Book Cover
E-book
Author Fredriksen, Paula

Title Augustine and the Jews : a Christian defense of Jews and Judaism / Paula Fredriksen
Published New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, ©2010

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Description 1 online resource (xxiii, 503 pages) : illustrations
Contents The legacy of Alexander -- Gods and their humans -- Gods and the one God -- Paideia : pagan, Jewish, Christian -- Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Mediterranean City -- The Prodigal Son -- The heretic -- The sojourner -- The convert -- The biblical theologian -- God and Israel -- The war of words -- The redemption of the flesh -- The mark of Cain -- "Slay them not ..."
Summary Now in paperback with a new postscript, this updated edition of Paula Fredriksen's critically acclaimed Augustine and the Jews traces the social and intellectual forces that led to the development of Christian anti-Judaism and shows how and why Augustine challenged this tradition. Drawing us into the life, times, and thought of Augustine of Hippo (396-430), Fredriksen focuses on the period of astounding creativity that led to his new understanding of Paul and to his great classic, The Confessions. She shows how Augustine's struggle to read the Bible led him to a new theological vision, one that countered the anti-Judaism not only of his Manichaean opponents but also of his own church. The Christian Empire, Augustine held, was right to ban paganism and to coerce heretics. But the source of ancient Jewish scripture and current Jewish practice, he argued, was the very same as that of the New Testament and of the church--namely, God himself. Accordingly, he urged, Jews were to be left alone. Conceived as a vividly original way to defend Christian ideas about Jesus and about the Old Testament, Augustine's theological innovation survived the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and it ultimately served to protect Jewish lives against the brutality of medieval crusades. Augustine and the Jews sheds new light on the origins of Christian anti-Semitism and, through Augustine, opens a path toward better understanding between two of the world's great religions. (Publisher)
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 437-467) and indexes
Notes Print version record
Subject Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430
Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430 -- Relations with Jews
SUBJECT Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430 fast
Subject Christianity and antisemitism -- History
Christianity and other religions -- Judaism.
Church history.
Judaism -- History.
Judaism -- Relations -- Christianity.
church history.
RELIGION -- Christian Life -- Social Issues.
RELIGION -- Christianity -- General.
Christianity
Christianity and antisemitism
Church history
Interfaith relations
Judaism
Relations with Jews
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2010926077
ISBN 9780300172508
0300172508