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Old February 7th, 2016 #1
Karl Radl
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Default Justin Martyr on the Jews

Justin Martyr on the Jews


The second century Christian philosopher and martyr Justin is one of the most important of all the Christian fathers. It was he, born in Judea to Greco-Roman parents, who is principally responsible for integrating the concepts found in Greek – especially those of Platonic - philosophy into Christian theology.

Befitting his status as a thinker and theologian Justin Martyr is venerated in just about every denomination of Christianity extant today. However Justin Martyr is rather controversial given, like many others Church Fathers, he... shall we say... had views about the jews.

In his 'First Apology' he referred to jews as 'barbarians ignorant of philosophy', but yet also utilizes various myths to suit his evangelical purposes. For example he repeated the claim, probably derived from Josephus and Philo of Alexandria, that the Greek philosophers had gotten all their ideas from the Hebrew prophets, while Plato allegedly took his direct from Moses. (1)

This is, of course, utter nonsense and something Josephus and Philo of Alexandria had simply invented out of thin air based on the belief common to adherents of Judaism that they as jews were superior beings, but it does play into the sense that Justin Martyr could be a little fast and loose with his claims.

However be that as it may; Justin does seem to have a good working understanding of Judaism. For example he explains in his 'Dialogue with Trypho' that jews believe themselves to be the 'sons of Abraham', (2) but that they also understand their inheritance and salvation to be based on their ancestry (i.e. Israelite = Jew = Born to Jewish Parents as in Rabbinic Judaism) and keeping the practice of the rituals and laws of Yahweh alive. (3)

This focus on the minutiae of ritual, ceremony and the law (which you can easily see demonstrated in the Talmuds) is the basis of Justin Martyr's critique of the jews. Since he argues, among other things, that the jews have:

1) Focused their intellectual attention on minute points of ritual, ceremony and law rather than the larger prophetic and religious meaning of the Old Testament. (4)

2) Altered or excised passages of the Old Testament in order to disprove and attack the arguments of Christians. (5)

3) Believe that they don't need the Messiah (i.e. Jesus) to come, because they will be saved by God due to the rigorous observance of their ancestral customs. (6)

This allowed Justin Martyr to cast the jews as the fervent enemies of Christianity since the divine torch had now been passed from the jews to the gentiles by the advent of Jesus. This transference included the prophetic abilities (7) as well as the mantle of the chosen people. (8)

This jewish hatred of Christians started at the very birth of Christianity and as such Justin Martyr states unequivocally that that the jews bear the responsibility for the death of Jesus (i.e. the charge of deicide). (9) Since they insulted, shamed and murdered him on the cross. (10) This in turn stemmed from a deliberate diabolical conspiracy among the jewish people lead by Herod (11) who in turn was guided in his actions by Satan himself. (12)

This devilish conspiracy has, according to Justin Martyr, been active since the time of Jesus in the form of jews spreading out across the whole world to promulgate hatred against, and stop the spread of, Christianity. (13)

He also asserts, not implausibly if one notes Cassius Dio's account of the jewish revolts, (14) that jews schemed, and proclaimed hatred, against Christians (who they hate) in their synagogues. (15)

Justin Martyr doesn't however just make that assertion; he also points out that jews persecute and kill Christians as soon as they have the power to do so. (16) He cites the example of the jewish revolt against Antonius Pius (the Bar Kochba revolt of 132-133 AD) and how Bar Kochba mandated that all Christians (as well as all pagans) were to be sadistically tortured and murdered by his thousands upon thousands of exclusively jewish adherents. (17)

Another example of such behaviour, which jewish historians have desperately tried to cover up, is the massacre at the Mamilla Pool in 614 AD, (18) which occurred just under five centuries later.

Clearly Justin Martyr wasn't being paranoid or purely rhetorical, but rather he knew exactly what the jews believed and how dangerous they were. This can be found in his observation that very few jews ever convert to Christianity (19) - a record of complete failure that has incidentally been near enough continual throughout the two millennia of Judeo-Christian relations – as well as his recommendation that the jews be expelled forthwith as subversives. (20)

Justin Martyr knew the jews as they really were and are. He had after all grown up among them and knew how they thought and behaved, which can be seen in the fact that he knows a great deal about jews and what they believed.

It is therefore little surprise that Justin Martyr railed against the jews with such vim and vigour!


References


(1) Justin Martyr, First Apology 59
(2) Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 123; 135
(3) Ibid, 140
(4) Ibid, 9; 112
(5) Ibid, 71-74
(6) Ibid, 54
(7) Ibid, 82
(8) First Apology, 38; 40; 49
(9) Ibid, 36
(10) Ibid, 38; 49
(11) Ibid, 40
(12) Dialogue with Trypho, 103
(13) Ibid, 17; 107
(14) Some of the best commentary on this aspect of jewish history can be found in: John Allegro, 1971, 'The Chosen People: A Study of Jewish History from the Exile until the Revolt of Bar Kocheba', 1st Edition, Hodder and Stoughton: London
(15) Dialogue with Trypho, 16; 38-39
(16) First Apology, 36
(17) Ibid.
(18) See http://www.semiticcontroversies.blog...t-mamilla.html
(19) First Apology, 53
(20) Dialogue with Trypho, 16

---------------------------------------

This was originally published at the following address: http://www.semiticcontroversies.blog...r-on-jews.html
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Old February 7th, 2016 #2
N.B. Forrest
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Your posts are always informative & excellent.
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Old February 8th, 2016 #3
Karl Radl
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Originally Posted by N.B. Forrest View Post
Your posts are always informative & excellent.
Thanks muchly.
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