Slandering the Jew
sexuality and difference in early Christian texts
Susanna Drake
176 pages | ~5 hrs
Slandering the Jew
sexuality and difference in early Christian texts
By Susanna Drake
This scholarly exploration delves into a troubling chapter of early Christian history, examining how religious leaders between the first and fifth centuries weaponized sexual accusations to establish their spiritual identity. Drake reveals how early Church fathers systematically portrayed Jewish communities through distorted sexual stereotypes, creating a deliberate contrast between what they deemed "carnal" Judaism and "spiritual" Christianity.
The study traces how prominent Christian theologians, including Justin Martyr, Hippolytus of Rome, Origen of Alexandria, and John Chrysostom, crafted harmful narratives that depicted Jewish men as either dangerously hypersexual threats to Christian virtue or as weak, effeminate figures unable to control their desires. These fabricated characterizations served a calculated purpose beyond mere religious differentiation.
Drake demonstrates how these slanderous representations became tools of justification for increasingly severe legal restrictions and violent persecution of Jewish communities. The book connects these toxic narratives directly to the destruction of synagogues and mob violence against Jews during the late fourth and early fifth centuries, showing how religious rhetoric transformed into devastating real-world consequences.
For readers seeking to understand how spiritual communities can fall into patterns of othering and persecution, this work offers crucial insights into the dangerous intersection of sexuality, violence, and religious identity formation. It serves as both historical analysis and cautionary examination of how sacred traditions can be corrupted to serve political and social agendas.
What You'll Discover
- ✓ Explore Judaism, relations, christianity
- ✓ Explore Leiblichkeit
- ✓ Explore Antijudaismus
- ✓ Explore Church history
- ✓ Explore History
- ✓ Explore Frühchristentum
- ✓ Explore Verunglimpfung
- ✓ Explore Relations
Topics
Details
- Published
- 2013
- Publisher
- PENN/University of Pennsylvania Press
- ISBN-13
- 9780812245202
- ISBN-10
- 0812245202
- Pages
- 176
- Language
- EN
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