Why were the Christians anti-Semitic?

Question

The first Christians such as Justin Martyr, the Church Fathers such as Augustine, the Reformers such as Luther were all anti-Semites. Why was that so?

Here are some quotes:

Luther: "Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is: First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss in sulfur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire. That would demonstrate to God our serious resolve and be evidence to all the world that it was in ignorance that we tolerated such houses, in which the Jews have reviled God, our dear Creator and Father, and his Son most shamefully up till now but that we have now given them their due reward."

John Chrysostom: "Again the Jews, the most miserable and wretched of all men. But today the Jews, who are more dangerous than any wolves, are bent on surrounding my sheep; so I must spar with them and fight with them so that no sheep of mine may fall victim to those wolves. Isaiah called the Jews dogs and Jeremiah called them mare-mad horses. This was not because they suddenly changed natures with those beasts but because they were pursuing the lustful habits of those animals."

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."

https://www.jpost.com/blogs/the-jewish-problem---from-anti-judaism-to-anti-semitism/the-jewish-problem-adversus-judeaos-against-the-jews-376333

Answer 1

The answer is short and simple. Christians are part of the world and the world’s sin creeps into even the real invisible church. A closer look at Luther for example will show its not so cut and dry as the quote suggests, he was guilty of sin but in general I would guess a lot less guilty of sin than we are.

In other words even the greatest of saints have some of the world in them. Why did the holy King David commit adultery punishable by strangulation to death under the covenant that he lived? Why was Samson considered a holy man of faith, even recorded in the list of ‘faith heroes’ in Hebrews when he at least occasionally visited prostitutes? Why was the Apostle Peter a great Apostle when he was often cowardly denying Christ before and after the Spirit was given at Pentecost? (He effectively denied Christ when in fear of Jews he did not defend the liberty of the Gentiles when Paul had to rebuke him)

Holy men of God have always been imperfect. I think you will find the general hostility towards Jews during the time that great men like Augustine and Luther lived, the world was more Anti-Semitic than they were. This does not excuse their sin, nor does it excuse ours, but there was only one man without sin, —Jesus.

With respect to Luther at the end of his life when he was ill and lost patience with the Jews, I find it personally disturbing. The last few writings of his life are a lot less inspiring than all the other years. Yet I thank God that he allows all his saints to fail one way or another to remind me not to put my faith in men.

Answer 2

This question has such a vast scope, I am going to largely limit my answer to Luther and his changed views, showing why he became quite antagonistic to the Jews at the last stage of his lie.

Luther had earlier believed that contemporary Jews could not be blamed for the sins of their fathers, and sympathised with why they hated Catholicism so much. I quote from a biography of Martin Luther:

“We should use toward the Jews not the pope’s but Christ’s law of love." ...When he endeavoured to proselytize some rabbis, they undertook in return to make a Jew of him. The rumor that a Jew had been suborned by the papists to murder him was not received with complete incredulity... In Luther's latter days... news came that in Moravia, Christians were being induced to Judaize. Then he came out with a vulgar blast in which he recommended that all Jews be deported to Palestine. Failing that, they should be forbidden to practice usury, should be compelled to earn their living on the land, their synagogues should be burned, and their books including the Bible should be taken away from them. Here I Stand - Martin Luther, Roland Bainton, p.379 (Lion 1978)

"Luther's main works on the Jews were his 65,000-word treatise Von den Juden und Ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies) and Vom Schem Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht Christi (Of the Unknowable Name and the Generations of Christ) — reprinted five times within his lifetime — both written in 1543, three years before his death. It is believed that Luther was influenced by Anton Margaritha book Der gantze Jüdisch Glaub (The Whole Jewish Belief). Margaritha, a convert to Christianity who had become a Lutheran, published his book in 1530 [which would be viewed by us today as 'antisemitic']. Luther read it in 1539. “The materials provided in this book confirmed for Luther that the Jews in their blindness wanted nothing to do with faith and justification through faith.” Margaritha's book was decisively discredited by Josel of Rosheim in a public debate in 1530 before Charles V and his court, resulting in Margaritha's expulsion from the Empire." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_and_antisemitism

The question, however, implies that all the first Christians were anti-Semites. The second quote I provide shows that, in the 1530s, that simply was not the case. I leave it to others to deal with those others you accuse, Justin Martyr, and Church Fathers such as Augustine. Certainly Luther became antagonistic towards the Jews as a whole in his last few years of life, and no excuse is offered for that. But it is unwarranted to imply that, therefore, "all Christians" from the start till Luther's era were "anti-Semites". As one comment points out, the first few thousand people who became Christians were Jews. After the Christian church was established, with many Gentiles only then becoming Christians, they mixed in loving harmony. A bit later, the synagogues closed to them, yet in the Church Christ builds there continues to this day fellowship between those two groups of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. If that is not seen, then one may rightly question the claim to be 'Christian' by any harbouring animosity towards fellow-Christians.

Answer 3

Well, to understand this, we must delve into the very origins of Christianity and its relationship with Judaism. Christianity, as it emerged from the Jewish context, sought to establish its own identity. This required a certain degree of theological and social distancing from Judaism. The early Christians, including figures like Justin Martyr and Augustine, found themselves in competition with Judaism for converts. In this context, vilifying the Jews served a dual purpose: it reinforced the nascent Christian identity and delegitimized Judaism. They needed to paint the Jews as not only wrong but malevolent, the 'killers of Christ,' to solidify their own narrative of salvation and divine favor.

Take Martin Luther, for example. His vile rhetoric against the Jews, calling for the burning of synagogues and expulsion of Jews, was not just an outburst of personal hatred but a reflection of a long-standing tradition within the Church to use anti-Semitism as a tool for religious and social control. Luther's words, unfortunately, laid groundwork that would echo through the centuries, culminating in the horrors of the Holocaust. John Chrysostom's comparison of Jews to 'dogs' and 'wolves' is yet another example of this dehumanization tactic. By reducing Jews to sub-human status, it becomes easier to justify their persecution, and it binds the Christian community together against a common enemy.

And then we have Pope Clement VIII, who perpetuated the stereotype of Jews as greedy usurers and exploiters. This kind of rhetoric was not only a religious condemnation but also a convenient explanation for economic hardships faced by the Christian populace. Blame the Jews, and you divert attention from the systemic failures of the Church and the ruling class.

In essence, the anti-Semitism of early Christians and Church Fathers was a concoction of theological, social, and economic motivations. It was a means to establish a distinct Christian identity, eliminate religious competition, and control the narrative within their communities. It's a tragic testament to how religion can be manipulated to justify bigotry and violence.

Answer 4

I answered a similar question, at this link. Christians were not anti-Semites because the word 'Semite' is not synonymous with the word 'Jewish'. This is why the word 'Semite' is not found in the quotes provided in the question. The dispute in the Gospels between Jesus & The Pharisees was doctrinal rather than racial. The word 'Jew' when used negatively in the Gospels obviously refers to a both a religious & political point of view rather than to an ethnic 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."

The above quote in the question appears from Pope Clement VIII (24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death, in March 1605. The problems with this opinion include:

1. The rise of Christianity in Europe coincided with the emergence of the Dark & Middles Ages in Europe and with the soon to be rise of Islam (established by an Arabian merchant named Muhammed) in Western Asia. During this period: (i) Jewish international finance capital networks consolidated themselves in the prosperous Islam world; where Islam shrewdly utilised this Jewish industry for their (Islamic) economic goals: and (ii) the more primitive backward European conquering kings (such as CHARLEMAGNE, William 1 and much later the Protestant William 3) became beholden/enslaved to Jewish finance capital for their wars. We can ask the question, for example, why did CHARLEMAGNE end most of the indigenous non-Christian religions in his sphere of influence except for Judaism? Also, strange phenomena arose in Christian Europe, such as the administration of feudal Polish peasant estates by Jews. In summary, it was the Christian world that allowed the Jewish domination of both trade & finance to occur in Europe; to such as a degree to strongly influence both the political & religious sphere (such as the Jewish & Muslim funded rise of Protestantism). This situation did not occur in the Islamic world. The Muslims and Byzantines before them knew how to utilize Jewish enterprise without allowing this to harm their societies. Therefore, it appears certainly prejudiced & unfair of Pope Clement VIII to blame Jews for a situation that in reality was created by the European (Christian) Ruling Classes and probably also by the policies of the Catholic Church itself. For example, we can simply read paragraphs 10 & 11 of the famous Magna Carta, where the term 'The Jews' refers to money lenders who were under the direct jurisdiction of the King Of England. It was William 1 who brought these Jews to England, for his own purposes. It is highly probable these Jewish money-lenders also lent the money of the wealthy Christian European Ruling Classes. Similarly, later, when Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife, he sought legal advice from Jewish Rabbis. While Wikipedia says Pope Clement VIII tried to develop independence from Philip II of Spain, Wikipedia acknowledges the Papacy had dependence on Spain. In other words, Pope Clement VIII's term was from 1592 to 1605, which coincided with the reign of Philip II of Spain from 1556 to 1598, who enforced the Inquisition against Spanish & Portuguese Muslims & Jews who allegedly did not genuinely convert to Catholicism. In summary, the white European Christians, similar to today, have always had a bipolar kinship with the Jewish religion & people, considering Jews to be both like a 'big brother' and 'cursed'. The Catholic Church always held this doctrine, such as Sicut Judaeis. I think the more we study history (such as the history of Jews in Poland), we might form the view the historical conflicts with Jews in Europe were largely political (such as in Spain, where Muslims with their Jewish allies ruled Spain for a time) and social-class related (such as when the peasant & business classes might rise up against Jewish money lenders or feudal estate administrators who worked for the Christian Ruling Classes; for those same peasants to be crushed by the troops of the Christian King or Noble). I personally doubt much of this was related to "race" or "anti-semiticism". It was either doctrinal or political or economic; just as today we see countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt & Azerbaijan joined politically & economically at the hip with Israel. In short, Biblically, there is no such phenomena as "anti-semiticism". The Biblical word 'Semite' is not synonymous with the word 'Jewish'. The Biblical word 'Semite' refers to the descendants of Shem, who are taken to be all of the indigenous people of The Middle-East.