivot ont été établis, sous la direction des rabbins, dans les communautés les plus éminents. Ces écoles ont été officiellement connue sous le nom des gymnases, et leurs directeurs rabbin comme recteurs. Yeshivot Important existait à Cracovie, Poznań, et d’autres villes. Établissements d’impression juifs sont entrés en existence dans le premier trimestre du 16ème siècle. En 1530, un Pentateuque en hébreu (Torah) a été imprimé à Cracovie, et à la fin du siècle, les maisons d’édition juifs de cette ville et de Lublin a publié un grand nombre de livres juifs, principalement d’un caractère religieux. La croissance de la bourse talmudique en Pologne a coïncidé avec la plus grande prospérité des Juifs polonais, et en raison de leur développement éducatif autonomie communale était tout à fait unilatérale et le long de lignes talmudiques. Des exceptions sont enregistrées, cependant, où la jeunesse juive cherché enseignement laïque dans les universités européennes. Les rabbins apprises est devenu non seulement interprètes de la loi, mais aussi des conseillers spirituels, des enseignants, des juges et des législateurs, et leur autorité contraint les dirigeants communautaires à se familiariser avec les questions abstruses de la loi juive. Les Juifs de Pologne trouve son point de vue de la vie façonnée par l’esprit de la littérature talmudique et rabbinique, dont l’influence s’est fait sentir dans la maison, à l’école, et dans la synagogue.

Dans la première moitié du 16ème siècle, les graines de l’apprentissage talmudique avait été transplanté en Pologne de la Bohême, en particulier de l’école de Jacob Pollak, le créateur de pilpoul («raisonnement forte”). Shalom Shachna (c. 1500-1558), élève de Pollak, est compté parmi les pionniers de l’apprentissage talmudique en Pologne. Il vécut et mourut à Lublin, où il était à la tête de la yeshiva qui a produit les célébrités rabbiniques du siècle suivant. Shachna fils d’Israël est devenu rabbin de Lublin sur la mort de son père, et Shachna l’élève Moïse Isserles (connu comme le Rema) (1520-1572) atteint une réputation internationale parmi les Juifs en tant que co-auteur de l’Aroukh Aroukh, (la ” Code de la loi juive “). Son contemporain et correspondant Salomon Luria (1510-1573) de Lublin a également connu une grande réputation parmi ses coreligionnaires, et l’autorité des deux a été reconnu par les Juifs dans toute l’Europe. Chauffants disputes religieuses étaient fréquentes, et les érudits juifs ont participé à eux. Dans le même temps, la Kabbale était déjà bien enracinée sous la protection du rabbinisme, et des savants tels que Mordecai Jaffe et Yoel Sirkis se sont consacrés à son étude. Cette période de la bourse rabbinique grande a été interrompue par le soulèvement Chmielnicki et Le Déluge.

La hausse du hassidisme

La décennie de soulèvement des Cosaques qu’après la guerre de Suède (1648-1658) a laissé une impression profonde et durable non seulement sur la vie sociale des Juifs de Pologne-Lituanie, mais sur leur vie spirituelle. La production intellectuelle des Juifs de Pologne a été réduit. L’apprentissage talmudique qui, jusqu’à cette période avait été la possession commune de la majorité des gens sont devenus accessibles à un nombre limité d’étudiants seulement. Quelle étude religieuse, il a été formalisé est devenu trop, certains rabbins se sont occupés avec des arguties concernant les lois religieuses, d’autres ont écrit des commentaires sur les différentes parties du Talmud dans laquelle les cheveux de fractionnement arguments ont été soulevés et discutés, et parfois ces arguments portent sur des questions qui étaient de aucune importance pratique. Dans le même temps, les faiseurs de miracles nombreux ont fait leur apparition parmi les Juifs de la Pologne, aboutissant à une série de faux mouvements «messianique», le plus célèbre en tant sabbatéisme a été remplacé par Frankism.

En cette période de mysticisme et rabbinisme trop formelle est venu les enseignements d’Israël ben Eliezer, connu sous le nom du Baal Shem Tov, ou Besht, (1698-1760), qui a eu un effet profond sur les Juifs d’Europe centrale et Europe de l’Est, et la Pologne en particulier. Ses disciples enseigné et a encouragé le nouveau fervente du judaïsme fondée sur la Kabbale connu sous le nom hassidisme. La hausse des hassidique du judaïsme l’intérieur des frontières de la Pologne et au-delà eu une grande influence sur la montée de judaïsme haredi partout dans le monde, avec une influence continue à travers ses nombreuses dynasties hassidiques, y compris ceux de ‘Habad-Loubavitch, Aleksander, Bobov, Allemagne, Nadvorna, parmi les autres. Rèbbes plus récentes d’origine polonaise Rabbi Yossef Its’hak comprennent Schneersohn (1880-1950), la sixième tête du mouvement Loubavitch Chabad hassidique, qui a vécu à Varsovie jusqu’en 1940 quand il a déménagé Loubavitch de Varsovie aux États-Unis.

19e siècle

Dans les Etats pontificaux, qui existaient jusqu’en 1870, les Juifs étaient tenus de vivre seulement dans les quartiers visés appelés ghettos. Jusqu’aux années 1840, ils étaient tenus d’assister régulièrement aux sermons exhortant leur conversion au christianisme. Seuls les juifs ont été imposés pour soutenir les écoles internats d’Etat pour les juifs convertis au christianisme. Il était illégal de convertir au christianisme au judaïsme. Parfois des juifs ont été baptisés involontairement, et, même lorsque ces baptêmes étaient illégales, contraints de pratiquer la religion chrétienne. Dans de nombreux cas, l’Etat les a séparés de leurs familles. Voir Edgardo Mortara pour un compte de l’un des exemples les plus largement médiatisés d’acrimonie entre les catholiques et les Juifs dans les États pontificaux dans la seconde moitié du 19ème siècle.

Le mouvement du sionisme est originaire de la fin du 19e siècle. En 1883, Nathan Birnbaum fondée Kadimah, l’association étudiante de première juive à Vienne. En 1884, le premier numéro de Selbstemanzipation (auto-émancipation) est apparu, imprimé par Birnbaum lui-même. L’affaire Dreyfus, qui a éclaté en France en 1894, a profondément choqué les Juifs émancipés. La profondeur de l’antisémitisme dans un pays considéré comme le foyer de l’illumination et de la liberté conduit certains à s’interroger à leur sécurité future en Europe. Parmi ceux qui ont assisté l’affaire était un austro-hongrois (né à Budapest, a vécu à Vienne) journaliste juif, Theodor Herzl, qui a publié sa brochure Der Judenstaat («L’Etat juif”) dans 1896and Altneuland (“La vieille terre nouvelle») en 1897. Il a décrit l’affaire comme un tournant personnel, avant l’affaire, Herzl avait été anti-sioniste, ensuite il est devenu ardemment pro-sioniste. En ligne avec les idées du 19ème siècle Herzl nationalisme allemand croyait en un Etat juif pour la nation juive. De cette façon, at-il soutenu, les Juifs pourraient devenir un peuple comme tous les autres peuples, et de l’antisémitisme cesserait d’exister.

Herzl infusé sionisme politique avec une nouvelle urgence et pratique. Il a apporté de l’Organisation sioniste mondiale en être et, en collaboration avec Nathan Birnbaum, prévu son premier congrès à Bâle en 1897. Pour les quatre premières années, l’Organisation Sioniste Mondiale (OSM) se sont réunis chaque année, puis, jusqu’à la Seconde Guerre mondiale, ils se sont réunis tous les deux ans. Depuis la guerre, le Congrès se réunit tous les quatre ans.

La Seconde Guerre mondiale et la Shoah

L’Holocauste (du grec ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston): holos, «complètement» et kaustos, “brûlé”), également connu sous le nom de Ha-Shoah (hébreu: השואה), Churben (Yiddish: חורבן), est le terme généralement utilisé pour décrire le meurtre d’environ 6.000.000 Juifs européens pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, dans le cadre d’un programme d’extermination délibérée planifié et exécuté par le régime national-socialiste dans l’Allemagne nazie dirigée par Adolf Hitler.

Le christianisme et l’antisémitisme

Attitudes chrétiennes au judaïsme et au peuple juif développés à partir des premières années du christianisme, la persécution des chrétiens dans le Nouveau Testament, et a persisté au cours des siècles qui ont suivi, conduit par de nombreux facteurs, notamment les différences théologiques, la concurrence entre l’Eglise et la Synagogue, le lecteur de Christian pour convertsdecreed par la Commission des Grands, l’incompréhension des croyances et pratiques juives, et une hostilité perçue juive envers les chrétiens.

Ces attitudes ont été renforcées dans la prédication chrétienne, l’enseignement artistique et populaire au fil des siècles contenant le mépris pour les Juifs. Dans de nombreux pays chrétiens, il conduit à la discrimination civile et politique contre les Juifs, les incapacités juridiques et, dans certains cas à des attaques physiques contre les Juifs qui, parfois, terminés dans l’émigration, l’expulsion, et même la mort.

De temps en temps, sentiments anti-juifs dans la société européenne ont été exploitées ou fomenté des fins politiques internes et parfois pour en extraire un avantage financier de sujets juifs. De tels sentiments fait de l’extension des mesures anti-juives politiquement acceptable.

L’antisémitisme a été décrit comme étant essentiellement la haine contre les Juifs comme une race à son expression moderne enracinée dans les théories raciales du 19ème siècle, alors que l’anti-judaïsme est décrit comme l’hostilité à la religion juive, mais dans le christianisme occidental elle a effectivement fusionné avec l’antisémitisme au cours du 12ème siècle. Les chercheurs ont débattu de la manière antisémitisme chrétien peut avoir joué un rôle dans le troisième Reich nazi, la Seconde Guerre mondiale et l’Holocauste. Toutefois, “un large consensus des historiens, des leaders religieux et les théologiens universitaires, c’est que Christian antijudaïsme théologique est un phénomène distinct de l’antisémitisme moderne, qui est enracinée dans la pensée économique et raciale, de sorte que les enseignements chrétiens ne devraient pas être tenu pour responsable de l’antisémitisme “. Cette position de consensus, essentiellement une exonération de la chrétienté de l’antisémitisme moderne, est articluated, entre autres, par le pape Jean-Paul II dans «Nous Re membre: Une réflexion sur la Shoah, et de la déclaration juive sur le christianisme, Dabru Emet.

Tout au long de l’histoire chrétienne, des papes, évêques et quelques princes chrétiens intensifiés pour protéger les Juifs. Mais c’est seulement dans le milieu du 20e siècle que l’Église catholique et de nombreuses confessions protestantes ont publié des déclarations majeures répudiant la théologie anti-judaïque et a commencé un processus de dialogue constructif entre chrétiens et juifs d’interaction.

L’anti-judaïsme

Beaucoup de chrétiens ne considèrent pas l’anti-judaïsme d’être l’antisémitisme. Ils considèrent l’anti-judaïsme comme un désaccord de personnes religieusement sincères avec les principes du judaïsme, tout en considérant l’antisémitisme comme un biais émotionnel ou à la haine ne cible pas spécifiquement la religion du judaïsme. Selon cette approche, l’anti-judaïsme n’est pas considéré comme l’antisémitisme comme il ne rejette que les idées religieuses du judaïsme et n’implique pas l’hostilité réelle pour le peuple juif.

D’autres y voient l’anti-judaïsme que le rejet de l’opposition ou à des croyances et des pratiques essentiellement en raison de leur source dans le judaïsme, soit parce que la croyance ou la pratique est associée avec le peuple juif. (Mais voir La théologie)

Bien que certains chrétiens dans le passé a fait envisager de l’anti-judaïsme est contraire à l’enseignement chrétien, ce point de vue n’a pas été largement exprimé par les dirigeants et les laïcs. Dans de nombreux cas, la tolérance pratique vers la religion juive et les Juifs a prévalu. Certains groupes chrétiens, en particulier dans les premières années, ont condamné verbale anti-judaïsme.

Antécédents de l’antisémitisme chrétien

A Rome et dans tout l’Empire romain, la religion faisait partie intégrante du gouvernement civil. L’Empereur était de temps à autre a déclaré être un dieu et a exigé d’être adoré en conséquence. Cela a créé des difficultés pour les Juifs religieux, qui ont été interdits d’adorer aucun autre dieu que celui de la Bible hébraïque. Cela a créé des problèmes dans les relations entre Rome et de ses sujets juifs, ainsi que pour les adorateurs de Mithra, adorateurs de Sabazios et le christianisme. Dans le cas des Juifs, ce qui a conduit à plusieurs révoltes contre Rome et les persécutions graves par Rome comme une punition.

Beaucoup de gentils début se convertit au christianisme est probablement venu de et partagé ce préjugé culturel. Comme gentile convertit ils n’étaient pas bien familiarisé avec la vie interne de la communauté juive. C’est pourquoi ils lu la plupart des textes du Nouveau Testament que les condamnations du judaïsme en tant que tels, plutôt que comme des différences internes qui étaient monnaie courante au sein de la communauté juive.

Les premières différences

“Ce n’est pas une impression rare et on le trouve parfois chez les Juifs ainsi que les chrétiens -.. Que le judaïsme est la religion de la Bible hébraïque Il est, bien sûr, une impression fallacieuse judaïsme n’est pas la religion de la Bible.” [Le rabbin Ben Zion Bokser, le judaïsme et le Predicament chrétienne, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967, p. 59, 159]

“La religion juive telle qu’elle est aujourd’hui retrace sa descente, sans interruption, à travers tous les siècles, des pharisiens. Leurs idées principales et les méthodes trouvé son expression dans une littérature de mesure énorme, dont une très grande est toujours en existence. Le Talmud est le membre le plus important et le plus important de cette littérature, et autour d’elle sont réunis un certain nombre de Midrashim, en partie juridique (halakhique) et travaille en partie de l’édification (Haggadic). Cette littérature, dans ses éléments les plus anciens, remonte à une temps avant le début de l’ère commune, et descend dans le Moyen Age. À travers tout cela exécutez les lignes de pensée qui ont d’abord été tirées par les pharisiens, et l’étude de celui-ci est essentielle pour une réelle compréhension du pharisaïsme. ” [Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 3 pg. 474]

«Pharisaïsme est devenu Talmudisme, Talmudisme devenu rabbinisme médiéval, et le rabbinisme médiéval est devenu rabbinisme moderne. Mais tout au long de ces changements de nom, l’adaptation inévitable de la coutume, et l’ajustement de la loi, l’esprit du pharisien ancienne survit inchangé “[le rabbin Dr. Finkelstein, Les Pharisiens:. Le contexte sociologique de leur foi, p. xxi]

«Le Talmud est la forme écrite de ce qui à l’époque de Jésus, a été appelé la« tradition des anciens », et à laquelle il fait de fréquentes allusions.” [Michael L. Rodkinson, L’histoire du Talmud: De l’époque de sa formation, environ 200 avant J.-C. Jusqu’à l’heure actuelle, Kessinger Publishing, LLC (8 Juin 2006), ISBN 978-1-4286-3136-6, p . 70]

“Le complexe de pratiques rabbinique ordonnés … y compris la plupart des règles pour le traitement de l’Écriture elle-même, ne découlent pas du tout l’Ecriture. Préoccupation initiale judaïsme rabbinique était à l’élaboration et le raffinement de son propre système. Fixation du système à l’Écriture était secondaire. Il est donc trompeur de représenter le judaïsme rabbinique principalement comme une conséquence d’un processus exégétique ou le déroulement organique de l’Écriture. Au contraire, le judaïsme rabbinique a commencé comme le travail d’un petit groupe, ambitieux et homogène de pseudo-prêtres … Par le troisième siècle (AD), les rabbins ont exprimé leur auto-conception dans l’idéologie de la «Torah orale», qui a jugé qu’une ensemble complet d’enseignements et de pratiques (Halakhot) ne figurent pas dans l’Écriture avait été donnée par Dieu et par Moïse seulement à l’établissement rabbinique »(judaïsme rabbinique: Structure et système, Jacob Nuesner, pp 31-34).

Il ya eu des différences philosophiques entre le christianisme et le judaïsme rabbinique depuis la fondation du christianisme. Chrétiens reconnaissent les racines du christianisme dans le judaïsme. Certains affirment l’intégralité du patrimoine religieux juif comme son propre, tout en l’interprétant de façon très différente.

Débats entre les premiers chrétiens, qui d’abord se considéraient comme un mouvement au sein du judaïsme et non pas comme une religion distincte, et les autres Juifs d’abord tourné autour de la question de savoir si Jésus était le Messie, qui, plus tard entouré la question de sa divinité. Une fois Gentils ont été convertis au christianisme, la question s’est posée de savoir si et dans quelle mesure ces pagano-chrétiens ont été obligés de suivre la loi juive, afin de suivre Jésus (voir la lettre de Paul aux Galates). Au concile de Jérusalem, [Actes 15] il a été décidé que les convertis Gentils nouvelles, n’a pas besoin d’être circoncis (le décret apostolique de Actes 15:19-21), tout en exigeant l’acceptation d’un ensemble de lois similaires à la loi Noahide du judaïsme, (voir aussi l’Ancien Testament vue # chrétienne de la loi pour le débat moderne), mais Paul a également contesté la validité de l’adhésion des chrétiens juifs à la loi juive par rapport à la foi en Jésus-Christ, selon certaines interprétations. La question de Paul de Tarse et le judaïsme est encore chaudement débattue.

L’augmentation du nombre de chrétiens non-juifs par rapport aux chrétiens d’origine juive ont finalement abouti à une rupture entre le christianisme et le judaïsme, qui a été renforcée par les guerres judéo-romaine (66-73 et 132-135) qui a conduit beaucoup de Juifs dans la diaspora plus et réduit l’influence de l’évêque de Jérusalem, chef de file de la première église chrétienne. Les premiers chrétiens également trouvé dans l’Ancien Testament, des prophéties qui semblaient indiquer que l’alliance originelle de Dieu avec les Juifs seraient élargies pour inclure également les Gentils, en prosélytes d’autres mots, craignant Dieu, et noachides. Ainsi, les Pères de l’Eglise ont tendance à souligner que l’Eglise est le nouveau «spirituel» d’Israël, complétant ou remplaçant la terre d’Israël qui était, mais son prototype. Dans les temps modernes, ce point de vue serait venu à être appelé “théologie du”.

En outre, les deux religions diffèrent dans leur statut juridique dans l’Empire romain: le judaïsme, limitée pour le peuple juif et les prosélytes juifs, était généralement exemptés de l’obligation au culte impérial romain et depuis le règne de Jules César jouit du statut d’un licite ” la religion “, mais il y avait aussi des persécutions occasionnelles, par exemple dans 19 Tibère expulsé les Juifs de Rome, comme Claudius fait de nouveau dans 49 ans. Cependant le christianisme ne s’est pas limitée à un seul peuple, et en tant que chrétiens juifs étaient exclus de la synagogue (voir Conseil de Jamnia), ils ont aussi perdu la protection de l’état du judaïsme, bien que cette protection ne sont ses limites (voir par exemple Titus Flavius Clemens (consul), Akiba ben Joseph, et Ten Martyrs).

Depuis le règne de Néron, dès que l’on dit avoir blâmé le grand incendie de Rome sur les chrétiens, le christianisme a été considérée comme illégale et les chrétiens ont été fréquemment soumis à des persécutions, à la différence au niveau régional. De façon comparable, le judaïsme a subi des revers des guerres judéo-romaines, se souvient dans l’héritage de dix martyrs. Robin Lane Fox retrace l’origine de l’hostilité que beaucoup plus tard à la période de persécution, où la plus fréquente de test par les autorités d’un suspect chrétienne consistait à exiger hommage à être payé à l’empereur divinisé. Les Juifs étaient exemptés de cette obligation tant que ils ont payé le judaicus Fiscus, et les chrétiens (beaucoup ou la plupart du temps des origines juives) dirais qu’ils étaient juifs, mais a refusé de payer la taxe. Ce devait être confirmée par les autorités juives locales, qui étaient susceptibles de refuser d’accepter les chrétiens comme juifs, ce qui conduit souvent à leur exécution. Le Haminim Birkat a souvent été présentée comme un soutien pour cette accusation que les Juifs étaient responsables de la persécution des chrétiens dans l’Empire romain. Dans le 3ème siècle de persécution systématique des chrétiens a commencé et a duré jusqu’à ce que la conversion de Constantin au christianisme. En 390 Théodose Ier fit du christianisme la religion d’Etat de l’Empire romain. Alors que les cultes païens et le manichéisme ont été supprimées, le judaïsme a conservé son statut juridique en tant que religion licite, si violence anti-juive se produisent encore. Au 5ème siècle, certaines mesures juridiques aggravé la situation des Juifs dans l’Empire romain (maintenant plus correctement appelé l’Empire byzantin depuis la relocalisation à Constantinople).

Nouveau Testament rejet du judaïsme

Un certain nombre de passages dans le Nouveau Testament peut être considéré comme un rejet de Judaismgiven une certaine approche interprétative. Parmi eux se trouvent:

Pour vous, frères, devenus les imitateurs des Églises de Dieu en Jésus-Christ qui sont en Judée, car vous avez subi les mêmes choses à partir de vos propres compatriotes comme ils le faisaient des Juifs, qui a tué le Seigneur Jésus et les prophètes, et nous a conduits dehors, et déplaisent à Dieu et s’opposer à tous les hommes.

Les critiques de l’esprit de clocher ou le particularisme juif
Les critiques de Juifs d’être des enfants du diable et autres [Jn 8:44-47]
Les critiques de la pharisiens [Mt. 23]
L’affirmation selon laquelle l’alliance juive avec Dieu a été remplacée par une nouvelle alliance
L’explication du rôle juif dans la Passion de Jésus. Ceci est illustré par 1 Thessaloniciens 2:14-15:

Ces éléments du Nouveau Testament ont leurs origines dans l’histoire du 1er siècle. Le christianisme a commencé comme une révision du judaïsme. Beaucoup de disciples de Jésus pendant sa vie étaient des Juifs, et il était même une question de confusion, de nombreuses années après sa mort, quant à savoir si les non-Juifs pourraient même être considérés comme chrétiens du tout, selon la façon dont certains interprètent le Concile de Jérusalem .

Bien que les Evangiles offrent des comptes de confrontations et de débats entre Jésus et les Juifs d’autres, ces conflits étaient fréquents chez les Juifs à l’époque. Les chercheurs ne s’entendent pas sur l’historicité des Evangiles, et ont offert des interprétations différentes de la relation complexe entre les autorités juives et chrétiens avant et après la mort de Jésus. Ces charnière des débats sur la signification du mot “messie”, et les revendications des premiers chrétiens.

Rejet de Jésus comme le Messie

Le christianisme dit que Jésus est le Messie que le judaïsme n’accepte pas. Les évangiles affirment que Jésus était un prédicateur, un guérisseur, et le Messie. Il n’y a aucune raison de penser que Jésus aurait entrer en conflit avec les autorités juives en Judée du 1er siècle à cause de sa prédication et de guérison, mais une partie du dossier évangile est la purification du Temple. Cependant, affirme qu’il était le Messie étaient plus controversée. Le mot hébreu mashiyakh (משיח) généralement signifié un homme, choisi par Dieu est descendu d’un homme choisi par Dieu, pour servir de l’autorité civile et militaire. Si Jésus a fait cette déclaration au cours de sa vie, il n’est pas surprenant que de nombreux Juifs, las de l’occupation romaine, aurait pris en charge comme un libérateur. Il est également probable que les autorités juives auraient fait preuve de prudence, de peur de représailles romaine.

Jésus a été considéré par les chrétiens à être le Messie, tandis que pour la plupart des Juifs de la mort de Jésus aurait été une preuve suffisante qu’il n’était pas le Messie juif. Si les premiers chrétiens prêché que Jésus était sur le point de revenir, il est pratiquement certain que les autorités juives s’y sont opposés par crainte de représailles romaine.

Ces craintes auraient été bien mise à la terre: les Juifs se révoltèrent contre les Romains en 66 CE, qui a culminé avec la destruction du Second Temple en 70 après JC. Ils se révoltent à nouveau sous la direction de la profession messie Simon Bar Kokhba en 132 CE, qui a abouti à l’expulsion des Juifs de Jérusalem, qui Hadrien renommé en Aelia Capitolina dans une tentative d’effacer la mémoire des Juifs là-bas.

À l’époque, le christianisme était encore considérée comme une secte du judaïsme, mais le messianique réclamations aliéné de nombreux chrétiens (y compris les convertis juifs) et fortement aggravé le schisme.

Respect de la loi mosaïque

Une autre source de tension entre les premiers chrétiens et les juifs était la question du respect de la loi mosaïque qui a également été débattue parmi les prosélytes. Les premiers chrétiens étaient divisés sur la question: Certains chrétiens juifs ou judaïsants soi-disant soutenu que les chrétiens ont été tenus d’observer la loi de Moïse, tandis que Paul peut-être fait valoir que seule une partie de la loi mosaïque appliquée aux chrétiens, mais la question de Paul de Tarse et le judaïsme est encore chaudement débattue avec certains préconisant l’abrogation complète. La question a été débattue en particulier dans le contexte de savoir si païens convertis étaient obligés de se soumettre à la circoncision, qui était une exigence pour les garçons juifs. La question a été chaudement débattue dans le 1er siècle et se sont installés au sein du Conseil de Jérusalem, dans lequel Paul et Barnabas ont participé en tant que représentants de l’église d’Antioche. Le Conseil a décidé que païens convertis ne sont pas soumis à la loi mosaïque plus, y compris la circoncision, mais les oblige à rester loin de manger de la viande avec le sang encore sur elle, manger de la viande des animaux étouffés, manger de la nourriture offerte aux idoles, et l’immoralité sexuelle. Voir aussi la loi Noahide et prosélyte.

Beaucoup ont interprété les écrits de Paul comme d’autres parties du Nouveau Testament que la fin des exigences de la loi juive. Voir prosélyte et nouvelle perspective sur Paul pour plus de détails. Un exemple d’un autre point de vue est représenté par l’article Encyclopédie catholique sur judaïsants.

Paul, d’autre part, non seulement ne s’oppose pas à l’observation de la loi mosaïque tant qu’elle n’interfère pas avec la liberté des Gentils, mais aussi il se conformait à ses ordonnances lorsque l’occasion l’exigeait. [1Cor 9:20] Ainsi, il peu de temps après [le Concile de Jérusalem] circoncit Timothée, [Actes 16:1-3] et il était dans l’acte même d’observer le rituel mosaïque quand il a été arrêté à Jérusalem.

Conversion des Gentils au judaïsme

Après la mort de Paul, le christianisme apparaît comme une religion distincte, et le christianisme paulinien apparue comme la forme dominante du christianisme, surtout après Paul, Jacques et les autres apôtres d’accord sur un compromis d’exigences. [Ac 15] Certains chrétiens ont continué à adhérer à juive la loi, mais ils étaient peu nombreux et souvent considérés comme des hérétiques par l’Église. Un exemple est le Ebionites, qui, selon l’Encyclopédie catholique, ont été “infectés avec des erreurs judaïque” (la langue que les Juifs trouver injurieux; par exemple, ils ont nié la naissance virginale de Jésus, la résurrection physique de Jésus, et la plupart des livres qui ont été canonisé plus tard que le Nouveau Testament, voir aussi «judaïsants» (un terme qui les Juifs trouver offensant). Par exemple, les orthodoxes éthiopiens sont souvent accusés d’être des judaïsants, car ils observent encore les enseignements de l’Ancien Testament comme le sabbat, et inversement, ils accusent leurs adversaires de marcionisme résiduelle. Pas plus tard que l’Eglise du 4ème siècle le Père Jean Chrysostome se plaint (voir John Sermons Chrysostome sur les Juifs et les chrétiens judaïsants) que certains chrétiens fréquentaient encore les synagogues juives.

La critique des pharisiens

De nombreux passages du Nouveau Testament critiquer les pharisiens et il a été avancé que ces passages ont façonné la manière dont les chrétiens vu les Juifs. Comme passages les plus bibliques, cependant, ils peuvent et ont été interprétées dans une variété de façons.

Au cours de la vie de Jésus et au moment de son exécution, les pharisiens étaient seulement un des nombreux groupes juifs, tels que les sadducéens, zélotes et des Esséniens, en effet, certains ont suggéré que Jésus était lui-même un pharisien. Arguments avancés par Jésus et ses disciples contre les Pharisiens et ce qu’il considérait comme leur hypocrisie sont des exemples les plus susceptibles de différends entre les juifs et au judaïsme interne qui étaient en usage à l’époque, voir par exemple Hillel et Shammaï. (Le pasteur luthérien Jean Stendhal l’a fait remarquer que «le christianisme commence comme une sorte de judaïsme, et nous devons reconnaître que les paroles prononcées dans un conflit familial sont mal appropriés par ceux en dehors de la famille.”)

Des études récentes sur l’antisémitisme dans le Nouveau Testament

Professeur Lillian C. Freudmann, auteur de l’antisémitisme dans le Nouveau Testament (University Press of America, 1994) a publié une étude détaillée de la description des Juifs dans le Nouveau Testament, et les effets historiques que ces passages ont eu dans la communauté chrétienne tout au long l’histoire. Des études similaires de ces versets ont été faites par des savants à la fois chrétiennes et juives, y compris, les professeurs Clark Williamsom (Christian Theological Seminary), Hyam Maccoby (Le Leo Baeck Institute), Norman A. Beck (Texas Lutheran College), et Michael Berenbaum (Georgetown Université). La plupart des rabbins estiment que ces versets sont antisémites, et de nombreux érudits chrétiens, en Amérique et en Europe, ont atteint la même conclusion. Un autre exemple est 1995 John Dominic Crossan de Qui a tué Jésus? Exposer les racines de l’antisémitisme dans le récit évangélique de la mort de Jésus.

Les Pères de l’Église

Évêques patristiques de l’époque patristique, comme Augustin a fait valoir que les Juifs devraient être laissés en vie et la souffrance comme un rappel perpétuel de leur assassiner de Jésus-Christ. Pères de l’Église d’autres, comme Jean Chrysostome a duré plus longtemps dans leur condamnation. Ephrem le Syrien écrit polémique contre les Juifs dans le 4ème siècle, y compris l’accusation a répété que Satan a sa demeure parmi eux comme un partenaire. Ces écrits ont été dirigés les chrétiens qui étaient prosélytisme par des Juifs et qui ont été Ephraïm craint de retomber dans la religion du judaïsme; c’est ainsi qu’il dépeint les Juifs comme des ennemis du christianisme, comme Satan, afin de souligner le contraste entre les deux religions, à savoir que Le christianisme était pieux et vrai et le judaïsme était satanique et le faux. Comme Jean Chrysostome, son objectif était de dissuader les chrétiens de revenir au judaïsme en soulignant ce qu’il a vu que la méchanceté des Juifs et leur religion.

Chrétiens et des Juifs en terre d’islam

Alors que dans l’Europe chrétienne christianisme avait la haute main en tant que religion d’Etat, en vertu de l’Islam Juifs et les chrétiens étaient sur un pied d’même.

Le Moyen-Age

L’empereur Léon I

L’empereur byzantin Léon, j’ai compilé un code de loi, les nouvelles constitutions de Lion, en vertu de laquelle les Juifs ont été obligés d’observer les rites chrétiens.

«Les Juifs doivent vivre en accord avec les rites du christianisme. Ceux qui autrefois ont été investis avec l’autorité impériale promulgué des lois différentes en référence aux peuple hébreu, qui, une fois nourrie par la protection divine, est devenu célèbre, mais qui sont maintenant remarquable pour les calamités infligées en raison de leur contumace vers le Christ et Dieu, et ces lois, tout en régulant leur mode de vie, les obligeait à lire les Saintes Ecritures, et leur a ordonné de ne pas s’écarter des cérémonies de leur culte Ils ont également fourni que leurs enfants doivent se conformer. à leur religion, étant obligé de le faire aussi bien par les liens du sang, comme le récit de l’institution de la circoncision. Ce sont les lois que j’ai déjà évoquées étaient autrefois appliquées dans tout l’Empire. Mais le souverain le plus Saint, dont nous sont descendus, plus soucieux que ses prédécesseurs pour le salut des Juifs, au lieu de leur permettre (comme ils le faisaient) d’obéir seulement leurs anciennes lois, a tenté, par l’interprétation de prophéties et les conclusions qu’il a tirées, de les convertir à la religion chrétienne, par l’intermédiaire de l’eau vivifiante du baptême. Il a parfaitement réussi dans ses tentatives pour les transformer en des hommes nouveaux, selon la doctrine du Christ, et les avoir incités à dénoncer leurs anciennes doctrines et d’abandonner leurs cérémonies religieuses, telles que la circoncision, l’observance du sabbat, et tous leurs autres rites. Mais, bien que lui, dans une certaine mesure, surmonté de l’obstination des Juifs, il a été incapable de les forcer à abolir les lois qui leur permettaient de vivre en accord avec leur ancienne des douanes. Par conséquent, nous, désireux d’accomplir ce que Notre Père n’a pas pour effet, par les présentes annuler toutes les lois anciennes édictées en référence aux Hébreux, et Nous ordonnons que ils ne doivent pas oser vivre de toute autre manière qu’en conformité avec les règles établies par la foi pure et salutaire chrétienne. Et si quelqu’un d’entre eux devraient être prouvé qu’ils ont négligé d’observer les cérémonies de la religion chrétienne, et d’avoir retourné à ses anciennes pratiques, il doit payer la pénalité prévue par la loi pour les apostats. ”

Le pape Grégoire I

Pas tous les premiers chrétiens étaient des antisémites bien. Certains, comme le pape Grégoire I, s’est prononcé contre l’antisémitisme de leur journée.

Sicut Judaeis

Sicut Judaeis (la «Constitution pour les Juifs”) était la position officielle de la papauté en ce qui concerne les Juifs à travers le Moyen Age et plus tard. Le premier taureau a été publié en 1120 par environ Calixte II, destiné à protéger les Juifs qui ont souffert pendant la première croisade, et a été réaffirmé par de nombreux papes, même jusqu’à ce que le 15ème siècle.

Le taureau a interdit, en outre d’autres choses, des chrétiens de contraindre les Juifs à convertir, ou de leur nuire, ou de prendre leurs biens, ou à troubler la célébration de leurs fêtes, ou d’interférer avec leurs cimetières, sous peine d’excommunication.

Plus tard, les écrivains chrétiens

Le Pape Jean-XVIII

1007: “Les Juifs de France, victimes de la persécution, sont pris sous la protection papale.”

Le pape Alexandre II

1063: “Éloge de Winfred, archevêque de Narbonne, pour défendre les Juifs.
1063: “Éloge de Bérenger, vicomte de Narbonne, pour protéger les Juifs.”
1065: “admonition à Landolphe, seigneur de Bénévent, que la conversion des Juifs ne doit pas être obtenu par la force.”

Saint Bernard de Clairvaux

“N’est-il pas un triomphe bien mieux pour l’Eglise de convaincre et convertir les Juifs que de les mettre tous à l’épée? Est-ce que la prière que l’Eglise offre pour les Juifs … été institué en vain?”

Thomas de Monmouth

En 1173 a écrit un tractate détaillée antisémite, intitulé La vie et les miracles de Saint-Guillaume de Norwich, estimant que les Juifs torturés à mort un enfant chrétien pendant la Pâque.

Le pape Innocent III

1199: Constitution pour les Juifs
1199: Lettre sur les Juifs

Thomas d’Aquin

Ne pas imposer, at-il dit, son propre jugement, mais plutôt exhortant le jugement des experts, a déclaré que, “comme disent les lois, les Juifs en raison de leur faute sont condamnés à la servitude perpétuelle et donc les seigneurs des terres dans lesquelles ils habitent peut prendre les choses d’eux comme s’ils étaient eux-mêmes – avec, néanmoins, cette contrainte a fait observer que les subventions nécessaires à la vie en aucun cas être pris d’eux … [et que] les services forcés d’eux ne demandent pas des choses qu’ils n’avait pas été habitué à faire dans une époque révolue. ” Toutefois, il a également fait valoir que les Juifs ne doivent pas être baptisés contre leur gré, en citant le concile de Tolède: «En ce qui concerne les Juifs, les commandes saint Concile, qu’aucun d’entre eux désormais être forcés de croire.”

Le pape Grégoire IX

A écrit plusieurs décrets pour empêcher les discriminations contre les Juifs (voir le pape Grégoire IX et le judaïsme).

Le pape Grégoire X:

“Et le plus faussement faire ces chrétiens prétendent que les Juifs ont secrètement et furtivement emporté ces enfants et les ont tués, et que les Juifs offrir un sacrifice du cœur et le sang de ces enfants, puisque leur droit dans cette affaire précisément et expressément interdit les Juifs à sacrifier, manger ou boire le sang, ou de manger la chair d’animaux ayant des griffes Cela a été démontré à plusieurs reprises à notre cour par les Juifs convertis à la foi chrétienne:. Juifs néanmoins très nombreuses sont souvent saisis et retenus injustement à cause de cela. Nous décrétons, par conséquent, que les chrétiens ne doivent pas être obéi contre les Juifs dans un cas ou une situation de ce type, et nous ordonnons que les Juifs saisis en vertu d’un tel prétexte idiot être libéré de prison, et qu’ils ne doivent pas être arrêtés désormais sur un tel misérable prétexte, à moins que nous-ne croient pas, ils seront pris dans la perpétration du crime. Nous décrétons qu’aucun chrétien doit remuer quelque chose de nouveau contre eux, mais qu’ils devraient être maintenus dans ce statut et la position dans laquelle ils se trouvaient dans la le temps de nos prédécesseurs, depuis l’antiquité jusqu’à aujourd’hui. “

Geoffrey Chaucer

A écrit dans “Le Prieure de Tale” de ses Contes de Canterbury d’un enfant chrétien dévot peu qui a été assassiné par les Juifs affront à son chant un hymne comme il passait à travers le judaïsme, ou le quartier juif, d’une ville en Asie. Une masse considérable de l’opinion critique et savante considère que ce discours, dans la bouche de la prieure, représente une inversion ironique de sentiments propres de Chaucer: qui est, la Prieure est considéré comme un hypocrite dont la cruauté et le fanatisme dément son classiquement pieuse posent – une situation typique de l’indétermination des intentions de Chaucer.

Le pape Martin V

Déclarée en 1419: «Tandis que les Juifs sont à l’image de Dieu et un reste d’entre eux seront un jour sauvés, et alors qu’ils ont supplié notre protection: en suivant les traces de nos prédécesseurs, nous commande qu’ils ne soient pas molestés dans leur synagogues; que leurs lois, les droits de douane et ne soit pas assailli; qu’ils ne soient pas baptisés par la force, contraint à observer les fêtes chrétiennes, ni de porter de nouveaux insignes, et qu’ils ne soient pas gênés dans leurs relations d’affaires avec les chrétiens “Martin toutefois émis une Bull en 1425 ordonnant aux Juifs de porter un «insigne de l’infamie”. Après les juifs autrichiens et allemands fait appel à lui, il parlait en leur faveur en 1420 et “en 1422, a confirmé les anciens privilèges de leur race”.

Le pape Clément VIII

“Tout le monde souffre de l’usure des Juifs, leurs monopoles et la tromperie. Ils ont apporté beaucoup de gens malheureux dans un état de pauvreté, en particulier les agriculteurs, la classe ouvrière et les très pauvres. Alors, comme aujourd’hui, les Juifs doivent être rappelé par intermittence qu’ils ont été jouissant de droits dans tous les pays depuis qu’ils ont quitté la Palestine et le désert d’Arabie, et par la suite leurs doctrines éthiques et moraux ainsi que leurs actes méritent à juste titre d’être exposés à la critique dans n’importe quel pays ils vivent. “

Patriarche Miron Cristea

“Le devoir d’un chrétien est de s’aimer lui-même d’abord et de voir que ses besoins sont satisfaits. Alors seulement il peut aider son prochain …. Pourquoi devrions-nous pas à se débarrasser de ces parasites [les Juifs] qui sucent le sang roumain Christian? Il est logique et sainte de réagir contre eux. “

L’antisémitisme populaire

L’antisémitisme en populaire chrétienne de la culture européenne dégénéré début dans le 13ème siècle. Libelles de sang et la profanation d’accueil a attiré l’attention populaire et conduit à de nombreux cas de persécution contre les Juifs. L’imagerie antisémite comme Judensau et Ecclesia et Synagoga récidivé dans l’art chrétien et de l’architecture.

En Islande, l’un des hymnes répétés dans les jours qui ont précédé à Pâques inclure les lignes,

La loi de Moïse justes

Les Juifs ici mal appliqué,

Quels leur tromperie expose,

Leur haine et leur fierté.

Le jugement est la volonté du Seigneur.

Lorsque, par la falsification

L’ennemi fait accusation,

C’est son de rendre des sentences.

Expulsions

Expulsion des Juifs d’Angleterre

Le roi Edouard Ier expulsé tous les Juifs d’Angleterre en 1290 (seulement après racheter quelque 3.000 parmi les plus riches d’entre eux), sur l’accusation d’usure et de saper la loyauté à la dynastie.

Expulsion des Juifs d’Espagne

En 1492, Ferdinand II d’Aragon et Isabelle I de Castille, les rois d’Espagne qui ont financé voyage de Christophe Colomb vers le Nouveau Monde quelques mois plus tard, en 1492, a déclaré que tous les Juifs dans leurs territoires devraient soit se convertir au catholicisme ou quitter le pays . Alors que certains convertis, beaucoup d’autres à gauche pour le Portugal, la France, l’Italie (y compris les États pontificaux), aux Pays-Bas, la Pologne, l’Empire ottoman, et Afrique du Nord. Beaucoup de ceux qui avaient fui au Portugal ont été expulsés ces derniers par le roi Manuel en 1497 ou à gauche pour éviter la conversion forcée et de la persécution.

Réforme protestante

Martin Luther d’abord fait des ouvertures vers les Juifs, croyant que les “maux” du catholicisme avait empêché leur conversion au christianisme. Lorsque son appel à se convertir à sa version du christianisme n’a pas réussi, il est devenu hostile à leur égard.

Dans son livre sur les Juifs et leurs mensonges, il les excorie comme des «bêtes venimeuses, des vipères, écume dégoûtante, les canders, des diables incarnés.” Il a fourni des recommandations détaillées pour un pogrom contre eux, appelant à leur oppression permanente et l’expulsion, en écrivant «Leurs maisons privées doivent être détruits et dévastés, ils pourraient être logés dans les écuries. Que les magistrats brûler leurs synagogues et de laisser ce qui échappe être recouvert de sable et la boue. Laissez-les forcer à travailler, et si ce rien produits de la prostitution, nous serons obligés de les expulser comme des chiens afin de ne pas nous exposer à encourir la colère divine et la damnation éternelle des Juifs et leurs mensonges. ” A un moment, il écrit: “… nous sommes en faute de ne pas les tuer …” un passage que «l’on peut appeler le premier travail de l’antisémitisme moderne, et un pas de géant sur la route de l’Holocauste.”

Commentaires sévères de Luther sur les Juifs sont considérés par beaucoup comme une continuation de l’antisémitisme chrétien médiéval. Dans son dernier sermon peu de temps avant sa mort, cependant, Luther prêcha: «Nous voulons les traiter avec amour chrétien et de prier pour eux, afin qu’ils puissent se convertir et recevrait le Seigneur.”

18e siècle

En conformité avec les préceptes anti-juives de l’Eglise orthodoxe russe, les politiques discriminatoires de la Russie envers les juifs intensifié lorsque la partition de la Pologne au 18e siècle a entraîné, pour la première fois dans l’histoire russe, dans la possession de la terre avec une importante population juive. [31] Cette terre a été désignée comme la zone de résidence à partir de laquelle les Juifs ont été interdit de migrer à l’intérieur de la Russie. En 1772, Catherine II, l’impératrice de Russie, contraint les Juifs de la zone de résidence de rester dans leurs shtetls et leur a interdit de retourner dans les villes qu’ils occupaient avant la partition de la Pologne.

19e siècle

Tout au long du 19ème siècle et dans le 20, l’Église catholique romaine encore incorporé forts éléments antisémites, malgré une augmentation des tentatives de séparer l’anti-judaïsme (opposition à la religion juive pour des motifs religieux) et de l’antisémitisme racial. Le pape Pie VII (1800-1823) avait les murs du ghetto juif de Rome reconstruite après que les Juifs furent émancipés par Napoléon, et les Juifs ont été limités dans le ghetto jusqu’à la fin des États pontificaux en 1870. Officielles des organisations catholiques, comme les jésuites, les candidats interdits “qui sont les descendants de la race juive sauf s’il est clair que leur père, grand-père, et arrière grand-père ont appartenu à l’Eglise catholique” jusqu’en 1946.

Brown University historien David Kertzer, travaillant à partir de l’archive du Vatican, a fait valoir dans son livre Les Papes contre les Juifs que dans le 19ème siècle et début du 20ème siècle l’Église catholique romaine ont adhéré à une distinction entre “l’antisémitisme bon» et «antisémitisme mauvais». Le «mauvais» genre favorisé la haine des Juifs en raison de leur descente. Cela a été considéré comme non-chrétien, parce que le message chrétien était destiné à l’ensemble de l’humanité indépendamment de l’appartenance ethnique; n’importe qui pouvait devenir un chrétien. Le «bon» critiqué allégués conspirations juives aux journaux de contrôle, les banques et autres institutions, se soucier que de l’accumulation de la richesse, etc De nombreux évêques catholiques ont écrit des articles critiquant les Juifs sur de tels motifs, et, lorsque l’accusé de fomenter la haine des Juifs, rappelle aux gens que ils ont condamné la “mauvaise” forme d’antisémitisme. Travail Kertzer n’est pas sans critiques. Scholar de relations judéo-chrétiennes le rabbin David Dalin G., par exemple, a critiqué Kertzer dans le Weekly Standard pour l’utilisation de la preuve de manière sélective.

Du 20e siècle

La Première Guerre mondiale à la veille de la Seconde Guerre mondiale

En 1916, dans le milieu de la Première Guerre mondiale , les Juifs américains demandé le Pape Benoît XV, au nom des Juifs polonais.

L’antisémitisme nazi

Le 26 Avril, 1933, Hitler a déclaré lors d’une réunion avec l’évêque catholique Berning Wilhelm de Osnabrück:

“J’ai été attaqué à cause de mon traitement de la question juive. L’Eglise catholique a examiné le pestilentielle Juifs pendant quinze cents ans, les mettre dans des ghettos, etc, parce qu’il a reconnu les Juifs pour ce qu’ils étaient. A l’époque du libéralisme le danger n’était plus reconnu. Je suis un retour vers le temps où une tradition de quinze à cent ans de long a été mis en œuvre. Je n’ai pas mis la race sur la religion, mais je reconnais les représentants de cette race comme pestilentielle de l’Etat et pour l’Eglise, et peut-être je suis ainsi fait le christianisme un grand service en les poussant en dehors des écoles et des fonctions publiques. ”

La transcription de cette discussion ne contient pas de réponse par l’évêque Berning. Martin Rhonheimer ne considère pas cette inhabituel puisque, à son avis, pour un évêque catholique en 1933 il n’y avait rien de particulièrement choquant »dans ce rappel historiquement correct».

Les nazis utilisé le livre de Martin Luther, sur les Juifs et leurs mensonges (1543), de réclamer une droiture morale à leur idéologie. Luther est même allé jusqu’à préconiser l’assassiner des Juifs qui refusaient de se convertir au christianisme, écrit que «nous sommes en faute de ne pas les tuer”

L’Archevêque Robert Runcie a affirmé que:. “Sans siècles d’antisémitisme chrétien, la haine passionnée de Hitler n’aurait jamais été repris avec tant de ferveur … parce que pour les chrétiens des siècles ont eu lieu les juifs collectivement responsables de la mort de Jésus sur Bonne Juifs vendredi, ont dans les temps passé, se blottit derrière des portes verrouillées avec la peur d’une foule chrétienne cherchant «vengeance» pour déicide. Sans l’empoisonnement des esprits chrétiens à travers les siècles, l’Holocauste est impensable. ” Le prêtre catholique dissident Hans Küng a écrit que «nazi anti-judaïsme a été le travail de impies, anti-chrétiennes criminels. Mais il n’aurait pas été possible sans le près de deux mille ans d ‘histoire de la pré-« chrétien »l’anti-judaïsme. .. ”

Le document Dabru Emet a été émis par plus de 220 rabbins et intellectuels de toutes les branches du judaïsme en 2000 comme une déclaration au sujet de relations judéo-chrétiennes. Ce document stipule,

“Le nazisme n’était pas un phénomène chrétien. Sans la longue histoire de l’antijudaïsme chrétien et la violence chrétien contre des Juifs, l’idéologie nazie ne pouvait pas s’être emparée, ni aurait-il pu été réalisée. Trop de chrétiens ont participé à, ou étaient sympathiques à, nazi les atrocités commises contre les Juifs. autres chrétiens n’ont pas suffisamment protesté contre ces atrocités. Mais le nazisme n’était pas un résultat inévitable du christianisme. ”

Selon l’historien américain Dawidowicz Lucy, l’antisémitisme a une longue histoire au sein du christianisme. La ligne de «descente antisémite” de Luther, l’auteur de Sur les Juifs et leurs mensonges, à Hitler est «facile à dessiner.” Dans son La guerre contre les Juifs, 1933-1945, elle soutient que Luther et Hitler étaient obsédés par l ‘«univers demonologized” habitée par des Juifs. Dawidowicz écrit que les similitudes entre Luther anti-juives écrits et l’antisémitisme moderne sont pas une coïncidence, car ils proviennent d’une histoire commune de Judenhass, qui peuvent être attribués à des conseils d’Haman à Assuérus. Bien que l’antisémitisme moderne allemande a aussi ses racines dans le nationalisme allemand et la révolution libérale de 1848, l’antisémitisme chrétien, écrit-elle est une fondation qui a été posée par l’Eglise catholique romaine et “sur lequel Luther construit.” Allégations Dawidowicz ‘et les positions sont critiquées et non acceptés par la plupart des historiens cependant. Par exemple, dans «Étudier le Juif» Alan notes Steinweis que, «à l’ancienne antisémitisme, Hitler a fait valoir, était insuffisante, et ne ferait que de pogroms, qui ne contribuent guère à une solution permanente. C’est pourquoi, Hitler maintenu, il était important de promouvoir «un antisémitisme de la raison,« celui qui a reconnu la base raciale de la communauté juive. ” Entrevues avec les nazis par d’autres historiens montrent que les nazis pensaient que leurs points de vue ont été enraciné dans la biologie, et non pas des préjugés historiques. Par exemple, «S. est devenu un missionnaire pour que cette vision biomédicale … En ce qui concerne des attitudes antisémites et des actions, il a insisté que« la question raciale … [et] le ressentiment de la race juive … n’avait rien à voir avec l’antisémitisme médiéval … » C’est, tout cela était une question de biologie scientifique et de la communauté. ”

Chrétiens collaborateurs

Chrétiens allemands

Gleichschaltung

Hanns Kerrl, Ministre des affaires ecclésiastiques

Positive christianisme (la version approuvée nazie du christianisme)

Protestante du Reich Eglise

L’opposition à l’Holocauste

L’Eglise confessante était, en 1934, le groupe d’opposition premier chrétien. L’Eglise catholique a condamné officiellement la théorie nazie du racisme en Allemagne en 1937 avec l’encyclique “Mit brennender Sorge”, signé par le pape Pie XI, et le cardinal Michael von Faulhaber conduit l’opposition catholique, prêchant contre le racisme.

De nombreux membres du clergé chrétien individuels et des laïcs de toutes confessions ont dû payer pour leur opposition à leur vie, y compris:

Prêtre catholique, Maximilien Kolbe.
Pasteur luthérien Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Le curé catholique de la cathédrale de Berlin, Bernhard Lichtenberg.
Les membres catholiques de la plupart de Munich groupe de résistance autour de White Rose Hans et Sophie Scholl.

Dans les années 1940 moins de chrétiens étaient prêts à s’opposer à la politique nazie en public, mais beaucoup secrètement aidé à sauver la vie des Juifs. Il ya de nombreuses sections du Musée d’Israël de l’Holocauste, Yad Vashem, dédié à honorer ces “Justes parmi les Nations”.

Le Pape Pie XII

Avant de devenir pape, le cardinal Pacelli a présidé en tant que légat du pape le Congrès Eucharistique International à Budapest le 25 à 30 mai 1938. A cette époque lois antisémites étaient en train d’être formulé en Hongrie. Pacelli a fait référence aux Juifs », dont les lèvres malédiction [le Christ] et dont les cœurs le rejeter, même aujourd’hui”.

Le 1937 encyclique Mit brennender Sorge a été délivré par le pape Pie XI, mais rédigé par le futur pape Pie XIIand lues à partir des chaires de toutes les églises catholiques allemandes, il a condamné l’idéologie nazie et a été caractérisé par des savants comme le “premier grand document officiel public à osent affronter et critiquer le nazisme »et« un des plus grands de ces condamnations jamais émis par le Vatican. ”

À l’été 1942, Pie a expliqué à son collège des cardinaux les raisons pour lesquelles le grand fossé qui existait entre les Juifs et les chrétiens sur le plan théologique: «Jérusalem a répondu à son appel et à sa grâce avec le même aveuglement rigide et l’ingratitude tenace qui l’a conduit sur le chemin de la culpabilité à l’assassiner de Dieu. ” Historien Guido Knopp décrit ces commentaires de Pie comme étant «incompréhensible» à un moment où «Jérusalem était assassiné par millions”. Cette relation contradictoire traditionnel avec le judaïsme devait se renverser dans Nostra Aetate délivrés au cours du Concile Vatican II.

Des membres éminents de la communauté juive ont contredit les critiques de Pie et a fait l’éloge de ses efforts visant à protéger les Juifs. L’historien israélien Pinchas Lapide interrogé des survivants de guerre et a conclu que Pie XII “a contribué à sauver au moins 700.000, mais probablement le plus grand nombre que les Juifs 860 000 d’une mort certaine aux mains de nazis”. Certains historiens contestent cette estimation.

Le «White Power» le mouvement

Le mouvement d’identité chrétienne, le Ku Klux Klan et d’autres groupes suprématistes blancs ont exprimé des opinions antisémites. Ils affirment que leur antisémitisme est basé sur le contrôle juif présumé des médias, les banques internationales, la politique radicale de gauche, et la promotion du multiculturalisme, des groupes anti-chrétiennes, le libéralisme et les organisations perverses. Ils accusations reprends des Juifs contre le racisme et la revendication qui partagent leur idéologie maintenir l’adhésion dans leurs organisations. Une croyance commune raciale parmi ces groupes, mais pas universelle, est une doctrine histoire alternative, parfois appelé Israël Britannique. Dans certaines formes de cette doctrine nie absolument que les Juifs modernes ont un lien raciale en Israël de la Bible. Au lieu de cela, selon les formes extrêmes de cette doctrine, le vrai Israël raciale et les êtres humains véritables sont l’adamique (blanc) de course.

Ces groupes sont souvent rejetées et pas considérées comme des groupes chrétiens par principales confessions chrétiennes, ainsi que la grande majorité des chrétiens du monde entier.

Post World War II antisémitisme

L’antisémitisme en Europe reste un problème important. L’antisémitisme existe à un degré plus ou moins grande dans de nombreux autres pays aussi, y compris Europe de l’Est, l’ex-Union soviétique, et les tensions occasionnelles entre certains immigrés musulmans et les juifs à travers l’Europe. Le Département d’Etat américain signale que l’antisémitisme a augmenté de façon spectaculaire en Europe et en Eurasie depuis 2000.

Alors que dans un déclin depuis les années 1940, il ya encore une quantité mesurable de l’antisémitisme aux États-Unis d’Amérique ainsi, même si les actes de violence sont rares. L’enquête de 2001 par la Anti-Defamation League rapporté 1432 actes d’antisémitisme aux Etats-Unis cette année. Ce chiffre comprend 877 actes de harcèlement, y compris l’intimidation verbale, les menaces et les agressions physiques. Déclarations antisémites continuent de se produire, cependant. John Hagee, un des principaux promoteurs du «sionisme chrétien», a réitéré une vue-dont la popularité est très difficile d’évaluer mais qui doit néanmoins être considéré comme n’ayant pas simplement isolé-ce que les Juifs de l’Holocauste a sur eux-mêmes par irriter Dieu.

Juifs convertis

La Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), la plus grande dénomination protestante chrétienne aux Etats-Unis, a explicitement rejeté les suggestions qu’il devrait reculer de chercher à convertir les Juifs, une position que les critiques ont appelé antisémite, mais que les baptistes voient comme compatible avec leur point de vue que le salut se trouve uniquement par la foi en Jésus-Christ. En 1996, le SBC a approuvé une résolution appelant à des efforts pour chercher la conversion des juifs “ainsi que pour le salut de« tous les proches et de la langue, peuple et nation. ‘”

La plupart des évangéliques d’accord avec la position SBC, et certains ont été spécifiquement soutenir les efforts de recherche de conversion des Juifs. Dans le même temps ces groupes sont parmi les plus pro-israéliens des groupes. (Pour plus, voir le sionisme chrétien.) Parmi les groupes controversés qui a trouvé le soutien de certaines églises évangéliques est Juifs pour Jésus, qui prétend que les Juifs peuvent «compléter» leur foi juive en acceptant Jésus comme le Messie.

L’Eglise presbytérienne (Etats-Unis), l’Eglise méthodiste unie, et l’Église unie du Canada ont mis fin à leurs efforts pour convertir les Juifs. Alors que les anglicans ne pas, comme une règle, à tenter de convertir d’autres confessions chrétiennes, le Synode général a affirmé que “les bonnes nouvelles du salut en Jésus-Christ est pour tous et doit être partagé avec tous, y compris d’autres religions ou d’aucune foi et que de faire autre chose serait d’institutionnaliser la discrimination “.

L’Eglise catholique romaine avaient autrefois congrégations religieuses visant spécifiquement à la conversion des Juifs. Certains d’entre eux ont été fondées par eux-mêmes juive convertit, comme la Communauté de Notre-Dame de Sion, qui était composée de religieuses et des prêtres ordonnés. Beaucoup de saints catholiques ont été notés spécifiquement en raison de leur zèle missionnaire chez les Juifs de conversion, tels que Vincent Ferrer. Après le Concile Vatican II nombreux ordres missionnaires visant à convertir les Juifs au christianisme ne sont plus activement cherché à de missionnaire (ou prosélytisme) parmi les Juifs. Traditionalistes catholiques romains groupes, des congrégations et membres du clergé, cependant, continuer à soutenir les Juifs missionizing selon des schémas traditionnels, parfois avec succès (par exemple, la Fraternité Saint-Pie X qui a notables juifs convertis parmi ses prêtres traditionalistes fidèles, dont beaucoup sont devenus ).

Certaines organisations juives ont décrit l’évangélisation et l’activité missionnaire dirigée spécifiquement contre les Juifs comme antisémite.

Rapprochement entre le judaïsme et les groupes chrétiens

Ces dernières années il ya eu beaucoup de noter dans la voie de la réconciliation entre certains groupes chrétiens et les juifs. La plupart de cette réconciliation a eu lieu entre la communauté juive et l’Église catholique, et des organisations chrétiennes évangéliques.

L’islam et l’antisémitisme

L’islam et l’antisémitisme concerne l’enseignement theologicial islamique contre les Juifs et le judaïsme et le traitement des Juifs dans les pays musulmans.

A l’origine de l’Islam au 7ème siècle et sa propagation rapide dans la péninsule arabique et au-delà, les Juifs (et beaucoup d’autres peuples) est venu pour être soumis à la règle des dirigeants musulmans. La qualité de la règle varie considérablement dans les périodes différentes, de même que les attitudes des dirigeants, des responsables gouvernementaux, membres du clergé et de la population générale aux peuples soumis diverses de temps à autre, ce qui s’est reflété dans leur traitement de ces sujets. Reuven Firestone note que “les évaluations négatives et même condamnation des religions antérieures et de leurs adhérents se produire dans les trois écritures du judaïsme, le christianisme et l’islam.” Cet article se penche sur l’attitude des musulmans à, et le traitement de, Juifs dans la pensée islamique et les sociétés à travers l’histoire, et explore les ramifications de ces attitudes dans le monde contemporain.

Gamme de l’opinion

Claude Cahen et Shelomo Dov Goitein argumenter contre l’antisémitisme historique dans les terres musulmanes, écrit que la discrimination pratiquée à l’encontre des non-musulmans a été de nature générale et ne visent pas spécifiquement les Juifs. Pour ces chercheurs, l’antisémitisme dans l’Islam médiéval était local et sporadique plutôt que générale et endémiques. Pour l’antisémitisme Goitein n’était pas présent à tout, et pour Cahen il était rarement présent.
Bernard Lewis a écrit que tandis que les musulmans ont eu lieu les stéréotypes négatifs concernant les Juifs, pendant la majeure partie de l’histoire islamique, ces stéréotypes ne sont pas indicatifs de l’antisémitisme parce que, contrairement chrétiens, les musulmans vu les Juifs comme des objets de ridicule, pas la peur. Il fait valoir que les musulmans n’ont pas attribuer le «mal cosmique” pour les Juifs. En vue de Lewis, il était seulement dans la fin du 19e siècle que les mouvements première apparition parmi les musulmans qui peuvent légitimement être décrits comme antisémite.
Frederick M. Schweitzer et Marvin Perry état qu’il ya la plupart du temps les références négatives aux Juifs dans le Coran et le Hadith, et que les régimes islamiques traité les Juifs dans les façons dégradantes. Juifs (et chrétiens) avaient le statut de dhimmis. Ils affirment que dans une grande partie des chrétiens d’histoire des Juifs traités pire, en disant que les Juifs dans les terres chrétiennes ont été soumis aux pires polémiques, les persécutions et les massacres que sous le règne musulman.
Selon Walter Laqueur, les diverses interprétations du Coran sont importantes pour comprendre les attitudes des musulmans. De nombreux versets coraniques prêcher la tolérance envers les Juifs, d’autres font des remarques hostiles à leur sujet (qui sont similaires aux remarques hostiles proférées contre ceux qui n’acceptaient pas l’islam). Muhammad a interagi avec les Juifs vivant en Arabie: il leur prêcha dans l’espoir de conversion, il a combattu et tué beaucoup de Juifs, alors qu’il fait des amis avec d’autres Juifs.
Pour Martin Kramer, l’idée que l’antisémitisme contemporain par les musulmans est authentiquement islamiques “touche sur certaines vérités, mais il manque beaucoup d’autres». Kramer estime que l’antisémitisme contemporain est due en partie seulement à la politique israélienne, sur lesquels les musulmans peuvent avoir un profond sentiment d’injustice et de la perte. Mais Kramer attribue les principales causes de l’antisémitisme musulman idéologies modernes européennes, qui ont infecté le monde musulman.

Le Coran sur les Juifs dans son contexte historique

Le Coran fait quarante-trois références spécifiques aux «Bani Isra ʾ Il” (qui signifie que les enfants d’Israël). Le terme arabe yahud, dénotant Juifs, et “Yahudi” se onze fois et la forme verbale Hada (qui signifie «être un Juif / juif”) se produit dix fois. Selon Khalid Durán, les passages négatifs utilisent Yahud, tandis que les références positives parlent principalement de l’Isra’il Bani. Juifs ne sont pas du tout mentionné dans les versets qui datent de la période mecquoise. Selon Bernard Lewis, la couverture accordée aux Juifs est relativement insignifiante.

Les références dans le Coran pour les Juifs sont interprétés de différentes manières. Selon Frédéric M. Schweitzer et Marvin Perry, ces références sont “plutôt négative” Selon Tahir Abbas les références générales aux Juifs sont favorables, avec seulement ceux qui s’adressent à des groupes particuliers de Juifs contenant des critiques sévères.

Selon Bernard Lewis et d’autres savants, les premiers versets du Coran ont été largement favorable aux Juifs. Mohammed les admirait tant monothéistes et les considéraient comme des adhérents naturelles à la nouvelle foi et les pratiques juives aidé modèle de comportement islamique tôt, comme la prière de midi, la prière du vendredi, le jeûne du Ramadan (calquée sur le jeûne juif de Yom Kippour, le dixième du mois de Tichri), et le plus célèbre du fait que, jusqu’à 623 musulmans priaient en direction de Jérusalem, La Mecque pas. Après sa fuite (al-hijra) de la Mecque, où l’intolérance religieuse a régné, en 622 Mohammad avec ses disciples installés à Yathrib, rebaptisée par la suite Medina al-Nabi («Ville du Prophète») où il a réussi à établir un contrat «social », communément appelée le« Constitution de Médine ». Ce contrat, connu sous le nom de la feuille (Sahifa) a confirmé la coexistence pacifique entre musulmans, juifs et chrétiens, en les définissant tout, dans des conditions données, comme constituant la oumma, ou communauté de cette ville, et l’octroi de la dernière liberté de la pensée religieuse et la pratique . Yathrib / Médine n’était pas homogène. Outre les 200 émigrants impairs de la Mecque (le muhajirun), qui avait suivi Mohammad, sa population se composait de fidèles de la Médina (Ansar, «les aides»), païens arabes, trois tribus juives et des chrétiens. Le fondateur de «constitution» a cherché à établir, pour la première fois dans l’histoire selon Ali Khan, un accord formel garantissant convivialité interconfessionnelle, mais entouré des articles mettant l’accent sur la coopération stratégique dans la défense de la ville.

Au paragraphe 16 de ce document, il est dit que: «Les Juifs qui nous suivent ont le droit à notre aide et de soutien tant qu’ils ne sont pas nous ont fait du tort ou prêté assistance (à tous les ennemis) contre nous».

Le paragraphe 37 dit que «Pour les Juifs de leurs propres dépenses et aux musulmans eux. Ils doivent s’entraider dans le cas de toute attaque sur les personnes couvertes par ce document. Il doit y avoir une amitié sincère, l’échange de bon conseil, la conduite juste et aucune trahison entre eux. ” Les trois tribus juives locales ont été les Banu Nadir, Banu Qurayza, Banu Qaynuqa et le. Alors que Mohammad n’avait manifestement pas préjudice à leur encontre, et semble avoir considéré son propre message comme étant essentiellement le même que celui reçu par les Juifs sur le Sinaï, la politique tribale, et une profonde frustration de Mohammad au refus juif d’accepter sa mission prophétique, a rapidement conduit à une rupture avec tous les trois. malheureux malentendus linguistiques peuvent également avoir donné l’impression, comme en témoigne dans le Coran, que la communauté juive était humiliant publiquement Mohammad. Un clan a été expulsée de Médine en 624. En 625, les Banu Nadir tribu juive de Médine a été expulsé. Enfin, dans le siège de Médine La Mecque en 627, la dernière tribu juive majeur a initialement aidé les musulmans à fortifier les parties arrière de la Médina, mais à cause de leur trahison tard exposée en essayant d’aider le païen mecquoise armée, les musulmans assiégèrent à cette dernier groupe de Juifs. Depuis la Torah prescrit la peine de mort pour trahison, les mâles adultes de cette dernière tribu juive ont été tués, et les femmes et les enfants ont été emmenés en esclavage (mais plus tard libéré). La direction de la prière a été déplacé vers la Mecque à Jérusalem et les versets les plus négatifs sur les Juifs ont été mis en bas après cette heure.

Selon Laqueur, des déclarations contradictoires à propos des Juifs dans le Coran ont affecté l’attitude des musulmans envers les juifs à ce jour, en particulier pendant les périodes de l’intégrisme islamique en hausse.

Le judaïsme dans la théologie

Selon Bernard Lewis, il n’y a rien dans la théologie musulmane (avec une seule exception) qui peut être considéré réfutations du judaïsme ou de féroces diatribes anti-juives. Lewis et Chanes suggèrent que, pour une variété de raisons, les musulmans n’étaient pas antisémite pour la plupart. Le Coran, comme le judaïsme, ordonne aux musulmans de professer strict monothéisme. Il rejette également les histoires de déicide juif comme une absurdité blasphématoire, et d’autres histoires similaires dans les Evangiles ne jouent aucun rôle dans le système éducatif musulman Le Coran ne se présente pas comme un accomplissement de la Bible hébraïque, mais plutôt une restauration de son origine message – donc, pas de choc des interprétations entre le judaïsme et l’islam peuvent survenir.

En outre Lewis affirme que le Coran n’a pas traditions populaires de l’Ouest de la culpabilité et de trahison ». Rosenblatt et Pinson suggèrent que le Coran enseigne la tolérance du judaïsme comme une religion monothéiste compatriote.

Lewis ajoute, attributs négatifs attribués aux religions sujet (dans ce cas le judaïsme et le christianisme) sont généralement exprimées en termes religieux et sociaux, mais très rarement en termes ethniques ou raciaux. Toutefois, cela ne se produisent parfois. La langue de la violence est souvent très forte. Il a été soutenu que les épithètes classiques musulmans pour les Juifs, les singes, et les chrétiens, les porcs proviennent de l’usage coranique. Lewis apporte trois passages dans le Coran ([Coran 2:61], [Coran 5:65], [Coran 7:166]) servir de fondement à ce point de vue. L’interprétation de ces «enigmatic’passages dans l’exégèse islamique est très complexe, traitant comme ils le font à des infractions comme violer le sabbat. Selon Goitein, l’idée de disjoncteurs sabbat juif se transformant en singes peuvent refléter l’influence de yéménite midrashim. Firestone note que la tribu Qurayza lui-même est décrit dans les sources musulmanes, en utilisant le trope d’être transformés en singes, si on casse le jour du sabbat pour justifier de ne pas exploiter le jour du sabbat, afin d’attaquer Mohammad, quand ils étaient en état de siège.

Selon Stillman, le Coran fait l’éloge de Moïse, et dépeint les Israélites comme les bénéficiaires de la faveur divine. Le Coran consacre de nombreux versets à la glorification des prophètes hébreux, dit Léon Poliakov. Il cite le verset [Coran 6:85] à titre d’exemple,

Nous lui avons donné Isaac et de Jacob: tous les (trois) guidée: et, avant lui, que Nous avons guidés Noé, et parmi la descendance, David, Salomon, Job, Joseph, Moïse et Aaron: c’est ainsi que Nous récompensons ceux qui font le bien: Et Zakariya et John, Jésus et Elie: tous dans les rangs des justes: Et Ismaël et Elisée, Jonas et, et le lot: et à tous Nous avons donné ci-dessus faveur des nations.

Remarques sur les Juifs

Léon Poliakov, Walter Laqueur, et Jane Gerber, soutiennent que les passages dans les Juifs reproche Coran pour leur refus de reconnaître Mahomet comme un prophète de Dieu. “Le Coran est engagé principalement dans le traitement des pécheurs d’entre les Juifs et l’attaque sur eux est façonné selon les modèles que l’on rencontre dans le Nouveau Testament». Le texte sacré des musulmans défini l’attitude arabe et musulman envers les Juifs jusqu’à ce jour, en particulier dans les périodes où le fondamentalisme islamique était à la hausse.

Walter Laqueur états que le Coran et ses interprètes a un grand nombre de choses contradictoires à dire sur les Juifs. Les Juifs sont dit être traître et hypocrite et ne pourrait jamais être ami avec un musulman.

Frederick M. Schweitzer et Marvin Perry état que les références aux Juifs dans le Coran sont la plupart du temps négative. Le Coran déclare que la misère et de la bassesse ont été imprimées sur les Juifs, et ils ont été visités par la colère d’Allah, que c’était parce qu’ils n’ont pas cru en révélations d’Allah et ont tué les prophètes injustement. Et pour leur prendre l’usure, qui a été interdite pour eux, et en raison de la richesse de leurs personnes consommant femmes sous un faux prétexte, un châtiment douloureux a été préparé pour eux. Le Coran exige leur «humiliation et la pauvreté”, sous la forme de la jizya impôt de capitation. Dans son “courroux” Dieu a «maudit» les Juifs et les transformer en singes ou des singes et des porcs et des adorateurs d’idoles, car ils sont «infidèles».

Selon Martin Kramer, le Coran parle des Juifs d’une manière négative et les instances des rapports de trahison juive contre du prophète islamique Mahomet. Cependant, l’islam n’a pas résisté à ces Juifs qui ont pratiqué la trahison contre Muhammad comme des archétypes, ni at-il dépeindre trahison comme l’incarnation des Juifs dans tous les temps et lieux. Le Coran témoigne aussi de relations amicales de Mahomet avec les Juifs.

Bien que traditionnelle suprématie religieuse a joué un rôle dans la vision islamique des Juifs, l’attitude va de même pour les chrétiens et autres non-musulmans. Tradition islamique en ce qui concerne les Juifs en tant que légitime de la communauté des croyants en Dieu (appelé «gens du Livre”) était légalement autorisé à la souffrance.

Le Coran ([Coran 4:157]) efface les Juifs de l’accusation de déicide, et précise: “ils [les Juifs] ont tué lui [Jésus] pas”. Ils font également valoir que la Bible juive n’a pas été incorporée dans le texte islamique, et «les musulmans vertueux» ne sont pas en contraste avec “la nuque raide, les Juifs criminels”.

La norme de référence coranique pour les Juifs est le verset [Coran 2:61]. Il dit:

Et l’humiliation et la pauvreté ont été dressées sur eux, et ils étaient chargés de la charge de la colère de Dieu; que, parce qu’ils avaient cru aux signes de Dieu et ils ont tué les prophètes injustement, que, parce qu’ils désobéissaient et étaient transgresseurs.

Toutefois, en raison de processus en temps opportun du Coran de la narration, la majorité des savants sont d’accord que toutes les références aux Juifs ou d’autres groupes au sein du Coran se réfère aux seules certaines populations à un certain point dans l’histoire et toute nue profilage racial ou profilage religieux, il donne aussi une certaine légitimité à leur religion dans [Coran 5:69] «Ceux qui croient, et les Juifs, et le Sabi’un, et les chrétiens, qui croient en Dieu et au Jour dernier et accompli de bien, il n’ya pas de crainte pour eux, ils ne seront point affligés. ”

Le Coran donne du crédit à l’affirmation chrétienne des Juifs comploteurs contre Jésus, “… mais Dieu a aussi intrigué, et Dieu est le meilleur des comploteurs.” (Coran [3:54 Coran]) Dans le point de vue musulman, la crucifixion de Jésus était une illusion, et donc les complots juifs contre lui soldée par un échec [45] Selon Gerber, dans de nombreux versets ([Coran 3:63];. [Coran 3:71]; [Coran 4:46] ; [Coran 4:160-161]; [Coran 5:41-44], [Coran 5:63-64], [Coran 5:82]; [Coran 6:92]) [46] le Coran accuse Juifs de modifier l’Écriture.

Mais le Coran établit une distinction entre «bons et les mauvais Juifs», en ajoutant à l’idée que le peuple juif ou de leur religion elle-même ne sont pas la cible du processus de narration. [39] Les critiques portent principalement sur «les pécheurs au sein de la Juifs et l’attaque sur eux est façonné selon les modèles que l’on rencontre dans le Nouveau Testament ».

Le Coran parle aussi favorable des Juifs. Bien qu’il critique également eux pour ne pas être reconnaissant de la bénédiction de Dieu sur eux, les critiques sévères, ne sont adressées vers un groupe particulier de Juifs, car il est clair d’après le contexte des versets coraniques, mais les traductions en général par confondre ce en utilisant le terme général de «Juifs». Pour juger les Juifs sur la base des actes de certains de leurs ancêtres, c’est une idée anti-coranique.

Ali S. Asani suggère que le Coran approuve la création des sociétés religieusement et culturellement plurielles et cet avenant a touché le traitement des minorités religieuses dans les pays musulmans à travers l’histoire. Il cite l’approbation du pluralisme d’expliquer pourquoi des formes violentes de l’antisémitisme généré en Europe médiévale et moderne, qui ont culminé dans l’Holocauste, jamais eu lieu dans les régions sous la domination musulmane.

Certains versets du Coran, notamment [Coran 2:256], prêcher la tolérance envers les membres de la foi juive. Selon Kramer, les Juifs sont considérés comme des membres d’une communauté légitime des croyants en Dieu “, les gens du Livre», et donc légalement le droit à la souffrance.

Distorsion

Martin Kramer fait valoir que pour les musulmans d’arriver à la notion de «Juif éternel”, il doit y avoir davantage au travail qu’à la tradition islamique. La tradition islamique ne, toutefois, de fournir les sources de l’antisémitisme islamique. Le fait que de nombreux penseurs islamiques ont passé du temps dans l’Ouest a donné lieu à l’absorption de l’antisémitisme, dit-il. Textes modernes fausser davantage le Coran en le citant en outre des textes tels que les Protocoles des Sages de Sion. Ainsi, Kramer conclut qu’il n’y a pas de doute que les musulmans modernes utiliser efficacement le Coran, en utilisant la tradition islamique comme une source sur laquelle l’antisémitisme d’aujourd’hui flux, mais c’est aussi une utilisation sélective et des effets de distorsion.

Muhammad

Au cours de la vie de Mahomet, les Juifs ont vécu dans la péninsule arabique, en particulier dans et autour de Médine. Muhammad est également connu pour avoir des amis juifs, et avait une femme juive (Safiyya) qui est devenu un musulman. Selon Poliakov, «la mesure dans laquelle Muhammad montre son respect pour chaque religion [juifs et chrétiens] est remarquable”.

Selon Pinson, Rosenblatt et FE Peters, ils ont commencé à comploter avec les ennemis de Mahomet à La Mecque pour le renverser (malgré avoir signé un traité de paix). Selon FE Peters, ils ont aussi commencé secrètement pour comploter avec les ennemis de Mahomet à La Mecque pour le renverser (malgré avoir été contraints par leurs conquérants à signer un traité de paix.) Après chaque bataille importante, Muhammad accusé une des tribus juives de trahison et de il a attaqué. Deux tribus juives ont été expulsés et le dernier, les Banu Qurayza, a été effacé après qu’il se jeta sur la miséricorde de Mahomet.

Samuel Rosenblatt états que ces incidents ne faisaient pas partie des politiques dirigées exclusivement contre les Juifs, et Muhammad était plus sévère avec ses parents païens arabes que monothéistes étrangers. En outre les conflits de Mahomet avec les Juifs a été jugé d’une importance relativement mineure. Selon Lewis, depuis le choc du judaïsme et l’islam a été résolu et clos durant la vie de Mahomet avec la victoire musulmane, n’a pas d’équivalent musulman du litige toujours pas résolu théologique entre l’Eglise et Israël alimenté l’antisémitisme. Il ya aussi une différence entre le déni juive de messages chrétiens et musulmans, puisque Mahomet n’a jamais prétendu être un Messie ou le Fils de Dieu. Il est significatif que la mort de Mahomet n’a pas été causé par les Juifs.

Différends de Mahomet avec ses voisins tribus juives n’a laissé aucune trace marqués sur ses successeurs immédiats (connu sous le nom Califes). Les premiers Califes ont fondé leur traitement sur les versets coraniques qui encouragent la tolérance. Commentateurs classiques vu lutte de Mahomet avec les Juifs comme un épisode mineur dans sa carrière, mais cela a changé dans les temps modernes dues à des influences externes. Poliakov est d’avis que les actions de Mahomet et des enseignements a donné lieu à une société ouverte et plus conciliante, où les musulmans ont été contraints de protéger la vie et la religion des Juifs.

Hadith

Le hadith (les enregistrements d’actes et de paroles attribuées à Mahomet) utiliser à la fois les termes Banu Israil et Yahud en ce qui concerne les Juifs, ce dernier terme devient de plus en plus fréquents et apparaissent la plupart du temps dans le contexte négatif. Selon Norman Stillman:

Les juifs de Médine sont désignés comme des “hommes dont la malice et la haine visait à l’Apôtre de Dieu”. Le Yahud dans cette littérature apparaissent non seulement comme malveillants, mais aussi trompeuse, lâche et totalement dépourvue de résoudre. Cependant, ils n’en ont pas les qualités démoniaques qui leur sont attribuées dans la littérature médiévale chrétienne, et il n’y rien de comparable à la préoccupation écrasante avec les Juifs et le judaïsme (sauf peut-être dans les récits sur les rencontres de Mahomet avec la communauté juive de Médine) dans la littérature traditionnelle musulmane. Sauf pour quelques exceptions notables … les Juifs dans la Sira et le sont encore Maghazi méchants héroïques. Leur ignominie est en contraste marqué à l’héroïsme musulmane, et en général, conforme à l’image Qura’nic de «la misère et la bassesse foula aux pieds”

Il a dit:

“Le Jour du Jugement ne viendra pas jusqu’à ce que les musulmans ne combattent les Juifs, lorsque le Juif se cachera derrière les pierres et les arbres. Les pierres et les arbres diront O Musulmans, O Abdallah, il ya un Juif derrière moi, viens le tuer. Seul l’arbre Gharkad, (un certain type d’arbre) ne serait pas le faire parce qu’il est l’un des arbres des Juifs. “(Rapporté par al-Bukhari et Muslim). Sahih Muslim, 41:6985, voir aussi Sahih Muslim, 41:6981, Sahih Muslim, 41:6982, Sahih Muslim, 41:6983, Sahih Muslim, 41:6984, Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:56:791, (Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:52:177) ”

Ce hadith a été cité de nombreuses fois, et il est devenu une partie de la charte du Hamas.

Selon Schweitzer et Perry, le hadith sont «encore plus cinglante (que le Coran) en attaquant les Juifs”:

Ils sont avilis, maudits, anathématisés jamais par Dieu et ne peut donc jamais se repentir et être pardonné, ils sont des tricheurs et des traîtres; défi et têtu; ils ont tué les prophètes, ils sont des menteurs qui falsifient l’Ecriture et de prendre des pots de vin; comme des infidèles, ils sont rituellement impur , une odeur nauséabonde qui émane d’eux – telle est l’image du Juif dans l’islam classique, dégradé et malveillante.

Coran

Les mots «humilité» et «l’humiliation» se produisent fréquemment dans le Coran et de la littérature musulmane tard en ce qui concerne les Juifs. Selon Lewis, “Cela, en vue islamique, est leur juste châtiment pour leur esprit de rébellion passé, et se manifeste dans leur impuissance actuelle entre les grandes puissances de la chrétienté et l’islam.” La norme de référence coranique pour les Juifs est le verset [Coran 2:61]: «Et souvenez-vous dit:” Ô Moïse! nous ne pouvons pas supporter un type de nourriture (toujours); Prie donc ton Seigneur pour nous de produire pour nous de ce que fait pousser la terre,-ses plantes potagères, et les concombres, les Itsgarlic, les lentilles et les oignons “Il a dit:« N’allez-vous. échanger le meilleur pour le pire? Descendez donc à n’importe quelle ville, et vous trouverez ce que vous voulez “Ils ont été couverts d’humiliation et de misère;!. Ils ont attiré sur eux-mêmes la colère d’Allah Cette parce qu’ils reniaient les versets d’Allah, et qu’ils tuaient sans droit les prophètes juste cause . Cela parce qu’ils désobéissaient et transgressaient. ”

Deux versets plus loin, nous lisons: «Et rappelez-vous, enfants d’Israël, lorsque Nous avons pris un engagement avec vous et soulevé le mont Sinaï avant de vous en disant:” Tenez fermement à ce que Nous t’avons révélé et le garder à l’esprit afin que vous puissiez se prémunir contre le mal. “Mais alors, tu t’es détourné, et si elle n’avait pas été la grâce d’Allah et merecy, vous aurait sans doute été parmi les perdants. Et vous savez ceux d’entre qui ont péché le jour du sabbat. Nous leur avons dit,” Vous serez transformés en singes méprisables. “Nous les avons donc utilisé comme un avertissement à leurs personnes et pour les générations suivantes, ainsi que d’une leçon pour l’Allah-craignant”. (Coran [2:63 Coran]) L’accusation selon laquelle les Juifs finalement être transformé en singes et en porcs est traditionnellement compris littéralement et est dérivée de ces coraniques et d’autres premières sources musulmanes.

Les associés Coran Juifs surtout avec le rejet des prophètes de Dieu, y compris Jésus et Mahomet, ce qui explique leur résistance à lui personnellement. (Cf. Sourate 2:87-91;. 5:59, 61, 70, et 82) Il affirme qu ‘ils sont, avec les idolâtres purs et simples, les pires ennemis les plus acharnés et de l’Islam, et ne seront donc pas seulement souffrir éternellement dans l’enfer, mais dans ce monde seront les plus dégradés des Peuples du Livre, ci-dessous, même chrétiens, partout. (Cf. Sourate 5:82;. 3:54-56) Il affirme également que les Juifs croient qu’ils sont les enfants uniques de Dieu (sourate 5:18), et que seulement ils atteindre le salut (Sourate 2:111). Selon le Coran, les Juifs prétendent que blasphématoire Ezra est le fils de Dieu, comme le prétendent les chrétiens, Jésus est (Sourate 9:30) et que la main de Dieu est entravée (Sourate 5:64 – à savoir qu’ils peuvent librement défier Dieu ). Certains de ceux qui sont juifs », les mots pervers de leurs significations», (Sourate 4:44), et parce qu’ils ont commis des actes répréhensibles, Dieu a «interdit de bonnes choses qui ont été précédemment leur permettaient», ce qui explique juive commandements sanitaire des aliments, Sabbat des restrictions sur le travail et les décisions d’autres comme une punition de Dieu (Sourate 4:160). Ils écoutent pour l’amour du mensonge (Sourate 5:41), déformation de la vérité, et l’usure interdit la pratique, et, par conséquent, ils recevront “un châtiment douloureux” (Sourate 4:161). Le Coran donne du crédit à l’affirmation chrétienne des Juifs comploteurs contre Jésus, “… mais Dieu a aussi intrigué, et Dieu est le meilleur des comploteurs» (Sourate 3:54). Dans le point de vue musulman, la crucifixion de Jésus était une illusion, et donc les parcelles supposées juives contre lui aboutit à un échec complet. Dans de nombreux versets (Sourate 3:63, 71; 4:46, 160-161; 5:41-44, 63-64, 82; 6:92), le Coran accuse les juifs d’avoir délibérément obscurcir et de pervertir l’Écriture.

Pré-Islam moderne

Erome Chanes, Pinson, Rosenblatt, Mark Cohen, Norman Stillman, Uri Avnery, M. Klien et Bernard Lewis affirment que l’antisémitisme en pré-islam moderne est rare, et n’a pas émergé jusqu’à l’époque moderne. Lewis fait valoir qu’il ya peu de signes d’hostilité profonde émotionnel dirigé contre les Juifs, ou n’importe quel autre groupe, qui peut être caractérisé comme l’antisémitisme. Il y avait, cependant, clairement les attitudes négatives, qui étaient en partie la «normale» des sentiments d’un groupe dominant vers les groupes de matières (qui existe dans pratiquement n’importe quelle société). Plus précisément, le mépris se composait de mépris pour les musulmans mécréants.

Littérature

Selon Lewis, la caractéristique remarquable de la vision classique islamique des Juifs est leur insignifiance. Les religieuses, philosophiques et littéraires écrits islamiques avaient tendance à ignorer les Juifs et davantage axé sur le christianisme. Bien que, les Juifs ont reçu peu d’éloges ou même le respect, et ont été parfois accusées de méfait divers, mais il n’y avait pas de craintes conspiration juive et de la domination, ni les frais de mal diaboliques, ni accusations d’empoisonnement des puits, ni répandre la peste, ni même été accusé de s’engager dans des libelles de sang jusqu’à ce que les Ottomans ont appris le concept de leurs sujets grecs au 15e siècle.

Poliakov écrit que divers exemples de la littérature musulmane médiévale dépeindre le judaïsme comme un pinacle exemplaire de foi, et Israël étant destinée par cette vertu. Il cite des histoires du Livre de Mille et Une Nuits qui dépeignent les Juifs comme pieux, vertueux et dévoué à Dieu, et semblent emprunter des parcelles de midrashim. Toutefois, Poliakov écrit que le traitement des Juifs dans la littérature musulmane varie, et les contes sont destinés à un pur divertissement, sans but didactique.

Après Ibn Nagraela, un Juif, a attaqué le Coran en alléguant diverses contradictions dans l’, Ibn Hazm, un Maure, lui a reproché avec fureur. Ibn Hazm a écrit que Ibn Nagraela était «rempli de haine» et «prétentieux dans son âme vile.”

Selon Schweitzer et Perry, une certaine littérature au cours du 10e siècle et 11e “fait des Juifs avéré être digne de confiance, oppresseurs et des exploiteurs perfides, des musulmans». Cette propagande, parfois même abouti à des flambées de violence contre les Juifs. Un poème du 11ème siècle mauresque décrit les Juifs comme «un peuple de criminels» et leur reproche de provoquer la décomposition sociale, trahir la nourriture des musulmans et l’empoisonnement et l’eau.

Martin Kramer écrit que dans la tradition islamique, en contraste frappant avec le concept chrétien de l’éternel Juif, les Juifs contemporains n’ont pas été présentés comme des archétypes, comme l’incarnation de Juifs dans tous les temps et lieux.

La vie sous la domination musulmane

Juifs et les Chrétiens vivant sous la domination musulmane au début étaient connus comme des dhimmis, un statut qui a ensuite été également étendue à d’autres non-musulmans comme les hindous. Comme dhimmis ils devaient être toléré, et le droit à la protection et les ressources de la Oumma, la république musulmane. En retour, ils devaient payer une taxe connue sous le nom jizya en conformité avec le Coran. Lewis et Poliakov font valoir que les communautés juives jouissent de droits la tolérance et la limitée aussi longtemps que ils ont accepté la supériorité musulmane. Ces droits ont été légalement établies et appliquées. Les restrictions sur les dhimmis inclus: le paiement des impôts plus élevés; à certains endroits, être obligé de porter des vêtements ou un autre insigne de les distinguer des musulmans, parfois interdire d’occuper des fonctions publiques, porter les armes ou à cheval; disqualifié en tant que témoins dans des litiges impliquant des musulmans ; à certains endroits et les heures, les dhimmis ont été empêchés de réparation existants ou en dressant les nouveaux lieux de culte. Le prosélytisme au nom de toute la foi, mais l’islam a été interdit.

Ajouts ultérieurs au code inclus l’interdiction de l’adoption des noms arabes, d’étudier le Coran, la vente de boissons alcoolisées. Abdul Aziz Saïd écrit que le concept islamique de dhimmi, lorsqu’elle est appliquée, a permis d’autres cultures de s’épanouir et de prévenir la hausse générale de l’antisémitisme.

Schweitzer et Perry donner comme exemples de l’antisémitisme musulman au début: 9ème siècle “persécutions et des flambées de violence», la propagande du 10ème siècle et 11ème antisémite qui “fait des Juifs avéré être digne de confiance, oppresseurs perfides, et les exploiteurs des musulmans”. Cette propagande », inspiré des flambées de violence et fait de nombreuses victimes en Egypte”. Un poème du 11ème siècle mauresque décrit les Juifs comme «un peuple de criminels” et affirme que «la société est en voie d’effondrement en raison de la richesse et de la domination juive, leur exploitation et de la trahison des musulmans; que les Juifs adorent le diable, les médecins empoisonner leurs patients, et le poison Juifs nourriture et d’eau tel que requis par le judaïsme, et ainsi de suite. ”

Juifs sous la domination musulmane rarement confrontés martyre ou l’exil, ou la conversion forcée et ils étaient assez libres de choisir leur résidence et profession. Leur liberté et la situation économique a varié de temps en temps et lieu à l’autre. Conversions forcées est survenue principalement dans les pays du Maghreb, en particulier sous les Almohades, une dynastie militant prétentions messianiques, ainsi que dans la Perse, où les musulmans chiites sont généralement moins tolérants que leurs homologues sunnites. Parmi les exemples notables des cas où le choix de la résidence a été prise loin d’eux comprend confiner les Juifs aux trimestres clos (mellahs) en début Maroc du 15ème siècle et surtout depuis le début du 19e siècle.

Egypte

Les califes de la dynastie fatimide en Egypte ont été connus pour être Judeophiles, selon Léon Poliakov. Ils ont payé régulièrement pour soutenir les institutions juives (comme l’académie rabbinique de Jérusalem). Un nombre important de leurs ministres et les conseillers étaient des Juifs. Benjamin de Tuleda, un célèbre explorateur du 12e siècle juive, a décrit le calife al Abbasi comme un «grand roi … genre à Israël”. Il mentionne en outre les musulmans et les juifs étant impliqué dans les dévotions communes, telles que visite de la tombe d’Ezéchiel, dont les deux religions considèrent comme un prophète.

Péninsule Ibérique

Avec la conquête musulmane de la péninsule ibérique, judaïsme espagnol a prospéré pendant plusieurs siècles. Ainsi, ce que certains appellent l ‘«âge d’or» pour les Juifs a commencé. Pendant cette période, les musulmans (du moins en Espagne) toléré d’autres religions, y compris le judaïsme, et a créé une société hétérodoxe.

Relations avec les musulmans les juifs en Espagne n’étaient pas toujours pacifiques, cependant. Le XIe siècle a vu pogroms musulmans contre les Juifs en Espagne; celle constatée dans les Cordoue en 1011 et à Grenade en 1066. Dans le massacre de 1066 Grenade, une foule de musulmans a crucifié le vizir juif Joseph ibn Naghrela et massacré environ 4.000 Juifs. Le grief a été impliquée musulmane que certains juifs était devenu riche, et d’autres avaient avancé à des postes de pouvoir.

La dynastie Almohade, qui a renversé la dynastie qui a eu lieu en Espagne au cours de la première ère musulmane, les chrétiens et les juifs offert le choix de la conversion ou l’expulsion; en 1165, un de leurs dirigeants a ordonné que tous les Juifs dans le pays de convertir sous peine de mort (en forçant l’ rabbin juif, théologien, philosophe, médecin et Maïmonide de feindre la conversion à l’islam avant de fuir le pays). En Égypte, Maïmonide repris la pratique du judaïsme ouvertement que d’être accusé d’apostasie. Il a été sauvé de la mort par l’administrateur en chef de Saladin, qui a jugé que la conversion sous la contrainte n’est pas valide.

Au cours de ses pérégrinations, Maïmonide écrivit aussi L’épître au Yémen, une lettre célèbre pour les Juifs du Yémen, qui ont ensuite été connaît de graves persécutions aux mains de leurs dirigeants musulmans. Dans ce document, Maïmonide décrit son évaluation du traitement des Juifs aux mains des musulmans:

… à cause de nos péchés, Dieu nous a jetés au milieu de ce peuple, la nation d’Ismaël [c’est-à-musulmans], qui nous persécutent sévèrement, et qui conçoivent les moyens de nous nuire et de nous avilir …. Aucune nation n’a jamais fait plus de mal à Israël. Aucun n’a elle correspondait à avilir et à nous humilier. Aucun n’a été en mesure de nous réduire comme ils l’ont …. Nous avons la charge de leur dégradation imposée, leurs mensonges, leurs absurdités, qui sont au-delà de la puissance humaine à supporter …. Nous avons fait comme nos sages de mémoire bénie nous ont demandé, en gardant les mensonges et les absurdités de Ismaël …. En dépit de tout cela, nous ne sommes pas épargnée par la férocité de leur méchanceté et leurs éclats à tout moment. Au contraire, plus on souffre et choisir de les concilier, plus ils choisissent d’agir agressivement envers nous.

Mark Cohen cite Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, un spécialiste en histoire médiévale juive européenne, qui a averti que la condamnation de Maïmonide de l’Islam doit être comprise “dans le contexte des persécutions sévères du 12ème siècle et qu’en outre on peut dire qu’il n’était pas suffisamment courant de l’état des Juifs dans les terres chrétiennes, ou n’a pas fait attention à cela, quand il a écrit la lettre. ” Cohen poursuit en citant Ben-Sasson, qui soutient que les Juifs avaient généralement une meilleure situation juridique et la sécurité dans les pays musulmans que dans la chrétienté.

L’Empire ottoman

Alors que certains Etats musulmans ont diminué, l’Empire ottoman se leva comme «l’état le plus grand dans l’histoire musulmane”. Tant que l’empire a prospéré, les Juifs ont fait ainsi, selon Schweitzer et Perry. Les Ottomans étaient plus tolérants des Juifs et de promouvoir leur développement économique. Les Juifs prospéré comme les grands marchands, des financiers, des responsables gouvernementaux, des commerçants et artisans.

Contraste avec l’Europe chrétienne

Etats Lewis que, contrairement à l’antisémitisme chrétien, l’attitude des musulmans envers les non-musulmans n’est pas une haine, la peur, ou d’envie, mais simplement du mépris. Ce mépris est exprimé de diverses manières, telles que l’abondance de la littérature polémique attaquer les chrétiens et parfois aussi les Juifs. “Les attributs négatifs attribués à des religions en question et leurs partisans sont généralement exprimés en termes religieux et social, très rarement en termes ethniques ou raciales, bien que cela ne se produisent parfois.” La langue de la violence est souvent très forte. Les épithètes conventionnelles sont des singes pour les Juifs et les cochons pour les chrétiens. Lewis se poursuit avec plusieurs exemples de règlements qui ont été symbolisant l’infériorité que les non-musulmans vivant sous la domination musulmane devaient vivre avec, comme les différentes formules de salutation quand traiter les Juifs et les chrétiens que lorsqu’on traite les musulmans (à la fois dans les conversations ou les correspondances), et l’interdiction Juifs et chrétiens à choisir des noms utilisés par les musulmans pour leurs enfants par les temps ottomans.

Schweitzer et Perry font valoir qu’il existe deux points de vue généraux du statut des Juifs sous l’Islam, la traditionnelle «âge d’or» et les révisionniste »de persécution et pogrom” interprétations. Le premier a été promulguée par les historiens juifs dans le 19ème siècle comme un reproche du traitement chrétienne des Juifs, et repris par les Arabes musulmans après 1948 comme «une arme arabo-islamiste dans ce qui est avant tout une lutte idéologique et politique contre Israël”. Les révisionnistes soutiennent que cette vision idéalisée ne tient pas compte “un catalogue de moins connu la haine et les massacres”. Mark Cohen est d’accord avec ce point de vue, faisant valoir que «le mythe d’une utopie interconfessionnelle” n’a pas été contestée jusqu’à ce qu’il a été adopté par les Arabes comme une «arme de propagande contre le sionisme”, et que cette «exploitation arabes polémique» a été atteint avec le «contre-mythe »de la« néo-larmoyante conception de l’histoire judéo-arabe “, qui a également” ne peut être maintenue à la lumière de la réalité historique “.

L’antisémitisme dans le Moyen-Orient islamique

L’antisémitisme a augmenté dans le monde musulman durant les périodes modernes. Tandis que Bernard Lewis et Uri Avnery ce jour, la montée de l’antisémitisme à la création d’Israël, M. Klein suggère l’antisémitisme aurait pu être présents dans le milieu du 19e siècle.

Les chercheurs soulignent l’influence européenne, y compris celle des nazis, et la création d’Israël que les causes profondes de l’antisémitisme. Norman Stillman explique que l’augmentation des activités commerciales européennes, missionnaire et impérialiste au cours des 19e et 20e siècles a des idées antisémites dans le monde musulman. Au départ, ces préjugés ne se trouvent une réception chez les chrétiens arabes et étaient trop étranger pour toute l’acceptation largement répandue parmi les musulmans. Cependant, avec la montée du conflit israélo-arabe, l’antisémitisme en Europe a commencé à se faire accepter dans la littérature moderne.

19e siècle

Selon Mark Cohen, l’antisémitisme arabe dans le monde moderne se pose relativement récemment, dans le 19ème siècle, dans le contexte du nationalisme juif et arabe en conflit, et a été importé dans le monde arabe principalement par le nationalisme esprit des Arabes chrétiens (et seulement ensuite été il “islamisée”).

L’affaire a eu lieu à Damas en 1840, quand un moine italien et son serviteur disparu à Damas. Immédiatement après, une charge de assassiner rituel a été intentée contre un grand nombre de Juifs dans la ville. Tous ont été reconnus coupables. Les consuls de l’Angleterre, la France et l’Autriche ainsi que les autorités ottomanes, chrétiens, musulmans et juifs ont tous joué un grand rôle dans cette affaire. Suite à l’affaire de Damas, les pogroms se propager à travers le Moyen-Orient et Afrique du Nord. Les pogroms eu lieu en: Alep (1850, 1875), Damas (1840, 1848, 1890), Beyrouth (1862, 1874), Dayr al-Qamar (1847), Jérusalem (1847), Le Caire (1844, 1890, 1901-1902) , Mansourah (1877), Alexandrie (1870, 1882, 1901-1907), Port-Saïd (1903, 1908), Damanhur (1871, 1873, 1877, 1891), Istanbul (1870, 1874), Buyukdere (1864), Kuzguncuk ( 1866), Eyoub (1868), Edirne (1872), Izmir (1872, 1874). Il y avait un massacre de Juifs à Bagdad en 1828. Il y avait un autre massacre dans Barfurush en 1867.

En 1839, dans la ville orientale de la Perse Meched, une foule fait irruption dans le quartier juif, la synagogue a brûlé, et détruit rouleaux de la Torah. Ceci est connu comme l’incident Allahdad. Ce n’est que par la conversion forcée qu’un massacre a été évité.

Benny Morris écrit que d’un symbole de la dégradation de juif était le phénomène de jets de pierres contre les Juifs par les enfants musulmans. Morris cite un voyageur du 19ème siècle: «J’ai vu un petit bonhomme de six ans, avec une troupe de petits gras de seulement trois et quatre, l’enseignement [eux] à jeter des pierres à un Juif, et un gamin serait, avec le plus grand sang-froid, se dandiner en place à l’homme et littéralement cracher sur sa houppelande juive Pour tout cela, le Juif est obligé de se soumettre;. il serait plus que sa vie valait la peine d’offrir à trouver un musulman “.

20e siècle

Les massacres de Juifs dans les pays musulmans ont continué dans le 20ème siècle. Le quartier juif à Fès a été presque détruite par une foule de musulmans en 1912. Il y avait nazie d’inspiration pogroms en Algérie dans les années 1930, et les attaques massives sur les Juifs en Irak et la Libye dans les années 1940. Pro-nazi musulmans abattus des dizaines de Juifs à Bagdad en 1941.

Universitaire américain Bernard Lewis et d’autres ont accusé standards thèmes antisémites sont devenus monnaie courante dans les publications de mouvements arabes islamiques tels que le Hezbollah et le Hamas, dans les déclarations de divers organismes de la République islamique d’Iran, et même dans les journaux et autres publications de Refah Partisi, le parti islamique turc dont la tête a servi comme Premier ministre en 1996-97. “Lewis a également écrit que la langue de la violence est souvent très forte, en faisant valoir que les épithètes conventionnelles pour les juifs et les chrétiens sont des singes et des porcs, respectivement.

Les connexions entre l’Allemagne nazie et les pays musulmans

Malgré le fait que selon les estimations, 100 000 musulmans (principalement d’origine bosniaque) ont été assassinés pendant la Shoah, les premières tentatives d’un mouvement arabe nazie a eu lieu en 1933, quand un correspondant du journal Jaffa au Caire Al-Ahram appliqué à le Conseil allemand pour l’aide . Beaucoup d’Arabes étaient en plein soutien de l’Allemagne nazie, et a estimé que si Hitler a gagné la guerre, la cause arabe prospérer. L’influence des nazis dans le monde arabe a continué de croître même si les années 1930. Nazis ont influencé les partis politiques a été soulevée dans les années 1930 et 1940, beaucoup de qui a joué un rôle important dans la direction du monde arabe post-Seconde Guerre mondiale. L’Egypte, la Syrie et l’Iran sont soupçonnés d’avoir hébergé des criminels de guerre nazis, mais ils ont rejeté l’accusation. Mein Kampf a été publié et, selon le Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a été 6ème sur la palestinienne la liste des best-sellers en 1999.

Mohammad Amin al-Husseini

Le mufti de Jérusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husseini a tenté de créer une alliance avec l’Allemagne nazie contre les Juifs.

Débat des historiens dans quelle mesure l’opposition farouche al-Husseini au sionisme a été mise à la terre dans le nationalisme ou d’antisémitisme ou d’une combinaison des deux.

Sur Mars 31, 1933, quelques semaines après la montée d’Hitler au pouvoir en Allemagne, al-Husseini a envoyé un télégramme à Berlin adressée au Consul général allemand dans le Mandat britannique sur la Palestine en disant musulmans en Palestine et ailleurs attend avec impatience la diffusion de leur idéologie dans le Moyen-Orient. Al-Husseini secrètement rencontré le Consul Général d’Allemagne à proximité de la mer Morte en 1933 et a exprimé son approbation du boycott anti-juif en Allemagne et lui a demandé de ne pas envoyer les Juifs à la Palestine. Plus tard cette année, les assistants du Mufti approché Wolff, cherchant son aide dans la création d’un parti national socialiste arabe en Palestine. Rapports atteignant les bureaux à l’étranger à Berlin a montré des niveaux élevés d’admiration arabe d’Hitler.

Al-Husseini a rencontré le ministre allemand des Affaires étrangères, Joachim von Ribbentrop Novembre 20, 1941 et a été officiellement reçu par Adolf Hitler le 30 Novembre 1941 à Berlin. Il demanda à Hitler pour une déclaration publique que «reconnu et sympathisé avec les luttes arabes pour l’indépendance et la libération, et qu’il appuierait l’élimination d’un foyer national juif», et il a présenté au gouvernement allemand un projet d’une telle déclaration, contenant la clause.

Husseini aidé la cause de l’Axe en Moyen-Orient par l’émission d’une fatwa pour une guerre sainte contre la Grande-Bretagne en mai 1941. Proclamation largement salué le Mufti contre la Grande-Bretagne a été déclarée en Irak, où il a joué un rôle dans la révolte anti-britannique irakienne de 1941. Pendant la guerre, le mufti à plusieurs reprises fait des demandes à “le gouvernement allemand à bombarder Tel-Aviv.”

Al-Husseini a été impliqué dans l’organisation et le recrutement des Musulmans de Bosnie en plusieurs divisions de la Waffen SS et autres unités. et aussi béni des équipes de sabotage formés par les Allemands avant qu’ils ne soient expédiés en Palestine, en Irak et la Transjordanie.

Irak

En Mars 1940, le général Rashid Ali, un officier nationaliste irakien contraint le pro-britannique Premier ministre irakien Nouri Saïd Pacha, à démissionner. En mai, il déclara le jihad contre la Grande-Bretagne. Quarante jours plus tard, les troupes britanniques ont occupé le pays. Le 1941 irakienne coup d’Etat survenu le 3 Avril, 1941, lorsque le régime d’Abd du Régent al-Ilah a été renversé, et Rashid Ali a été installé en tant que Premier ministre.

En 1941, à la suite Rashid Ali favorable à l’Axe coup d’Etat, émeutes connues sous le nom Farhud éclaté à Bagdad, dans lequel environ 180 Juifs ont été tués et environ 240 ont été blessés, 586 entreprises appartenant à des Juifs ont été pillés et 99 maisons juives ont été détruites.

L’Iraq avait initialement interdit l’émigration de ses Juifs après la guerre de 1948 au motif que ce qui leur permet d’aller en Israël renforceraient cet état, mais ils ont été autorisés à émigrer de nouveau après 1950, si ils ont accepté de renoncer à leurs actifs.

L’Empire ottoman, la Turquie, l’Irak et du Kurdistan

Juifs et chrétiens assyriens des migrations forcées entre 1843 et le 21e siècle

Dans sa thèse de doctorat thèse récente et dans son livre récent [104] l’intellectuel israélien Mordechai Zaken discuté de l’histoire des chrétiens assyriens d’Irak et la Turquie (dans le voisinage kurde) au cours des 180 dernières années, à partir de 1843. Dans ses études Zaken décrit trois éruptions majeures qui ont eu lieu entre 1843 et 1933 au cours de laquelle les chrétiens assyriens ont perdu leurs terres et de l’hégémonie dans leur habitat dans le Hakkari (ou Julamerk) région en Turquie sud-est et sont devenus des réfugiés dans d’autres pays, notamment l’Iran et l’Irak et, finalement, dans les communautés en exil dans les pays européens et de l’Ouest (Etats-Unis, Canada, Australie, Nouvelle-Zélande, la Suède, la France, pour ne citer certains de ces pays). Mordechai Zaken a écrit cette importante étude sur le plan analytique et comparative de vue, en comparant les chrétiens assyriens ‘expérience avec l’expérience des Juifs kurdes qui avaient été habitation au Kurdistan pendant deux mille ans environ, mais ont été contraints à émigrer en Israël dans le début des années 1950. Les Juifs du Kurdistan ont été forcés de quitter à la suite de la guerre israélo-arabe, à la suite de l’hostilité croissante et les actes de violence contre les Juifs dans les villes irakiennes et kurdes et les villages, et en tant que résultat d’une situation nouvelle qui s’est développée au cours de la 1940 en Irak et au Kurdistan, dans lequel la capacité des Juifs à vivre dans un confort relatif et de la tolérance (qui a été perturbée de temps à autre avant cette période) avec leurs voisins arabes et musulmans, comme ils l’avaient fait pendant de nombreuses années, s’est pratiquement à un fin. En fin de compte, les Juifs du Kurdistan ont dû quitter leur habitat kurde en masse et migrent vers Israël. La chrétiens assyriens, d’autre part, a subi un sort similaire, mais la migration en plusieurs étapes après chaque crise politique avec le régime dont les limites dans leur vécu ou après chaque conflit avec leur musulmane, turque, arabe ou voisins kurdes, ou après le départ ou l’expulsion de leur patriarche Mar Shimon en 1933, d’abord vers Chypre et ensuite aux États-Unis. Par conséquent, même s’il ya encore une petite communauté et fragile des Assyriens en Irak, des millions de chrétiens assyriens vivent aujourd’hui dans des exilés et des collectivités prospères de l’Ouest.

Iran

En Iran, Reza Shah sympathisé avec l’Allemagne nazie, ce qui rend la communauté juive craignant des persécutions possibles. Bien que ces craintes ne s’est pas concrétisé, anti-juives articles ont été publiés dans les médias iraniens. Une rumeur selon laquelle Hitler converti à l’islam conduit à un mariage entre le clergé chiite et les naissants, ultra-nationalistes préjugés sécularisées en Iran.

Egypte

En Egypte, Ahmad Husayn fonde le Parti Jeune Égypte en 1934. Il a immédiatement exprimé sa sympathie pour l’Allemagne nazie à l’ambassadeur allemand à l’Egypte. Husayn a envoyé une délégation à la manifestation de Nuremberg et revient avec enthousiasme. Après la crise des Sudètes, les chefs de parti a dénoncé l’Allemagne pour une agression contre les petites nations, mais néanmoins conservé des éléments similaires au nazisme ou le fascisme, par exemple salue, défilés aux flambeaux, culte chef de file, et l’antisémitisme et le racisme. L’impact de la partie avant 1939 a été minime, et leurs efforts d’espionnage étaient de peu de valeur pour les Allemands.

Au cours de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Le Caire était un refuge pour les agents et les espions pendant la guerre. Nationalistes égyptiens étaient actifs, avec beaucoup d’Egyptiens, y compris Farouk d’Egypte et le Premier ministre Ali Mahir pacha, qui ont tous espéré une victoire de l’Axe, et la pleine indépendance de l’Egypte à partir de la Grande-Bretagne.

Groupes islamistes

De nombreux groupes terroristes islamistes ont exprimé ouvertement des opinions antisémites.

Outil de propagande Lashkar-e-Toiba a déclaré que les Juifs comme des «ennemis de l’Islam”, et Israël d’être l ‘«Ennemi du Pakistan”.

Le Hamas a été largement décrit comme antisémite. Il a publié des tracts antisémites, et ses écrits et manifestes s’appuyer sur des documents antisémites (les Protocoles des Sages de Sion, et d’autres documents européenne chrétienne), présentant des thèmes antisémites. En 1998, Esther Webman du projet pour l’étude de l’antisémitisme à l’Université de Tel-Aviv a écrit que, bien que ce qui précède est vrai, l’antisémitisme n’était pas le principe essentiel de l’idéologie du Hamas.

Dans un éditorial paru dans The Guardian en Janvier 2006, Khaled Mechaal, le chef du bureau politique du Hamas a nié l’antisémitisme, de la part du Hamas, et a dit que la nature de conflit israélo-palestinien n’était pas religieux, mais politique. Il a également déclaré que le Hamas a “pas de problème avec les Juifs qui ne nous ont pas attaqués.”

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, un érudit chiite et professeur adjoint à l’Université libanaise américaine a écrit que le Hezbollah n’est pas anti-sioniste, mais plutôt anti-juive. Elle a cité Hassan Nasrallah en disant:. “Si nous avons cherché dans le monde entier pour une personne plus lâche, méprisable, faible et impuissant dans la psyché, l’esprit, l’idéologie et la religion, nous ne serions pas trouver quelqu’un comme le Avis Juif, je ne dis pas l’ israélienne. ” En ce qui concerne la position officielle publique du Hezbollah dans son ensemble, elle a dit que tandis que le Hezbollah, “tente de masquer son anti-judaïsme pour des raisons de relations publiques … une étude de sa langue, parlée et écrite, révèle une vérité sous-jacente.” Dans son livre, le Hezbollah: Politique et Religion, elle a exploré les racines anti-juives de l’idéologie du Hezbollah, affirmant que le Hezbollah “, estime que les Juifs, par la nature du judaïsme, possèdent des défauts de caractère mortels.” Saad-Ghorayeb a également déclaré que «la lecture du Coran par le Hezbollah de l’histoire juive a conduit ses dirigeants à croire que la théologie juive est mauvaise.”

21e siècle

La France est la maison à la plus grande population de l’Europe des musulmans – environ 6 millions de dollars – ainsi que la plus grande communauté du continent des Juifs, environ 600.000. En 2000, les musulmans ont attaqué des synagogues en représailles pour les dommages causés à leurs frères musulmans dans les territoires palestiniens. (Voir aussi: Seconde Intifada) Beaucoup de Juifs ont protesté, les actes ont été déclarées «antisémitisme musulman». En 2007, cependant, les attaques étaient beaucoup moins graves, et un “tout-clair” a été perçu. Toutefois, pendant la guerre 2008-2009 Gaza, les tensions entre les deux communautés a augmenté et il y avait plusieurs dizaines signalé des cas de violence comme les incendies criminels et les agressions. Dirigeants juifs français se plaint de «une sorte diffuse de l’antisémitisme de s’ancrer dans la communauté musulmane” alors que les dirigeants musulmans ont répondu que les questions étaient “plus politiques que religieuses” et que la colère des musulmans “n’est pas contre les Juifs, c’est contre Israël.”

Le 28 Juillet 2006, à environ 16h00, heure du Pacifique, la Fédération juive de Seattle fusillade s’est produite lors de Naveed Afzal Haq a tiré six femmes, l’une mortellement, à la Fédération juive du Grand Seattle immeuble dans le quartier Belltown de Seattle, Washington, Royaume- États-Unis. Il a crié, “Je suis un musulman américain, je suis en colère contre Israël” avant qu’il ne commence son fusillade. La police a classé le tournage comme un crime haineux basé sur ce que Haq a déclaré lors d’un appel 9-1-1. [116] En 2012, l’Autorité palestinienne Grand Mufti de Jérusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, citant hadiths, a appelé à l’assassinat de tous les Juifs.

En Egypte, Dar al-Fadhilah publié une traduction du traité de antisémite d’Henry Ford, Le Juif international, complète avec des images nettement antisémites sur la couverture.

Commentaires antisémites par des chefs et des érudits musulmans

Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Dans un sermon, qui a été diffusé sur Al-Jazeera le 9 Janvier 2009 (tel que traduit par MEMRI), savant égyptien musulman et prédicateur Youssef al-Qaradawi a déclaré:

“Ô Allah, prendre vos ennemis, les ennemis de l’Islam. Ô Allah, prendre les Juifs, les agresseurs perfides. Ô Allah, profiter de cette débauche, la ruse, la bande arrogante de personnes. Ô Allah, ils ont répandu la tyrannie et la corruption beaucoup plus dans le des terres. Versez votre fureur sur eux, oh notre Dieu. Lie dans les attendre. Ô Allah, Tu anéantis les gens de Thamoud à la main d’un tyran, et vous anéantit les gens de ‘Aad avec une féroce tempête glaciale. Oh Allah, Tu anéantis les gens Thamoud à la main d’un tyran, Vous avez exterminé le peuple de ‘Aad avec une féroce tempête glaciale, et Vous avez détruit le Pharaon et ses soldats – Ô Allah, profiter de cette oppression, la bande tyrannique de personnes Oh. Allah, profiter de cette oppression, juive, sioniste bande de personnes. Ô Allah, ne ménagent pas un seul d’entre eux. Oh Allah, comptent leurs numéros, et de les tuer, jusqu’à la toute dernière. ”

Dans un discours prononcé après sur Al-Jazeera le Janvier 30, 2009, al-Qaradawi a exprimé ses vues sur Adolf Hitler et l’Holocauste, en indiquant (tel que traduit par MEMRI):

“Tout au long de l’histoire, Allah a imposé aux [Juifs] des personnes qui seraient les punir de leur corruption Le dernier châtiment a été administré par Hitler Par le biais de toutes les choses qu’il leur a fait -.. Même si ils ont exagéré cette question – il a réussi de les mettre à leur place. Ce fut une punition divine pour eux. Allah le veut, la prochaine fois sera à la main des croyants “.

Muhammad Hussein Yacoub

Dans un discours prononcé par égyptien salafiste savant islamique Muhammad Hussein Yacoub qui a été diffusé sur Al-Rahma le 17 Janvier 2009, il a déclaré (tel que traduit par MEMRI):

“Nous devons croire que notre combat avec les Juifs est éternel, et il ne finira pas jusqu’à ce que la bataille finale … Il faut croire que nous allons nous battre, vaincre, et les anéantir, jusqu’à ce que pas un seul Juif reste sur le visage de la Terre … Quant à vous les Juifs -.. la malédiction d’Allah sur vous la malédiction d’Allah sur vous, dont les ancêtres étaient des singes et des porcs Vous les Juifs ont semé la haine dans nos cœurs, et nous l’avons légué à nos enfants et petits-enfants. Vous ne serez pas survivre aussi longtemps que un seul d’entre nous reste … Oh Juifs, peut la malédiction d’Allah soit sur vous. Oh Juifs … Ô Allah, apportez votre colère, le châtiment, et tourmenter sur eux. Allah, nous prions pour que vous les transformer à nouveau, et de faire les musulmans se réjouir à nouveau de les voir comme des singes et des porcs. Vous les porcs de la terre! Vous les porcs de la terre! Vous tuez les musulmans avec ce porc froid [le sang] de la vôtre. ”

Ibrahim Mahdi

Palestinienne prédicateur Ibrahim Mahdi a déclaré dans un sermon:

«La Palestine sera, comme il était dans le passé, un cimetière pour les envahisseurs – tout comme il a été un cimetière pour les Tatars et les envahisseurs croisés, [et pour] les envahisseurs de l’ancien et le nouveau colonialisme … Un fiables Hadith [tradition] dit: «Les Juifs vous combattront, mais vous serez mis à régner sur eux.” Quoi de plus beau que cette tradition: «Les Juifs vous combattront» -? Qui est, les Juifs ont commencé à nous battre “Vous serez mis à régner sur eux» -. Qui va définir le musulman de se prononcer sur le Juif? Allah … Jusqu’à ce que les Juif se cache derrière le rocher et l’arbre Mais le rocher et l’arbre diront:. ‘. Oh Musulman, serviteur d’Allah oh, un Juif se cache derrière moi, viens le tuer » Sauf pour l’arbre Gharqad, qui est l’arbre des Juifs. Nous croyons en ce Hadith. Nous sommes convaincus aussi que cette annonce Hadith la propagation de l’Islam et sa domination sur toute la terre … Ô Allah, accepte nos martyrs dans le plus haut des cieux … Oh Allah, montrent les Juifs un jour noir … Ô Allah, anéantir les juifs et leurs partisans … Ô Allah, hisser le drapeau du djihad à travers le pays … Ô Allah, pardonne nos péchés. .. ”

À une autre occasion, le cheikh Mahdi a ajouté:

“Oh bien-aimés d’Allah … Un des Juifs les mauvaises actions est ce qui est venu à être appelé« l’Holocauste », c’est, le massacre des Juifs par le nazisme. Toutefois, révisionniste [historiens] ont prouvé que ce crime, menée contre une partie des Juifs, a été planifié par les Juifs »des dirigeants, et faisait partie de leur politique … Ce sont les Juifs contre lesquels nous nous battons, oh bien-aimée d’Allah. D’autre part, [ce qui est notre croyance] sur les Juifs? Allah les a décrits comme des ânes. ”

ami Al-Arian

Sami Al-Arian, un haut-parleur principal musulmane aux États-Unis jusqu’à son arrestation et de condamnation pour le financement d’une organisation terroriste islamiste, le 29 Septembre 1991, a déclaré dans un discours lors d’une conférence à Chicago que “Dieu a maudit ceux qui sont les fils d’Israël” , et que Dieu avait fait les juifs de «singes et porcs», et les damnés de ce monde et l’au-delà.

Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais

Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais est le premier imam de la mosquée du Grand situé dans la ville sainte islamique de La Mecque, en Arabie Saoudite. [135] [136] La BBC a diffusé un épisode Panorama, intitulé Une question de leadership, qui a rapporté qu’al-Sudais visée aux Juifs comme «l’écume de la race humaine» et «descendants de singes et des porcs”, et a déclaré, «le pire … des ennemis de l’Islam sont ceux … qui il … singes et des porcs faits, les Juifs et les sionistes agressifs oppressive et ceux qui les suivent … singes et des porcs et des adorateurs de faux dieux qui sont les Juifs et les sionistes. ”

Dans un autre sermon, le 19 Avril 2002, il a déclaré:

“Lisez l’histoire et vous comprendrez que les Juifs d’hier sont les pères mauvais des Juifs d’aujourd’hui, qui sont descendants du mal, des infidèles, déformateurs de [‘] d’autres mots, veaux des adorateurs, prophète des meurtriers, la prophétie-deniers .. . l’écume de la race humaine qu’Allah maudit et transformé en singes et en porcs … ”

Hazem Shuman

Dans une émission de sermon sur les Egyptiens d’Al-Rahma chaîne de télévision sur Octobre 31 décembre 2009, l’ecclésiastique égyptien Hazem Shuman a déclaré, en ce qui concerne les Juifs: «Votre tour est enfin venu, vous progéniture de singes et des porcs, vous a le plus maudit des créatures créées par Allah , vous les gens qui ont fait du tort au Prophète, encore et encore “et a en outre déclaré que” Il a été prouvé que les Juifs sont comme un cancer – si elles ne sont pas prélevés sur le corps de la nation, ils vont tuer la nation tout entière “.

Cheikh Ba’d bin Abdallah Al-Ghamidi Ajameh Al-

Selon le Dr Leah Kinberg, «Un cheik saoudien Ba’d bin Abdallah Al-Ghamidi Ajameh Al-, dans un sermon à Taïf, a expliqué”:

“Le comportement actuel des frères des singes et des porcs, leur traîtrise, la violation des accords, et en profanant des lieux saints … est relié avec les exploits de leurs ancêtres au cours de la période de début de l’islam – ce qui prouve la grande similitude entre tous les Juifs vivant aujourd’hui et les Juifs qui habitaient à l’aube de l’Islam “.

Il a également dit que les Juifs sont «l’écume de la race humaine, les rats du monde, les violateurs de pactes et d’accords, les meurtriers des prophètes, et la descendance de singes et des porcs.” Cheikh égyptien Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, Grand Imam d’Al-Azhar et le Grand Cheikh de l’Université Al-Azhar, et «peut-être au premier rang arabe sunnite autorité», a été critiqué pour des remarques faites en Avril 2002, décrit les Juifs dans son sermon hebdomadaire ” les ennemis d’Allah, les descendants des singes et des porcs ».

Mahathir bin Muhammad

Mahathir bin Mohamad, qui a servi en tant que Premier Ministre de la Malaisie de 1981 à 2003, a fait un certain nombre de remarques publiques sur les Juifs.

En 1970, il écrivit dans son livre controversé Le Dilemme malais: «Les Juifs, par exemple ne sont pas simplement au nez crochu, mais je comprends l’argent instinctivement.”

Dans une déclaration faite avant d’accueillir une réunion internationale des pays musulmans sur le terrorisme, a déclaré Mahathir du terrorisme:

«À l’heure actuelle la définition tend à se limiter seulement aux nations islamiques et les musulmans en général alors qu’Israël et les Juifs sont également état terroriste ou des personnes.”

Adresse de Mahathir lors d’un symposium des Nations Unies sur l’Islam à Université des Nations Unies à Tokyo:

«Si les Arabes qui, avant n’étaient pas des terroristes sont prêts aujourd’hui à se suicider afin de lutter contre les Israéliens ou les Américains, il doit y avoir une raison à cela. Et la raison en est qu’ils se sentent que les Américains et les Juifs et les Européens ont été injuste envers eux. ”

Le 16 Octobre 2003, peu de temps avant, il a démissionné en tant que Premier ministre, Mahathir Muhammad a dit lors d’un sommet de l’Organisation de la Conférence islamique (OCI) à Putrajaya, ce qui suit:

«Nous [les musulmans] sont en réalité très forte, 1,3 milliard de personnes ne peuvent pas être simplement effacé. Les nazis ont tué 6 millions de Juifs sur 12 millions de dollars [au cours de l’Holocauste]. Mais aujourd’hui les Juifs dirigent le monde par procuration. Ils poussent les autres à se battre et mourir pour eux. Ils ont inventé le socialisme, le communisme, les droits de l’homme et la démocratie de telle sorte que les persécuter semble être mauvais pour qu’ils puissent jouir des mêmes droits avec les autres. De cette manière ils ont maintenant pris le contrôle des pays les plus puissants. Et ils, cette petite communauté, sont devenus une puissance mondiale. ”

Livres scolaires saoudiens

En mai 2006, l’étude du curriculum de l’Arabie saoudite manuel scolaire révisé découvert que les livres huitième année, les relevés suivants,

“Ce sont les gens du Sabbat, dont le jeune peuple de Dieu transformés en singes, et dont la vieille peuple que Dieu s’est en porcs pour les punir. Tel que cité dans Ibn Abbas: Les singes sont Juifs, les gardiens du sabbat, tandis que les porcs sont les infidèles chrétiens de la communion de Jésus “.

«Certaines des personnes du sabbat ont été punis en étant transformés en singes et en porcs. Certains d’entre eux ont été faites pour les adorer le diable, et non pas Dieu, à travers la consécration, le sacrifice, la prière, des appels au secours, et d’autres types de culte. Certains des Juifs adorent le diable. De même, certains membres de ce diable culte nation, et non pas Dieu. ”

Autres déclarations

Le 5 mai 2001, après Shimon Peres a visité l’Egypte, le journal égyptien Al-Akhbar internet a déclaré que:

“Mensonge et la tromperie ne sont pas étrangers aux Juifs …. Pour cette raison, Allah a changé leur forme et leur fait en singes et en porcs.”

Auteur Erel Shalit a écrit que les Juifs doivent écouter les déclarations faites à leur sujet dans le monde arabe, indépendamment du fait qu’ils soient positifs ou négatifs. Il a cité l’exemple suivant:

Les Juifs d’hier sont les pères mauvais des Juifs d’aujourd’hui, qui sont descendants du mal … l’écume de la race humaine »qu’Allah maudit et transformé en singes et en porcs …» Ce sont les Juifs, un continuum permanent de la tromperie, l’obstination, le libertinage, le mal, et la corruption … (L’imam de la mosquée Al-Haram à la Mecque, les mêmes mots d’incitation répétée maintes et maintes fois dans les mosquées de Gaza et à Ramallah.)

Les efforts de réconciliation

Dans les pays occidentaux, certains groupes islamiques et les musulmans ont fait des efforts individuels dispersés de se réconcilier avec la communauté juive à travers le dialogue et de s’opposer à l’antisémitisme. Par exemple, en Grande-Bretagne il ya les musulmans du groupe contre l’antisémitisme. Études islamiques Tariq Ramadan a été franc contre l’antisémitisme, en précisant:. “Au nom de leur foi et de conscience, les musulmans doivent prendre une position claire de sorte qu’une atmosphère délétère ne s’empare pas dans les pays occidentaux Rien dans l’islam ne peut légitimer la xénophobie ou le rejet d’un être humain en raison de son / sa croyance religieuse ou ethnique. Il faut dire sans équivoque, avec force, que l’antisémitisme est inacceptable et indéfendable. ” Mohammad Khatami, ancien président de l’Iran, a déclaré l’antisémitisme comme une «phénomènes occidentaux», n’ayant pas de précédents dans l’Islam et en précisant les musulmans et les Juifs avaient vécu en harmonie dans le passé. Un journal iranien a déclaré que a été la haine et l’hostilité dans l’histoire, mais a concédé que l’on doit distinguer les juifs des sionistes.

En Amérique du Nord, le Council on American-Islamic Relations a parlé contre certains actes de violence antisémite, comme le tir de la Fédération juive de Seattle 2006. Selon la Anti-Defamation League, le CAIR a également été affiliés à des organisations antisémites tels que le Hamas et le Hezbollah.

Le mufti saoudien, Cheikh Abd al-Aziz Ben Baz, a donné une fatwa que les négociations de paix avec Israël est permis, comme c’est le ciste à Jérusalem par les musulmans. Il dit expressément:

Le Prophète a fait la paix absolue avec les Juifs de Médine quand il y va comme un immigrant. Cela n’a pas entraîné de l’amour pour eux et d’amabilité avec eux. Mais le Prophète traitait avec eux, l’achat d’eux, leur parler, les appeler à Dieu et l’Islam. Quand il est mort, son bouclier était hypothéqué à un Juif, car il avait hypothéqué à acheter de la nourriture pour sa famille.

Martin Kramer considère que comme «une reconnaissance explicite des relations normales avec les Juifs”.

Tendances

Selon Norman Stillman, l’antisémitisme dans le monde musulman fortement augmenté pendant plus de deux décennies après 1948, mais “a culminé dans les années 1970, et a quelque peu diminué que la lenteur du processus de rapprochement entre le monde arabe et l’Etat d’Israël a évolué dans les années 1980 et 1990. ” Johannes JG Jansen estime que l’antisémitisme n’a pas d’avenir dans le monde arabe dans le long terme. À son avis, comme d’autres importations du reste du monde occidental, l’antisémitisme n’est pas en mesure de s’établir dans la vie privée des Musulmans. En 2004, Khalil Mohammed a déclaré que «l’antisémitisme est devenu un principe retranché de la théologie musulmane, a enseigné à 95 pour cent des adhérents de la religion dans le monde islamique”, immédiatement une réclamation rejetée comme fausse et raciste par les dirigeants musulmans, qui ont accusé Mohammed de détruire les efforts de renforcement des relations entre juifs et musulmans.

Selon le Pew Global Attitudes Project publié le Août 14, 2005, des pourcentages élevés de la population des six pays à majorité musulmane ont une opinion négative des Juifs. Pour un questionnaire demandant aux répondants de donner leurs points de vue des membres de différentes religions le long d’un spectre de «très favorable» à «très défavorable», 60% des Turcs, 74% des Pakistanais, 76% des Indonésiens, 88% des Marocains, 99% des musulmans libanais et 100% de Jordaniens vérifié soit “plutôt défavorable” ou “très défavorable” pour les Juifs.

Dans les Pays-Bas incidents antisémites, de la violence verbale à la violence, sont signalés, qui seraient liés à la jeunesse islamique, la plupart des garçons de la descente du Maroc. Selon le Centre d’information et de documentation sur Israël, un groupe de pression pro-israélien aux Pays-Bas, en 2009, le nombre d’anti-sémites incidents à Amsterdam, la ville qui abrite la plupart des Juifs environ 40.000 néerlandais, qui a été dit être doublé par rapport à 2008.

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June 9, 2012

Fundamentals of Monotheism: Antisemitism in history

Introduction

To understand the fundamental of understanding the religious conflicts of the three monotheistic Faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, first we will look at the case for the Jews as why in the history record, showing Christians and Muslims in medieval times persecuting and humiliating the Jews, till the modern era when the Christians started the cross-dialogue with the Jews in the 20^th century, and after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. To understand the concept of how and why, first we must understand the link between the three monotheistic faiths—as most of my peers do not realized that there is a connection between the Jews, Christians (including Catholics) and Muslims, in regards to the religious theology and how it is intertwined with each other in the history books.

Christianity had split out from Judaism, which before the split, Christianity and Judaism were once the same faith, which historians called Judeo-Christianity, probably during the time of Jesus and before. For the case of Islam, there are many origins of Islam, though the doctrines are striking similar to the gospel of Barnabas, which was not canonized by the early church and was rejected as heresy, though Islam is based on the teachings of prophet Muhammad, which they see Christians and Jews as the ‘people of the book’, and as the result of the new found faith in AD 625, some portions of the populations who are either Arabic pagans, Jews and Christians were converted to Islam, in which in my own opinion, could be the split from portions of Jews and Christians, under by the authority name of Muhammad, who has received the revelation of God, claiming that the bible that the Jews and the Christians have are corrupted, and the Quran is the most accurate from God through prophet Muhammad.

Jews and Judaism in Europe

Judaism in Europe has a long history, beginning with the conquest of the Eastern Mediterranean by Pompey in 63 BCE, thus beginning the History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, though likely Alexandrian Jews had migrated to Rome slightly before Pompey’s conquest of the East.

The pre-World War II population of European Jews is estimated at close to 9 million. It is believed that around 6,000,000 European Jews died in the Holocaust of 1940-1945. Further population drain is due to emigration, and the current Jewish population of Europe is estimated at ca. 2 million (0.3%), composed of

Ashkenazi Jews (about 1.4 million, mainly in France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom)
Sephardi Jews (about 0.3 million, mainly in France, Spain and Portugal)
Mizrahi Jews (about 0.3 million, mainly in France)
Italian Jews (some 50,000, mostly Italian)
Romaniotes (some 6,000, mostly Greek)

History

Early presence

Hellenistic Judaism, originating from Alexandria, was present throughout the Roman Empire even before the Roman-Jewish Wars. As early as the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Jewish author of the third book of the Oracula Sibyllina, addressing the “chosen people,” says: “Every land is full of thee and every sea.” The most diverse witnesses, such as Strabo, Philo, Seneca, Cicero, and Josephus, all mention Jewish populations in the cities of the Mediterranean Basin. Most Jewish population centers of this period were however still in the East (Iudaea and Syria) and in Egypt (Alexandria was by far the most important of the Jewish communities, the Jews in Philo’s time were inhabiting two of the five quarters of the city). Nevertheless, at the commencement of the reign of Caesar Augustus (27BC) there were over 7,000 Jews in Rome: this is the number that escorted the envoys who came to demand the deposition of Archelaus.

Roman Empire period presence of Jews in Croatia date to the 2nd century, in Pannonia to the 3rd to 4th century. A finger ring with a Menorah depiction found in Augusta Raurica (Kaiseraugst, Switzerland) in 2001 attests to Jewish presence in Germania Superior. Evidence in towns north of the Loire or in southern Gaul date to the 5th century and 6th centuries.

Middle Ages

Early medieval period was a time of flourishing Jewish culture. Jewish and Christian life evolved in ‘diametrically opposite directions’ during the final centuries of Roman empire. Jewish life became autonomous, decentralized, community-centered. Christian life became a rigid hierarchical system under the supreme authority of the Pope and the Roman Emperor.

Jewish life can be characterized as democratic. Rabbis in the Talmud interpreted Deut. 29:9, “your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel” and “Although I have appointed for you heads, elders, and officers, you are all equal before me” (Tanhuma ) to stress political shared power. Shared power entailed responsibilities: “you are all responsible for one another. If there be only one righteous man among you, you will all profit from his merits, and not you alone, but the entire world…But if one of you sins, the whole generation will suffer.”

Between 800 and 1100 there were 1.5 million Jews in Christian Europe. They were fortunate in not being part of the feudal system as serfs or knights, thus were spared the oppression and constant warfare that made life miserable for most Christians.

In relations with the Christian society, they were protected by kings, princes and even bishops, because of the crucial services they provided in three areas: financial, administrative and as doctors. Christian scholars interested in the Bible would consult with Talmudic rabbis. All this changed with the reforms and strengthening of the Roman Catholic Church and the rise of envious and competitive middle-class, town dwelling Christians. By 1300 the friars and local priests were using the Passion Plays at Easter time, which depicted Jews in contemporary dress killing Christ, to teach the general populace to hate and murder Jews. It was at this point that persecution and exile became endemic. Finally around 1500, Jews found security and a renewal of prosperity in Poland.

Persecution of Jews in Europe begins in the High Middle Ages in the context of the Crusades. In the First Crusade (1096) flourishing communities on the Rhine and the Danube were utterly destroyed; see German Crusade, 1096. In the Second Crusade (1147) the Jews in France were subject to frequent massacres. The Jews were also subjected to attacks by the Shepherds’ Crusades of 1251 and 1320. The Crusades were followed by expulsions, including in, 1290, the banishing of all English Jews; in 1396, 100,000 Jews were expelled from France; and, in 1421 thousands were expelled from Austria. Many of the expelled Jews fled to Poland.

In the Late Middle Ages, as the Black Death epidemics devastated Europe in the mid-14th century, annihilating more than a half[citation needed] of the population. It is an oft-told myth, however, that due to their better nutrition and cleanliness, Jews were not infected in similar numbers; Jews were indeed infected in similar numbers to their non-Jewish neighborsYet they were still targeted as scapegoats. Rumors spread that they caused the disease by deliberately poisoning wells. Hundreds of Jewish communities were destroyed by violence. Although the Pope Clement VI tried to protect them by the July 6, 1348 papal bull and another 1348 bull, several months later, 900 Jews were burnt alive in Strasbourg, where the plague hadn’t yet affected the city.

Jewish survival in the face of external pressures from Roman Catholic empire and Persian Zoroastrian empire is ‘enigmatic’ to historians.

Baron explains it by eight factors:

Messianic faith. Belief in an ultimately positive outcome and restoration of Israel.
The doctrine of the Hereafter increasingly elaborated. Reconciled Jews with suffering in this world and helped them resist outside temptations to convert.
Suffering was given meaning through hope-inducing interpretation of their history and their destiny.
The doctrine of martyrdom and inescapability of persecution transformed it into a source of communal solidarity.
Jewish daily life was very satisfying. Jews lived among Jews. In practice, in a lifetime, individuals encountered overt persecution only on a few dramatic occasions. Jews mostly lived under discrimination that affected everyone, and to which they were habituated. Daily life was governed by a multiplicity of ritual requirements, so that each Jew was constantly aware of God throughout the day. “For the most part, he found this all-encompassing Jewish way of life so eminently satisfactory that he was prepared to sacrifice himself…for the preservation of its fundamentals.” Those commandments for which Jews had sacrificed their lives, such as defying idolatry, not eating pork, observing circumcision, were the ones most strictly adhered to.
The corporate development and segregationist policies of the late Roman empire and Persian empire, helped keep Jewish community organization strong.
Talmud provided an extremely effective force to sustain Jewish ethics, law and culture, judicial and social welfare system, universal education, regulation of strong family life and religious life from birth to death.
The concentration of Jewish masses within ‘the lower middle class’,^[12] with the middle class virtues of sexual self-control. There was a moderate path between asceticism and licentiousness. Marriage was considered to be the foundation of ethnic, and ethical, life.

Outside hostility only helped cement Jewish unity and internal strength and commitment.

Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain

The Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain refers to a period of history during the Muslim rule of Iberia in which Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural and economic life blossomed. This “Golden Age” is variously dated from the 8th to 12th centuries.

Al-Andalus was a key center of Jewish life during the Middle Ages, producing important scholars and one of the most stable and wealthy Jewish communities. A number of famous Jewish philosophers and scholars flourished during this time, most notably Maimonides.

Spanish Inquisition

he Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and was under the direct control of the Spanish monarchy. It was not definitively abolished until 1834, during the reign of Isabel II.

The Inquisition, as an ecclesiastical tribunal, had jurisdiction only over baptized Christians. However, since Jews (in 1492) and Muslim Moors (in 1502) had been banished from Spain, jurisdiction of the Inquisition during a large part of its history extended in practice to all royal subjects. The Inquisition worked in large part to ensure the orthodoxy of recent converts known as conversos or marranos.

Poland as the center of the Jewish world

The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, as well as from Austria, Hungary and Germany, stimulated a widespread Jewish migration to the much more tolerant Poland. Indeed, with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Poland became, beside the Netherlands, the recognized haven for exiles from many countries in Europe; and the resulting accession to the ranks of Polish Jewry made it the cultural and spiritual centre of the Jewish people.

The most prosperous period for Polish Jews began following this new influx of Jews with the reign of Zygmunt I (1506–1548), who protected the Jews in his realm. His son, Zygmunt II August (1548–1572), mainly followed in the tolerant policy of his father and also granted autonomy to the Jews in the matter of communal administration and laid the foundation for the power of the Qahal, or autonomous Jewish community. This period led to the creation of a proverb about Poland being a “heaven for the Jews”. According to some sources, about three-quarters of all Jews lived in Poland by the middle of the 16th century. In the middle of the 16th century, Poland welcomed the Jewish newcomers from Italy and Turkey, mostly of Sephardi origin, however some of the immigrants from the Ottoman Empire are still claimed to be Mizrahim. Jewish religious life thrived in many Polish communities. In 1503, the Polish monarchy appointed Rabbi Jacob Polak, the official Rabbi of Poland, marking the emergence of the Chief Rabbinate. By 1551, Jews were given permission to choose their own Chief Rabbi. The Chief Rabbinate held power over law and finance, appointing judges and other officials. Some power was shared with local councils. The Polish government permitted the Rabbinate to grow in power, to use it for tax collection purposes. Only 30% of the money raised by the Rabbinate served Jewish causes, the rest went to the Crown for protection. In this period Poland-Lithuania became the main center for Ashkenazi Jewry and its yeshivot achieved fame from the early 16th century.

Moses Isserles (1520–1572), an eminent Talmudist of the 16th century, established his yeshiva in Kraków. In addition to being a renowned Talmudic and legal scholar, Isserles was also learned in Kabbalah, and studied history, astronomy, and philosophy.

The development of Judaism in Poland and the Commonwealth

The culture and intellectual output of the Jewish community in Poland had a profound impact on Judaism as a whole. Some Jewish historians have recounted that the word Poland is pronounced as Polania or Polin in Hebrew, and as transliterated into Hebrew, these names for Poland were interpreted as “good omens” because Polania can be broken down into three Hebrew words: po (“here”), lan (“dwells”), ya (“God”), and Polin into two words of: po (“here”) lin (“[you should] dwell”). The “message” was that Poland was meant to be a good place for the Jews. During the time from the rule of Sigismund I the Old until the Nazi Holocaust, Poland would be at the center of Jewish religious life.

Yeshivot were established, under the direction of the rabbis, in the more prominent communities. Such schools were officially known as gymnasiums, and their rabbi principals as rectors. Important yeshivot existed in Kraków, Poznań, and other cities. Jewish printing establishments came into existence in the first quarter of the 16th century. In 1530 a Hebrew Pentateuch (Torah) was printed in Kraków; and at the end of the century the Jewish printing houses of that city and Lublin issued a large number of Jewish books, mainly of a religious character. The growth of Talmudic scholarship in Poland was coincident with the greater prosperity of the Polish Jews; and because of their communal autonomy educational development was wholly one-sided and along Talmudic lines. Exceptions are recorded, however, where Jewish youth sought secular instruction in the European universities. The learned rabbis became not merely expounders of the Law, but also spiritual advisers, teachers, judges, and legislators; and their authority compelled the communal leaders to make themselves familiar with the abstruse questions of Jewish law. Polish Jewry found its views of life shaped by the spirit of Talmudic and rabbinical literature, whose influence was felt in the home, in school, and in the synagogue.

In the first half of the 16th century the seeds of Talmudic learning had been transplanted to Poland from Bohemia, particularly from the school of Jacob Pollak, the creator of Pilpul (“sharp reasoning”). Shalom Shachna (c. 1500–1558), a pupil of Pollak, is counted among the pioneers of Talmudic learning in Poland. He lived and died in Lublin, where he was the head of the yeshivah which produced the rabbinical celebrities of the following century. Shachna’s son Israel became rabbi of Lublin on the death of his father, and Shachna’s pupil Moses Isserles (known as the ReMA) (1520–1572) achieved an international reputation among the Jews as the co-author of the Shulkhan Arukh, (the “Code of Jewish Law”). His contemporary and correspondent Solomon Luria (1510–1573) of Lublin also enjoyed a wide reputation among his co-religionists; and the authority of both was recognized by the Jews throughout Europe. Heated religious disputations were common, and Jewish scholars participated in them. At the same time, the Kabbalah had become entrenched under the protection of Rabbinism; and such scholars as Mordecai Jaffe and Yoel Sirkis devoted themselves to its study. This period of great Rabbinical scholarship was interrupted by the Chmielnicki Uprising and The Deluge.

The rise of Hasidism

The decade from the Cossacks’ uprising until after the Swedish war (1648–1658) left a deep and lasting impression not only on the social life of the Polish-Lithuanian Jews, but on their spiritual life as well. The intellectual output of the Jews of Poland was reduced. The Talmudic learning which up to that period had been the common possession of the majority of the people became accessible to a limited number of students only. What religious study there was became overly formalized, some rabbis busied themselves with quibbles concerning religious laws; others wrote commentaries on different parts of the Talmud in which hair-splitting arguments were raised and discussed; and at times these arguments dealt with matters which were of no practical importance. At the same time, many miracle workers made their appearance among the Jews of Poland, culminating in a series of false “Messianic” movements, most famously as Sabbatianism was succeeded by Frankism.

In this time of mysticism and overly formal rabbinism came the teachings of Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov, or BeShT, (1698–1760), which had a profound effect on the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, and Poland in particular. His disciples taught and encouraged the new fervent brand of Judaism based on Kabbalah known as Hasidism. The rise of Hasidic Judaism within Poland’s borders and beyond had a great influence on the rise of Haredi Judaism all over the world, with a continuous influence through its many Hasidic dynasties including those of Chabad-Lubavitch, Aleksander, Bobov, Ger, Nadvorna, among others. More recent rebbes of Polish origin include Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn (1880–1950), the sixth head of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement, who lived in Warsaw until 1940 when he moved Lubavitch from Warsaw to the United States.

19th century

In the Papal States, which existed until 1870, Jews were required to live only in specified neighborhoods called ghettos. Until the 1840s, they were required to regularly attend sermons urging their conversion to Christianity. Only Jews were taxed to support state boarding schools for Jewish converts to Christianity. It was illegal to convert from Christianity to Judaism. Sometimes Jews were baptized involuntarily, and, even when such baptisms were illegal, forced to practice the Christian religion. In many such cases the state separated them from their families. See Edgardo Mortara for an account of one of the most widely publicized instances of acrimony between Catholics and Jews in the Papal States in the second half of the 19th century.

The movement of Zionism originates in the late 19th century. In 1883, Nathan Birnbaum founded Kadimah, the first Jewish student association in Vienna. In 1884, the first issue of Selbstemanzipation (Self Emancipation) appeared, printed by Birnbaum himself. The Dreyfus Affair, which erupted in France in 1894, profoundly shocked emancipated Jews. The depth of antisemitism in a country thought of as the home of enlightenment and liberty led many to question their future security in Europe. Among those who witnessed the Affair was an Austro-Hungarian (born in Budapest, lived in Vienna) Jewish journalist, Theodor Herzl, who published his pamphlet Der Judenstaat (“The Jewish State”) in 1896and Altneuland (“The Old New Land”) in 1897. He described the Affair as a personal turning point, Before the Affair, Herzl had been anti-Zionist; afterwards he became ardently pro-Zionist. In line with the ideas of 19th century German nationalism Herzl believed in a Jewish state for the Jewish nation. In that way, he argued, the Jews could become a people like all other peoples, and antisemitism would cease to exist.

Herzl infused political Zionism with a new and practical urgency. He brought the World Zionist Organization into being and, together with Nathan Birnbaum, planned its First Congress at Basel in 1897. For the first four years, the World Zionist Organization (WZO) met every year, then, up to the Second World War, they gathered every second year. Since the war, the Congress has met every four years.

World War II and the Holocaust

The Holocaust (from the Greek ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston): holos, “completely” and kaustos, “burnt”), also known as Ha-Shoah (Hebrew: השואה‎), Churben (Yiddish: חורבן), is the term generally used to describe the killing of approximately 6,000,000 European Jews during World War II, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by the National Socialist regime in Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler.

Christianity and anti-Semitism

Christian attitudes to Judaism and to the Jewish people developed from the early years of Christianity, the persecution of Christians in the New Testament, and persisted over the ensuing centuries, driven by numerous factors including theological differences, competition between Church and Synagogue, the Christian drive for convertsdecreed by the Great Commission, misunderstanding of Jewish beliefs and practices, and a perceived Jewish hostility toward Christians.

These attitudes were reinforced in Christian preaching, art and popular teaching over the centuries containing contempt for Jews. In many Christian countries, it led to civil and political discrimination against Jews, legal disabilities, and in some instances to physical attacks on Jews which occasionally ended in emigration, expulsion, and even death.

From time to time, anti-Jewish sentiments within European society were exploited or fomented for internal political purposes and sometimes to extract a financial advantage from Jewish subjects. Such sentiments made the expansion of anti-Jewish measures politically acceptable.

Antisemitism has been described as primarily hatred against Jews as a race with its modern expression rooted in 19th century racial theories, while anti-Judaism is described as hostility to Jewish religion, but in Western Christianity it effectively merged into antisemitism during the 12th century. Scholars have debated how Christian antisemitism may have played a role in the Nazi Third Reich, World War II and the Holocaust. However, “a widespread consensus of historians, church leaders, and academic theologians is that Christian theological anti-Judaism is a phenomenon distinct from modern antisemitism, which is rooted in economic and racial thought, so that Christian teachings should not be held responsible for antisemitism.” That consensus position, essentially an exculpation of Christianity for modern antisemitism, is articluated, among other places, by Pope John Paul II in ‘We Re member: A Reflection on the Shoah,’ and the Jewish declaration on Christianity, Dabru Emet.

Throughout Christian history, some Popes, bishops and some Christian princes stepped up to protect Jews. But it was only in the mid-20th century that the Catholic Church and many Protestant denominations issued major statements repudiating anti-Judaic theology and began a process of constructive Christian-Jewish interaction.

Anti-Judaism

Many Christians do not consider anti-Judaism to be antisemitism. They regard anti-Judaism as a disagreement of religiously sincere people with the tenets of Judaism, while regarding antisemitism as an emotional bias or hatred not specifically targeting the religion of Judaism. Under this approach, anti-Judaism is not regarded as antisemitism as it only rejects the religious ideas of Judaism and does not involve actual hostility to the Jewish people.

Others see anti-Judaism as the rejection of or opposition to beliefs and practices essentially because of their source in Judaism or because a belief or practice is associated with the Jewish people. (But see supersessionism)

Although some Christians in the past did consider anti-Judaism to be contrary to Christian teaching, this view was not widely expressed by leaders and lay people. In many cases, the practical tolerance towards the Jewish religion and Jews prevailed. Some Christian groups, particularly in early years, condemned verbal anti-Judaism.

Antecedents of Christian anti-Semitism

In Rome and throughout the Roman Empire, religion was an integral part of the civil government. The Emperor was from time to time declared to be a god and demanded to be worshiped accordingly. This created religious difficulties for Jews, who were prohibited from worshiping any other god than that of the Hebrew Bible. This created problems in the relations between Rome and its Jewish subjects, as well as for worshipers of Mithras, worshipers of Sabazius, and Christianity. In the case of Jews, this led to several revolts against Rome and severe persecutions by Rome as punishment.

Many of the early gentile converts to Christianity probably came from and shared this cultural bias. As gentile converts they also were not well acquainted with the internal life of the Jewish community. Hence they read many of the New Testament texts as condemnations of Judaism as such, rather than as internal differences which were commonplace within the Jewish community.

Early differences

“This is not an uncommon impression and one finds it sometimes among Jews as well as Christians – that Judaism is the religion of the Hebrew Bible. It is, of course, a fallacious impression. Judaism is not the religion of the Bible.” [Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser, Judaism and the Christian Predicament, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967, p. 59, 159]

“The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees. Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is the largest and most important single member of that literature, and round it are gathered a number of Midrashim, partly legal (Halachic) and partly works of edification (Haggadic). This literature, in its oldest elements, goes back to a time before the beginning of the Common Era, and comes down into the Middle Ages. Through it all run the lines of thought which were first drawn by the Pharisees, and the study of it is essential for any real understanding of Pharisaism.” [Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 3 pg. 474]

“Pharisaism became Talmudism, Talmudism became Medieval Rabbinism, and Medieval Rabbinism became Modern Rabbinism. But throughout these changes of name, inevitable adaptation of custom, and adjustment of Law, the spirit of the ancient Pharisee survives unaltered.” [Rabbi Dr. Finkelstein, The Pharisees: The Sociological Background of Their Faith, pg. xxi]

“The Talmud is the written form of that which in the time of Jesus, was called the ‘Tradition of the Elders,’ and to which He makes frequent allusions.” [Michael L. Rodkinson, The History of the Talmud: From The Time Of Its Formation About 200 B. C. Up To The Present Time, Kessinger Publishing, LLC (June 8, 2006), ISBN 978-1-4286-3136-6, p. 70]

“The complex of rabbinically ordained practices … including most of the rules for the treatment of Scripture itself—do not derive from Scripture at all. Rabbinic Judaism’s initial concern was with the elaboration and refinement of its own system. Attaching the system to scripture was secondary. It therefore is misleading to depict rabbinic Judaism primarily as a consequence of an exegetical process or the organic unfolding of Scripture. Rather, rabbinic Judaism began as the work of a small, ambitious, and homogeneous group of pseudo-priests …By the third century (A.D.) the rabbis expressed their self-conception in the ideology of “oral Torah” which held that a comprehensive body of teachings and practices (halachot) not included in Scripture had been given by God and through Moses only to the rabbinic establishment.” (Rabbinic Judaism: Structure and System, Jacob Nuesner, pp. 31–34)

There have been philosophical differences between Christianity and Rabbinical Judaism since the founding of Christianity. Christians acknowledge the roots of Christianity in Judaism. Some claim the entirety of Jewish religious heritage as its own, while interpreting it very differently.

Debates between the Early Christians, who at first saw themselves as a movement within Judaism and not as a separate religion, and other Jews initially revolved around the question whether Jesus was the Messiah, which later encompassed the issue of his divinity. Once gentiles were converted to Christianity, the question arose whether and how far these gentile Christians were obliged to follow Jewish law in order to follow Jesus (see Paul’s letter to the Galatians). At the Council of Jerusalem,[Acts 15] it was decided that new gentile converts did not need to be circumcised (the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15:19-21), while requiring acceptance to a set of laws similar to Judaism’s Noahide Law, (see also Old Testament#Christian view of the Law for the modern debate), but Paul also questioned the validity of Jewish Christians’ adherence to the Jewish law in relation to faith in Christ, according to some interpretations. The issue of Paul of Tarsus and Judaism is still hotly debated.

The increase of the numbers of gentile Christians in comparison to Jewish Christians eventually resulted in a rift between Christianity and Judaism, which was further increased by the Jewish-Roman wars (66–73 and 132–135) that drove many more Jews into the diaspora and reduced the influence of the Bishop of Jerusalem, leader of the first Christian church. Early Christians also found in the Old Testament, prophecies which seemed to indicate that God’s original covenant with the Jews would be expanded to include also the Gentiles, in other words Proselytes, God-fearers, and Noachides. Thus the Church Fathers tend to emphasise that the Church is the new “spiritual” Israel, completing or replacing the earthly Israel which was but its prototype. In modern times, this view would come to be called “Supersessionism”.

Also, the two religions differed in their legal status in the Roman Empire: Judaism, restricted to the Jewish people and Jewish Proselytes, was generally exempt from obligation to the Roman imperial cult and since the reign of Julius Caesar enjoyed the status of a “licit religion”, though there were also occasional persecutions, for example in 19 Tiberius expelled the Jews from Rome, as Claudius did again in 49. Christianity however was not restricted to one people, and as Jewish Christians were excluded from the synagogue (see Council of Jamnia), they also lost the protection of the status of Judaism, though said protection did have its limits (see for example Titus Flavius Clemens (consul), Akiba ben Joseph, and Ten Martyrs).

From the reign of Nero onwards, who is said to have blamed the Great Fire of Rome on Christians, Christianity was considered to be illegal and Christians were frequently subjected to persecution, differing regionally. Comparably, Judaism suffered the setbacks of the Jewish-Roman wars, remembered in the legacy of the Ten Martyrs. Robin Lane Fox traces the origin of much later hostility to the period of persecution, where the commonest test by the authorities of a suspected Christian was to require homage to be paid to the deified emperor. Jews were exempt from this requirement as long as they paid the Fiscus Judaicus, and Christians (many or mostly of Jewish origins) would say they were Jewish but refused to pay the tax. This had to be confirmed by the local Jewish authorities, who were likely to refuse to accept the Christians as Jewish, 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. In the 3rd century systematic persecution of Christians began and lasted until Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. In 390 Theodosius I made Christianity the State church of the Roman Empire. While pagan cults and Manichaeism were suppressed, Judaism retained its legal status as a licit religion, though anti-Jewish violence still occurred. In the 5th century, some legal measures worsened the status of the Jews in the Roman Empire (now more properly called the Byzantine Empire since relocating to Constantinople).

New Testament rejection of Judaism

A number of passages in the New Testament may be considered as a rejection of Judaismgiven a certain interpretive approach. Among them are:

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judea; for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all men.

Criticisms of Jewish parochialism or particularism
Criticisms of Jews being children of the devil and the like[Jn 8:44-47]
Criticisms of the Pharisees[Mt. 23]
The assertion that the Jewish covenant with God has been superseded by a New Covenant
The explication of the Jewish role in the Passion of Jesus. This is exemplified by 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15:

These elements of the New Testament have their origins in 1st-century history. Christianity began as a revision of Judaism. Many of Jesus’ followers during his life were Jews, and it was even a matter of confusion, many years after his death, as to whether non-Jews could even be considered Christians at all, according to the way some interpret the Council of Jerusalem.

Although the Gospels offer accounts of confrontations and debates between Jesus and other Jews, such conflicts were common among Jews at the time. Scholars disagree on the historicity of the Gospels, and have offered different interpretations of the complex relationship between Jewish authorities and Christians before and following Jesus’ death. These debates hinge on the meaning of the word “messiah,” and the claims of Early Christians.

Rejection of Jesus as the Messiah

Christianity says that Jesus is the Messiah which Judaism does not accept. The Gospels claim that Jesus was a preacher, healer, and messiah. There is no reason to think Jesus would have come into conflict with Jewish authorities in 1st century Judea on account of his preaching and healing, yet part of the gospel record is the Cleansing of the Temple. However, claims that he was the Messiah were more controversial. The Hebrew word mashiyakh (משיח) typically signified a man, chosen by God or descended from a man chosen by God, to serve as a civil and military authority. If Jesus made this claim during his life, it is not surprising that many Jews, weary of Roman occupation, would have supported him as a liberator. It is also likely that Jewish authorities would have been cautious, out of fear of Roman reprisal.

Jesus was considered by Christians to be the Messiah, while for most Jews the death of Jesus would have been sufficient proof that he was not the Jewish Messiah. If early Christians preached that Jesus was about to return, it is virtually certain that Jewish authorities would have opposed them out of fear of Roman reprisal.

Such fears would have been well grounded: Jews revolted against the Romans in 66 CE, which culminated with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. They revolted again under the leadership of the professed messiah Simon Bar Kokhba in 132 CE, which culminated in the expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem, which Hadrian renamed into Aelia Capitolina in an attempt to wipe out memory of Jews there.

At the time, Christianity was still considered a sect of Judaism, but the messianic claims alienated many Christians (including Jewish converts) and sharply deepened the schism.

Observance of Mosaic law

Another source of tension between early Christians and Jews was the question of observance of Mosaic Law which was also debated among Proselytes. Early Christians were divided over the issue: Some Jewish Christians or so-called Judaizers argued that Christians were bound to observe Mosaic law, while Paul perhaps argued that only some of Mosaic Law applied to Christians, though the issue of Paul of Tarsus and Judaism is still hotly debated with some advocating complete abrogation. The issue was argued especially in the context of whether Gentile converts were obligated to undergo circumcision, which was a requirement for Jewish boys. The issue was hotly debated in the 1st century and settled at the Council of Jerusalem, in which Paul and Barnabas participated as representatives of the church at Antioch. The Council decided that Gentile converts were not subject to most Mosaic Law, including circumcision, but required them to stay away from eating meat with blood still on it, eating the meat of strangled animals, eating food offered to idols, and sexual immorality. See also Noahide Law and Proselyte.

Many have interpreted Paul’s writings as other parts of the New Testament ‎as ending the requirements of the Jewish law. See Proselyte and New Perspective on Paul for more details. An example of another view is represented by the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Judaizers.

Paul, on the other hand, not only did not object to the observance of the Mosaic Law as long as it did not interfere with the liberty of the Gentiles but also he conformed to its prescriptions when occasion required. [1Cor 9:20] Thus he shortly after [the Council of Jerusalem] circumcised Timothy,[Acts 16:1–3] and he was in the very act of observing the Mosaic ritual when he was arrested at Jerusalem.

Conversion of Gentiles to Judaism

After Paul’s death, Christianity emerged as a separate religion, and Pauline Christianity emerged as the dominant form of Christianity, especially after Paul, James and the other apostles agreed on a compromise set of requirements.[Acts 15] Some Christians continued to adhere to Jewish law, but they were few in number and often considered heretics by the Church. One example is the Ebionites, which, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, were “infected with Judaistic errors” (language which Jews find offensive; for instance, they denied the virgin birth of Jesus, the physical Resurrection of Jesus, and most of the books that were later canonized as the New Testament, see also “Judaizers” (a term which Jews find offensive). For example, the Ethiopian Orthodox are often accused of being Judaizers because they still observe Old Testament teachings such as the Sabbath, and conversely they accuse their opponents of residual Marcionism. As late as the 4th century Church Father John Chrysostom complained (see John Chrysostom Sermons on Jews and Judaizing Christians) that some Christians were still attending Jewish synagogues.

Criticism of the Pharisees

Many New Testament passages criticise the Pharisees and it has been argued that these passages have shaped the way that Christians viewed Jews. Like most Bible passages, however, they can and have been interpreted in a variety of ways.

During Jesus’ life and at the time of his execution, the Pharisees were only one of several Jewish groups such as the Sadducees, Zealots, and Essenes; indeed, some have suggested that Jesus was himself a Pharisee. Arguments by Jesus and his disciples against the Pharisees and what he saw as their hypocrisy were most likely examples of disputes among Jews and internal to Judaism that were common at the time, see for example Hillel and Shammai. (Lutheran Pastor John Stendahl has pointed out that “Christianity begins as a kind of Judaism, and we must recognize that words spoken in a family conflict are inappropriately appropriated by those outside the family.”)

Recent studies on Antisemitism in the New Testament

Professor Lillian C. Freudmann, author of Antisemitism in the New Testament (University Press of America, 1994) has published a detailed study of the description of Jews in the New Testament, and the historical effects that such passages have had in the Christian community throughout history. Similar studies of such verses have been made by both Christian and Jewish scholars, including, Professors Clark Williamsom (Christian Theological Seminary), Hyam Maccoby (The Leo Baeck Institute), Norman A. Beck (Texas Lutheran College), and Michael Berenbaum (Georgetown University). Most rabbis feel that these verses are antisemitic, and many Christian scholars, in America and Europe, have reached the same conclusion. Another example is John Dominic Crossan’s 1995 Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus.

The Church Fathers

Patristic bishops of the patristic era such as Augustine argued that the Jews should be left alive and suffering as a perpetual reminder of their murder of Christ. Other Church Fathers, such as John Chrysostom went longer in their condemnation. Ephraim the Syrian wrote polemics against Jews in the 4th century, including the repeated accusation that Satan dwells among them as a partner. These writings were directed at Christians who were being proselytized by Jews and who Ephraim feared were slipping back into the religion of Judaism; thus he portrayed the Jews as enemies of Christianity, like Satan, to emphasize the contrast between the two religions, namely, that Christianity was Godly and true and Judaism was Satanic and false. Like John Chrysostom, his objective was to dissuade Christians from reverting to Judaism by emphasizing what he saw as the wickedness of the Jews and their religion.

Christians and Jews in Muslim lands

While in Christian Europe Christianity had the upper hand as the religion of state, under Islam Jews and Christians were on a more even footing.

The Middle Ages

The Emperor Leo I

The Byzantine Emperor Leo I compiled a code of law, the New Constitutions of Leo, under which Jews were compelled to observe Christian rites.

“Jews shall live in accordance with the rites of Christianity. Those who formerly were invested with Imperial authority promulgated various laws with reference to the Hebrew people, who, once nourished by Divine protection, became renowned, but are now remarkable for the calamities inflicted upon them because of their contumacy towards Christ and God; and these laws, while regulating their mode of life, compelled them to read the Holy Scriptures, and ordered them not to depart from the ceremonies of their worship. They also provided that their children should adhere to their religion, being obliged to do so as well by the ties of blood, as on account of the institution of circumcision. These are the laws which I have already stated were formerly enforced throughout the Empire. But the Most Holy Sovereign from whom We are descended, more concerned than his predecessors for the salvation of the Jews, instead of allowing them (as they did) to obey only their ancient laws, attempted, by the interpretation of prophesies and the conclusions which he drew from them, to convert them to the Christian religion, by means of the vivifying water of baptism. He fully succeeded in his attempts to transform them into new men, according to the doctrine of Christ, and induced them to denounce their ancient doctrines and abandon their religious ceremonies, such as circumcision, the observance of the Sabbath, and all their other rites. But although he, to a certain extent, overcame the obstinacy of the Jews, he was unable to force them to abolish the laws which permitted them to live in accordance with their ancient customs. Therefore We, desiring to accomplish what Our Father failed to effect, do hereby annul all the old laws enacted with reference to the Hebrews, and We order that they shall not dare to live in any other manner than in accordance with the rules established by the pure and salutary Christian Faith. And if anyone of them should be proved to have neglected to observe the ceremonies of the Christian religion, and to have returned to his former practices, he shall pay the penalty prescribed by the law for apostates.”

Pope Gregory I

Not all early Christians were antisemitic though. Some, such as Pope Gregory I, spoke out against the antisemitism of their day.

Sicut Judaeis

Sicut Judaeis (the “Constitution for the Jews”) was the official position of the papacy regarding Jews throughout the Middle Ages and later. The first bull was issued in about 1120 by Calixtus II, intended to protect Jews who suffered during the First Crusade, and was reaffirmed by many popes, even until the 15th century.

The bull forbade, besides other things, Christians from coercing Jews to convert, or to harm them, or to take their property, or to disturb the celebration of their festivals, or to interfere with their cemeteries, on pain of excommunication.

Later Christian writers

Pope John XVIII

1007: “The Jews of France, victims of persecution, are taken under papal protection.”

Pope Alexander II

1063: “Praise for Winfred, archbishop of Narbonne, for defending the Jews.
1063: “Praise for Berengar, viscount of Narbonne, for protecting the Jews.”
1065: “Admonition to Landulf, lord of Benevento, that the conversion of Jews is not to be obtained by force.”

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“Is it not a far better triumph for the Church to convince and convert the Jews than to put them all to the sword? Has that prayer which the Church offers for the Jews…been instituted in vain?”

Thomas of Monmouth

In 1173 wrote a detailed antisemitic tractate, called The Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich, holding that Jews tortured to death a Christian child during Passover.

Pope Innocent III

1199: Constitution for the Jews
1199: Letter on the Jews

Thomas Aquinas

Not imposing, he said, his own judgment but rather urging the judgment of the experts, declared that, “as the laws say, the Jews by reason of their fault are sentenced to perpetual servitude and thus the lords of the lands in which they dwell may take things from them as though they were their own — with, nonetheless, this restraint observed that the necessary subsidies of life in no way be taken from them…[and that] the services coerced from them do not demand things that they had not been accustomed to do in times gone by.” However, he also argued that the Jews should not be baptized against their will, quoting the council of Toledo: “In regard to the Jews the holy synod commands that henceforward none of them be forced to believe.”

Pope Gregory IX

Wrote several decrees to prevent discriminations against Jews (see Pope Gregory IX and Judaism).

Pope Gregory X:

“And most falsely do these Christians claim that the Jews have secretly and furtively carried away these children and killed them, and that the Jews offer sacrifice from the heart and blood of these children, since their law in this matter precisely and expressly forbids Jews to sacrifice, eat, or drink the blood, or to eat the flesh of animals having claws. This has been demonstrated many times at our court by Jews converted to the Christian faith: nevertheless very many Jews are often seized and detained unjustly because of this. We decree, therefore, that Christians need not be obeyed against Jews in a case or situation of this type, and we order that Jews seized under such a silly pretext be freed from imprisonment, and that they shall not be arrested henceforth on such a miserable pretext, unless-which we do not believe-they be caught in the commission of the crime. We decree that no Christian shall stir up anything new against them, but that they should be maintained in that status and position in which they were in the time of our predecessors, from antiquity till now.”

Geoffrey Chaucer

Wrote in “The Prioress’s Tale” of his Canterbury Tales of a devout little Christian child who was murdered by Jews affronted at his singing a hymn as he passed through the Jewry, or Jewish quarter, of a city in Asia. A considerable body of critical and scholarly opinion holds that this speech, in the mouth of the Prioress, represents an ironic inversion of Chaucer’s own sentiments: that is, the Prioress is seen as a hypocrite whose cruelty and bigotry belies her conventionally pious pose — a situation typical of the indeterminacy of Chaucer’s intentions.

Pope Martin V

Declared in 1419: “Whereas the Jews are made in the image of God and a remnant of them will one day be saved, and whereas they have besought our protection: following in the footsteps of our predecessors we command that they be not molested in their synagogues; that their laws, rights, and customs be not assailed; that they be not baptized by force, constrained to observe Christian festivals, nor to wear new badges, and they be not hindered in their business relations with Christians”Martin however issued a bull in 1425 ordering Jews to wear a “badge of infamy”. After the Austrian and German Jews appealed to him, he spoke in their favor in 1420 and “in 1422, confirmed the ancient privileges of their race”.

Pope Clement VIII

“All the world suffers from the usury of the Jews, their monopolies and deceit. They have brought many unfortunate people into a state of poverty, especially the farmers, working class people and the very poor. Then, as now, Jews have to be reminded intermittently that they were enjoying rights in any country since they left Palestine and the Arabian desert, and subsequently their ethical and moral doctrines as well as their deeds rightly deserve to be exposed to criticism in whatever country they happen to live.”

Patriarch Miron Cristea

“The duty of a Christian is to love himself first and to see that his needs are satisfied. Only then can he help his neighbor. . . . Why should we not get rid of these parasites [Jews] who suck Rumanian Christian blood? It is logical and holy to react against them.”

Popular antisemitism

Antisemitism in popular European Christian culture escalated beginning in the 13th century. Blood libels and host desecration drew popular attention and led to many cases of persecution against Jews. Antisemitic imagery such as Judensau and Ecclesia et Synagoga recurred in Christian art and architecture.

In Iceland, one of the hymns repeated in the days leading up to Easter include the lines,

The righteous Law of Moses

The Jews here misapplied,

Which their deceit exposes,

Their hatred and their pride.

The judgement is the Lord’s.

When by falsification

The foe makes accusation,

It’s His to make awards.

Expulsions

Expulsion of Jews from England

King Edward I expelled all the Jews from England in 1290 (only after ransoming some 3,000 among the most wealthy of them), on the accusation of usury and undermining loyalty to the dynasty.

Expulsion of Jews from Spain

In 1492 Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, the rulers of Spain who financed Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the New World just a few months later in 1492, declared that all Jews in their territories should either convert to Catholicism or leave the country. While some converted, many others left for Portugal, France, Italy (including the Papal States), Netherlands, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, and North Africa. Many of those who had fled to Portugal were latter expelled by King Manuel in 1497 or left to avoid forced conversion and persecution.

Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther at first made overtures towards the Jews, believing that the “evils” of Catholicism had prevented their conversion to Christianity. When his call to convert to his version of Christianity was unsuccessful, he became hostile to them.

In his book On the Jews and their Lies, he excoriates them as “venomous beasts, vipers, disgusting scum, canders, devils incarnate.” He provided detailed recommendations for a pogrom against them, calling for their permanent oppression and expulsion, writing “Their private houses must be destroyed and devastated, they could be lodged in stables. Let the magistrates burn their synagogues and let whatever escapes be covered with sand and mud. Let them force to work, and if this avails nothing, we will be compelled to expel them like dogs in order not to expose ourselves to incurring divine wrath and eternal damnation from the Jews and their lies.” At one point he wrote: “…we are at fault in not slaying them…” a passage that “may be termed the first work of modern antisemitism, and a giant step forward on the road to the Holocaust.”

Luther’s harsh comments about the Jews are seen by many as a continuation of medieval Christian antisemitism. In his final sermon shortly before his death, however, Luther preached: “We want to treat them with Christian love and to pray for them, so that they might become converted and would receive the Lord.”

18th century

In accordance with the anti-Jewish precepts of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russia’s discriminatory policies towards Jews intensified when the partition of Poland in the 18th century resulted, for the first time in Russian history, in the possession of land with a large Jewish population.[31] This land was designated as the Pale of Settlement from which Jews were forbidden to migrate into the interior of Russia. In 1772 Catherine II, the empress of Russia, forced the Jews of the Pale of Settlement to stay in their shtetls and forbade them from returning to the towns that they occupied before the partition of Poland.

19th century

Throughout the 19th century and into the 20th, the Roman Catholic Church still incorporated strong antisemitic elements, despite increasing attempts to separate anti-Judaism (opposition to the Jewish religion on religious grounds) and racial antisemitism. Pope Pius VII (1800–1823) had the walls of the Jewish ghetto in Rome rebuilt after the Jews were emancipated by Napoleon, and Jews were restricted to the ghetto through the end of the Papal States in 1870. Official Catholic organizations, such as the Jesuits, banned candidates “who are descended from the Jewish race unless it is clear that their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have belonged to the Catholic Church” until 1946.

Brown University historian David Kertzer, working from the Vatican archive, has argued in his book The Popes Against the Jews that in the 19th century and early 20th century the Roman Catholic Church adhered to a distinction between “good antisemitism” and “bad antisemitism”. The “bad” kind promoted hatred of Jews because of their descent. This was considered un-Christian because the Christian message was intended for all of humanity regardless of ethnicity; anyone could become a Christian. The “good” kind criticized alleged Jewish conspiracies to control newspapers, banks, and other institutions, to care only about accumulation of wealth, etc. Many Catholic bishops wrote articles criticizing Jews on such grounds, and, when accused of promoting hatred of Jews, would remind people that they condemned the “bad” kind of antisemitism. Kertzer’s work is not without critics. Scholar of Jewish-Christian relations Rabbi David G. Dalin, for example, criticized Kertzer in the Weekly Standard for using evidence selectively.

20th-century

WWI to the eve of the WWII

In 1916, in the midst of the First World War, American Jews petitioned Pope Benedict XV on behalf of the Polish Jews.

Nazi antisemitism

On April 26, 1933 Hitler declared during a meeting with Roman Catholic Bishop Wilhelm Berning of Osnabrück:

“I have been attacked because of my handling of the Jewish question. The Catholic Church considered the Jews pestilent for fifteen hundred years, put them in ghettos, etc., because it recognized the Jews for what they were. In the epoch of liberalism the danger was no longer recognized. I am moving back toward the time in which a fifteen-hundred-year-long tradition was implemented. I do not set race over religion, but I recognize the representatives of this race as pestilent for the state and for the Church, and perhaps I am thereby doing Christianity a great service by pushing them out of schools and public functions.”

The transcript of this discussion contains no response by Bishop Berning. Martin Rhonheimer does not consider this unusual since, in his opinion, for a Catholic Bishop in 1933 there was nothing particularly objectionable “in this historically correct reminder”.

The Nazis used Martin Luther’s book, On the Jews and Their Lies (1543), to claim a moral righteousness for their ideology. Luther even went so far as to advocate the murder of those Jews who refused to convert to Christianity, writing that “we are at fault in not slaying them”

Archbishop Robert Runcie has asserted that: “Without centuries of Christian antisemitism, Hitler’s passionate hatred would never have been so fervently echoed…because for centuries Christians have held Jews collectively responsible for the death of Jesus. On Good Friday Jews, have in times past, cowered behind locked doors with fear of a Christian mob seeking ‘revenge’ for deicide. Without the poisoning of Christian minds through the centuries, the Holocaust is unthinkable.” The dissident Catholic priest Hans Küng has written that “Nazi anti-Judaism was the work of godless, anti-Christian criminals. But it would not have been possible without the almost two thousand years’ pre-history of ‘Christian’ anti-Judaism…”

The document Dabru Emet was issued by over 220 rabbis and intellectuals from all branches of Judaism in 2000 as a statement about Jewish-Christian relations. This document states,

“Nazism was not a Christian phenomenon. Without the long history of Christian anti-Judaism and Christian violence against Jews, Nazi ideology could not have taken hold nor could it have been carried out. Too many Christians participated in, or were sympathetic to, Nazi atrocities against Jews. Other Christians did not protest sufficiently against these atrocities. But Nazism itself was not an inevitable outcome of Christianity.”

According to American historian Lucy Dawidowicz, antisemitism has a long history within Christianity. The line of “antisemitic descent” from Luther, the author of On the Jews and Their Lies, to Hitler is “easy to draw.” In her The War Against the Jews, 1933-1945, she contends that Luther and Hitler were obsessed by the “demonologized universe” inhabited by Jews. Dawidowicz writes that the similarities between Luther’s anti-Jewish writings and modern antisemitism are no coincidence, because they derived from a common history of Judenhass, which can be traced to Haman’s advice to Ahasuerus. Although modern German antisemitism also has its roots in German nationalism and the liberal revolution of 1848, Christian antisemitism she writes is a foundation that was laid by the Roman Catholic Church and “upon which Luther built.” Dawidowicz’ allegations and positions are criticized and not accepted by most historians however. For example, in “Studying the Jew” Alan Steinweis notes that, “Old-fashioned antisemitism, Hitler argued, was insufficient, and would lead only to pogroms, which contribute little to a permanent solution. This is why, Hitler maintained, it was important to promote ‘an antisemitism of reason,’ one that acknowledged the racial basis of Jewry.” Interviews with Nazis by other historians show that the Nazis thought that their views were rooted in biology, not historical prejudices. For example, “S. became a missionary for this biomedical vision… As for anti-Semitic attitudes and actions, he insisted that ‘the racial question… [and] resentment of the Jewish race… had nothing to do with medieval anti-Semitism…’ That is, it was all a matter of scientific biology and of community.”

Collaborating Christians

German Christians

Gleichschaltung

Hanns Kerrl, Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs

Positive Christianity (the approved Nazi version of Christianity)

Protestant Reich Church

Opposition to the Holocaust

The Confessing Church was, in 1934, the first Christian opposition group. The Catholic Church officially condemned the Nazi theory of racism in Germany in 1937 with the encyclical “Mit Brennender Sorge”, signed by Pope Pius XI, and Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber led the Catholic opposition, preaching against racism.

Many individual Christian clergy and laypeople of all denominations had to pay for their opposition with their life, including:

Catholic priest, Maximilian Kolbe.
Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Catholic parson of Berlin Cathedral, Bernhard Lichtenberg.
The mostly Catholic members of the Munich resistance group White Rose around Hans and Sophie Scholl.

By the 1940s fewer Christians were willing to oppose Nazi policy publicly, but many secretly helped save the lives of Jews. There are many sections of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Museum, Yad Vashem, dedicated to honoring these “Righteous Among the Nations”.

Pope Pius XII

Before becoming Pope, Cardinal Pacelli presided as Papal Legate over the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest on 25–30 May 1938. At this time antisemitic laws were in the process of being formulated in Hungary. Pacelli made reference to the Jews “whose lips curse [Christ] and whose hearts reject him even today”.

The 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge was issued by Pope Pius XI, but drafted by the future Pope Pius XIIand read from the pulpits of all German Catholic churches, it condemned Nazi ideology and has been characterized by scholars as the “first great official public document to dare to confront and criticize Nazism” and “one of the greatest such condemnations ever issued by the Vatican.”

In the summer of 1942, Pius explained to his college of Cardinals the reasons for the great gulf that existed between Jews and Christians at the theological level: “Jerusalem has responded to His call and to His grace with the same rigid blindness and stubborn ingratitude that has led it along the path of guilt to the murder of God.” Historian Guido Knopp describes these comments of Pius as being “incomprehensible” at a time when “Jerusalem was being murdered by the million”.This traditional adversarial relationship with Judaism would be reversed in Nostra Aetate issued during the Second Vatican Council.

Prominent members of the Jewish community have contradicted the criticisms of Pius and spoke highly of his efforts to protect Jews. The Israeli historian Pinchas Lapide interviewed war survivors and concluded that Pius XII “was instrumental in saving at least 700,000, but probably as many as 860,000 Jews from certain death at Nazi hands”. Some historians dispute this estimate.

The “White Power” movement

The Christian Identity movement, the Ku Klux Klan and other White supremacy groups have expressed antisemitic views. They claim that their antisemitism is based on purported Jewish control of the media, international banks, radical left wing politics, and the promotion of multiculturalism, anti-Christian groups, liberalism and perverse organizations. They rebuke charges of racism and claim Jews who share their ideology maintain membership in their organizations. A racial belief common among these groups, but not universal, is an alternative history doctrine, sometimes called British Israelism. In some forms this doctrine absolutely denies that modern Jews have any racial connection to Israel of the Bible. Instead, according to extreme forms of this doctrine the true racial Israel and true humans are the Adamic (white) race.

These groups are often rejected and not considered to be Christian groups by mainstream Christian denominations as well as the vast majority of Christians around the world.

Post World War II antisemitism

Antisemitism in Europe remains a substantial problem. Antisemitism exists to a lesser or greater degree in many other nations as well, including Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the occasional tensions between some Muslim immigrants and Jews across Europe. The US State Department reports that antisemitism has increased dramatically in Europe and Eurasia since 2000.

While in a decline since the 1940s, there is still a measurable amount of antisemitism in the United States of America as well, although acts of violence are rare. The 2001 survey by the Anti-Defamation League reported 1432 acts of antisemitism in the United States that year. The figure included 877 acts of harassment, including verbal intimidation, threats and physical assaults. Antisemitic pronouncements still occur, however. John Hagee, a leading proponent of “Christian Zionism,” reiterated a view—the popularity of which is very hard to gauge but must nonetheless be considered not simply isolated—that the Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves by angering God.

Jewish converts

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant Christian denomination in the U.S., has explicitly rejected suggestions that it should back away from seeking to convert Jews, a position that critics have called antisemitic, but that Baptists see as consistent with their view that salvation is found solely through faith in Christ. In 1996 the SBC approved a resolution calling for efforts to seek the conversion of Jews “as well as for the salvation of ‘every kindred and tongue and people and nation.'”

Most Evangelicals agree with the SBC position, and some have been supporting efforts specifically seeking Jews’ conversion. At the same time these groups are among the most pro-Israeli groups. (For more, see Christian Zionism.) Among the controversial groups that has found support from some Evangelical churches is Jews for Jesus, which claims that Jews can “complete” their Jewish faith by accepting Jesus as the Messiah.

The Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, and the United Church of Canada have ended their efforts to convert Jews. While Anglicans do not, as a rule, seek converts from other Christian denominations, the General Synod has affirmed that “the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ is for all and must be shared with all including people from other faiths or of no faith and that to do anything else would be to institutionalize discrimination”.

The Roman Catholic Church formerly had religious congregations specifically aimed to conversion of Jews. Some of these were founded by Jewish converts themselves, like the Community of Our Lady of Zion, which was composed of nuns and ordained priests. Many Catholic saints were noted specifically because of their missionary zeal in converting Jews, such as Vincent Ferrer. After the Second Vatican Council many missionary orders aimed at converting Jews to Christianity no longer actively sought to missionize (or proselytize) among Jews. Traditionalist Roman Catholic groups, congregations and clergymen, however, continue to support missionizing Jews according to traditional patterns, sometimes with success (e.g., the Society of St. Pius X which has notable Jewish converts among its faithful, many of whom have become traditionalist priests).

Some Jewish organizations have described evangelism and missionary activity directed specifically at Jews as antisemitic.

Reconciliation between Judaism and Christian groups

In recent years there has been much to note in the way of reconciliation between some Christian groups and the Jews. Most of this reconciliation has occurred between the Jewish community and the Catholic Church, and evangelical Christian organizations.

Islam and antisemitism

Islam and antisemitism relates to Islamic theologicial teaching against Jews and Judaism and the treatment of Jews in Muslim countries.

With the origin of Islam in the 7th century and its rapid spread in the Arabian peninsula and beyond, Jews (and many other peoples) came to be subject to the rule of Muslim rulers. The quality of the rule varied considerably in different periods, as did the attitudes of the rulers, government officials, clergy and general population to various subject peoples from time to time, which was reflected in their treatment of these subjects. Reuven Firestone notes that “negative assessments and even condemnation of prior religions and their adherents occur in all three scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.” This article looks at the Muslim attitude to, and treatment of, Jews in Islamic thought and societies throughout history, and explores the ramifications of these attitudes in the contemporary world.

Range of opinion

Claude Cahen and Shelomo Dov Goitein argue against historic antisemitism in Muslim lands, writing that discrimination practiced against non-Muslims was of general nature, and not targeted specifically at Jews. For these scholars, antisemitism in Medieval Islam was local and sporadic rather than general and endemic. For Goitein antisemitism was not present at all, and for Cahen it was rarely present.
Bernard Lewis writes that while Muslims have held negative stereotypes regarding Jews, throughout most of Islamic history these stereotypes were not indicative of antisemitism because, unlike Christians, Muslims viewed Jews as objects of ridicule, not fear. He argues that Muslims did not attribute “cosmic evil” to Jews. In Lewis’ view, it was only in the late 19th century that movements first appeared among Muslims that can legitimately be described as antisemitic.
Frederick M. Schweitzer and Marvin Perry state that there are mostly negative references to Jews in the Qur’an and Hadith, and that Islamic regimes treated Jews in degrading ways. Jews (and Christians) had the status of dhimmis. They state that throughout much of history Christians treated Jews worse, saying that Jews in Christian lands were subjected to worse polemics, persecutions and massacres than under Muslim rule.
According to Walter Laqueur, the varying interpretations of the Qur’an are important for understanding Muslim attitudes. Many Quranic verses preach tolerance towards the Jews; others make hostile remarks about them (which are similar to hostile remarks made against those who did not accept Islam). Muhammad interacted with Jews living in Arabia: he preached to them in hopes of conversion, he fought against and killed many Jews, while he made friends with other Jews.
For Martin Kramer, the idea that contemporary antisemitism by Muslims is authentically Islamic “touches on some truths, yet it misses many others”. Kramer believes that contemporary antisemitism is due only partially to Israeli policies, about which Muslims may have a deep sense of injustice and loss. But Kramer attributes the primary causes of Muslim antisemitism to modern European ideologies, which have infected the Muslim world.

The Qur’an on Jews in its historical setting

The Qur’an makes forty-three specific references to “Bani Isrāʾīl” (meaning the Children of Israel). The Arabic term yahud, denoting Jews, and “yahudi” occur eleven times and the verbal form hāda (meaning “to be a Jew/Jewish”) occurs ten times. According to Khalid Durán, the negative passages use Yahūd, while the positive references speak mainly of the Banī Isrā’īl. Jews are not mentioned at all in verses dating from the Meccan period. According to Bernard Lewis, the coverage given to Jews is relatively insignificant.

The references in the Qur’an to Jews are interpreted in different ways. According to Frederick M. Schweitzer and Marvin Perry, these references are “mostly negative” According to Tahir Abbas the general references to Jews are favorable, with only those addressed to particular groups of Jews containing harsh criticisms.

According to Bernard Lewis and other scholars, the earliest verses of the Qur’an were largely sympathetic to Jews. Mohammed admired them as monotheists and saw them as natural adherents to the new faith and Jewish practices helped model early Islamic behavior, such as midday prayer, prayers on Friday, Ramadan fasting (modelled after the Jewish Yom Kippur fast on the tenth of the month of Tishrei), and most famously the fact that until 623 Muslims prayed toward Jerusalem, not Mecca. After his flight (al-hijra) from Mecca, where religious intolerance reigned, in 622 Mohammad with his followers settled in Yathrib, subsequently renamed Medina al-Nabi (‘City of the Prophet’) where he managed to draw up a ‘social contract’, widely referred to as the ‘Constitution of Medina’. This contract, known as the Leaf (ṣaḥīfa) upheld the peaceful coexistence between Muslims, Jews and Christians, defining them all, under given conditions, as constituting the umma, or community of that city, and granting the latter freedom of religious thought and practice. Yathrib/Medina was not homogeneous. Alongside the 200 odd emigrants from Mecca (the Muhājirūn), who had followed Mohammad, its population consisted of the Faithful of Medina (Anṣār, ‘the helpers’), Arab pagans, three Jewish tribes and some Christians. The foundational ‘constitution’ sought to establish, for the first time in history according to Ali Khan, a formal agreement guaranteeing interfaith conviviality, albeit ringed with articles emphasizing strategic cooperation in the defense of the city.

In paragraph 16 of this document, it states that:’Those Jews who follow us are entitled to our aid and support so long as they shall not have wronged us or lent assistance (to any enemies) against us’.

Paragraph 37 has it that ‘To the Jews their own expenses and to the Muslims theirs. They shall help one another in the event of any attack on the people covered by this document. There shall be sincere friendship, exchange of good counsel, fair conduct and no treachery between them.’ The three local Jewish tribes were the Banu Nadir, the Banu Qurayza, and the Banu Qaynuqa. While Mohammad clearly had no prejudice against them, and appears to have regarded his own message as substantially the same as that received by Jews on Sinai, tribal politics, and Mohammad’s deep frustration at Jewish refusals to accept his prophethood, quickly led to a break with all three. unfortunate linguistic misunderstandings may also have given the impression, evidenced in the Qur’an, that the Jewish community was publicly humiliating Mohammad. One clan was evicted from Medina in 624. In 625, the Banu Nadir Jewish tribe was evicted from Medina. Lastly, in the Mecca siege of Medina in 627, the last major Jewish tribe initially helped the Muslims in fortifying the back portions of Medina, but due to their later exposed treachery in trying to assist the pagan Meccan army, the Muslims laid siege to this last group of Jews. Since the Torah prescribes the death penalty for treachery, the adult males of this last Jewish tribe were killed, and the women and children were taken into slavery (but later freed). The direction of prayer was shifted towards Mecca from Jerusalem and the most negative verses about Jews were set down after this time.

According to Laqueur, conflicting statements about Jews in the Qur’an have affected Muslim attitudes towards Jews to this day, especially during periods of rising Islamic fundamentalism.

Judaism in theology

According to Bernard Lewis, there is nothing in Muslim theology (with a single exception) that can be considered refutations of Judaism or ferocious anti-Jewish diatribes. Lewis and Chanes suggest that, for a variety of reasons, Muslims were not antisemitic for the most part. The Qur’an, like Judaism, orders Muslims to profess strict monotheism. It also rejects the stories of Jewish deicide as a blasphemous absurdity, and other similar stories in the Gospels play no part in the Muslim educational system The Qur’an does not present itself as a fulfillment of the Hebrew Bible but rather a restoration of its original message – thus, no clash of interpretations between Judaism and Islam can arise.

In addition Lewis argues that the Qur’an lacks popular western traditions of ‘guilt and betrayal’. Rosenblatt and Pinson suggest that the Qur’an teaches toleration of Judaism as a fellow monotheistic faith.

Lewis adds, negative attributes ascribed to subject religions (in this case Judaism and Christianity) are usually expressed in religious and social terms, but only very rarely in ethnic or racial terms. However, this does sometimes occur. The language of abuse is often quite strong. It has been argued that the conventional Muslim epithets for Jews, apes, and Christians, pigs derive from Qu’ranic usage. Lewis adduces three passages in the Qu’ran ([Quran 2:61], [Quran 5:65], [Quran 7:166]) used to ground this view. The interpretation of these ‘enigmatic’passages in Islamic exegetics is highly complex, dealing as they do with infractions like breaking the Sabbath. According to Goitein, the idea of Jewish Sabbath breakers turning into apes may reflect the influence of Yemeni midrashim. Firestone notes that the Qurayza tribe itself is described in Muslim sources as using the trope of being turned into apes if one breaks the Sabbath to justify not exploiting the Sabbath in order to attack Mohammad, when they were under siege.

According to Stillman, the Qur’an praises Moses, and depicts the Israelites as the recipients of divine favour. The Qur’an dedicates many verses to the glorification of Hebrew prophets, says Leon Poliakov. He quotes verse [Quran 6:85] as an example,

We gave him Isaac and Jacob: all (three) guided: and before him, We guided Noah, and among his progeny, David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron: thus do We reward those who do good: And Zakariya and John, and Jesus and Elias: all in the ranks of the righteous: And Isma’il and Elisha, and Jonas, and Lot: and to all We gave favour above the nations.

Remarks on Jews

Leon Poliakov, Walter Laqueur, and Jane Gerber, argue that passages in the Qur’an reproach Jews for their refusal to recognize Muhammad as a prophet of God. “The Quran is engaged mainly in dealing with the sinners among the Jews and the attack on them is shaped according to models that one encounters in the New Testament.” The Muslim holy text defined the Arab and Muslim attitude towards Jews to this day, especially in the periods when Islamic fundamentalism was on the rise.

Walter Laqueur states that the Qur’an and its interpreters has a great many conflicting things to say about the Jews. Jews are said to be treacherous and hypocritical and could never be friends with a Muslim.

Frederick M. Schweitzer and Marvin Perry state that references to Jews in the Qur’an are mostly negative. The Qur’an states that wretchedness and baseness were stamped upon the Jews, and they were visited with wrath from Allah, that was because they disbelieved in Allah’s revelations and slew the prophets wrongfully. And for their taking usury, which was prohibited for them, and because of their consuming people’s wealth under false pretense, a painful punishment was prepared for them. The Qur’an requires their “abasement and poverty” in the form of the poll tax jizya. In his “wrath” God has “cursed” the Jews and will turn them into apes/monkeys and swine and idol worshipers because they are “infidels”.

According to Martin Kramer, the Qur’an speaks of Jews in a negative way and reports instances of Jewish treachery against the Islamic prophet Muhammad. However, Islam didn’t hold up those Jews who practiced treachery against Muhammad as archetypes nor did it portray treachery as the embodiment of Jews in all times and places. The Qur’an also attests to Muhammad’s amicable relations with Jews.

While traditional religious supremacism played a role in the Islamic view of Jews, the same attitude applied to Christians and other non-Muslims. Islamic tradition regards Jews as a legitimate community of believers in God (called “people of the Book”) legally entitled to sufferance.

The Qur’an ([Quran 4:157]) clears Jews from the accusation of deicide, and states “they [Jews] killed him [Jesus] not”. They also argue that the Jewish Bible has not been incorporated in the Islamic text, and “virtuous Muslims” are not contrasted with “stiff-necked, criminal Jews”.

The standard Qur’anic reference to Jews is the verse [Quran 2:61]. It says:

And abasement and poverty were pitched upon them, and they were laden with the burden of God’s anger; that, because they had disbelieved the signs of God and slain the Prophets unrightfully; that, because they disobeyed, and were transgressors.

However, due to the Qur’an’s timely process of story-telling, a majority of scholars agree that all references to Jews or other groups within the Qu’ran refers to only certain populations at a certain point in history and bare any racial profiling or religious profiling, it also gives some legitimacy to their religion in [Quran 5:69] “Those who believe, and the Jews, and the Sabi’un, and the Christians, who believe in God and the Last Day and do good, there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.”

The Qur’an gives credence to the Christian claim of Jews scheming against Jesus, ” … but God also schemed, and God is the best of schemers.”(Qur’an [Quran 3:54]) In the Muslim view, the crucifixion of Jesus was an illusion, and thus the Jewish plots against him ended in failure.[45] According to Gerber, in numerous verses ([Quran 3:63]; [Quran 3:71]; [Quran 4:46]; [Quran 4:160–161]; [Quran 5:41–44], [Quran 5:63–64], [Quran 5:82]; [Quran 6:92])[46] the Qur’an accuses Jews of altering the Scripture.

But the Qur’an differentiates between “good and bad” Jews, adding to the idea that the Jewish people or their religion itself are not the target of the story-telling process.[39] The criticisms deal mainly “with the sinners among the Jews and the attack on them is shaped according to models that one encounters in the New Testament.”

The Qur’an also speaks favorably of Jews. Though it also criticizes them for not being grateful of God’s blessing on them, the harsh criticisms, are only addressed towards a particular group of Jews, as it is clear from the context of the Qur’anic verses, but the translations usually confuse this by using the general term “Jews”. To judge Jews based on the deeds of some of their ancestors is an anti-Qur’anic idea.

Ali S. Asani suggests that the Qur’an endorses the establishment of religiously and culturally plural societies and this endorsement has affected the treatment of religious minorities in Muslim lands throughout history. He cites the endorsement of pluralism to explain why violent forms of anti-Semitism generated in medieval and modern Europe, culminating in the Holocaust, never occurred in regions under Muslim rule.

Some verses of the Qur’an, notably [Quran 2:256], preach tolerance towards members of the Jewish faith. According to Kramer, Jews are regarded as members of a legitimate community of believers in God, “people of the Book”, and therefore legally entitled to sufferance.

Distortion

Martin Kramer argues that for Muslims to arrive at the concept of the “eternal Jew”, there must be more at work than the Islamic tradition. Islamic tradition does, however, provide the sources for islamic antisemitism. The fact that many Islamic thinkers have spent time in the West has resulted in the absorption of antisemitism, he says. Modern texts further distort the Qur’an by quoting it besides texts such as the Protocols of Zion. Thus, Kramer concludes that there is no doubt modern Muslims effectively make use of the Qur’an, using Islamic tradition as a source on which antisemitism today feeds, but it is also a selective and distorting use.

Muhammad

During Muhammad’s life, Jews lived in the Arabian Peninsula, especially in and around Medina. Muhammad is also known to have Jewish friends, and had a Jewish wife (Safiyya) who became a Muslim. According to Poliakov, “the degree to which Muhammad shows his respect for each religion [Jews and Christians] is remarkable”.

According to Pinson, Rosenblatt and F.E. Peters, they also began to connive with Muhammad’s enemies in Mecca to overthrow him (despite having signed a peace treaty). According to F.E. Peters, they also began to secretly to conspire with Muhammad’s enemies in Mecca to overthrow him (despite having been forced by their conquerors to sign a peace treaty.) After each major battle, Muhammad accused one of the Jewish tribes of treachery and attacked it. Two Jewish tribes were expelled and the last one, the Banu Qurayza, was wiped out after it threw itself on Muhammad’s mercy.

Samuel Rosenblatt states that these incidents were not part of policies directed exclusively against Jews, and Muhammad was more severe with his pagan Arab kinsmen than foreigner monotheists. In addition Muhammad’s conflict with Jews was considered of rather minor importance. According to Lewis, since the clash of Judaism and Islam was resolved and ended during Muhammad’s lifetime with Muslim victory, no Muslim equivalent of the still unresolved theological dispute between Church and Israel fueled antisemitism. There is also a difference between Jewish denial of Christian and Muslim messages, since Muhammad never claimed to be a Messiah or Son of God. It is significant that the death of Muhammad was not caused by Jews.

Muhammad’s disputes with his neighboring Jewish tribes left no marked traces on his immediate successors (known as Caliphs). The first Caliphs based their treatment upon the Qur’anic verses encouraging tolerance. Classical commentators viewed Muhammad’s struggle with Jews as a minor episode in his career, but this has changed in modern times due to external influences. Poliakov opines that Muhammad’s actions and teachings gave rise to an open and more conciliatory society, where the Muslims were compelled to protect the lives and religion of the Jews.

Hadith

The hadith (recordings of deeds and sayings attributed to Muhammad) use both the terms Banu Israil and Yahud in relation to Jews, the latter term becoming ever more frequent and appearing mostly in negative context. According to Norman Stillman:

Jews in Medina are singled out as “men whose malice and enmity was aimed at the Apostle of God”. The Yahūd in this literature appear not only as malicious, but also deceitful, cowardly and totally lacking resolve. However, they have none of the demonic qualities attributed to them in mediaeval Christian literature, neither is there anything comparable to the overwhelming preoccupation with Jews and Judaism (except perhaps in the narratives on Muhammad’s encounters with Medinan Jewry) in Muslim traditional literature. Except for a few notable exceptions… the Jews in the Sira and the Maghazi are even heroic villains. Their ignominy stands in marked contrast to Muslim heroism, and in general, conforms to the Qura’nic image of “wretchedness and baseness stamped upon them”

He said:

“The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews , when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.” (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).Sahih Muslim, 41:6985, see also Sahih Muslim, 41:6981, Sahih Muslim, 41:6982, Sahih Muslim, 41:6983, Sahih Muslim, 41:6984, Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:56:791,(Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:52:177)”

This hadith has been quoted countless times, and it has become a part of the charter of Hamas.

According to Schweitzer and Perry, the hadith are “even more scathing (than the Qur’an) in attacking the Jews”:

They are debased, cursed, anathematized forever by God and so can never repent and be forgiven; they are cheats and traitors; defiant and stubborn; they killed the prophets; they are liars who falsify scripture and take bribes; as infidels they are ritually unclean, a foul odor emanating from them – such is the image of the Jew in classical Islam, degraded and malevolent.

Quran

The words “humility” and “humiliation” occur frequently in the Qur’an and later Muslim literature in relation to Jews. According to Lewis, “This, in Islamic view, is their just punishment for their past rebelliousness, and is manifested in their present impotence between the mighty powers of Christendom and Islam.” The standard Quranic reference to Jews is verse [Quran 2:61]: “And remember ye said: “O Moses! we cannot endure one kind of food (always); so beseech thy Lord for us to produce for us of what the earth groweth, -its pot-herbs, and cucumbers, Itsgarlic, lentils, and onions.” He said: “Will ye exchange the better for the worse? Go ye down to any town, and ye shall find what ye want!” They were covered with humiliation and misery; they drew on themselves the wrath of Allah. This because they went on rejecting the Signs of Allah and slaying His Messengers without just cause. This because they rebelled and went on transgressing.”

Two verses later we read: “And remember, Children of Israel, when We made a covenant with you and raised Mount Sinai before you saying, “Hold tightly to what We have revealed to you and keep it in mind so that you may guard against evil.” But then you turned away, and if it had not been for Allah’s grace and merecy, you surely would have been among the lost. And you know those among who sinned on the Sabbath. We said to them, “You will be transformed into despised apes.” So we used them as a warning to their people and to the following generations, as well as a lesson for the Allah-fearing.”(Qur’an [Quran 2:63]) The accusation that Jews will ultimately be transformed into apes and pigs is traditionally understood literally and is derived from such Qur’anic and other early Muslim sources.

The Qur’an associates Jews above all with rejection of God’s prophets including Jesus and Muhammad, thus explaining their resistance to him personally. (Cf. Surah 2:87–91; 5:59, 61, 70, and 82.) It states that they are, together with outright idolators, the worst and most inveterate enemies of Islam, and thus will not only suffer eternally in Hell but in this world will be the most degraded of the Peoples of the Book, below even Christians, everywhere. (Cf. Surah 5:82; 3:54–56.) It also asserts that Jews believe that they are the sole children of God (Surah 5:18), and that only they will achieve salvation (Surah 2:111). According to the Qur’an, Jews blasphemously claim that Ezra is the son of God, as Christians claim Jesus is, (Surah 9:30) and that God’s hand is fettered (Surah 5:64 – i.e., that they can freely defy God). Some of those who are Jews, “pervert words from their meanings”, (Surah 4:44), and because they have committed wrongdoing, God has “forbidden some good things that were previously permitted them”, thus explaining Jewish commandments regarding food, Sabbath restrictions on work, and other rulings as a punishment from God (Surah 4:160). They listen for the sake of mendacity (Surah 5:41), twisting the truth, and practice forbidden usury, and therefore they will receive “a painful doom” (Surah 4:161). The Qur’an gives credence to the Christian claim of Jews scheming against Jesus, “…but God also schemed, and God is the best of schemers”(Surah 3:54). In the Muslim view, the crucifixion of Jesus was an illusion, and thus the supposed Jewish plots against him ended in complete failure. In numerous verses (Surah 3:63, 71; 4:46, 160–161; 5:41–44, 63–64, 82; 6:92) the Qur’an accuses Jews of deliberately obscuring and perverting scripture.

Pre-modern Islam

erome Chanes, Pinson, Rosenblatt, Mark Cohen, Norman Stillman, Uri Avnery, M. Klien and Bernard Lewis argue that antisemitism in pre-modern Islam is rare, and did not emerge until modern times. Lewis argues that there is little sign any deep-rooted emotional hostility directed against Jews, or any other group, that can be characterized as antisemitism. There were, however, clearly negative attitudes, which were in part the “normal” feelings of a dominant group towards subject groups (which exists in virtually any society). More specifically, the contempt consisted of Muslim contempt for disbelievers.

Literature

According to Lewis, the outstanding characteristic of the classical Islamic view of Jews is their unimportance. The religious, philosophical, and literary Islamic writings tended to ignore Jews and focused more on Christianity. Although, the Jews received little praise or even respect, and were sometimes blamed for various misdeed but there were no fears of Jewish conspiracy and domination, nor any charges of diabolic evil nor accusations of poisoning the wells nor spreading the plague nor were even accused of engaging in blood libels until Ottomans learned the concept from their Greek subjects in 15th century.

Poliakov writes that various examples of medieval Muslim literature portray Judaism as an exemplary pinnacle of faith, and Israel being destined by this virtue. He quotes stories from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights that portray Jews as pious, virtuous and devoted to God, and seem to borrow plots from midrashim. However, Poliakov writes that treatment of Jews in Muslim literature varies, and the tales are meant for pure entertainment, with no didactic aim.

After Ibn Nagraela, a Jew, attacked the Quran by alleging various contradictions in it, Ibn Hazm, a Moor, criticized him furiously. Ibn Hazm wrote that Ibn Nagraela was “filled with hatred” and “conceited in his vile soul.”

According to Schweitzer and Perry, some literature during the 10th and 11th century “made Jews out to be untrustworthy, treacherous oppressors, and exploiters of Muslims”. This propaganda sometimes even resulted in outbreaks of violence against the Jews. An 11th century Moorish poem describes Jews as “a criminal people” and blames them for causing social decay, betraying Muslims and poisoning food and water.

Martin Kramer writes that in Islamic tradition, in striking contrast with the Christian concept of the eternal Jew, the contemporary Jews were not presented as archetypes—as the embodiment of Jews in all times and places.

Life under Muslim rule

Jews and Christians living under early Muslim rule were known as dhimmis, a status that was later also extended to other non-Muslims like Hindus. As dhimmis they were to be tolerated, and entitled to the protection and resources of the Ummah, the Muslim commonwealth. In return they had to pay a tax known as the jizya in accordance with Qur’an. Lewis and Poliakov argue that Jewish communities enjoyed toleration and limited rights as long as they accepted Muslim superiority. These rights were legally established and enforced. The restrictions on dhimmis included: payment of higher taxes; at some locations, being forced to wear clothing or some other insignia distinguishing them from Muslims; sometimes barred from holding public office, bearing arms or riding a horse; disqualified as witnesses in litigation involving Muslims; at some locations and times, dhimmis were prevented from repairing existing or erecting new places of worship. Proselytizing on behalf of any faith but Islam was barred.

Later additions to the code included prohibitions on adopting Arab names, studying the Qur’an, selling alcoholic beverages. Abdul Aziz Said writes that the Islamic concept of dhimmi, when applied, allowed other cultures to flourish and prevented the general rise of antisemitism.

Schweitzer and Perry give as examples of early Muslim antisemitism: 9th century “persecution and outbreaks of violence”; 10th and 11th century antisemitic propaganda that “made Jews out to be untrustworthy, treacherous oppressors, and exploiters of Muslims”. This propaganda “inspired outbreaks of violence and caused many casualties in Egypt”. An 11th century Moorish poem describes Jews as “a criminal people” and alleges that “society is nearing collapse on account of Jewish wealth and domination, their exploitation and betrayal of Muslims; that Jews worship the devil, physicians poison their patients, and Jews poison food and water as required by Judaism, and so on.”

Jews under the Muslim rule rarely faced martyrdom or exile, or forced conversion and they were fairly free to choose their residence and profession. Their freedom and economic condition varied from time to time and place to place. Forced conversions occurred mostly in the Maghreb, especially under the Almohads, a militant dynasty with messianic claims, as well as in Persia, where Shi’a Muslims were generally less tolerant than their Sunni counterparts. Notable examples of the cases where the choice of residence was taken away from them includes confining Jews to walled quarters (mellahs) in Morocco beginning from the 15th century and especially since the early 19th century.

Egypt

The caliphs of Fatimid dynasty in Egypt were known to be Judeophiles, according to Leon Poliakov. They paid regularly to support the Jewish institutions (such as the rabbinical academy of Jerusalem). A significant number of their ministers and counselors were Jews. Benjamin of Tuleda, a famous 12th century Jewish explorer, described the Caliph al Abbasi as a “great king…kind unto Israel”. He further mentions Muslims and Jews being involved in common devotions, such as visiting the grave of Ezekiel, whom both religions regard as a prophet.

Iberian Peninsula

With the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Spanish Judaism flourished for several centuries. Thus, what some refer to as the “golden age” for Jews began. During this period the Muslims (at least in Spain) tolerated other religions, including Judaism, and created a heterodox society.

Muslim relations with Jews in Spain were not always peaceful, however. The eleventh century saw Muslim pogroms against Jews in Spain; those occurred in Córdoba in 1011 and in Granada in 1066. In the 1066 Granada massacre, a Muslim mob crucified the Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacred about 4,000 Jews. The Muslim grievance involved was that some Jews had become wealthy, and others had advanced to positions of power.

The Almohad dynasty, which overthrew the dynasty that ran Spain during the early Muslim era, offered Christians and Jews the choice of conversion or expulsion; in 1165, one of their rulers ordered that all Jews in the country convert on pain of death (forcing the Jewish rabbi, theologian, philosopher, and physician Maimonides to feign conversion to Islam before fleeing the country). In Egypt, Maimonides resumed practicing Judaism openly only to be accused of apostasy. He was saved from death by Saladin’s chief administrator, who held that conversion under coercion is invalid.

During his wanderings, Maimonides also wrote The Yemen Epistle, a famous letter to the Jews of Yemen, who were then experiencing severe persecution at the hands of their Muslim rulers. In it, Maimonides describes his assessment of the treatment of the Jews at the hands of Muslims:

… on account of our sins God has cast us into the midst of this people, the nation of Ishmael [that is, Muslims], who persecute us severely, and who devise ways to harm us and to debase us…. No nation has ever done more harm to Israel. None has matched it in debasing and humiliating us. None has been able to reduce us as they have…. We have borne their imposed degradation, their lies, their absurdities, which are beyond human power to bear…. We have done as our sages of blessed memory have instructed us, bearing the lies and absurdities of Ishmael…. In spite of all this, we are not spared from the ferocity of their wickedness and their outbursts at any time. On the contrary, the more we suffer and choose to conciliate them, the more they choose to act belligerently toward us.

Mark Cohen quotes Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, a specialist in medieval European Jewish history, who cautioned that Maimonides’ condemnation of Islam should be understood “in the context of the harsh persecutions of the 12th century and that furthermore one may say that he was insufficiently aware of the status of the Jews in Christian lands, or did not pay attention to this, when he wrote the letter.” Cohen continues by quoting Ben-Sasson, who argues that Jews generally had a better legal and security situation in the Muslim countries than in Christendom.

Ottoman Empire

While some Muslim states declined, the Ottoman Empire rose as the “greatest Muslim state in history”. As long as the empire flourished, the Jews did as well, according to Schweitzer and Perry. The Ottomans were more tolerant of Jews and promoted their economic development. The Jews flourished as great merchants, financiers, government officials, traders and artisans.

Contrast with Christian Europe

Lewis states that in contrast to Christian antisemitism, the attitude of Muslims toward non-Muslims is not one of hate, fear, or envy, but rather simply contempt. This contempt is expressed in various ways, such as abundance of polemic literature attacking the Christians and occasionally also the Jews. “The negative attributes ascribed to the subject religions and their followers are usually expressed in religious and social terms, very rarely in ethnic or racial terms, though this does sometimes occur.” The language of abuse is often quite strong. The conventional epithets are apes for Jews, and pigs for Christians. Lewis continues with several examples of regulations which were symbolizing the inferiority that non-Muslims living under Muslim rule had to live with, such as different formulae of greeting when addressing Jews and Christians than when addressing Muslims (both in conversations or correspondences), and forbidding Jews and Christians to choose names used by Muslims for their children by the Ottoman times.

Schweitzer and Perry argue that there are two general views of the status of Jews under Islam, the traditional “golden age” and the revisionist “persecution and pogrom” interpretations. The former was first promulgated by Jewish historians in the 19th century as a rebuke of the Christian treatment of Jews, and taken up by Arab Muslims after 1948 as “an Arab-Islamist weapon in what is primarily an ideological and political struggle against Israel”. The revisionists argue that this idealized view ignores “a catalog of lesser-known hatred and massacres”. Mark Cohen concurs with this view, arguing that the “myth of an interfaith utopia” went unchallenged until it was adopted by Arabs as a “propaganda weapon against Zionism”, and that this “Arab polemical exploitation” was met with the “counter-myth” of the “neo-lachrymose conception of Jewish-Arab history”, which also “cannot be maintained in the light of historical reality”.

Antisemitism in the Islamic Middle East

Antisemitism has increased in the Muslim world during modern times. While Bernard Lewis and Uri Avnery date the rise of antisemitism to the establishment of Israel, M. Klein suggests the antisemitism could have been present in the mid-19th century.

Scholars point out European influence, including that of Nazis, and the establishment of Israel as the root causes for antisemitism. Norman Stillman explains that increased European commercial, missionary and imperialist activities during the 19th and 20th centuries brought anti-Semitic ideas to the Muslim world. Initially these prejudices only found a reception among Arab Christians and were too foreign for any widespread acceptance among Muslims. However, with the rise of the Arab-Israeli conflict, European anti-Semitism began to gain acceptance in modern literature.

19th century

According to Mark Cohen, Arab anti-Semitism in the modern world arose relatively recently, in the 19th century, against the backdrop of conflicting Jewish and Arab nationalism, and was imported into the Arab world primarily by nationalistically minded Christian Arabs (and only subsequently was it “Islamized”).

The Damascus affair occurred in 1840, when an Italian monk and his servant disappeared in Damascus. Immediately following, a charge of ritual murder was brought against a large number of Jews in the city. All were found guilty. The consuls of England, France and Austria as well as Ottoman authorities, Christians, Muslims and Jews all played a great role in this affair. Following the Damascus affair, Pogroms spread through the Middle East and North Africa. Pogroms occurred in: Aleppo (1850, 1875), Damascus (1840, 1848, 1890), Beirut (1862, 1874), Dayr al-Qamar (1847), Jerusalem (1847), Cairo (1844, 1890, 1901–02), Mansura (1877), Alexandria (1870, 1882, 1901–07), Port Said (1903, 1908), Damanhur (1871, 1873, 1877, 1891), Istanbul (1870, 1874), Buyukdere (1864), Kuzguncuk (1866), Eyub (1868), Edirne (1872), Izmir (1872, 1874). There was a massacre of Jews in Baghdad in 1828. There was another massacre in Barfurush in 1867.

In 1839, in the eastern Persian city of Meshed, a mob burst into the Jewish Quarter, burned the synagogue, and destroyed the Torah scrolls. This is known as the Allahdad incident. It was only by forcible conversion that a massacre was averted.

Benny Morris writes that one symbol of Jewish degradation was the phenomenon of stone-throwing at Jews by Muslim children. Morris quotes a 19th century traveler: “I have seen a little fellow of six years old, with a troop of fat toddlers of only three and four, teaching [them] to throw stones at a Jew, and one little urchin would, with the greatest coolness, waddle up to the man and literally spit upon his Jewish gaberdine. To all this the Jew is obliged to submit; it would be more than his life was worth to offer to strike a Mahommedan.”

20th century

The massacres of Jews in Muslim countries continued into the 20th century. The Jewish quarter in Fez was almost destroyed by a Muslim mob in 1912. There were Nazi-inspired pogroms in Algeria in the 1930s, and massive attacks on the Jews in Iraq and Libya in the 1940s. Pro-Nazi Muslims slaughtered dozens of Jews in Baghdad in 1941.

American academic Bernard Lewis and others have charged that standard antisemitic themes have become commonplace in the publications of Arab Islamic movements such as Hizbullah and Hamas, in the pronouncements of various agencies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and even in the newspapers and other publications of Refah Partisi, the Turkish Islamic party whose head served as prime minister in 1996–97.” Lewis has also written that the language of abuse is often quite strong, arguing that the conventional epithets for Jews and Christians are apes and pigs, respectively.

Connections between Nazi Germany and Muslim countries

Despite the fact that an estimated 100,000 Muslims (primarily of Bosniak descent) were murdered during the Holocaust, the first attempts at an Arab Nazi movement occurred in 1933, when a Jaffa correspondent of the Cairo newspaper Al-Ahram applied to the German council for help. Many of the Arabs were in full support of Nazi Germany, and believed that if Hitler won the war, the Arab cause would prosper. The influence of the Nazis in the Arab world continued to grow though the 1930s. Nazi influenced political parties arose in the 1930s and 1940s, many of which played an important role in the leadership of the Arab world post-World War II. Egypt, Syria, and Iran are believed to have harbored Nazi war criminals, though they have rejected the charge. Mein Kampf has been published and, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), was 6th on the Palestinian best-seller list in 1999.

Mohammad Amin al-Husayni

The Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni attempted to create an alliance with Nazi Germany against the Jews.

Historians debate to what extent al-Husayni’s fierce opposition to Zionism was grounded in nationalism or antisemitism or a combination of both.

On March 31, 1933, within weeks of Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, al-Husayni sent a telegram to Berlin addressed to the German Consul-General in the British Mandate of Palestine saying Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere looked forward to spreading their ideology in the Middle East. Al-Husayni secretly met the German Consul-General near the Dead Sea in 1933 and expressed his approval of the anti-Jewish boycott in Germany and asked him not to send any Jews to Palestine. Later that year, the Mufti’s assistants approached Wolff, seeking his help in establishing an Arab National Socialist party in Palestine. Reports reaching the foreign offices in Berlin showed high levels of Arab admiration of Hitler.

Al-Husayni met the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop on November 20, 1941 and was officially received by Adolf Hitler on November 30, 1941 in Berlin. He asked Hitler for a public declaration that “recognized and sympathized with the Arab struggles for independence and liberation, and that it would support the elimination of a national Jewish homeland”, and he submitted to the German government a draft of such a declaration, containing the clause.

Husayni aided the Axis cause in the Middle East by issuing a fatwa for a holy war against Britain in May 1941. The Mufti’s widely heralded proclamation against Britain was declared in Iraq, where he was instrumental in the anti-British Iraqi revolt of 1941. During the war, the Mufti repeatedly made requests to “the German government to bomb Tel Aviv.”

Al-Husayni was involved in the organization and recruitment of Bosnian Muslims into several divisions of the Waffen SS and other units. and also blessed sabotage teams trained by Germans before they were dispatched to Palestine, Iraq, and Transjordan.

Iraq

In March 1940, General Rashid Ali, a nationalist Iraqi officer forced the pro-British Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Said Pasha, to resign. In May, he declared jihad against Great Britain. Forty days later, British troops occupied the country. The 1941 Iraqi coup d’état occurred on April 3, 1941 when the regime of the Regent ‘Abd al-Ilah was overthrown, and Rashid Ali was installed as Prime Minister.

In 1941, following Rashid Ali’s pro-Axis coup, riots known as the Farhud broke out in Baghdad in which approximately 180 Jews were killed and about 240 were wounded, 586 Jewish-owned businesses were looted and 99 Jewish houses were destroyed.

Iraq initially forbade the emigration of its Jews after the 1948 war on the grounds that allowing them to go to Israel would strengthen that state, but they were allowed to emigrate again after 1950, if they agreed to forgo their assets.

The Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Iraq and Kurdistan

Jews and Assyrian Christians forced migrations between 1843 and the 21st century

In his recent PhD thesis and in his recent book [104] the Israeli scholar Mordechai Zaken discussed the history of the Assyrian Christians of Turkey and Iraq (in the Kurdish vicinity) during the last 180 years, from 1843 onwards. In his studies Zaken outlines three major eruptions that took place between 1843 and 1933 during which the Assyrian Christians lost their land and hegemony in their habitat in the Hakkārī (or Julamerk) region in southeastern Turkey and became refugees in other lands, notably Iran and Iraq, and ultimately in exiled communities in European and western countries (the USA, Canada, Australia, New-Zealand, Sweden, France, to mention some of these countries). Mordechai Zaken wrote this important study from an analytical and comparative point of view, comparing the Assyrian Christians’ experience with the experience of the Kurdish Jews who had been dwelling in Kurdistan for two thousand years or so, but were forced to emigrate to Israel in the early 1950s. The Jews of Kurdistan were forced to leave as a result of the Arab-Israeli war, as a result of increasing hostility and acts of violence against Jews in Iraqi and Kurdish towns and villages, and as a result of a new situation that developed during the 1940s in Iraq and Kurdistan in which the ability of Jews to live in relative comfort and tolerance (that was disrupted from time to time prior to that period) with their Arab and Muslim neighbors, as they had done for many years, practically came to an end. In the end, the Jews of Kurdistan had to leave their Kurdish habitat en masse and migrate into Israel. The Assyrian Christians, on the other hand, suffered a similar fate but migrated in stages following each political crisis with the regime in whose boundaries they lived or following each conflict with their Muslim, Turkish, Arab or Kurdish neighbors, or following the departure or expulsion of their patriarch Mar Shimon in 1933, first to Cyprus and then to the United States. Consequently, although there is still a small and fragile community of Assyrians in Iraq, millions of Assyrian Christians live today in exiled and prosperous communities in the west.

Iran

In Iran, Reza Shah sympathized with Nazi Germany, making the Jewish community fearful of possible persecutions. Although these fears did not materialise, anti-Jewish articles were published in the Iranian media. A rumor that Hitler converted to Islam led to a marriage between the Shia clergy and the nascent, ultra-nationalist secularized prejudices in Iran.

Egypt

In Egypt, Ahmad Husayn founded the Young Egypt Party in 1934. He immediately expressed his sympathy for Nazi Germany to the German ambassador to Egypt. Husayn sent a delegation to the Nuremberg rally and returned with enthusiasm. After the Sudeten Crisis, the party leaders denounced Germany for aggression against small nations, but nonetheless retained elements similar to Nazism or Fascism, e.g. salutes, torchlight parades, leader worship, and antisemitism and racism. The party’s impact before 1939 was minimal, and their espionage efforts were of little value to the Germans.

During World War II, Cairo was a haven for agents and spies throughout the war. Egyptian nationalists were active, with many Egyptians, including Farouk of Egypt and prime minister Ali Mahir Pasha, all of whom hoped for an Axis victory, and full independence of Egypt from Britain.

Islamist groups

Many Islamic terrorist groups have openly expressed anti-Semitic views.

Lashkar-e-Toiba’s propaganda arm has declared the Jews to be “Enemies of Islam”, and Israel to be the “Enemy of Pakistan”.

Hamas has been widely described as antisemitic. It has issued antisemitic leaflets, and its writings and manifestos rely upon antisemitic documents (the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and other European Christian literature), exhibiting antisemitic themes. In 1998, Esther Webman of the Project for the Study of Anti-Semitism at the Tel Aviv University wrote that although the above is true, anti-Semitism was not the main tenet of Hamas ideology.

In an editorial in The Guardian in January 2006, Khaled Meshaal, the chief of Hamas’s political bureau denied antisemitism, on Hamas’ part, and said that the nature of Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not religious but political. He also said that Hamas has “no problem with Jews who have not attacked us.”

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Shiite scholar and assistant professor at the Lebanese American University has written that Hezbollah is not Anti-Zionist, but rather Anti-Jewish. She quoted Hassan Nasrallah as saying: “If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli.” Regarding the official public stance of Hezbollah as a whole, she said that while Hezbollah, “tries to mask its anti-Judaism for public-relations reasons … a study of its language, spoken and written, reveals an underlying truth.” In her book, Hezbollah: Politics & Religion, she explored the anti-Jewish roots of Hezbollah ideology, arguing that Hezbollah “believes that Jews, by the nature of Judaism, possess fatal character flaws.” Saad-Ghorayeb also said that “Hezbollah’s Quranic reading of Jewish history has led its leaders to believe that Jewish theology is evil.”

21st century

France is home to Europe’s largest population of Muslims — about 6 million — as well as the continent’s largest community of Jews, about 600,000. In 2000, Muslims attacked synagogues in retaliation for damage done to their Muslim brethren in the Palestinian territories. (See also: Second Intifada) Many Jews protested, the acts were declared “Muslim antisemitism”. By 2007, however, attacks were much less severe, and an “all-clear” was perceived. However, during the 2008–2009 Gaza War, tensions between the two communities increased and there were several dozen reported instances of violence such as arson and assaults. French Jewish leaders complained of “a diffuse kind of anti-Semitism becoming entrenched in the Muslim community” while Muslim leaders responded that the issues were “political rather than religious” and that Muslim anger is “not against Jews, it’s against Israel.”

On July 28, 2006, at around 4:00 p.m. Pacific time, the Seattle Jewish Federation shooting occurred when Naveed Afzal Haq shot six women, one fatally, at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. He shouted, “I’m a Muslim American; I’m angry at Israel” before he began his shooting spree. Police have classified the shooting as a hate crime based on what Haq said during a 9-1-1 call.[116] In 2012, the Palestinian Authority Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, citing Hadiths, called for the killing of all Jews.

In Egypt, Dar al-Fadhilah published a translation of Henry Ford’s antisemitic treatise, The International Jew, complete with distinctly antisemitic imagery on the cover.

Antisemitic comments by Muslim Leaders and Scholars

Yusuf al-Qaradawi

In a sermon, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on January 9, 2009 (as translated by MEMRI), Egyptian Muslim scholar and preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated:

“Oh Allah, take your enemies, the enemies of Islam. Oh Allah, take the Jews, the treacherous aggressors. Oh Allah, take this profligate, cunning, arrogant band of people. Oh Allah, they have spread much tyranny and corruption in the land. Pour Your wrath upon them, oh our God. Lie in wait for them. Oh Allah, You annihilated the people of Thamoud at the hand of a tyrant, and You annihilated the people of ‘Aad with a fierce, icy gale. Oh Allah, You annihilated the people Thamoud at the hand of a tyrant, You annihilated the people of ‘Aad with a fierce, icy gale, and You destroyed the Pharaoh and his soldiers — oh Allah, take this oppressive, tyrannical band of people. Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one.”

In a subsequent speech on Al-Jazeera on January 30, 2009, al-Qaradawi expressed his views on Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust, stating (as translated by MEMRI):

“Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by Hitler. By means of all the things he did to them – even though they exaggerated this issue – he managed to put them in their place. This was divine punishment for them. Allah willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers”.

Muhammad Hussein Yacoub

In a speech delivered by Egyptian Salafi islamic scholar Muhammad Hussein Yacoub which aired on Al-Rahma TV on January 17, 2009, he stated (as translated by MEMRI):

“We must believe that our fighting with the Jews is eternal, and it will not end until the final battle…You must believe that we will fight, defeat, and annihilate them, until not a single Jew remains on the face of the Earth…As for you Jews – the curse of Allah upon you. The curse of Allah upon you, whose ancestors were apes and pigs. You Jews have sown hatred in our hearts, and we have bequeathed it to our children and grandchildren. You will not survive as long as a single one of us remains…Oh Jews, may the curse of Allah be upon you. Oh Jews… Oh Allah, bring Your wrath, punishment, and torment down upon them. Allah, we pray that you transform them again, and make the Muslims rejoice again in seeing them as apes and pigs. You pigs of the earth! You pigs of the earth! You kill the Muslims with that cold pig [blood] of yours.”

Ibrahim Mahdi

Palestinian preacher Ibrahim Mahdi said in a sermon:

“Palestine will be, as it was in the past, a graveyard for the invaders – just as it was a graveyard for the Tatars and to the Crusader invaders, [and for the invaders] of the old and new colonialism… A reliable Hadith [tradition] says: ‘The Jews will fight you, but you will be set to rule over them.’ What could be more beautiful than this tradition? ‘The Jews will fight you’ – that is, the Jews have begun to fight us. ‘You will be set to rule over them’ – Who will set the Muslim to rule over the Jew? Allah… Until the Jew hides behind the rock and the tree. But the rock and tree will say: ‘Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, a Jew hides behind me, come and kill him.’ Except for the Gharqad tree, which is the tree of the Jews. We believe in this Hadith. We are convinced also that this Hadith heralds the spread of Islam and its rule over all the land… Oh Allah, accept our martyrs in the highest heavens… Oh Allah, show the Jews a black day… Oh Allah, annihilate the Jews and their supporters… Oh Allah, raise the flag of Jihad across the land… Oh Allah, forgive our sins…”

On another occasion, Sheikh Madhi added:

“Oh beloved of Allah… One of the Jews’ evil deeds is what has come to be called ‘the Holocaust,’ that is, the slaughter of the Jews by Nazism. However, revisionist [historians] have proven that this crime, carried out against some of the Jews, was planned by the Jews’ leaders, and was part of their policy… These are the Jews against whom we fight, oh beloved of Allah. On the other hand, [what is our belief] about the Jews? Allah has described them as donkeys.”

ami Al-Arian

Sami Al-Arian, a leading Muslim speaker in the U.S. until his arrest and conviction for funding an Islamist terrorist organization, on September 29, 1991, said in a speech at a Chicago conference that “God cursed those who are the sons of Israel”, and that Allah had made Jews “monkeys and swine”, and damned them in this world and the afterworld.

Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais

Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais is the leading imam of the Grand mosque located in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.[135][136] The BBC aired a Panorama episode, entitled A Question of Leadership, which reported that al-Sudais referred to Jews as “the scum of the human race” and “offspring of apes and pigs”, and stated, “the worst … of the enemies of Islam are those … whom he … made monkeys and pigs, the aggressive Jews and oppressive Zionists and those that follow them … Monkeys and pigs and worshippers of false Gods who are the Jews and the Zionists.”

In another sermon, on April 19, 2002, he declared:

“Read history and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil fathers of the Jews of today, who are evil offspring, infidels, distorters of [others’] words, calf-worshippers, prophet-murderers, prophecy-deniers… the scum of the human race whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs…”

Hazem Shuman

In a sermon broadcast on Egypt’s Al-Rahma TV channel on October 31, 2009, Egyptian cleric Hazem Shuman stated, with regard to Jews that “Your turn has come at last, you offspring of apes and pigs, you most accursed creatures created by Allah, you people who have harmed the Prophet again and again” and further stated that “It has been proven that the Jews are like a cancer – if they are not removed from the body of the nation, they will kill the entire nation.”

Sheikh Ba’d bin Abdallah Al-Ajameh Al-Ghamidi

According to Dr. Leah Kinberg, “Saudi Sheikh Ba’d bin Abdallah Al-Ajameh Al-Ghamidi, in a sermon in Taif, explained”:

“The current behavior of the brothers of apes and pigs, their treachery, violation of agreements, and defiling of holy places … is connected with the deeds of their forefathers during the early period of Islam – which proves the great similarity between all the Jews living today and the Jews who lived at the dawn of Islam.”

He also said Jews are “the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the violators of pacts and agreements, the murderers of the prophets, and the offspring of apes and pigs.” Egyptian Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque and Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar University, and “perhaps the foremost Sunni Arab authority”, has been criticized for remarks made in April 2002, described Jews in his weekly sermon as “the enemies of Allah, descendants of apes and pigs.”

Mahathir bin Muhammad

Mahathir bin Mohamad, who served as Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, has made a number of public remarks about Jews.

In 1970, he wrote in his controversial book The Malay Dilemma: “The Jews for example are not merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively.”

In a statement made prior to hosting an international meeting of Muslim countries on terrorism, Mahathir said of terrorism:

“At the moment the definition tends to be confined only to Islamic nations and Muslims at large whereas Israel and the Jews are also terrorist state or people.”

Mahathir address at a United Nations symposium on Islam at UN University in Tokyo:

“If the Arabs who before were not terrorists are today willing to commit suicide in order to fight against the Israelis or Americans, there must be a reason for it. And the reason is that they feel that Americans and the Jews and the Europeans have been unjust to them.”

On 16 October 2003, shortly before he stepped down as prime minister, Mahathir Muhammad said during a summit for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Putrajaya, that:

“We [Muslims] are actually very strong, 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Nazis killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million [during the Holocaust]. But today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them. They invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries. And they, this tiny community, have become a world power.”

Saudi School Books

A May 2006 study of Saudi Arabia’s revised schoolbook curriculum discovered that the eighth grade books included the following statements,

“They are the people of the Sabbath, whose young people God turned into apes, and whose old people God turned into swine to punish them. As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the keepers of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christian infidels of the communion of Jesus.”

“Some of the people of the Sabbath were punished by being turned into apes and swine. Some of them were made to worship the devil, and not God, through consecration, sacrifice, prayer, appeals for help, and other types of worship. Some of the Jews worship the devil. Likewise, some members of this nation worship devil, and not God.”

Other Statements

On May 5, 2001, after Shimon Peres visited Egypt, the Egyptian al-Akhbar internet paper stated that:

“lies and deceit are not foreign to Jews…. For this reason, Allah changed their shape and made them into monkeys and pigs.”

Author Erel Shalit has written that Jews must listen to statements made about them from the Arab world, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. He cited the following example:

The Jews of yesterday are the evil fathers of the Jews of today, who are evil offspring … the scum of the human race ‘whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs…’ These are the Jews, an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil, and corruption… (The Imam of the Al-Haraam mosque in Mecca; the same words of incitement repeated time and again in the mosques of Gaza and Ramallah.)

Reconciliation efforts

In Western countries, some Islamic groups and individual Muslims have made scattered efforts to reconcile with the Jewish community through dialogue and to oppose Antisemitism. For instance, in Britain there is the group Muslims Against Anti-Semitism. Islamic studies scholar Tariq Ramadan has been outspoken against Anti-Semitism, stating: “In the name of their faith and conscience, Muslims must take a clear position so that a pernicious atmosphere does not take hold in the Western countries. Nothing in Islam can legitimize xenophobia or the rejection of a human being due to his/her religious creed or ethnicity. One must say unequivocally, with force, that anti-Semitism is unacceptable and indefensible.” Mohammad Khatami, former president of Iran, declared antisemitism to be a “Western phenomena”, having no precedents in Islam and stating the Muslims and Jews had lived harmoniously in the past. An Iranian newspaper stated that has been hatred and hostility in history, but conceded that one must distinguish Jews from Zionists.

In North America, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has spoken against some antisemitic violence, such as the 2006 Seattle Jewish Federation shooting. According to the Anti-Defamation League, CAIR has also been affiliated with antisemitic organizations such as Hamas and Hizbollah.

The Saudi mufti, Shaykh Abd al-Aziz Bin Baz, gave a fatwa ruling that negotiating peace with Israel is permissible, as is the cist to Jerusalem by Muslims. He specifically said:

The Prophet made absolute peace with the Jews of Medina when he went there as an immigrant. That did not entail any love for them or amiability with them. But the Prophet dealt with them, buying from them, talking to them, calling them to God and Islam. When he died, his shield was mortgaged to a Jew, for he had mortgaged it to buy food for his family.

Martin Kramer considers that as “an explicit endorsement of normal relations with Jews”.

Trends

According to Norman Stillman, Antisemitism in Muslim world increased greatly for more than two decades following 1948 but “peaked by the 1970s, and declined somewhat as the slow process of rapprochement between the Arab world and the state of Israel evolved in the 1980s and 1990s.” Johannes J. G. Jansen believes that antisemitism will have no future in the Arab world in the long run. In his view, like other imports from the Western World, antisemitism is unable to establish itself in the private lives of Muslims. In 2004 Khaleel Mohammed said that “Anti-Semitism has become an entrenched tenet of Muslim theology, taught to 95 per cent of the religion’s adherents in the Islamic world”, a claim immediately dismissed as false and racist by Muslim leaders, who accused Mohammed of destroying efforts at relationship building between Jews and Muslims.

According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project released on August 14, 2005, high percentages of the populations of six Muslim-majority countries have negative views of Jews. To a questionnaire asking respondents to give their views of members of various religions along a spectrum from “very favorable” to “very unfavorable”, 60% of Turks, 74% of Pakistanis, 76% of Indonesians, 88% of Moroccans, 99% of Lebanese Muslims and 100% of Jordanians checked either “somewhat unfavorable” or “very unfavorable” for Jews.

In the Netherlands anti-semitic incidents, from verbal abuse to violence, are reported, allegedly connected with islamic youth, mostly boys from Moroccan descent. According to the Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel, a pro-Israel lobby group in the Netherlands, in 2009, the number of anti-Semite incidents in Amsterdam, the city that is home to most of the approximately 40,000 Dutch Jews, was said to be doubled compared to 2008.

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May 30, 2012

Paradox among Abrahamic Religions (a short comparative study)

To understand the concept of difference between each Abrahamic religions, I ‘ll have to first empathize on mentioning that this is meant for comparative religious study on three different Abrahamic faith that played the important role around the globe; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Three different monotheistic faith that shaped our world today.

Since the antiquity, Judeo-Christianity was the most prominent religions at the times then, but shortly after the Judeo-Christianity Split, it emerges two distinctive religions; Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. But one superseded the other in time, which in fact the Jews were expelled from after the sacking of Jerusalem after the Jewish revolt against the Roman empire in AD70. Christianity became official religion by emperor Constantine the great in AD312, and by AD312, Rome which was once pagan in tradition, oppressing and persecuting Christians since the reign of Nero, ultimately became the Christianized Roman empire of the ancient world.

But till the time of the decline of the Roman empire, and after the fall of Rome in AD468, about 144 years later after Rome fell, and also the period of the decline of the Roman empire, now called Byzantine empire (or Roman empire of the east/medieval era), at the Middle East part of the once-controlled by the splendor of the Roman empire, now a new empire, under the name of Muhammad, rises up from the Arab peninsular, the rise of Islam in AD612.

During that period, Jews were already persecuted in Christianized Europe then, and though the Muslim world was so ideal for the Jews back then that some even left Europe for the lands held by the Muslim rulers. Islam, the religion of submission, and surprisingly, though the dietary law and practice are practically different between Jews and Muslims, but there are some areas that are striking similar, as the similar part is the dietary laws, where both does not eat pork, while the Muslim have their dietary law on Halal, while the Jews have their dietary law on Kosher.

Throughout the centuries, the Jews had experienced forced conversions by the Christians, and Muslims at different times during the medieval era, till the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Till now, there are Jews diaspora living outside Israel, and for the number of Jews in Singapore today is 1,000 in statistics.

Today, when I asked a Christian of whether they know about the Jews, many answer will be that, they do not know much about the Jews, and they are the ones who denied Jesus the messiah, who is Christ himself, but the problem is, at the time of Jesus, his disciples were in fact Jews, the early Christians then were Jews, including Jesus himself. And believing in replacement theology like God refutes all the Jews and we inherited as God’s chosen people, which I find it absurd. How can during the time of Abraham that God will choose the people of Israel (Jacob), as his chosen people to take onto the promised land at the time of Joshua, generations later after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?

Knowing that God never change, and when I read the part in Acts 18:28

for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

that indeed in parts of apostle Paul’s writings may have refuted the Jews, but in Romans 11:26

And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,

he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

showing that God has not done with the Jews yet, though their hearts might be harden to believe Jesus is the messiah and he himself is Christ, but in the very last days, they will turn to Jesus and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, but the thing is many Christians forgotten this part of the Jewishness of the origin of Christianity today.

Without Judaism, there won’t be Christianity and Islam, and without Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the world would be much different from what it is today, because they do played an important role to reshape our planet’s history throughout the history books.

Based on the fact that Judaism, Christianity and Islam being monotheistic and Abrahamic religions, there are bound to have religious conflicts, not only in the world today, but also historically. To study the conflicts, isn’t easy but rather complicated and conflicting, due to difference in theology in each different Abrahamic faith.

To come down to the root, I’ll pick up the first topic—which I was brought up and was taught by Christianity. Though Christianity came out from its parent: Judaism, but within the body of Christianity, there are issues of tackling heresy, gnostic gospels and finally the reformation and counter-reformation throughout the book of history.

Firstly, I will mention about gnostic gospels. Before the bible was first canonized, below here is the data of how the Christian bible was canonized throughout the history before the modern era:

Development of the Old Testament Canon

1000-50 BC:

The Old Testament (hereafter “OT”) books are written.

C. 200 BC:

Rabbis translate the OT from Hebrew to Greek, a translation called the “Septuagint” (abbreviation: “LXX”). The LXX ultimately includes 46 books.

AD 30-100:

Christians use the LXX as their scriptures. This upsets the Jews.

C. AD 100:

So Jewish rabbis meet at the Council of Jamniah and decide to include in their canon only 39 books, since only these can be found in Hebrew.

C. AD 400:

Jerome translates the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin (called the “Vulgate”). He knows that the Jews have only 39 books, and he wants to limit the OT to these; the 7 he would leave out (Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach [or “Ecclesiasticus”], and Baruch–he calls “apocrypha,” that is, “hidden books.” But Pope Damasus wants all 46 traditionally-used books included in the OT, so the Vulgate has 46.

AD 1536:

Luther translates the Bible from Hebrew and Greek to German. He assumes that, since Jews wrote the Old Testament, theirs is the correct canon; he puts the extra 7 books in an appendix that he calls the “Apocrypha.”

AD 1546:

The Catholic Council of Trent reaffirms the canonicity of all 46 books.

Development of the New Testament Canon

C. AD 51-125:

The New Testament books are written, but during this same period other early Christian writings are produced–for example, the Didache (c. AD 70), 1 Clement (c. 96), the Epistle of Barnabas (c. 100), and the 7 letters of Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110).

1.

C. AD 140:

Marcion, a businessman in Rome, teaches that there were two Gods: Yahweh, the cruel God of the OT, and Abba, the kind father of the NT. So Marcion eliminates the Old Testament as scriptures and, since he is anti-Semitic, keeps from the NT only 10 letters of Paul and 2/3 of Luke’s gospel (he deletes references to Jesus’ Jewishness). Marcion’s “New Testament”–the first to be compiled–forces the mainstream Church to decide on a core canon: the four gospels and letters of Paul.

C. AD 200:

But the periphery of the canon is not yet determined. According to one list, compiled at Rome c. AD 200 (the Muratorian Canon), the NT consists of the 4 gospels; Acts; 13 letters of Paul (Hebrews is not included); 3 of the 7 General Epistles (1-2 John and Jude); and also the Apocalypse of Peter.

AD 367:

The earliest extant list of the books of the NT, in exactly the number and order in which we presently have them, is written by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in his Easter letter of 367. [Note: this is well after the Constantine’s Edict of Toleration in 313 A.D.]

AD 904:

Pope Damasus, in a letter to a French bishop, lists the New Testament books in their present number and order.

AD 1442:

At the Council of Florence, the entire Church recognizes the 27 books, though does not declare them unalterable.

AD 1536:

In his translation of the Bible from Greek into German, Luther removes 4 NT books (Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelations) from their normal order and places them at the end, stating that they are less than canonical.

AD 1546:

At the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church reaffirms once and for all the full list of 27 books as traditionally accepted.

It seems a long history of canonization of the bible, includes the era of the reformation of the splitting of protestant Christianity from Roman Catholicism during the medieval era. And just centuries before the reformation, many gnostic gospels, or rejected books of the New Testament such as gospel of Thomas, Mary Magdalene, Barnabas and even Old Testament book of Enoch and Jubilee. During those times, Emperor Constantine the great then wants the churches of the whole Roman Empire to agree upon which books should be canonized and which books are to be deemed as heresy, except for the case of Gospel of Barnabas, is considered by the majority of academics, including Christians and some Muslims (such as Abbas el-Akkad) to be late and pseudepigraphical; however, some academics suggest that it may contain some remnants of an earlier apocryphal work (perhaps Gnostic, Ebionite or Diatessaronic), redacted to bring it more in line with Islamic doctrine. Some Muslims consider the surviving versions as transmitting a suppressed apostolic original. Some Islamic organizations cite it in support of the Islamic view of Jesus. Hence, the Gospel of Barnabas claims that Jesus predicted the advent of Muhammad, thus conforming with the Qur’an which mentions:

And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary, said: O Children of Israel! I am the apostle of God (sent) to you, confirming the Law (which came) before me, and giving Glad Tidings of a Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad. But when he came to them with Clear Signs, they said, this is evident sorcery!

—Sura 61:6

(Ahmad is another name of Muhammad.) A Muslim scholarly tradition links this Qur’anic passage to the New Testament references to the Paraclete (John 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7). The Greek word “paraclete” can be translated as “Counsellor”, and refers to the Holy Spirit, which is mentioned also by name explicitly. Some Muslim scholars, have noted the similarity to the Greek “periklutos” which can be translated as “admirable one”; or in Arabic, “Ahmad”.

The name of “Muhammad” is frequently mentioned verbatim in the Gospel of Barnabas, as in the following quote:

Jesus answered: “The name of the Messiah is admirable, for God himself gave him the name when he had created his soul, and placed it in a celestial splendour. God said: ‘Wait Mohammed; for thy sake I will to create paradise, the world, and a great multitude of creatures, whereof I make thee a present, insomuch that whoso bless thee shall be blessed, and whoso shall curse thee shall be accursed. When I shall send thee into the world I shall send thee as my messenger of salvation, and thy word shall be true, insomuch that heaven and earth shall fail, but thy faith shall never fail.’ Mohammed is his blessed name.” Then the crowd lifted up their voices, saying: “O God, send us thy messenger: O Admirable One, come quickly for the salvation of the world!”

—Barnabas 97:9-10

And according to one version of the Gospel of Barnabas, Jesus denied being the Messiah, claiming rather that the Messiah would be Ishmaelite (i.e. Arab):

Whereupon Jesus said: “Ye deceive yourselves; for David in spirit calleth him lord, saying thus: ‘God said to my lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. God shall send forth thy rod which shall have lordship in the midst of thine enemies.’ If the messenger of God whom ye call Messiah were son of David, how should David call him lord? Believe me, for verily I say to you, that the promise was made in Ishmael, not in Isaac.”

—Barnabas 43:10

Hajj Sayed (Senior Member in CIMS), in his new book in Egypt, compares this to the following statement from the canonical Bible:

“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” “The son of David”, they replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”‘ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”

—Matthew 22:42-46

According to the canonical Gospels, Jesus was the “son” (descendant) of David; thus, Hajj Sayed argues that this statement confirms the Gospel of Barnabas’ point.

The idea of the Messiah as an Arab is also found in another chapter of Gospel of Barnabas:

If I work iniquity, reprove me, and God will love you, because you shall be doing his will, but if none can reprove me of sin it is a sign that you are not sons of Abraham as you call yourselves, nor are you incorporate with that head wherein Abraham was incorporate. As God lives, so greatly did Abraham love God, that he not only brake in pieces the false idols and forsook his father and mother, but was willing to slay his own son in obedience to God. The high priest answered: “This I ask of you, and I do not seek to slay you, wherefore tell us: Who was this son of Abraham?” Jesus answered: “The zeal of your honour, O God, inflames me, and I cannot hold my peace. Truly I say, the son of Abraham was Ishmael, from whom must be descended the Messiah promised to Abraham, that in him should all the tribes of the earth be blessed.” Then was the high priest wroth, hearing this, and cried out: “Let us stone this impious fellow, for he is an Ishmaelite, and has spoken blasphemy against Moses and against the Law of God.”

—Barnabas 208:1-2

Here, one version of the Gospel of Barnabas also quotes Jesus as saying that the sacrificed son of Abraham was Ishmael not Isaac, conforming to Islamic belief but disagreeing with Jewish and Christian belief. A connection might also be drawn between the last paragraph’s statement that “in him should all the tribes of the earth be blessed”, and the meaning of the name “Muhammad”, the “Praised (or Blessed) One”.

Hajj Sayed argues that the description of the conflict between Paul and Barnabas in Galatians supports the idea that the Gospel of Barnabas existed at the time of Paul. Blackhirst has suggested, by contrast, that Galatian’s account of this argument could be the reason the gospel’s writer attributed it to Barnabas. Paul writes in (Galatians Chapter 2):

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

—Galatians 2:11-14

Paul was attacking Peter for “trying to satisfy the Jews” by sticking to their laws, such as circumcision. It is contended that at this point Barnabas was following Peter and disagreeing with Paul. Some feel it also suggests that the inhabitants of Galatia at his time were using a gospel or gospels disagreeing with Paul’s beliefs, which Gospel of Barnabas could be one of them (although the Gospel of Peter would seem a more natural candidate, as in the light of the second letter.) To Galatian’s account we may compare the Introductory Chapter of Gospel of Barnabas, where we read:

Dearly beloved the great and wonderful God hath during these past days visited us by his prophet Jesus Christ in great mercy of teaching and miracles, by reason whereof many, being deceived of Satan, under presence of piety, are preaching most impious doctrine, calling Jesus son of God, repudiating the circumcision ordained of God for ever, and permitting every unclean meat: among whom also Paul hath been deceived, whereof I speak not without grief; for which cause I am writing that truth which I have seen and heard, in the intercourse that I have had with Jesus, in order that ye may be saved, and not be deceived of Satan and perish in the judgment of God. Therefore beware of every one that preached unto your new doctrine contrary to that which I write, that ye may be saved eternally.

—Introduction to the Gospel of Barnabas

From the previous passages, it is argued that in the beginning, Paul and Barnabas were getting along with each other; but that at the end, they started to depart in their beliefs to give to the importance of the Jewish law.

As you see, from the external sources I taken from Wikipedia, looking at the context, it seems to involve Paul’s writings in the bible’s new testaments as follows known as Pauline Epistles:

Epistle to the Romans

First Epistle to the Corinthians

Second Epistle to the Corinthians

Epistle to the Galatians

Epistle to the Ephesians

Epistle to the Philippians

Epistle to the Colossians

First Epistle to the Thessalonians

Second Epistle to the Thessalonians

Epistle to Philemon

And these books are presented as if written by Paul, are addressed to individuals with pastoral oversight of churches and discuss issues of Christian living, doctrine and leadership. They often address different concerns to those of the preceding epistles.

First Epistle to Timothy

Second Epistle to Timothy

Epistle to Titus

Book of Hebrews

Though the Letter to the Hebrews does not internally claim to have been written by the Apostle Paul, some similarities in wordings to some of the Pauline Epistles have been noted and inferred, and in antiquity, certain circles began to ascribe it to Paul in an attempt to provide the anonymous work an explicit apostolic pedigree. In the 3rd century, Origen wrote of the letter, “Men of old have handed it down as Paul’s, but who wrote the Epistle God only knows.”

As far as mentioned, it seems Barnabas was last mentioned in the book of Acts, and somehow disappears from the text in the bible, and strangely, Barnabas’s context were accepted by the Muslims (as stated above), prophesizing the fulfillment of the prophets to the Muslims—by the name of Muhammad, that somehow later those Christians at that pre-Islamic Arabia, might have brought the original book of Barnabas into the peninsular where they are less persecuted by the Christianized Roman Empire after the bible was first canonized.

The Talmud and the kabbalah—accepted by rabbinic Judaism, rejected by Christianity and Islam, but the Quran are rejected by the Jews and Christians, and interestingly, the Jews also rejects the New Testament of the Christian bible and the Quran, as despite these differences, all three Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam, though all three teaches the one true God who is omnipotent and almighty, having all authority over the heavens and earth, and of the importance of monotheism of the one true God who prevails in time, and also about the love of God upon his followers who followed him faithfully.

Despite the religious conflicts, differences, and beliefs of three Abrahamic faiths, ultimately, the history of its origins remains a fact that it has already happened, including conflicts and persecutions, but what can be done now is to have mutual understanding, despite the differences, especially in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Just to mentioning about the reformation of the split of Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, and the counter-reformation by the Roman Catholics. Which started shortly years after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the hands of Muslim Ottoman Turks, during those years of reformation, about centuries before the 1611 Kings James Version was first published in non-Latin text for the very first time in history. Reform Christian missionaries were sent much later after the discovery of the new world by Christopher Columbus, but there is another group of missionaries came under the authority of the Vatican pope, which is known as the Jesuits. Until today, since after the reformation, whenever you hear the origins of Christianity that is outside of Catholicism, it came to my mind about the Church of England, or also known as the Anglican. As a result of Augustine’s mission, the church in England became an integral part of the Roman Catholic Church and acknowledged the authority of the Pope. Initially prompted by a dispute over the annulment of the marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon, the Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 and became the established church by an Act of Parliament in the Act of Supremacy, beginning a series of events known as the English Reformation. During the reign of Queen Mary, the Church was fully restored under Rome in 1555. Papal authority was again explicitly rejected after the accession of Queen Elizabeth when the Act of Supremacy of 1558 was passed. Both Catholic and Reformed factions vied for determining the doctrines and worship of the church. This ended with the 1558 Elizabethan settlement, which developed the understanding that the church was to be both Catholic and Reformed:

Catholic in that it views itself as a part of the universal church of Jesus Christ in unbroken continuity with the early apostolic church. This is expressed in its emphasis on the teachings of the early Church Fathers, as formalized in the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds.

Reformed in that it has been shaped by some of the doctrinal principles of the 16th century Protestant Reformation, in particular in the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer.

Since the Reformation, the Church of England has used an English liturgy. The Book of Common Prayer was based on original writings and translations from the Latin services by Thomas Cranmer. This liturgy has been updated and modernized at various times. The church also adopted congregational singing of hymns and psalms.

Judaism: their denominations

the greatest divisions since the time of the division between the Sadducees and Pharisees two millennia ago are the divisions within the Ashkenazic community that have arisen in the past two centuries, ever since the Enlightenment and the Renaissance influenced Jews from northern and eastern Europe.

The first evidence of this great dogmatic schism was the development of the Reform Judaism movement, which rejected “ethnic Judaism” and preferred to regard Judaism as a religion rather than an ethnicity or a culture. Over time three large movements emerged:

Orthodox Judaism. Orthodox Jews generally see themselves as practicing normative Judaism, rather than belonging to a particular movement. Within Orthodox Judaism there is a spectrum of communities and practices, including Modern Orthodox Judaism, Haredi Judaism, and a variety of movements that have their origins in Hasidic Judaism.

Conservative Judaism or Masorti Judaism. Originated in Germany in the 19th century, but became institutionalized in the United States. After the division between Reform and Orthodox Judaism, the Conservative movement tried to provide Jews seeking liberalization of Orthodox theology and practice with a more traditional and halakhically based alternative to Reform Judaism. It has spread to Ashkenazi communities in Anglophone countries and Israel.

Reform Judaism or Progressive Judaism. Originally formed in Germany as a reaction to traditional Judaism, stresses integration with society and a personal interpretation of the Torah.

Additionally, a number of smaller groups have emerged:

Reconstructionist Judaism. A small, liberal Jewish movement, found primarily in the United States. It began as a liberal movement within Conservative Judaism and formally separated in the 1980s.

Humanistic Judaism. A pluralistic movement that emphasizes Jewish culture and history as the sources of Jewish identity. Founded by Rabbi Sherwin Wine, it is centered in North America but has spread to Europe, the Far East, Latin America, and Israel.

Neolog Judaism, a small movement found primarily in Hungarian-speaking countries, which is similar to the more traditional branch of American Conservative Judaism.

Jewish Renewal. Founded in the counter-cultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s, Jewish Renewal tends to embrace the ecstatic worship style and mysticism of hasidism, while rejecting the halakhic rigor of Orthodox Judaism. Jewish Renewal congregations tend to be inclusive on the subject of who is a Jew. The Jewish Renewal movement lacks the formal institutional structure of the other liberal movements.

Jewish Science. Formed in the early 20th century by Rabbi Alfred G. Moses and Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein. Jewish Science was founded as a counterweight Jewish movement to Christian Science. Jewish Science sees God as a force or energy penetrating the reality of the Universe and emphasis is placed upon the role of affirmative prayer in personal healing and spiritual growth. The Society of Jewish Science in New York is the institutional arm of the movement regularly publishing The Interpreter, the movement’s primary literary publication.

Islam: the line of denominations

Sunni

Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam and are known as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h or simply as Ahl as-Sunnah. The word Sunni comes from the word sunnah, which means the teachings and actions or examples of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Therefore, the term “Sunni” refers to those who follow or maintain the sunnah of the prophet Muhammad.

The Sunnis believe that Muhammad did not specifically appoint a successor to lead the Muslim ummah (community) before his death, and after an initial period of confusion, a group of his most prominent companions gathered and elected Abu Bakr Siddique, Muhammad’s close friend and a father-in-law, as the first caliph of Islam. Sunni Muslims regard the first four caliphs (Abu Bakr, `Umar ibn al-Khattāb, Uthman Ibn Affan and Ali ibn Abu Talib) as “al-Khulafā’ur-Rāshidūn” or “The Rightly Guided Caliphs.” Sunnis also believe that the position of caliph may be attained democratically, on gaining majority votes, but after the Rashidun, the position turned into a hereditary dynastic rule because of the divisions that started by the Shias and others.

Shia

Shia Islam (شيعة Shī‘ah, sometimes Shi’a or Shi’ite), is the second-largest denomination of Islam, comprising anywhere between 19 to 24% of the total Muslim population in the world. Shia Muslims—though a minority in the Muslim world—constitute the majority of the populations in Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran, and Iraq, as well as a plurality in Lebanon and Yemen.

In addition to believing in the authority of the Qur’an and teachings of Muhammad, Shia believe that his family, the Ahl al-Bayt (the “People of the House”), including his descendants known as Imams, have special spiritual and political rule over the community and believe that Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, was the first of these Imams and was the rightful successor to Muhammad, and thus reject the legitimacy of the first three Rashidun caliphs.

Sufi

Sufism is a mystical-ascetic form of Islam. By focusing on the more spiritual aspects of religion, Sufis strive to obtain direct experience of God by making use of “intuitive and emotional faculties” that one must be trained to use. Tasawwuf is regarded as a science of Islam that has always been an integral part of Orthodox Islam. But the tasawwuf of the Sufis is different insofar as it has historically been accused of innovation by orthodox scholars throughout the ages.

Sufis are not a homogeneous group and many of the key figures in Sufism have historically been known to not have engaged remotely in the modern day witnessed practices carried out by people who ascribe to the label of being ‘Sufi’. Many of the ‘saints’ known in Sufism are highly regarded in orthodox Islam as being individuals who were the epitome of the ‘whole’ teachings of Islam and are far removed from deviant groups and sub-sects who ascribe to the title of Sufism who are now known in the modern-age to engage esoteric philosophy and strange new innovated practices not known to the early Muslims of Syria, Baghdad, and Hijaz where many of the ‘Sufi saints’ are known to have originated from, such as Abdul-Qadir Gilani. The common teachings of most tariqas are that one starts off with sharia (Islamic law), the exoteric or mundane practice of Islam and then is initiated into the mystical (esoteric path of a Tariqah (Sufi Order). Some Sufi followers consider themselves as Sunni or Shi’a, while others consider themselves as simply ‘Sufi’ or Sufi-influenced.

Christianity: The world’s most dominant religion

Eastern Churches

In the Eastern world, the largest body of believers in modern times is the Eastern Orthodox Church, sometimes imprecisely called “Greek Orthodox” because from the time of Christ through the Byzantine empire, Greek was the common language (Greek Orthodox actually refers to only one portion of the entire Orthodox Church). The Eastern Orthodox Church believes itself to be the continuation of the original Christian church established by Jesus Christ, and the Apostles. They consider themselves to be spiritually one body while administratively they are grouped into several autocephalous councils. They do not recognize any single bishop as universal church leader, but rather each bishop governs only his own diocese. The Patriarch of Constantinople is known as the Ecumenical Patriarch, and holds the title “first among equals” meaning only that if a great council is called, the Patriarch sits as president of the council. He has no more power than any other bishop. Currently, the largest synod with the most members is the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Oriental Orthodox Churches are organized in a similar manner, with six national autocephalous groups and two autonomous bodies. Although the region of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea has had a strong body of believers since the infancy of Christianity, these regions only gained autocephaly in 1963 and 1994 respectively. Since these groups are relatively obscure in the West, literature on them has sometimes included the Assyrian Church of the East as a part of the Oriental Orthodox Communion, but the Assyrians have maintained theological, cultural, and ecclesiastical independence from all other Christian bodies since 431. It is administered in a hierarchical model not entirely unlike the Catholic Church, with the head of the church being the Patriarch Catholicos of the Assyrian Church of the East, since 1976 HH Mar Dinkha IV. Due to oppression, the church’s headquarters is in Chicago, Illinois, rather than the Middle East, though some believers remain there. Even within this small group, there was another split to the Ancient Church of the East, and a rival Catholicos (Patriarch) in California.

There are also the Eastern Catholic Churches, which are counterparts of the various Churches listed above, in that they preserve the same theological and liturgical traditions as they do. But they differ from their Orthodox mother Churches in that they recognize the Bishop of Rome as the universal head of the Church. Though adherents of Eastern Catholicism are fully part of the Catholic communion, most do not to use the term “Roman Catholic” to describe themselves, associating that name instead with members of the Latin Church. Rather, they prefer to use the name of whichever Church they belong to – Ukrainian Catholic, Coptic Catholic, Chaldean Catholic, etc.

Western churches

The Latin portion of the Catholic Church, along with Anglicanism and Protestantism, comprise the three major divisions of Christianity in the Western world. However, Roman Catholics do not describe themselves as a denomination but rather as the original Holy and Universal Church; which all other branches broke off from in schism. The Baptist, Methodist, and Lutheran churches are generally considered to be Protestant denominations, although strictly speaking, of these three, only the Lutherans took part in the official Protest after the decree of the Second Diet of Speyer mandated the burning of Luther’s works and the end of the Protestant Reformation. Anglicanism was generally classified as Protestant, but since the “Tractarian” or Oxford Movement of the 19th century, led by John Henry Newman, Anglican writers emphasize a more catholic understanding of the church and characterize it as more properly understood as its own tradition—a via media (“middle way”), both Protestant and Catholic. The American province of the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church USA, describes itself as a modern via media church in this tradition. A case is sometimes also made to regard Lutheranism in a similar way, considering the catholic character of its foundational documents (the Augsburg Confession and other documents contained in the Book of Concord) and its existence prior to the Anglican, Anabaptist, and Reformed churches, from which nearly all other Protestant denominations derive.

One central tenet of Catholicism (whether Roman Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and some other denominations), is its practice of Apostolic Succession. “Apostle” means “one who is sent out.” Jesus commissioned the first twelve apostles (see Biblical Figures for the list of the Twelve), and they, in turn laid hands on subsequent church leaders to ordain (commission) them for ministry. In this manner, Roman Catholics, and Anglicans trace their ordained ministers all the way back to the original Twelve. Roman Catholics believe that the Pope has authority which can be traced directly to the apostle Peter whom they hold to be the original head of and first Pope of the Church. There are smaller churches, such as the Old Catholic Church which rejected the definition of Papal Infallibility at the First Vatican Council, and Anglo-Catholics, Anglicans who believe that Anglicanism is a continuation of historical Catholicism and who incorporate many Catholic beliefs and practices. The Catholic Church refers to itself simply by the terms Catholic and Catholicism (which mean universal). The Catholic Church has traditionally rejected any notion that those outside its communion can be regarded as part of any true Catholic Christian faith. Catholicism has a hierarchical structure in which supreme authority for matters of faith and practice are the exclusive domain of the Pope, who sits on the Throne of Peter, and the bishops when acting in union with him. Most Catholics are unaware of the existence of Old Catholicism which represents a relatively recent split from the Catholic Church and is particularly vocal in rejecting their use of the term Catholic.

Each Protestant movement has developed freely, and many have split over theological issues. For instance, a number of movements grew out of spiritual revivals, like Methodism and Pentecostalism. Doctrinal issues and matters of conscience have also divided Protestants. The Anabaptist tradition, made up of the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites, rejected the Roman Catholic and Lutheran doctrines of infant baptism; this tradition is also noted for its belief in pacifism. Many churches with roots in Restorationism reject being identified as Protestant or even as a denomination at all, as they use only the Bible not creeds, and model the church after what they feel is the first century church found in scripture; the Churches of Christ are one example; African Initiated Churches, like Kimbanguism, mostly fall within Protestantism, with varying degrees of syncretism. The measure of mutual acceptance between the denominations and movements varies, but is growing largely due to the ecumenical movement in the 20th century and overarching Christian bodies such as the World Council of Churches.

Christians with Jewish roots

One group which has maintained its Jewish identity alongside an acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah and the New Testament as authoritative are Messianic Jews, also called Hebrew Christians. Since the founding of the church, there have been Jewish elements retained by particular groups that wanted to retain their national heritage alongside the Gospel message. In fact, the first council was called in Jerusalem to address just this issue, and the deciding opinion was written by James the Just, the first bishop of Jerusalem and a pivotal figure in the Christian movement. Due to the entirely different history of such movements and groups, they defy any simple classification scheme.

The Nasrani or Syrian Malabar Nasrani community in Kerala, India is conscious of their Jewish origins. However, they have lost many of their Jewish traditions due to western influences. The Nasrani are also known as Syrian Christians or St. Thomas Christians. This is because they follow the traditions of Syriac Christianity and are descendants of the early converts by St. Thomas the Apostle. Today, they belong to various denominations of Christianity but they have kept their unique identity within each of these denominations.

An existing community that still maintain their Jewish traditions is the Knanaya. They are an endogamous sub-ethnic group among the Syrian Malabar Nasrani and are the descendants of early Jewish Christian settlers who arrived in Kerala in A.D 345. Although affiliated with a variety of Roman Catholic and Oriental Orthodox denominations, they have remained a cohesive community, shunning intermarriage with outsiders (but not with fellow-Knanaya of other denominations).

So far, I’ve only recognize these three groups of Christianity so far—while others like Uncategorized, Restorationism, Independent, New Thought Movement, The Christian Community, Christian-related movements (such as the Unification Church, the Iglesia ni Cristo and the Rastafari movement, Jehovah Witness, seventh-day Adventist and other smaller cults are considered as heresy in mainstream Christianity) aren’t recognized as Christian.

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May 29, 2012

Jews: Are the Jews God’s chosen people?

(extracted from: http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/content/are-jews-gods-chosen-people)

Many people are asking about the Jews as God’s people. Are the Jews God’s people today? Are there any prophecies or commands of God as to how Christians are to deal with them? Are the things happening in Palestine any indication of the coming of Jesus? What about the inheritance of the Jews and when will they receive it?

The Bible is clear on the subject and it is important to us. We must remember that the term “Jew” as used in the gospels is predominantly used to denote the religious leaders of Jesus time. Other terms were used when speaking of the people, such as “the common people heard him gladly.” Mark 12:37 we should also keep in mind that the early church was almost entirely Jews. For over three years the gospel went throughout Jerusalem and Judea before it went to the Gentiles. The three thousand added to the church on the day of Pentecost were of Jewish descent.

REJECTION OF JESUS

At the trial of Jesus the Jews called for the blood of Jesus to be on them and their children. Matt. 27:25. Still Jesus sent His disciples (Jews themselves) to preach to the Jews, and they did until the Romans destroyed their nation in 70 AD. We should love them just as much as Jesus does, and many of them are accepting Jesus as their Messiah. They need Jesus just as we do: “there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. Paul loved his people and prayed for them. “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Rom. 10:1-4. Paul loved them and earnestly wanted them to be saved. We should have the same loving attitude. Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every kindred nation tongue and people. They, as a people, certainly fall into that broad category. Christians should seek to give the gospel to them as well as anyone else. Indeed, some of them are helping to take the gospel to their own people.

SALVATION OF JEWS

We need to read Romans 11. In the 2nd verse Paul says that Israel is not cast away and points to himself as evidence. He became a follower of Christ and he worked for the salvation of the Jews all through his ministry, even though he was the apostle to the Gentiles. In verse 7 he says “Israel has not obtained what it seeks.” Then in verses 19-22 where he is talking about us (Gentiles) being grafted into their olive tree, he says: “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.” The words “did not spare” let us know that as a nation he considered the Jews no longer God’s people. As individuals they can still have salvation; as individuals they are no different from anyone else. As a nation, too, they are no different: all need Jesus. Now consider Galatians 3:29. “And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” All the promises of scripture are for God’s people. Today Christians are that people if they “continue in His (God’s) goodness.” Rom. 11:22 .

As individuals, Jews have as much chance for salvation as any Gentile. When Paul started his ministry, the Christian church was made up largely of Jews. There were many who believed and came to Christ. Peter said to the Jewish leaders: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 NKJV. Jew or Gentile, it makes no difference, we are all saved through Jesus Christ. There are many Jewish Christians today.

JEWS BACK TO ISRAEL:

Some seem to think that the Jews must go back to Israel and resume the ancient sacrifices. This simply makes no sense because it was Jews (Peter and John in Acts 4:8-13) speaking to Jews, who proclaimed Jesus the only name by which any man can be saved. It is evident that Jews were included in the “we” of “we must be saved.” The Bible is clear that sacrifices stopped, as far as God is concerned, with the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Matthew 27:51. “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.” When God tore that heavy veil from top to bottom, it signaled the end of the animal sacrifices. It is true that sacrifices continued for a while after the death of Jesus but they lost their significance. The true Sacrifice had been offered. They installed a new veil. But in 70 AD, Titus, the Roman commander, came against Jerusalem and destroyed it. Jesus had predicted that not one stone of the temple would be left on another. Titus gave the command to save that beautiful temple, which was built by Herod. Jewish zealots found refuge in the temple and continued shooting arrows at the Romans. The soldiers became so angry with the harassment they set the temple on fire. The heat of the raging fire melted all the gold and it ran down in the cracks of the rocks and the soldiers plundered it to get the gold.

REBUILDING THE TEMPLE:

With no temple, the Jews have had no sacrifices since. Now, as if God is saying there will be no sacrifices ever, the temple mount has a Moslem mosque on it. Can one imagine the uproar if the Jews were to destroy the mosque to rebuild their temple? Sometime between 1996 and 1997 The Biblical Archeological Review ran a story on the temple mount and had pictures of the mosque. They also had a picture of a place marked in the rock that scholars believe was the place where the ark of the covenant sat in Solomon’s temple.

JEWS IN BIBLE PROPHECY:

We should pray for the Jewish people today that they might individually come to Jesus. This is all consistent with God’s instructions to Israel. “But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?” I Kings 9:6-8. In Romans 11, Paul says the same thing can happen to Christians. We must continue our heart-felt relationship with Jesus or lose our way. Also notice the condition given in the promise to Solomon. “If you search for Him, He will let you find Him, but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.” 1 Chronicles 28:9 TEB. See also Deut. 8:20. This is a warning to Christians just as much as it was to Israel of old.

JEWISH INHERITANCE:

God promised Abraham that He would give him and his descendants the land of Canaan. Gen. 12:7. It took many years for that to be fulfilled, as God had to give Abraham’s descendants time to multiply into a nation. The book of Joshua is the story of Israel receiving the inheritance. First with the help of the Lord they overthrew the inhabitants of the land and then Joshua apportioned it out to the various tribes under God’s direction. Joshua, in chapters 13 thru 22, tells of the division of the land to the 12 tribes of Israel. Galatians 3:29 tells us: “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” All real Christians will be heirs of the heavenly Canaan, heirs of the promise given to Abraham. Even Abraham himself “waited for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Heb. 11:10. This makes it clear the real promise was of the heavenly kingdom.

That is the real fulfillment, the one that will be eternal. Through Jesus we can obtain title to a kingdom that will never pass away. “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” Dan. 7:27. What a glorious promise we have in Jesus our Lord.

The nation’s corporate rejection of Jesus caused them, as a nation, to lose out on the final inheritance. That inheritance has passed on to all who accept their Messiah (Jesus) as their personal Savior from sin. But as Christians we have been grafted into their olive tree, and we can be cut off as surely as their nation was. Rom. 11:21, 22.

Had the Jews, as a nation, accepted their Messiah, they would have been the church through whom God would work to bring the gospel to all the world. It was their gospel, but they refused to carry it. Thus was born the Christian church and we haven’t done too well either. Consider this sad but insightful passage: “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:10-12. John, (a Jew himself) must have mourned as he wrote this sad passage. Yet write it he must, for he did it by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. See 2 Pet. 1:19, 20.

THE THRONE OF DAVID

In Matthew 1:1-17 the author goes to great lengths to show that Jesus was of the line of David, moving from Abraham to Joseph the earthly Father of Jesus. Luke 3:23-38 does the same thing backwards. He starts with Jesus and works back in time all the way back to Adam. Both genealogies agree and pass through David and Solomon. The throne was promised to David forever by God. “And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever.” I Kings 2:45. Then in 1 Chronicles 28:9, quoted above, Solomon was warned the promise was conditional. Zedekiah was the last king of Israel. After the Babylonian captivity, the Jews never had a king, only governors, as they were under the dominion of other kings. The Herod kings of Jesus’ time were not of the line of David and were appointed by the Roman Caesar. Israel had lost their kingdom and have never regained it. Yet rest assured the promise of God about the kingdom and the throne are still valid though circumstances have change as to how they are still valid. Daniel makes it clear that the kingdom will be given to the “people of the saints of the Most High..” Dan. 7:27. Galatians 3:29, quoted above makes it clear that ALL who make Jesus king of their lives will inherit the promises to Abraham as they will be counted the seed of Abraham. Just as important as this promise is the promise of the royal throne of David. Two of the gospel writers have taken the time to give us the royal lineage of Jesus. Why? Just for interesting information? Not at all. Jesus is of the royal line as a fulfillment of the promise to David.

Isaiah made it clear that the Messiah was to come in the lineage of David. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the THRONE OF DAVID, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6, 7. The kingdom that God sets up is forever. Daniel makes that clear in Daniel 2:44. Then in 7:13, 14 we find “one like the Son of Man” being brought “in the clouds of heaven” before the judgment throne of God (verses 9, 10) and dominion and a kingdom being given to Him. His dominion and kingdom are both everlasting even using the words “shall not pass away.” Jesus is to be crowned king of our lives today. Someday when He comes again, He will come as King of kings and Lord of lords. Rev. 19:16. This makes the throne of David eternal. Some claim that Jesus is not in the Old Testament. Paul is not in agreement with that stand and neither is Jesus. Paul, speaking of the Israelites of Moses day said: “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:4. Jesus said: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39. When one stops to realize that the Old Testament Scriptures were the only Scriptures available when Jesus said that, one realizes that Jesus is all through the Old Testament.

Paul, raised a Pharisee, said: “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:11. In Christ Old and New Testaments are bound together and all the promises are now to be fulfilled in Spiritual Israel.

Unless otherwise specified, all Scripture is taken from the King James Version.

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May 29, 2012

Are Jews saved because they are God’s chosen people? Do Jews have to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved?

(Extracted and Adapted from: http://www.gotquestions.org/Jews-saved.html )

Question: “Are Jews saved because they are God’s chosen people? Do Jews have to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved?”

Answer: Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). The “no one” He referred to includes Jews and Gentiles. Jews are not saved because they are God’s chosen people, but because they believe in Jesus Christ as their true Messiah. There are many Messianic Jews who have accepted Yeshua (the Hebrew word for “Jesus”) as their Messiah.

However, there is no doubt that the Jews are still God’s chosen people. “For you are a holy people unto the LORD your God: the LORD your God hath chosen you to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers…” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).

From all the nations and people on the earth, why exactly did God “choose” the Jews? John Gill, in hisExposition of the Entire Bible, says the Jews were “chosen for special service and worship, and to enjoy special privileges and benefits, civil and religious; though they were not chosen to special grace…or eternal glory.” The Jews were chosen to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth (Genesis 12). The Jews were chosen to be a light to the Gentiles. So then, are all Jews “saved” just because they are Jews?

According to many modern rabbinical scholars the Christian concept of salvation from sin has no equal in Judaism. Judaism does not believe that man, by his nature, is evil or sinful and therefore believes that man has no need to be “saved” from an eternal damnation. In fact, most Jews today do not believe in a place of eternal punishment or a literal hell. The Hebrew root word for “sin” is chayt, which literally means “to miss the mark.” It is a term commonly used in archery, of one who “misses the mark” of the bull’s-eye. When a Jew misses the mark and occasionally falls into the sin of failing to fulfill the laws of God, the belief is that he can obtain forgiveness through prayer, repentance and doing good deeds.

The book of Leviticus (17:11), the third book of the Torah, clearly gives the prescription for forgiveness: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” The temple sacrifice was always the centerpiece for Jewish atonement. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the Levitical High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the temple and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat. Through this yearly act, atonement was made for the sins of all Israel, but the Holy Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70, and for almost 2,000 years, Jews have been without a temple, a sacrifice, and a means of atonement.

The Brit Chadasha (the New Covenant or New Testament) teaches us that the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, came to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24) precisely at the time preceding the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. “But when Messiah arrived as a High Priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more complete Tabernacle, not made with hands—that is, not of this creation—and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered into the Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been made common, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Messiah, Who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God?” (Hebrews 9:11-14).

The New Testament teaches that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, have “missed the mark” (Romans 3:23). All of us are under the consequences of sin, and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). We are all in need of salvation from our sin; we are all in need of a Savior. The New Testament teaches that Jesus the Messiah is “the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father” but through Him (John 14:6) And, most importantly, “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which it is necessary for us to be saved” (Acts 4:12).

For the Jews, Jesus the Messiah has come as High Priest and through His once-for-all sacrifice for sin offers complete atonement to all people. For there is “no distinction” between Jew and Gentile (Romans 10:12). Yes, the Jews are God’s chosen people, and through them came the Jewish Messiah to bless all the nations of the earth. And it is only through Jesus that Jews can find God’s complete atonement and forgiveness.

While individual Jews must come to Christ for salvation, God is still not finished with Israel as a nation. The Bible tells us that in the end times, Israel will finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah (Zechariah 12:10). Jeremiah 33:8, Ezekiel 11:17, and Romans 11:26 predict that in the end times Israel will be regenerated, restored, and regathered in their homeland. This regathering took place in 1948 when Israel was recognized as a sovereign country by the United Nations. (Please see our article on Israel’s role in the end times.) Clearly, God is not finished with the Jewish people.

Israel’s role in the end time

Every time there is a conflict in or around Israel, many see it as a sign of the quickly approaching end times. The problem with this is that we may eventually tire of the conflict in Israel, so much so that we will not recognize when true, prophetically significant events occur. Conflict in Israel is not necessarily a sign of the end times.

Conflict in Israel has been a reality whenever Israel has existed as a nation. Whether it was the Egyptians, Amalekites, Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites, Amorites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, or Romans, the nation of Israel has always been persecuted by its neighbors. Why is this? According to the Bible, it is because God has a special plan for the nation of Israel, and Satan wants to defeat that plan. Satanically influenced hatred of Israel—and especially Israel’s God—is the reason Israel’s neighbors have always wanted to see Israel destroyed. Whether it is Sennacherib, king of Assyria; Haman, official of Persia; Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany; or Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, attempts to completely destroy Israel will always fail. The persecutors of Israel will come and go, but the persecution will remain until the second coming of Christ. As a result, conflict in Israel is not a reliable indicator of the soon arrival of the end times.

However, the Bible does say there will be terrible conflict in Israel during the end times. That is why the time period is known as the Tribulation, the Great Tribulation, and the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). Here is what the Bible says about Israel in the end times:

There will be a mass return of Jews to the land of Israel (Deuteronomy 30:3; Isaiah 43:6; Ezekiel 34:11-13; 36:24; 37:1-14).

The Antichrist will make a 7-year covenant of “peace” with Israel (Isaiah 28:18; Daniel 9:27).

The temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 11:1).

The Antichrist will break his covenant with Israel, and worldwide persecution of Israel will result (Daniel 9:27; 12:1, 11; Zechariah 11:16; Matthew 24:15, 21; Revelation 12:13). Israel will be invaded (Ezekiel chapters 38-39).

Israel will finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah (Zechariah 12:10). Israel will be regenerated, restored, and regathered (Jeremiah 33:8; Ezekiel 11:17; Romans 11:26).

There is much turmoil in Israel today. Israel is persecuted, surrounded by enemies—Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, etc. But this hatred and persecution of Israel is only a hint of what will happen in the end times (Matthew 24:15-21). The latest round of persecution began when Israel was reconstituted as a nation in 1948. Many Bible prophecy scholars believed the six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967 was the “beginning of the end.” Could what is taking place in Israel today indicate that the end is near? Yes. Does it necessarily mean the end is near? No. Jesus Himself said it best, “Watch out that no one deceives you. . . . You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come” (Matthew 24:4-6).

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May 28, 2012

My studies about Judaism, Christianity and Islam

This is just an account of whatever I have known about these three prominent monotheistic faiths in the world, with the most impactful to the world, the violent truth about holy wars between the three, and how each has endured throughout the centuries of constant conflicts and wars. A sum-up history account of based of my knowledge. This is just only a rough study knowledge I studied, and are meant only for research and study use only.

It all starts with this one man; Abraham. Before he was called Abraham, his name was Abram, and his wife, was called Sarai before her name was changed to Sarah by God, which is known as Yahweh. When in the book of Genesis where wen Abram was called by Yahweh to leave Ur and headed for Canaan, which spark the very just beginning of a relationship between Yahweh and a faithful servant of Yahweh. Yahweh promised both Abram and Sarai a child, despite they broke it by Sarai allowing Abram to lay with a maidservant named Hagar, who then bore Abram Ishmael, but Yahweh’s promise is everlasting, as eventually despite both Abram and Sarai then changed their names to Abraham and Sarah and them being so old that it seems impossible for them to have children, but Sarah bore Abraham a son which Yahweh promised them; Isaac.

Isaac was the father of Esau and Jacob. Having being both brothers, Esau is seen being more hairy than Jacob, but one thing that leads Esau betrayed his birth rights to Jacob, causing Jacob to flee from Esau as the result. Jacob went to his uncle’s place, worked for him, then he later got both daughters of his uncle, did wrestled with Yahweh and was blessed and was change from Jacob to Israel, then got married with Leah first, then Rachel, which bore Jacob twelve sons—but his most favorite son—Joseph was then later sold to Egypt as slave, then finally a governor of Egypt and also a man of dreams.

Generations later, as the Israelites grew larger in population, and also another pharaoh in Egypt. Oppression and slavery pressed upon the Israelites, the firstborn being killed to further oppress the Israelites, but Moses was adopted and grown up in a royal Egyptian palace, grown up as a prince, but was called by Yahweh to rescue Yahweh’s chosen people—the Israelites out of Egypt to the promise land, which was occupied by the Canaanites. The generations that made across the red sea all died out of wandering without being fulfilled to enter the promised land, Moses forbidden to enter the promised land, and was taken charge by Moses’s successor—Joshua, who then charge on Jericho, Ai, and establishes the tent for the resting place of the tabernacle.

As the Israelites were settling in the Promised Land, judges were in place according to the twelve tribes of Israel, except for the Levites who was appointed for the coming of Temples of Holies and Holies, and ceremony service. One king was later appointed by the Israelites—king Saul, but later succeeded by king David who slain Goliath after using a slinger and shot Goliath’s forehead and David then conquered Jerub, which was then renamed to Jerusalem, and David made Jerusalem the eternal capital city of the kingdom of Israel, and also the resting place for the tabernacle. Solomon later then succeed David as king, and built the very first temple of Jerusalem—the first temple.

During the times of Solomon, Israel was prosperous and commerce was established among the kingdoms around it, but it never lasted when Israel no longer a united kingdom, but divided into northern kingdom of Israel and southern kingdom of Judah. Thereafter, the north was dispersed by Assyrians and the south was exiled to Babylon, and was under foreign rule and never independent, as subsequently, the Babylonians were crushed by the Persian Empire, and during the reign of king Cyrus, the Jews were granted to return to Jerusalem to rebuilt their Holy city. The project halted for long, even when the Persians later fell to the Alexander the Great, and remained Greek till the arrival of the Romans.

By then during the time of the Romans, king Herod was appointed to the vassal province of Judea and king Herod completed the second temple at that time. Jesus was born in a virgin’s womb, named Mary, who came into this world by flesh to walk with us, and fulfilled the prophecies of prophet Isaiah back in the times of the Old Testament. Jesus was a Jew, who was sent by Yahweh to this earth for mankind’s redemption of our downfall by inflicted the pain on himself as if he was despised by our iniquities, crushed by our transgressions, and was crucified on the cross, and worst of all, he was rejected by the very own people Yahweh had chosen—the Jews.

Three days after Jesus was crucified and died on the cross of Calvary, he rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. It was the time for the disciples and apostles to further spread the teachings of Jesus, gentiles coming in accepting and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, despite persecution from the Jewish rabbis and was suppressed by the Romans. Not long till AD 70, where when Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans to suppress the Jewish revolt, and it was the start of the Jewish diaspora, but the persecution upon the Christians persisted till around AD 312, and made Christian official, legalizing it throughout the Roman empire, after suppressing Licinius who was then ruled the eastern half of the Roman empire, unifying the whole Roman empire once more, and this time, a Christian empire of the ancient world.

They lasted for centuries, despite being split into Eastern and Western Roman empires, though the western Roman Empire fell in AD 476, though the Eastern Roman empire still stands, and became Byzantine Empire, which is also known as the Roman empire of the medieval age. In AD 612, another monotheistic faith came up in the name of allah, named Muhammad, who claimed to have received revelations from allah from angel Gabriel, and the southern part of the former and once glorious Roman empire, fell to the hands of one Muslim empire; the caliphates. The Jews persisted despite numerous persecutions in the Christian Europe, and Islamic Middle East at that time. There were numerous persecutions, exiles from anti-Semitic medieval European kingdoms, which were catholic then, exiling many Jews to Lydia (modern-day turkey). Byzantine Empire still stands till AD 1453 where Constantinople, which was known as second Rome, fell to the Ottoman Turks, and renamed to Istanbul, and the Ottomans were the successor of the Byzantine Empire. Also an Islamic empire, sparking a new era of Renaissance, where the revival of technologies, literature, culture and architecture came out of the defeated Byzantine empire, sparking the founding of the new world in the Americas, and colonization, searching for Gold.

The Jews have endured even in this era, and was heavily battled by the holocaust in world war one and subsequently world war two. They were granted a Jewish homeland by the British, making Aliyah to Palestine, and establish the state of Israel in 1948, three years after world war two ended. Ottoman Empire was long gone, turning it into multi-national states we see today, and the state of Israel is the epicenter of daily clashes and conflicts between the Israeli and Arabs. Christians start reconciling with the Jews with Judeo-Christianity dialogue and Christian support for the Jewish cause, and the Muslim world in the Middle East forming what is known as Arab league, before Israel established themselves a Jewish homeland.

Right now, if you are a Christian and tell me that Judaism and Christianity are two different faiths, and of no links, I will totally disagree with you, because history don’t lie that Christianity was a Jewish sect long before Christianity split out from Judaism. We all as Christians worshipped the same Jewish God as the Jews do, and we called upon Yahweh under the name of Jesus and Jews forming a small and tiny percentage of them distinctly from Christianity, viewing themselves as Jews who believe in Jesus (Yeshuah). They are known as Messianic Jews, and they are often viewed as Christians by other Jewish sects, but were widely accepted by Christians. And my advice is read the bible, if you don’t believe me that the Jews are God’s chosen people and will never change because God never changes even if people change.

Lastly, what comes ahead remains unknown, but all we can do is to understand mutual cultures, and religions of various people, making it meaningful to every one of us than to cause worries and troubles.

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Category: Comparative Religions

Have a blessed Easter

介绍

在欧洲的犹太人和犹太教

历史

早期存在

中世纪

在西班牙犹太文化的黄金时代

西班牙宗教裁判所

波兰的犹太世界的中心

在波兰和英联邦犹太教的发展

的Ḥasidism的崛起

19世纪

第二次世界大战和大屠杀

基督教和反犹太主义

反犹太教

来路的基督教反犹太人主义

早期的差异

新约圣经犹太教拒绝

耶稣为弥赛亚的拒绝

遵守摩西律法

转换为犹太教的外邦人

法利赛人的批评

最近反犹太主义的研究，在新约

教父

基督徒和犹太人在穆斯林的土地

中世纪

皇帝利奥我

罗马教皇格里高利一世

sicut Judaeis

后来的基督教作家

流行的反犹太主义

驱逐

从英国驱逐犹太人

从西班牙驱逐犹太人

新教改革

18世纪

19世纪

20世纪

第一次世界大战到二战前夕

纳粹反犹太主义

合作基督徒

反对大屠杀

教皇Pius XII

“白色力量”运动

战后第II反犹太主义

犹太人皈依

犹太教和基督教团体之间的和解

伊斯兰教和反犹太主义

意见的范围

在它的历史背景对犹太人的古兰经

犹太教神学

对犹太人的注记

穆罕默德

圣训

古兰经

前现代伊斯兰教

穆斯林统治下生活

埃及

伊比利亚半岛

奥斯曼帝国

与基督教欧洲的对比

反犹太主义在中东伊斯兰

19世纪

20世纪

纳粹德国和穆斯林国家之间的连接

穆罕默德·阿明人，侯赛尼

伊拉克

奥斯曼帝国，土耳其，伊拉克和库尔德斯坦

伊朗

埃及

伊斯兰团体

21世纪

穆斯林领导人和学者的反犹太人的评论

优素福人，卡拉达维

穆罕默德·侯赛因雅各布

易卜拉欣·马赫迪

AMI阿尔 – 阿里安

阿卜杜勒·拉赫曼·-Sudais

哈齐姆·舒曼