How the West Became Antisemitic - by Ivan G Marcus

Book Synopsis

An examination of how the Jews--real and imagined--so challenged the Christian majority in medieval Europe that it became a society that was religiously and culturally antisemitic in new ways

In medieval Europe, Jews were not passive victims of the Christian community, as is often assumed, but rather were startlingly assertive, forming a Jewish civilization within Latin Christian society. Both Jews and Christians considered themselves to be God's chosen people. These dueling claims fueled the rise of both cultures as they became rivals for supremacy. In How the West Became Antisemitic, Ivan Marcus shows how Christian and Jewish competition in medieval Europe laid the foundation for modern antisemitism.

Marcus explains that Jews accepted Christians as misguided practitioners of their ancestral customs, but regarded Christianity as idolatry. Christians, on the other hand, looked at Jews themselves--not Judaism--as despised. They directed their hatred at a real and imagined Jew: theoretically subordinate, but sometimes assertive, an implacable "enemy within." In their view, Jews were permanently and physically Jewish--impossible to convert to Christianity. Thus Christians came to hate Jews first for religious reasons, and eventually for racial ones. Even when Jews no longer lived among them, medieval Christians could not forget their former neighbors. Modern antisemitism, based on the imagined Jew as powerful and world dominating, is a transformation of this medieval hatred.

A sweeping and well-documented history of the rivalry between Jewish and Christian civilizations during the making of Europe, How the West Became Antisemitic is an ambitious new interpretation of the medieval world and its impact on modernity.

Review Quotes

"[Marcus's] impeccable scholarship and lucid prose offer an excellent introduction to a topic that is, alas, still timely."---John Tolan, Times Literary Supplement

"A major contribution to what is an ongoing scholarly conver­sation about mediaeval and 'modern' anti-Semitism. . . .A thought-provoking book."---Francis Ghilès, Arab Weekly

"Erudite. . . . Readers of this illuminating book are informed, if not comforted, about Jewish historical fate."---Benjamin Ivry, Forward

"Highly clarifying."---Samuel Rubinstein, Engelsberg Ideas

"Impec­ca­bly detailed. . . . Marcus argues that modern antisemitism is the historical successor of medieval antisemitism. . . . Thus, Marcus suggests, understanding the forces that gave rise to the structure of antisemitism helps us understand, and combat, antisemitism today."---Brian Hillman, Jewish Book Council

"Provocative and timely."---Glenn C. Altschuler, The Jerusalem Post

"Riveting."---Christopher Akers, The Spectator

About the Author

Ivan G. Marcus is the Frederick P. Rose Professor of Jewish History at Yale University. He is the author of Piety and Society: The Jewish Pietists of Medieval Germany; Rituals of Childhood: Jewish Acculturation in Medieval Europe; The Jewish Life Cycle: Rites of Passage from Biblical to Modern Times; and "Sefer Hasidim" and the Ashkenazic Book in Medieval Europe.