Augustine and the Jews : A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism

by Paula Fredriksen

• ISBN13: 9780300166286
• ISBN10: 0300166281
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2010-10-12
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

InAugustine and the Jews,Fredriksen draws us into the life, times, and thought of Augustine of Hippo (396-430). Focusing 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 Jewssheds 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.

Author Biography

Paula Fredriksen is the Aurelio Professor of Scripture Emerita at Boston University and professor of religion at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Besides Augustine on Romans, her translation of Augustine’s early works on Paul, she has authored From Jesus to Christ, which was the basis of a popular Frontline documentary, and Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, which won a 1999 National Jewish Book Award. She divides her time between Boston and Jerusalem.

Table of Contents

Prologue	p. xi
The Legacy of Alexander
Gods and Their Humans	p. 3
Gods and the One God	p. 16
Paideia: Pagan, Jewish, Christian	p. 41
Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Mediterranean City	p. 79
The Prodigal Son
The Heretic	p. 105
The Sojourner	p. 122
The Convert	p. 155
The Biblical Theologian	p. 190
God and Israel
The War of Words	p. 213
The Redemption of the Flesh	p. 235
The Mark of Cain	p. 260
ôSlay Them Not ...ö	p. 290
Epilogue	p. 353
Postscript to the Yale Edition	p. 367
Acknowledgments	p. 376
Time Line	p. 381
Chronology of Augustine's Life and Work	p. 383
Notes	p. 385
Primary Bibliography	p. 437
Secondary Bibliography	p. 443
Indexes
Names and Places	p. 469
Ancient Documents and Authors	p. 477
Subjects	p. 493
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