Verus Israel Study of the Relations Between Christians and Jews in the Roman Empire, AD 135-425

by Simon, Marcel; McKeating, Henry

• ISBN13: 9781874774273
• ISBN10: 1874774277
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-09-01
• Publisher: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization in association with Liverpool University Press

Summary

Marcel Simon's classic study examines Jewish-Christian relations in the Roman empire from the second Jewish War (AD 132-5) to the end of the Jewish Patriarchate in AD 425.
First published in 1948, the book overturns the then commonly held view that the Jewish and Christian communities gradually ceased to interact and that the Jews gave up proselytizing among the Gentiles. On the contrary, Simon maintains that Judaism continued to make its influence felt on the world at large and to be influenced by it in turn.
He analyses both the antagonisms and the attractions between the two faiths, and concludes with a discussion of the eventual disappearance of Judaism as a missionary religion. The rival community triumphed with the help of a Christian imperial authority and a doctrine well adapted to the Graeco-Roman mentality.

Table of Contents

Publisher's Note
Introduction
The Aftermath: Palestinian Judaism	p. 3
The Aftermath: The Diaspora	p. 33
The Church and Israel	p. 65
Rome, Judaism, and Christianity	p. 98
Anti-Jewish Polemic, its Characteristics and Methods	p. 135
Anti-Jewish Polemic - The Arguments Employed	p. 156
The Christians in the Talmud	p. 179
Christian Anti-Semitism	p. 202
The Fate of Jewish Christianity	p. 237
Jewish Proselytism	p. 271
The Judaizers within the Church	p. 306
Superstition and Magic	p. 339
Conclusion	p. 369
Postscript	p. 385
Bibliography	p. 419
Supplementary Bibliography	p. 431
Notes	p. 433
Translations from Greek, Latin, and German	p. 508
Index	p. 527
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