HNRS301

The Christian religion is based on Judaism; Jesus and his early followers were all Jews. How then did Christianity develop the deeply rooted anti-Semitic ideas and attitudes that have become embedded not only in Christian belief and practice but also in much of the culture of the West? How did the Western habits of rejecting racial, ethnic, and religious minorities as undesirable and threatening “others” develop from Christian rejection of the faith and people from which Christianity itself originated? This course will employ methods of biblical criticism and historical inquiry to study the development of anti-Judaism and antisemitism in the New Testament, in the early church, and in key moments of medieval, reformation, and modern history. We will also engage theological methods to examine the impact of this history on Christian beliefs and practices, and to evaluate recent Christian efforts (often in dialogue with Jews) to imagine and construct a Christianity that overcomes this deeply rooted antiJudaism, replacing the historic teaching of contempt for the Jews with a consistent attitude of respect and even appreciation for Judaism and other religions. Prerequisites: Membership in Honors Program; 1 lower division THRS course; eligibility for upper division courses.