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Anti-Judaism denotes a spectrum of historical and contemporary ideologies that are fundamentally or partially rooted in opposition toJudaism. It encompasses the rejection orabrogation of theMosaic covenant and advocates for thesupersession of Judaism andJewish identity by proponents of other religious, political-ideological, ortheological frameworks, which assert their own precedence as the "light unto the nations" or as thechosen people ofGod. The opposition is often perpetuated through the reinterpretation and appropriation ofJewish prophecy andother Hebrew biblical texts, reflecting a complex interplay of belief systems that challengeJews' internally and externally conceived distinctiveness.David Nirenberg posits that the theme has manifested throughout history, including in contemporary andearly Christianity,Islam, nationalism,Enlightenment rationalism, and in socioeconomic contexts.[1]
Douglas R. A. Hare found at least three anti-Judaisms in history.[citation needed] The first is prophetic anti-Judaism: thecriticism of Judaism's beliefs and religious practices. The second isJewish Christian anti-Judaism: the form taken amongst Jews who believe thatJesus of Nazareth was theJewish Messiah. The third type he defined was gentilizing anti-Judaism, which emphasizes thegentile character of the new movement (i.e.,Christianity) and asserts God's formalsupersessionistrejection of Jews as apeople.[2] Mostscholarly analyses appear concerned with the phenomenon described by the third type.[fact or opinion?]
According toGavin I. Langmuir, anti-Judaism is based on "total or partial opposition toJudaism as areligion—and the total or partial opposition toJews as adherents of it—by persons who accept a competingsystem of beliefs andpractices and consider certain genuineJudaic beliefs andpractices inferior."[3][full citation needed]
As the rejection of a particular religion or particular way of thinking about God, anti-Judaism is distinct fromantisemitism. An example of religious anti-Judaism is theIslamic doctrine known astahrif.[4]
The term "anti-Jewish" is often colloquially used interchangeably with terms such as "antisemitic", "anti-Hebrew", or "anti-Judaism". Although these designations share a commonality—hatred towards a group of people—each term encompasses unique ideologies and prejudices.Jeanne Favret-Saada,[5] author of the 2014HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory article "A Fuzzy Distinction: Anti-Judaism and Anti-Semitism," explains the ways in which historians often conflate anti-Judaism and antisemitism, failing to distinguish between Christian anti-Judaism andNazi antisemitism. Favret-Saada argues that the combination of these distinct ideologies diminishes the Christian role in the evolution from anti-Judaism to antisemitism. Anti-Judaism encapsulates those who oppose the Jewish religion and religious system. The term refers to Christian animosity towards Judaism as a religion. Anti-Judaism historically included attempts to convert Jews to Christianity. In contrast, the term "antisemitic" is more modern and secular term, categorizing Jews as a racial or ethnic group. Antisemites hate and target Jews for their ethnic Jewish identity rather than religious beliefs.
InAncient Rome, religion was an integral part of the civil government. Beginning with theRoman Senate's declaration of the divinity ofJulius Caesar on 1 January 42 BCE, someemperors were proclaimed gods on Earth and demanded to be worshiped accordingly throughout theRoman Empire.[6] This created religious difficulties for those Jews, who were monotheists and adhered strictly toJewish law, and worshipers ofMithras,Sabazius andearly Christians.[7][8] At the time ofJesus's ministry, the Jews of the Roman Empire were a respected and privileged minority whose influence was enhanced by a relatively high level of literacy.[9][10] The Jews were granted a number of concessions by the Romans, including the right to observeShabbat and to substitute prayers for the emperor in place of participation in the imperial cult.[11] They had been exempted from military service on the Sabbath, for example.[12][13][14] Julius Caesar, who never forgot the debt he owed toAntipater the Idumaean for playing a decisive role in theSiege of Alexandria (thereby saving his life and career),[15] was supportive of Jews, allowing them uniquely aright to assembly and to collect funds forJerusalem.[16] His enmity towardPompey, who had conquered Jerusalem and defiled theHoly of Holies, enhanced his status among Roman Jewish leadership, as he ordered the reconstruction of thewalls of Jerusalem after the destruction wrought by Pompey.[17] He may also have cultivated Jews asclients to buttress his position in the East against the latter. At times, he treatedHigh Priest of IsraelHyrcanus II on equal terms by writing to him as Rome'spontifex maximus. Jews reacted to Julius Caesar's assassination by mourning him publicly in Rome.[17]
The crisis underCaligula (37–41 CE) has been proposed as the "first open break between Rome and the Jews", even though problems were already evident during theCensus of Quirinius in 6 CE and underSejanus (before 31 CE).[a]
After theJewish–Roman wars (66–135),Hadrian changed the name ofIudaea province toSyria Palaestina andJerusalem toAelia Capitolina in an attempt to erase thehistorical ties of the Jewish people to the region.[b] However, this argument has been pointed out as a mere assumption, with no basis in historical sources, according to other scholars.[20] After 70 CE, Jews and Jewishproselytes were only allowed to practice their religion if they paid theFiscus Judaicus (Jewish tax), and after 135 were barred from Jerusalem except for the day ofTisha B'Av. Frequent Jewish uprisings (two major wars in 66–73 and 133–136 CE, in addition to uprisings in Alexandria andCyrene),xenophobia, and Jewish prerogatives and idiosyncrasies, were at the root of anti-Jewish feelings in some segments of Roman society.[21] These confrontations did cause temporary erosions in the status of the Jews in the empire. Reversals in the relationship were temporary and did not have a lasting impact.[22]
ConsulTitus Flavius Clemens was put to death in 95 CE for "living a Jewish life" or "drifting into Jewish ways", an accusation also frequently made against Early Christians,[23][24] and which may well have been related to the administration of the Jewish tax underDomitian.[c] The Roman Empireadopted Christianity as itsstate religion with theEdict of Thessalonica on 27 February 380.
Christianity originated as a sect ofJudaism. It was seen as such by the Jewishearly Christians, as well asJews in general.[fact or opinion? (See discussion.)] The wider Roman administration most likely would not have understood any distinction. Historians debate whether or not the Roman government distinguished between adherents ofChristianity and Judaism before 96 CE, whenChristians successfully petitionedNerva to exempt them from the tax levied specifically on Roman Jews (theFiscus Judaicus) on the basis that they (ie, Christians) were not Jews. From then on, practising Jews paid the tax while Christians did not.[26][27][28] Christianity is based onJewish monotheism and includes theHebrew Bible in itscanon as theOld Testament (the development of which generally relied on theSeptuagint and JewishAramaictargumim), as well asJewish liturgy and theSeven Laws of Noah.
The main distinction of the early Christian community from its Jewish roots was the belief thatJesus was the long-awaitedMessiah,[d] as in theConfession of Peter, but that in itself would not have severed the Jewish connection. Another point of divergence was thequestioning by Christians of the continuing applicability of the Law of Moses (theTorah),[30] though theApostolic Decree of theApostolic Age of Christianity appears to parallel theNoahide Law of Judaism. The two issues came to be linked in a theological discussion within the Christian community as to whether the coming of the Messiah (First orSecond Coming) annulled either some (Supersessionism), or all (Abrogation of Old Covenant laws), of the Judaic laws in what came to be called aNew Covenant.
Thecircumcision controversy was probably the second issue (after the issue of Jesus as messiah) during which the theological argument was conducted in terms of anti-Judaism, with those who argued for the view that biblical law continued to be applicable being labelledJudaizers orPharisees (e.g.Acts 15:5).[e][31] The teachings ofPaul (d. ~67 CE), whose letters comprise much of theNew Testament demonstrate a "long battle against Judaizing."[32] However,James the Just, who after Jesus's death was widely acknowledged as the leader of theJerusalem Christians, worshiped at theSecond Temple inJerusalem until his death in 62, thirty years after Jesus' death.[33]
Thedestruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE would lead Christians to "doubt the efficacy of the ancient law",[34] thoughEbionism would linger on until the5th century. However,Marcion of Sinope, whoadvocated rejecting the entirety of Judaic influence on the Christian faith,[35] would beexcommunicated by theChurch in Rome in 144 CE.[36]
Anti-Judaic works of this period includeDe Adversus Iudeaos byTertullian,Octavius byMinucius Felix,De Catholicae Ecclesiae Unitate[f] byCyprian of Carthage, andInstructiones Adversus Gentium Deos byLactantius.[37] The traditional hypothesis holds that the anti-Judaism of these earlyfathers of the Church "were inherited from the Christian tradition ofBiblical exegesis" though a second hypothesis holds that early Christian anti-Judaism was inherited from the pagan world.[38] Miriam S. Taylor argues that theological Christian anti-Judaism "emerge[d] from the Church's efforts to resolve the contradictions inherent in its simultaneous appropriation and rejection of different elements of the Jewish tradition."[39]
Modern scholars believe that Judaism may have been amissionary religion in the early centuries of the Christian or common era, converting so-calledproselytes,[40] and thus competition for the religious loyalties of gentiles drove anti-Judaism.[41][42] The debate and dialogue moved from polemic to bitter verbal and written attacks one against the other. However, since the last decades of the 20th century, the view that a proselytizing struggle between turn of the era Judaism and early Christianity may have been the main generator of anti-Jewish attitudes among early gentile believers in Jesus is eroding.[43] Scholars have revisited the traditional claims about Jewish proselytizing and have largely concluded that active Jewish proselytizing was a later apologetic construct that does not reflect the reality of first century Judaism.[44]
A statement about whether scrolls could be left to burn in a fire on the Sabbath is attributed toTarfon (died 135 CE). A disputed[45][46][47][48] interpretation identifies these books with theGospels (seeGilyonim): "TheGospels must be burned forpaganism is not as dangerous to the Jewish faith asJewish Christian sects."[32] The anonymousLetter to Diognetus was the earliestapologetic work in the early Church to address Judaism.[49]Justin Martyr (died 165 CE) wrote the apologeticDialogue with Trypho,[50] a polemical debate giving the Christian assertions for the Messiahship of Jesus[51] by making use of theOld Testament contrasted with counter-arguments from a fictionalized version of Tarphon.[52] "For centuries defenders of Christ and the enemies of the Jews employed no other method" than these apologetics.[49] Apologetics were difficult as gentile converts could not be expected to understand Hebrew; translations of theSeptuagint intoGreek prior toAquila would serve as a basis for such cross-cultural arguments,[53] also demonstrated wasOrigen's difficulties debating RabbiSimlai.[53]
Though EmperorHadrian was an "enemy of thesynagogue", the reign ofAntoninus Pius began a period of Roman benevolence toward the Jewish faith.[54] Meanwhile, imperial hostility toward Christianity continued to crystallize; afterDecius, the empire was at war with it.[55] An unequal power relationship between Jews and Christians in the context of theGreco-Roman world generated anti-Jewish feelings among the early Christians.[56] Feelings of mutual hatred arose, driven in part by Judaism's legality in theRoman Empire; inAntioch, where the rivalry was most bitter.[57]
WhenConstantine andLicinius were issuing theEdict of Milan, the influence of Judaism was fading in theLand of Israel (in favor ofChristianity) and seeing a rebirth outside the Roman Empire inBabylonia.[6]
After his defeat of Licinius in 323 CE, Constantine showed Christians marked political preference. He repressed Jewish proselytism and forbade Jews fromcircumcising their slaves.[58] Jews were barred fromJerusalem except on the anniversary of theSecond Temple's destruction (Tisha B'Av) and then only after paying a special tax (probably theFiscus Judaicus) in silver.[58] He also promulgated a law which condemned to the stake Jews who persecuted their apostates by stoning.[59]Christianity became thestate religion of the Roman Empire (seeChristendom), and in 351 the Jews of Palestine revolted against Constantine's son in theJewish revolt against Constantius Gallus.
From the middle of the 5th century, apologetics ceased withCyril of Alexandria.[60] This form of anti-Judaism had proven futile and often served to strengthen Jewish faith.[60] With Christianity ascendant in the Empire, the "Fathers, the bishops, and the priest who had to contend against the Jews treated them very badly.Hosius in Spain;Pope Sylvester I;Eusebius of Caesaria call them 'a perverse, dangerous, and criminal sect.'"[61] WhileGregory of Nyssa merely reproaches Jews asinfidels, other teachers are more vehement.[61]Saint Augustine labels theTalmudists as falsifiers;Saint Ambrose recycled the earlieranti-Christian trope and accuses Jews of despising Roman law.Saint Jerome claims Jews were possessed by an impure spirit.[61]Saint Cyril ofJerusalem claimed theJewish Patriarchs, or Nasi, were a low race.[61]
All these theological and polemical attacks combined inSaint John Chrysostom's six sermons delivered atAntioch.[61] Chrysostom, anarchbishop of Constantinople, (died 407 CE) is very negative in his treatment of Judaism, though much morehyperbolic in expression.[62] While Justin'sDialogue is a philosophical treatise, John'shomiliesAgainst the Jews are a more informal and rhetorically forceful set of sermons preached in church. Delivered while Chrysostom was still apriest inAntioch, his homilies deliver a scathing critique of Jewish religious and civil life, warning Christians not to have any contact with Judaism or thesynagogue and to keep away from their festivals.
"There are legions of theologians, historians and writers who write about the Jews the same as Chrysostom:Epiphanius,Diodorus of Tarsus,Theodore of Mopsuestia,Theodoret of Cyprus,Cosmas Indicopleustes,Athanasius the Sinaite among the Greeks;Hilarius of Poitiers,Prudentius,Paulus Orosius,Sulpicius Severus,Gennadius,Venantius Fortunatus,Isidore of Seville, among the Latins."[63]
From the 4th to 7th centuries, while the bishops opposed Judaism in writing, the Empire enacted a variety of civil laws against Jews, such as forbidding them from holding public office, and an oppressive curial tax.[59] Laws were enacted to harass their free observance of religion;Justinian went so far as toenact a law against Jewish daily prayers.[59]
Through this period Jewish revolts continued. During theByzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 many Jews sided against theByzantine Empire in theJewish revolt against Heraclius, which successfully assisted the invading Persian Sassanids in conquering all of Roman Egypt and Syria. In reaction to this further anti-Jewish measures were enacted throughout the Byzantine realm and as far away asMerovingian France.[64] Soon thereafter, 634, theMuslim conquests began, during which many Jews initially rose up again against their Byzantine rulers.[65]
The pattern wherein Jews were relatively free under pagan rulers until the Christian conversion of the leadership, as seen with Constantine, would be repeated in the lands beyond the now collapsed Roman Empire.Sigismund of Burgundy enacted laws against Jews after coming to the throne after his conversion in 514;[66] likewise after the conversion ofReccared, king of theVisigoths in 589, which would have lasting effect when codified byReccesuinth in theVisigothic Code of Law.[67] This code inspired Jews to aidTariq ibn-Ziyad (a Muslim) in his overthrow ofRoderick, and under the Moors (also Muslims), Jews regained their usurped religious freedoms.[66]
Beginning with the8th century, legislation against heresies grew more severe. The Church, once confining itself to only the powers ofcanon law, increasingly appealed to secular powers. Heretics such as theVaudois,Albigenses,Beghards,Apostolic Brothers, andLuciferians were thus "treated with cruelty"[68] which culminated in the13th century establishment of theInquisition byPope Innocent III.[68] Jews were not ignored by such legislation, either, as they allegedly instigated Christians tojudaizations, either directly or unconsciously, by their existence. They sent forthmetaphysicians such asAmaury de Béne andDavid de Dinan; thePasagians followedMosaic Law; theOrleans heresy was a Jewish heresy; theAlbigens taught Jewish doctrine as superior to Christian; theDominicans preached against both theHussites and their Jewish supporters, and thus the imperial army sent to advance onJan Ziska massacred Jews along the way.[68] In Spain, whereCastilian custom (fueros) had granted equal rights to Muslims, Christians, and Jews,Gregory XI instituted theSpanish Inquisition to spy on Jews and Moors wherever "by words or writings they urged the Catholics to embrace their faith".[68]
Usury became a proximate cause of much anti-Jewish sentiment during the Middle Ages.[69] In Italy and later Poland and Germany,John of Capistrano stirred up the poor against the usury of the Jews;Bernardinus of Feltre, aided by the practical notion of establishingmont-de-piétés, called for the expulsion of Jews all over Italy andTyrol and caused the massacre of the Jews atTrent.[70] Kings, nobles, and bishops discouraged this behavior, protecting Jews from the monkRadulphe in Germany and countering the preachings of Bernardinus in Italy.[70] These reactions were from knowing the history of mobs, incited against Jews, continuing attacks against their rich co-religionists.[70] Anti-Judaism was a dynamic in the early Spanish colonies in the Americas, where Europeans used anti-Judaicmemes and forms of thinking against Native and African peoples, in effect transferring anti-Judaism onto other peoples.[71]
The Church kept to its theological anti-Judaism and, favoring the mighty and rich, was careful not to encourage the passions of the people.[70] But while it sometimes interfered on behalf of the Jews when they were the objects of mob fury, it at the same time fueled the fury by combating Judaism.[70]
Martin Luther has been accused of antisemitism, primarily in relation to his statements aboutJews in his bookOn the Jews and their Lies, which describes the Jews in extremely harsh terms, excoriating them, and providing detailed recommendation for apogrom against them and their permanent oppression and/or expulsion. According toPaul Johnson, it "may be termed the first work of modern anti-Semitism, and a giant step forward on the road tothe Holocaust".[72] In contrast,Roland Bainton, noted church historian and Luther biographer, wrote "One could wish that Luther had died before ever this tract was written. His position was entirely religious and in no respect racial".[73]
Peter Martyr Vermigli, a shaper ofReformed Protestantism, took pains to maintain the contradiction, going back toPaul of Tarsus, of Jews being both enemy and friend, writing: "The Jews are not odious to God for the very reason they are Jews; for how could this have happened since they were embellished with so many great gifts...."[74]
"The terms 'anti-Judaism' (the Christian aversion toward the Jewish religion) and 'antisemitism' (aversion toward the Jews as a racial or ethnic group) are omnipresent in the controversies over the churches' responsibility with regard to the extermination of the Jews" and "since 1945, most of the works on 'anti-Semitism' have contrasted this term with 'anti-Judaism'".[75][76]
According toJeanne Favret-Saada, the scientific analysis of the links and difference between both terms is made difficult for two reasons. First is the definition: some scholars argue that "anti-Judaic" refers to Christian theology and to Christian theology only while others argue that the term applies also to the discriminatory policy of the churches [...]. Some authors also advance that eighteenth-century catechisms were "antisemitic" and others argue that the term cannot be used before the date of its first appearance in 1879. The second difficulty is that these two concepts place themselves in different contexts: the old and religious for the "anti-Judaism" the new and political forantisemitism.[75]
As examples regarding the nuances put forward by scholars:
Since antiquity, Jews, known to the Arabs asYahud, had lived in various parts of the Arabian peninsula and were by the time ofMuhammad highly assimilated into Arab society. Though still viewed as a separate groups, Arabs would have been familiar with Jews and their religious practices, ideas and some Arabs accepted Judaism.[88] According to Muhammad, the Jewish (and Christian) prophets taught all the same religion from Abraham onwards, but there is a gradual evolution towards the final and perfect dogmas of Islam which supposedly clarify all previous doubts.[89] Muhammad seems to have initially not have seen any distinction between his notions and those of the Jews and was offended by the opposition of the Jews to his claims of Prophetic finality and perfection.[90] TheQuran reflects this ambivalence towards Judaism and while it recognises a certain ethnic kinship and cultural affinity, the Quran contains many anti-Jewish pronouncements.[91]
A prominent place in the Quranic polemic against the Jews is therefore given to the conception of the religion ofAbraham. Whereas Judaism derives from theMosaic law and Christianity from the teachings of Jesus, Islam goes allegedly back to Abraham who was the progenitor or pristine, undistorted monotheism.[89] The Quran presents Muslims as neither Jews nor Christians but as followers of Abraham who was in a physical sense the father of both the Jews and the Arabs and lived before the revelation of theTorah. In order to show that the religion which is practised by the Jews is not the pure religion that was practised by Abraham, the Quran mentions the incident in which theIsraelites worshipped theGolden calf, in order to argue that Jews do not believe in the part of the revelation that was given to them. The termYahud is mostly negatively connotated and associated with interconfessional strive and rivalry.[88] The claim that the Jews (and Christians) manipulated their own Holy Scriptures, known astahrif, is found several times in the Quran (who calls the Jews "corrupters of Scripture" and accused them of falsehood and distortion) and repeated by later Muslim writers.[92][93]
Islamic texts also accused the Jews of hostility, though it is portrayed as ineffectual: the Jews disobey Moses, and are quelled; they try to crucify Jesus, and fail; the Jews oppose Mohammed, but they are overcome and punished by expulsion, enslavement or death.[94] The settlement made with the Jews after thebattle of Khaybar gave the precedent for the further treatment of non-Muslim minorities under Muslim rule.[95] According to sura 9:29 (Quran9:29), Muslims are to fight againstpeople of the Book (i.e. Christians and Jews) until they are subjugated, pay thejizya and are fully humbled.[96][97]
During the first centuries after theearly Muslim conquests these principles were incorporated into thedhimma system whose main feature were outlined latest by the reign of the eightcenturyCaliph Umar II (717–720).[98][99] Under that system, Jews were not to proselytise, not pray to loud, not build new houses of worship or repair hold ones and not hold public processions, including for funerals.[100] Similar to life under Christian rule, Jews were not allowed to bear arms or ride horses under Muslim rules, which is why popular anecdotes among Muslims derided the Jews as cowards.[94][100] The notion of toleration-protection with humiliation took various forms throughout the period, such as prohibitions against going outdoors in the rain, distinguishing clothing from Muslims, that often was also meant to ridicule such as the wearing of mismatched shoes, and various other discriminatory laws that were enforced in various degrees.[98] Though highly erratic, the wearing of special clothes became more widespread in later centuries, such as the wearing of specifically dyed outer garments orcertain badges, which originated in early medievalBaghdad and were later taken over in the Christian West.[100][94]
Outright persecution of non-Muslims such as Jews was infrequent, but could happen at the whim of rulers.[101] Jews who overstepped these rules of humiliation were perceived to have broken the contract of protection through arrogance and haughtiness and death was a just punishment.[102] This led among other things to the1066 Granada massacre, in which[103] Examples more extreme persecutions occurred under the authority of multiple, radical Muslim Movements such as that of theFatimid CaliphAl-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in the 11th century, theAlmohad Caliphate in the 12th century, and in the 1160s CEShiite Abd al-Nabi ibn Mahdi who was anImam of Yemen.[104] Forced conversions were in general rare as the greater majority of Muslims adhered to the Quran that there is no compulsion in religious, but did occur on rare occasion such as during the Almohad Caliphate.[105] As Jews shared their dhimmi status with other more numerous and conscipuous Christians and Zoroastrians, the suspicion against those often mitigated and diffused specific anti-Jewish sentiment.[88]
In the Later Middle Ages, the Jews and other non-Muslim minorities in Muslim countries became increasingly marginalised and also numerically smaller.[106] The decline of secular influence within Islamic society and external threats posed by non-Muslims resulted in a stronger enforcement of the differentiation laws.[104] In 1438, the Jews from Fez where brought into a new quarter, themellah, which became the prototype for Moroccan ghettos. This removal came in the aftermath of anti-Jewish tumults that broke out after a rumour came up that Jews had poured wine into the lamp reservoir of a mosque, an accusation that has parallels to theHost desecration in Europe.[107]
Authors from that period such as the AndalusiIbn Hazm and the Jewish convert to IslamAl-Samawal al-Maghribi also continued the allegations oftahrif and claimed thatUzair (the BiblicalEzra) was responsible for this tampering and begun looking for perceived inaccuracies and contradictions in the Old and New Testament.[93][108] Nevertheless, in general medieval Muslim theologians devoted only a small part of their polemics against Judaism.[88]
InYemen, theOrphans' Decree was used to take minors whose parents (sometimes only one) died, convert them to Islam, and give them to a Muslim family or aResidential school to be raised as Muslims.[109] This was in place at least since the 17th century, asShalom Shabazi wrote in one of his poems about "stealing orphans".
Other anti-Jewish acts in Yemen include theMawza Exile (1679–1680). Testimonies claim up to 80% of the Jewish population in Yemen died during that year.
"Those who were banished then came up from theTihama [coastal plain], returning fromMawzaʻ; one man from a city and two from a family, for most of them had been consumed by the land of Tihama which dispenses of life."[110] Another instance of forced conversiontook place in 1839 in Meshed, Iran.
Many religious texts and establishments were destroyed or stolen during that time period. In the aftermath, anti-Jewish laws were established.
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Karl Marx inOn the Jewish Question, 1843, argued that Judaism is not only a religion, because it is an attitude of alienation from the world resulting from the ownership of money and private property, and this feeling of alienation is not exclusive to the Jews. Rather than forcibly converting Jews to Christianity, he proposed the implementation of a program ofanti-capitalism, in order to liberate the world from Judaism, thus defined. By framing his revolutionary economic and political project as the liberation of the world from Judaism, Marx expressed a "messianic desire" that was itself "quite Christian", according toDavid Nirenberg.[111] In 2022, he specified in aK. interview that, in doing so, Marx perpetuated a more radicalized externally conceived Judaism than that of "slavery to the law, to forms, to rites", when "he affirm[ed] that the West, insofar as it utilized money and private property, produces Judaism 'from its own entrails'".[112]
However,David McLellan argued that "On the Jewish Question" must be understood in terms of Marx's debates with Bruno Bauer over the nature of political emancipation in Germany. According to McLellan, Marx used the word "Judentum" in its colloquial sense of "commerce" to argue that Germans suffer, and must be emancipated from, capitalism. The second half of Marx's essay, McLellan concludes, should be read as "an extended pun at Bauer's expense".[113]
Yoav Peled (1992) sees Marx "shifting the debate over Jewish emancipation from the plane of theology ... to the plane of sociology", thereby circumventing one of Bauer's main arguments. In Peled's view, "this was less than a satisfactory response to Bauer, but it enabled Marx to present a powerful case for emancipation while, at the same time, launching his critique of economic alienation". He concludes that "the philosophical advances made by Marx in 'On the Jewish Question' were necessitated by, and integrally related to, his commitment to Jewish emancipation".[114]
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