Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism [Hardcover]

Paula Fredriksen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2008

This provocative book traces the social and intellectual forces that led to the development of Christian anti-Judaism and shows how and why Augustine challenged this toxic tradition.

In Augustine and the Jews, Paula 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, Fredriksen 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, the 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 demise of the western Roman Empire, and it ultimately served to protect Jewish lives against the brutality of the medieval crusades.

Augustine and the Jewssheds new light on the origins of anti-Semitism and, through Augustine, opens a path toward better understanding between two of the world’s great religions.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this densely argued and exhaustive book, religion professor Fredriksen (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews) does for Augustine what she has already done so brilliantly for the historical Jesus. Drawing primarily on Augustine's Confessions and on his little-studied treatise, Against Faustus, she recreates the religious and political tensions of late fourth-century Christianity in North Africa and its attempts to understand its relationship to Judaism. While many early Christian writers condemned Jews as killers of Christ, Augustine turned the rhetorical tables on such polemic. As Fredriksen elegantly contends, Augustine argued that the Jews should be exempt from Christian persecution. Since the religious practices of the Jews devolved from God the Father—the same God Christians worshipped who was also the source of Jewish scriptures, tradition and practice—therefore God and the Jews, and thus the church and the Jews, maintain an abiding relationship. Contrary to many traditional interpretations, Fredriksen's deeply nuanced study demonstrates that the bishop of Hippo's later writings forcefully challenge the anti-Jewish tendencies of much of early Christianity and offer fresh ways of thinking about contemporary dialogue between the two religions. (Dec.)
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From School Library Journal

A recognized scholar of the historical Jesus, Fredriksen (Aurelio Professor of Scripture, Boston Univ.; From Jesus to Christ) explores Augustine of Hippo's journey into his own particular understanding of Scripture and of the place of Judaism in the Christian world. She particularly focuses on Augustine's commentaries on Paul's letters, the Psalms, and recorded disputations with the Manicheans whom he had once embraced. Over time, Augustine (354–430) arrived at his ideas of a just God and of human freedom, which in turn led to his teaching that Jews, divinely chosen, were necessary witnesses in the development of Christianity. The author draws especially on Augustine's Confessions and City of God and also references writings of contemporaries such as Ambrose and Jerome. She points out that despite the early development of anti-Judaism in the rhetoric of the day, the populations of urban Mediterranean cities intermingled socially, with Jews practicing their religious traditions, holding civil office, etc. Featuring textual analysis of a very high caliber and an extensive bibliography, this worthy contribution to the literature on Augustine is recommended for scholarly and religion collections.—Anna M. Donnelly, St. John's Univ. Lib., NY
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Religion (December 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385502702
• ISBN-13: 978-0385502702
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #714,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Book on Augustine, February 15, 2009

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J. Moran (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism (Hardcover)

Alone among the early Christian theologians Augustine taught that Jews continued to be a chosen and protected people and that Christians should neither harm them nor attempt their forcible conversion. He did not come to these views for what we today would call humanitarian reasons, still less because he was in favor of tolerance or of modern "multiculturalism." Indeed he favored coercion when it came to pagans and (especially) as it applied to "heretical" Christians such as the Donatists.

Instead Augustine had reached a theological conclusion unprecedented in Christian history. The Jews and their scriptures, argued Augustine, still had an important role to play in salvation history. Their books bore witness to the truth of Christianity. There were prophecies, of course, that could be seen by anyone to have been fulfilled by the events of the life of Christ. The events and people of Jewish history, moreover, were types for the events not only of Christ's life but of salvation history down to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE (which Augustine saw as God's punishment of the Jews and the beginning of the Diaspora). Even the continuing failure of the Jews to recognize and accept Christ helped the Christians because the Jews continually "witnessed" both the antiquity and the authenticity of their own scriptures, which in turn validated Christ as lord and Messiah. Augustine saw this as the mission that God imposed upon the Jews whom He had made willfully blind to Christ's truth just so that they could assist in Christianity's mission "to the nations."

The book chronicles how Augustine painstakingly worked out this position and what he based it on. He changed his thinking (but not his conclusions) somewhat over time. In order to do this, Prof. Fredriksen opens the book by describing the cultural and intellectual world that Augustine lived in, dominated as it was by Greek culture ("Hellenism"), Neo-Platonic ideas and the formal modes of rhetorical argument in which all educated men were thoroughly schooled (yes, the same schools of rhetoric which Plato had his Socrates inveigh against). She also explains how this milieu and these ideas dominated and affected Christian theological discourse from the earliest Christian scriptures to Augustine's time. She also describes (in summary form) Augustine's life, emphasizing his intellectual development and theological positions.

Fredriksen feels (rightly) that only such a background provides the context for a proper understanding of the intellectual problems that Augustine faced, what he brought to considering them and the ways in which he worked them out. The book is history, of course, not a critique of the validity of Augustine's theology and the explication deals with the what and the how of Augustine's positions, not with ultimate validity.

The book is written for the educated general reader. The amount of time that Fredriksen spends on explaining Hellenism and other aspects of the intellectual and social culture of antiquity shows this as these ideas are well-known to professional scholars of the period. It is beautifully and clearly written, making difficult concepts (that are also obscure to moderns) as accessible as I have ever seen. Fredriksen even occasionally succeeds in making some of these ancient personalities, especially Augustine, live on the page, not an easy thing to do given the paucity of personal information on ancient figures (of course Augustine is a partial exception to this).

For all its accessibility, however, the book is rigorous and requires close attention. It is a full-blown work of scholarship made accessible not by "dumbing down" but by the brilliant expository skills of someone who is clearly a dedicated teacher and one who believes that history belongs outside the often cloistered world of the academy as well as inside it.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book, March 10, 2009

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James D. Williams (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism (Hardcover)

Augustine is one of the more interesting figures of late antiquity. His exploration of Scriptures and theology was a significant factor in developing Christian doctrine. In the process, he changed the nature of rhetoric, shifting its focus from oratory to textual exegesis, what George Kennedy called "secondary rhetoric." His application of allegoresis to biblical interpretation laid the foundation for modern literary hermeneutics, and his CONFESSIONS provided a new model for autobiography.

A significant factor in the rise of early Christianity was the movement's hostility toward Jews, who--owing to the influence of Greek philosophy--were viewed as followers of the subordinate, "fleshly" God of the Old Testament and whose innate obstinance would not allow them to accept the True God, who existed outside the realm of the flesh.

Fredriksen examines how Augustine came to reject this view and to argue that the Jewish God and the Christian God were one and the same. In doing so, Augustine fundamentally altered the relationship between Christianity and Judaism and one might argue saved Jews from the widespread persecution that Christians carried out against all other religious groups between the 4th and 6th centuries.

Fredriksen is a first-rate scholar and a brilliant writer. Her book is beautifully written, thoroughly researched and documented, a sheer joy to read, and it certainly should be required reading for anyone interested in Augustine. Arguably, it is the best book written on Augustine since Peter Brown's classic AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book!, August 6, 2009

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Lesley Israel "Grannyles" (Royal Oak, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism (Hardcover)

This book provided insights to both religious and to the historic background of the times. As someone who has read widely in this area, I find myself recommending this book to all the friends who have an interest in theology and history.