Overview of the History of Christian Antisemitism
Introduction
Many Gentile believers are unaware that, for centuries, Christians have persecuted Jewish people in the name of Jesus. If the history of Christian antisemitism is unfamiliar to you, it can seem shocking that Jesus’ followers would persecute the Jewish people. After all, Jesus and His disciples were Jewish. What happened to cause so much Jewish suffering at the hands of Christians?
Antisemitism didn’t emerge among Christians right away; it developed as the church became increasingly Gentile. As flawed theology emerged, it formed the basis for Christian antisemitism for centuries to come, culminating in the Holocaust.
This history, as well as continuing antisemitism today, has a deep impact on Jewish communities worldwide. Learning about Christian antisemitism is important if we are to reflect honestly on the history of our faith. It will also help us better understand our Jewish friends and show greater sensitivity as we share the Good News with them.
Setting the Stage for Christian Antisemitism
The first notable event that led to the eventual distancing of Jewish people from the church was a Jewish revolt against Rome and the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Because Jesus had warned His disciples of the coming events (Matthew 24), Jewish believers fled from Jerusalem and escaped the bloody siege that ended in a Jewish defeat.
Sixty-two years later in AD 132, while a Jewish man named Bar Kochba was leading the Jewish people in a second revolt against the Romans, a prominent rabbi proclaimed him to be the Messiah. Unable to align themselves with a false Messiah, Jewish believers did not participate in Bar Kochba’s revolt and consequently were viewed as traitors by the rest of the Jewish community. The rebellion eventually failed, resulting in the expulsion of all Jewish people from Jerusalem in AD 135.
After two brutal wars with the Romans, Jewish believers’ influence diminished in the church. There was a lack of Jewish leadership – fewer Jewish believers led as bishops, while more Gentiles served in this role. The Council of Nicaea, famous for rejecting the heresy of Arianism, also made decisions to disconnect the celebration of Easter from Passover and in other ways divorce Christianity from its Jewish underpinnings. The center of the church shifted from Jerusalem to Rome as the gap continued to widen between Jewish believers and the church’s Gentile majority, who increasingly disregarded the Jewish roots of their faith.
Emergence of Antisemitic Theology and Tropes
The Deicide Charge – the idea that Jewish people are “Christ-killers” – began to spread among Gentile Christians in the second century. Prominent Christian leaders like Justin Martyr and Melito of Sardis taught that the suffering of the Jewish people was a result of their willful murder of God. In Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho, he writes to Jewish people that their misfortunes “have happened to you in fairness and justice, for you have slain the Just One.”[1]
In AD 380, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. Suddenly many people were professing Christianity – even if they weren’t genuine believers – while retaining attitudes of pagan antisemitism. Incorrect interpretations of Scripture led to the rise of replacement theology – the view that God has forsaken the Jewish people because they rejected Jesus and Israel’s blessings therefore belong to the church. By the start of the Middle Ages, replacement theology and antisemitism had become widespread.
The first Crusade was launched in 1095 with the goal of reclaiming the Holy Land from the Muslims. The Crusaders, galvanized by the promise of eternal rewards if they fought against “the infidels,” slaughtered thousands of Jewish people as they passed through Europe. When they conquered Jerusalem, they burned Jewish residents alive in a synagogue. The Crusades continued over the next two centuries and led to the death of 30-50% of Europe’s Jewish population.[2]
Another antisemitic trope – caricaturing Jewish people as grasping and avaricious – emerged in 1179, when moneylending was made illegal for Christians. Moneylending became one of the few professions open to Jewish people, who were barred from other economic opportunities like farming and trade. Monarchs, bishops, and others in power made use of Jewish moneylending, but would then charge Jewish people with horrible crimes, expel them, or incite mob violence against them so they could avoid repaying their loans.
In addition to facing periodic expulsions, Jewish people were also subjected to a slew of false accusations. They were charged with the ritual murder of Christian children and with torturing the bread used for communion (it was believed that the bread literally became the flesh of Jesus). Jewish people were even blamed for causing the Black Death. These lies might sound crazy to us, but at the time they were taken seriously and sometimes led to entire Jewish communities being massacred.
The Christian Roots of Hitler’s Antisemitism
Legislation was put in place to isolate and humiliate Jewish people in Christian society. An early synod prohibited Jewish people from intermarrying with Christians, and the Fourth Lateran Council required Jewish people to wear distinctive badges and hats. Jewish people were also forced to live in ghettos – isolated communities located in the worst part of town where pollution, disease, and overcrowding were rampant.
We remember the year 1492 because “Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” but it was also the year Jewish people were expelled from Spain. The Spanish Jewish community had flourished under Muslim rule. After Christianity was restored in Spain, Jewish people suffered immensely during the Inquisition, which began in 1478 and primarily targeted Jewish converts to Christianity who were suspected of practicing Judaism in secret.[3] Justice was perverted – those who confessed under torture were burned at the stake for heresy, and even those who didn’t confess were often executed. The Spanish Inquisition lasted for over 200 years.
In 1517, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses, sparking the Protestant Reformation. Luther initially hoped Jewish people would respond positively to the Reformation and turn to faith in Jesus, but when he saw he was mistaken, his writings became virulently antisemitic.
In his book On the Jews and Their Lies, Luther called for Jewish synagogues, houses, and sacred books to be burned. Rabbis were to be prohibited from teaching. Jewish travel was to be restricted, Jewish wealth confiscated, and young people from the Jewish community put to forced labor.[4] If this sounds eerily familiar to us, it’s probably because Luther’s ideas were put into practice by Hitler and the Nazis 400 years later.
A Shift in the Nature of Antisemitism
In the years leading up to the Holocaust, antisemitism continued unabated in Europe. In Eastern Europe, poverty and pogroms prompted over 2.5 million Jewish people to immigrate to America between 1881 and 1924.[5]
The nature of antisemitism was also changing. Formerly, converting to Christianity had provided Jewish people some escape from persecution. However, there was no escape from modern antisemitism, which had shifted from a hatred of the Jewish religion to a hatred based on Jewish ethnicity.
The systematic murder of six million Jewish people in the Holocaust was in part a culmination of centuries of Christian antisemitism. Concentration camps and evidence of the Nazis’ atrocious crimes shocked the world when they became known at the end of World War II. By then, two-thirds of the Jewish people of Europe had been murdered. Though there were Gentiles – known as the Righteous Among the Nations – who risked their lives to protect Jewish people, the vast majority of the world turned a blind eye, and the Christian population remained largely inactive in the face of Jewish suffering.
How Antisemitism Flourishes Today
Antisemitism didn’t end with the Holocaust. In 2022, the Anti-Defamation League reported that antisemitic incidents in the United States were at an all-time high. According to the FBI, Jewish people were the most targeted religious minority nationwide in 2021; more than 50% of religious hate crimes were anti-Jewish in nature.[6]
Today Jewish people continue to be targets of racist propaganda, physical assault, bomb threats, and damage to property. The Pittsburg synagogue shooting,[7] the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history, happened in 2018 – less than a decade ago. Antisemitism today can also appear in the form of Holocaust denial, or in connection with opposition to Zionism and the State of Israel. As followers of Jesus, it’s crucial that we stand in solidarity with the Jewish community against mounting antisemitism.
Conclusion
It can be uncomfortable to learn about the cruel things Christian individuals and nations have inflicted on the Jewish people. You might be thinking, “Jewish people have already suffered so much because of Christians. Should we really keep sharing the gospel with them?”
The answer is absolutely yes! We want our Jewish friends to know that Christian antisemitism is diametrically opposed to Jesus’ loving heart for His people. We should definitely empathize with our Jewish friends, but keeping silent about the Good News is not an empathetic response to suffering. The Bible is clear that faith in Jesus is the only way to salvation (Acts 4:12). It’s crucial that we continue sharing the gospel with Jewish people, asking God for His grace, wisdom, and boldness as we do so.
If you would like to learn more about taking a stand against antisemitism as a believer, visit our page on antisemitism.
[1] Read this portion of the Dialogue with Trypho (especially chapter 16) here.
[2] For a crash course in the history of the Crusades, click here.
[3] Learn more about the Inquisition here.
[4] See excerpts from Luther’s antisemitic tirade, The Jews and Their Lies, here.
[5] Pogroms refer to violent attacks on Jewish communities and were most prevalent in Eastern Europe in the 1800s and early 1900s. The riots were sanctioned and even encouraged by the state, resulting in immense loss of Jewish life, injury, and destruction of property. Pogroms continued throughout WWII and also after the Holocaust. A fear of pogroms was a factor that led many Jewish people to leave Europe after the war (see this source, and this article on Jewish immigration).
[6] See a breakdown of hate crime statistics here.
[7] Read the story here.
