From ‘Jacob or Esau?’ to ‘Has the Messiah Come?’ Controversies between Jews and Christians as Reflected in Bible Exegesis

Abstract

The history of controversies between Jews and Christians is long and varied. As early as the New Testament there are traces of anti-Jewish polemic, and in subsequent centuries a number of Christian writings appeared with the aim of persuading Jews and Gentiles (and presumably also the Christians themselves) of the truth of the Christian religion. The Christians interpreted the Jewish scriptures allegorically, typologically and Christologically, reading texts and events as statements about … or prophecies of … Jesus, Christianity and the Christians. The Christians claimed to be the ‘new’, the ‘true’, or the ‘spiritual’ Israel, while Jews were the ‘carnal’ Israel or had completely forfeited the right to bear the name of Israel. This development is clearly seen in the writings of the Church fathers and in the texts called ‘Adversus ]udaeos’.1 Some Christian scholars and clerics were interested in Jewish Bible exegesis and had access to Jewish texts, and some even studied Hebrew with Jewish scholars. Nicholas de Lyra and through him also Martin Luther were influenced by Jewish traditions but this did not stop the Christian polemics. On the contrary, in the centuries after the Protestant Reformation the Christian study of Jewish literature and Hebrew and the increased contact with Jews led to even more polemics and mission to the Jews.