Berkeley Talks transcript: How a lie from medieval Europe spread antisemitism across the world berkeley.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from berkeley.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
M. Lindsay Kaplan on Antisemitism to Racism
Medieval claims about the Jews’ criminal role in the crucifixion consigned them to an enslaved status, indicating their inherent inferiority relative to Christians. Ecclesiastical law required Jews to behave in accordance with their subservient position; violation of these regulations constituted an additional Jewish crime. Myths of continuing Jewish violence against contemporary Christians also contributed to a view of Jews as inherent criminals, permanent and eternal enemies of Christianity. This idea undermined neighborly relations between the two faith groups, eroded sympathy for Jews, and licensed state, church and popular hostility against them.
The same elements used so effectively to racialize medieval Jews are also at work in American anti-Black racism. (While a similar argument could be made of the intersection of charges of crime and inferiority as constitutive elements of Nazi anti-Jewish racism, this era falls outside the f