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Agnosticsherbet

(11,619 posts)
16. The Jesus story is based on a very Jewish concept of a Mashiach.
Thu Dec 18, 2014, 09:26 PM
Dec 2014

The early, first century church, had Jewish and non-Jewish members as can be determined by Christain burials on the Mount of Olives dating the First Century. (Excavations have found remains of first century Christian burials in Israel. Clearly, they had a thriving community of some size. they bore common Jewish names from the first century Jews.)

Anti-Semitism, the word, comes from the 19th century, coined by Wilhelm Marr, German radical, nationalist and race-agitator who founded "Antisemiten-Liga," an explicitly anti-Jewish German party.
Certainly, Christians were anti-Jewish after most of the remaining Jews were killed or sold into slavery following the Bar Kochba revolt. (Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina.) From what I read, any remnant of a Jewish Christian Church was destroyed, leaving the Hellenized Christians control of their religion. Jews who did not accept that Jesus was the Messiah (Mashiach) were considered heretics.

Being a sizable minority in a world that rapidly came to be dominated by Christians, they became second class aliens, without the right to be citizens of any country.

The ascension of Christainity as the dominant religion in Europe, North Africa, and the middle east (until Islam exploded on the stage) held the basis of the modern concept of anti-Semitism.

I don't think it was essentially anti-Semitic in its origins. Certainly, after the Jewish segment of the Church was destroyed they adopted many anti-Jewish beliefs and concepts.



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Is the Jesus myth antisemitic? [View all] PowerToThePeople Dec 2014 OP
Pass: NaturalHigh Dec 2014 #1
No, just an honest question about a story that most Americans are aware of. PowerToThePeople Dec 2014 #2
You failed at a neutral state. NutmegYankee Dec 2014 #5
No, this is a historic insult: the Jews killed Christ. CTyankee Dec 2014 #13
And every priest, every Inquisitor, every Crusader hifiguy Dec 2014 #17
I'm not a Christian so I'm not an expert on this gollygee Dec 2014 #3
Yep, a bunch of Jewish people convinced the Roman occupiers to kill a Jewish guy. (nt) Nye Bevan Dec 2014 #9
The high religious leadership wanted him gone. NutmegYankee Dec 2014 #10
i'd say no, insofar as the protagonist is genetically Semitic 0rganism Dec 2014 #4
Wasn't he supposed to have been killed by the Romans? So if anything, it's anti-Roman. Nye Bevan Dec 2014 #6
Was it not at the behest of church leaders? PowerToThePeople Dec 2014 #8
They encouraged the Romans to free Barrabas (who was also Jewish) Nye Bevan Dec 2014 #11
I am Christian and while some interpretations of the Jesus story are anti-sematic el_bryanto Dec 2014 #7
As Charlie Brown would say Depaysement Dec 2014 #12
I was on a lovely positive religious thread on GD a couple of weeks ago. liberal_at_heart Dec 2014 #14
We consider Jesus a Rabbi and Philosopher.. SomethingFishy Dec 2014 #15
The Jesus story is based on a very Jewish concept of a Mashiach. Agnosticsherbet Dec 2014 #16
I am sorry, LOCKING etherealtruth Dec 2014 #18
Thsi verse was added to the narrative, by anti-Semitic church brass. Archae Dec 2014 #19
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