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Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism
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 (354-430). 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 Jews sheds 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.
In Augustine and the Jews, Paula Fredriksen draws us into the life, times, and thought of Augustine of Hippo (354-430). 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 Jews sheds 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.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
24 people are currently reading
242 people want to read
About the author
Paula Fredriksen
23 books99 followersPaula Fredriksen, the Aurelio Professor of Scripture emerita at Boston University, since 2009 has been Distinguished Visiting Professor of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she also holds two honorary doctorates in theology and religious studies. She has published widely on the social and intellectual history of ancient Christianity, and on pagan-Jewish-Christian relations in the Roman Empire. Author of Augustine on Romans (1982) and From Jesus to Christ (1988; 2000), her Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, won a 1999 National Jewish Book Award. More recently, she has explored the development of Christian anti-Judaism, and Augustine’s singular response to it, in Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism (2010); and has investigated the shifting conceptions of God and of humanity in Sin: The Early History of an Idea (2012). Her latest study, Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle (2017), places Paul’s Jewish messianic message to gentiles within the wider world of ancient Mediterranean culture.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 17, 2015
Fredriksen traces the history of medieval Christian antisemitism back to very early conflicts between those who Christians who took the commandments to be still valid and those who agreed with Manicheans that they were evidence of an evil propensity to the "fleshly." Through a close reading of the anti-Manichean "Against Faustus" Fredricksen shows how Augustine argued that the Torah commandments were valid and obligatory to the ancient Jews, and that G-d has reasons for wanting Jews to continue to keep them. She presents some interesting speculations concerning the real interactions Augustine likely had with North African Jews, who were well integrated in the general society.
Not to say that Augustine was not an antisemite of a different stripe, but Fredricksen makes a persuasive case that were it not for Augustine, the history of Christian persecution of Jews would have been far worse.
A interesting summary of her scholarly writings on the matter, the book also serves as an introduction of the theological disputes of the time -- a good way to sidestep slogging through the many sermons and letters, to put Augustine's more philosophical work in context.
Not to say that Augustine was not an antisemite of a different stripe, but Fredricksen makes a persuasive case that were it not for Augustine, the history of Christian persecution of Jews would have been far worse.
A interesting summary of her scholarly writings on the matter, the book also serves as an introduction of the theological disputes of the time -- a good way to sidestep slogging through the many sermons and letters, to put Augustine's more philosophical work in context.
October 20, 2012
I heard an excellent talk by this author a few years ago; the book's been on my maybe list ever since.
January 24, 2025
A dense analysis not only of Augustine's "witness doctrine," but the bishop's sense of his own historicity and his historical-eschatological understanding of religious practices (and indeed language itself).
February 9, 2013
Scholarly analysis of Augustine's modification of the earlier patristic tradition of rejecting all things Jewish. Augustine modifies the concept of continuity, but commits many hermeneutical gaffs and inconsistencies that Faustus and the Manichaeans call him out on. Very well written and well documented.
September 22, 2019
Fredriksen's work is filled with pretentious fluff, deceptive arguments, and endless attacks on the Word of God. The level of scholarship -- or lack thereof -- that went into this book is quite suprising for an author hiding behind the prestigious stamp of Yale. If this were written by a child, it would be excusable for ignorance of concepts such as 'confirmation bias'. This book is an eye-opener to the lengths at which "scholars" like Fredriksen will go to invert reality to push and pass agendas.
The first section of this book is a painful series of about 100 pages expressing 10 pages worth of content. Peppered into this 'snowjob' are statements made by Fredriksen which boldy contradict the Bible, twisting scripture to her needs and discarding it when it proves less convenient.
On page 56, she writes:
"The Roman prefect Pontius Pilate heard sedition in his message...and crucified him as a rebel."
Matthew 27:25 in all mainline translations lists the following response when prefect Pontius Pilate says he is innocent of the blood of this just person(referring to Jesus Christ):
"Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children." The second letter of Paul to the Thessalonians reaffirms this:
"For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost."
Another case of contradiction is one to Old Testament concepts of what it means to be a Jew. Esther 8:17 says:
"And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them."
Fredriksen ignores this and spends pages 56-66 laying her innaccurate definitions as foundational material for the rest of the book.
The Department of Statistics at Yale University published a model by Professor Joseph T. Chang showing a common ancestor for all humans existing in less than 2000-year increments. This means that Jacob(Israel), a man born approximately 2000 B.C., would be the physical, biological ancestor of the great majority of people Fredriksen erroneously calls "non-Ethnic". Furthermore, this study by Professor Chang was available 4 years prior to the publication of Augustine and the Jews.
Fredriksen also dismisses multitudes of historical criticisms against Judaism as "antisemitic tropes" despite the volume of allegations from various sources, and in the SAME PAGE says that the accusers were in fact the cannibals, murderers, and liars, using only Biblical verses to substantiate the claim (p.52).
Frediksen throws dirt in the Christian reader's eyes many times, from overt slights like "B.C.E" and "C.E.", to more subtle jabs like attacks on the foundational Gospels. She marvels at how incomprehensible it is that in the Gospel of John the title Word (logos) is attributed to Jesus, or how Paul inserts Jesus into the Creation story(p.83). She goes on to cast doubt concerning the authenticity of these two Gospels, then immediately elevates the Old Testament, as if to say: "one is up for debate -- your Christian God -- , and the other isn't "(p.84).
Before even reaching Augustine --- the namesake of her book -- Fredriksen commits to selling her "indisputable foundation" before reaching the key points of her research.
-Deliberately twisting scripture in order to conceal what Fredriksen would likely screech as being "antisemitism", she matter-of-factly states that the warnings against "antichrists" in 1 John are referring to Christians (p.84 & 87).
-Attacks against the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. (p.88-89)
-Shameless Calvinism(p.95).
-Twisting scripture and misunderstanding what "Israel" is(Christians). Here Fredriksen sets apart all her doubt concerning validity of Scripture, and hits the gas pedal on why "Jews"(her defininition of Jews) are special and chosen. (p.95-96)
-Reduces John's warnings against antichrists to be intra-Christian hostilities: "Specificially of docetist Christians", Fredriksen writes. Is that what this says? Fredriksen, a self proclaimed "Jew" herself, falls over herself trying to disassociate passages clearly about teachings such as Judaism from being about Judaism.
*******Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2 John 1:9 KJV*******
(p.113)
-Perpetuating the anti-Christian trope of saying "the Jews did NOT kill Jesus (and your Christian Bible is lying)" (p.121)
-Throughout this entire first section, Fredriksen references "the Septuagint", careful to avoid telling the reader what this is -- and the potential issues involved with it. (Professor Peter J Williams of Tyndale House has more on this subject.)
The phrases "Son of God" or "God manifest in the flesh" are ones which Fredriksen repeatedly undermines or omits entirely when making quips at church history and Christianity as a whole. Frederiksen is a charlatan, a subversive element of anti-Christianity embedding herself in a Christian field. You do not often see Christian scholars writing propaganda pieces on the Jewish Talmud, Kabbalah or other "holy books" without getting slandered with "antisemite" and "bigot", yet here Fredriksen is, riding on the privilege of the same spirit.
The first section of this book is a painful series of about 100 pages expressing 10 pages worth of content. Peppered into this 'snowjob' are statements made by Fredriksen which boldy contradict the Bible, twisting scripture to her needs and discarding it when it proves less convenient.
On page 56, she writes:
"The Roman prefect Pontius Pilate heard sedition in his message...and crucified him as a rebel."
Matthew 27:25 in all mainline translations lists the following response when prefect Pontius Pilate says he is innocent of the blood of this just person(referring to Jesus Christ):
"Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children." The second letter of Paul to the Thessalonians reaffirms this:
"For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost."
Another case of contradiction is one to Old Testament concepts of what it means to be a Jew. Esther 8:17 says:
"And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them."
Fredriksen ignores this and spends pages 56-66 laying her innaccurate definitions as foundational material for the rest of the book.
The Department of Statistics at Yale University published a model by Professor Joseph T. Chang showing a common ancestor for all humans existing in less than 2000-year increments. This means that Jacob(Israel), a man born approximately 2000 B.C., would be the physical, biological ancestor of the great majority of people Fredriksen erroneously calls "non-Ethnic". Furthermore, this study by Professor Chang was available 4 years prior to the publication of Augustine and the Jews.
Fredriksen also dismisses multitudes of historical criticisms against Judaism as "antisemitic tropes" despite the volume of allegations from various sources, and in the SAME PAGE says that the accusers were in fact the cannibals, murderers, and liars, using only Biblical verses to substantiate the claim (p.52).
Frediksen throws dirt in the Christian reader's eyes many times, from overt slights like "B.C.E" and "C.E.", to more subtle jabs like attacks on the foundational Gospels. She marvels at how incomprehensible it is that in the Gospel of John the title Word (logos) is attributed to Jesus, or how Paul inserts Jesus into the Creation story(p.83). She goes on to cast doubt concerning the authenticity of these two Gospels, then immediately elevates the Old Testament, as if to say: "one is up for debate -- your Christian God -- , and the other isn't "(p.84).
Before even reaching Augustine --- the namesake of her book -- Fredriksen commits to selling her "indisputable foundation" before reaching the key points of her research.
-Deliberately twisting scripture in order to conceal what Fredriksen would likely screech as being "antisemitism", she matter-of-factly states that the warnings against "antichrists" in 1 John are referring to Christians (p.84 & 87).
-Attacks against the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. (p.88-89)
-Shameless Calvinism(p.95).
-Twisting scripture and misunderstanding what "Israel" is(Christians). Here Fredriksen sets apart all her doubt concerning validity of Scripture, and hits the gas pedal on why "Jews"(her defininition of Jews) are special and chosen. (p.95-96)
-Reduces John's warnings against antichrists to be intra-Christian hostilities: "Specificially of docetist Christians", Fredriksen writes. Is that what this says? Fredriksen, a self proclaimed "Jew" herself, falls over herself trying to disassociate passages clearly about teachings such as Judaism from being about Judaism.
*******Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2 John 1:9 KJV*******
(p.113)
-Perpetuating the anti-Christian trope of saying "the Jews did NOT kill Jesus (and your Christian Bible is lying)" (p.121)
-Throughout this entire first section, Fredriksen references "the Septuagint", careful to avoid telling the reader what this is -- and the potential issues involved with it. (Professor Peter J Williams of Tyndale House has more on this subject.)
The phrases "Son of God" or "God manifest in the flesh" are ones which Fredriksen repeatedly undermines or omits entirely when making quips at church history and Christianity as a whole. Frederiksen is a charlatan, a subversive element of anti-Christianity embedding herself in a Christian field. You do not often see Christian scholars writing propaganda pieces on the Jewish Talmud, Kabbalah or other "holy books" without getting slandered with "antisemite" and "bigot", yet here Fredriksen is, riding on the privilege of the same spirit.
December 3, 2021
I checked out Augustine and the Jews from the library. A few chapters in I closed the book realizing that I needed a copy of my own to mark up. When that copy arrived a few weeks later I reread those early chapters with a similar gusto. In fact, those early chapters, focused as they were on the day-to-day interactions of pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire, made the book.
I also appreciated Fredriksen's outline of important historiographical debates related to her book. In fact, I would have liked to read more on the subject, having come to her argument cold. But still helpful that she situates her own work within those debates.
Fredriksen spends a fair amount of print contextualizing ancient interfaith interactions. The reason for this is to construct what she calls the "rhetorical Jew." This is the figure of the Jew on which the patristic fathers built a sizeable body of anti-Jewish literature. This was the Jew into which they stuck their pins as they sought to advance their idea of a properly ordered Christian society. Augustine was no different. Though he lived in cities with sizeable Jewish populations, his theology was built on the back of the rhetorical Jew.
I'm not an expert on the issue, but it's worth noting that Fredriksen's "rhetorical Jew" is an identical twin to Jeremy Cohen's "hermeneutical Jew." The only difference as far as I can tell is that Fredriksen has stripped hers of his academic gown (hermeneutical) and replaced it with someone a bit more popular (rhetorical). It does not feel to this reader as if she gives Cohen's earlier work adequate due, especially in so much as she relies so heavily on his concept to support her argument.
The early chapters of her book feel disconnected from the later ones. The later ones sympathetically examine in great detail the Augustinian corpus as it relates to Jews and Judaism. For someone relatively ignorant of Augustine, I found some of the details most interesting. The fact that Psalm 59:11 (Slay them not, lest my people forget) is not quite the lodestar that many assume it to be in Augustine's Doctrine of Jewish Witness seems important.
Another profitable discussion in her book centers on Augustine's use of the biblical Cain as a figure emblematic of the Jews. The early work of Augustine leaned heavily on the idea, perhaps reflecting a confident and ascendent Christianity still reveling in having the might of the Roman Empire on its side. The later work of Augustine, after the Goths had sacked Rome in 410, reflects a theology in which Rome and the City of God have grown more distant. Cain is, predictably, all but retired in The City of God.
Fredriksen concludes with the idea that Augustine and his Doctrine of Jewish Witness advanced the cause of European Jews for centuries after his death. This is questionable. He may not have been as anti-Jewish as his fellow church fathers, but he still contributed substantially to the larger body of Christian anti-Jewish literature.
It wasn't lost on me that Fredriksen plays down Augustine's sermons in favor of his books, and her defense of the former is not robust. I feel confident that there are more balanced accounts of Augustine's legacy as it pertains to the Jews. The first chapter of Cohen's Living Letters of the Law: Ideas of Jews and Judaism in Medieval Christianity is where I found one such more balanced accounting. I'll be happy for others to suggest others because the subject is an interesting one. © Jeffrey L. Otto, December 3, 2021
I also appreciated Fredriksen's outline of important historiographical debates related to her book. In fact, I would have liked to read more on the subject, having come to her argument cold. But still helpful that she situates her own work within those debates.
Fredriksen spends a fair amount of print contextualizing ancient interfaith interactions. The reason for this is to construct what she calls the "rhetorical Jew." This is the figure of the Jew on which the patristic fathers built a sizeable body of anti-Jewish literature. This was the Jew into which they stuck their pins as they sought to advance their idea of a properly ordered Christian society. Augustine was no different. Though he lived in cities with sizeable Jewish populations, his theology was built on the back of the rhetorical Jew.
I'm not an expert on the issue, but it's worth noting that Fredriksen's "rhetorical Jew" is an identical twin to Jeremy Cohen's "hermeneutical Jew." The only difference as far as I can tell is that Fredriksen has stripped hers of his academic gown (hermeneutical) and replaced it with someone a bit more popular (rhetorical). It does not feel to this reader as if she gives Cohen's earlier work adequate due, especially in so much as she relies so heavily on his concept to support her argument.
The early chapters of her book feel disconnected from the later ones. The later ones sympathetically examine in great detail the Augustinian corpus as it relates to Jews and Judaism. For someone relatively ignorant of Augustine, I found some of the details most interesting. The fact that Psalm 59:11 (Slay them not, lest my people forget) is not quite the lodestar that many assume it to be in Augustine's Doctrine of Jewish Witness seems important.
Another profitable discussion in her book centers on Augustine's use of the biblical Cain as a figure emblematic of the Jews. The early work of Augustine leaned heavily on the idea, perhaps reflecting a confident and ascendent Christianity still reveling in having the might of the Roman Empire on its side. The later work of Augustine, after the Goths had sacked Rome in 410, reflects a theology in which Rome and the City of God have grown more distant. Cain is, predictably, all but retired in The City of God.
Fredriksen concludes with the idea that Augustine and his Doctrine of Jewish Witness advanced the cause of European Jews for centuries after his death. This is questionable. He may not have been as anti-Jewish as his fellow church fathers, but he still contributed substantially to the larger body of Christian anti-Jewish literature.
It wasn't lost on me that Fredriksen plays down Augustine's sermons in favor of his books, and her defense of the former is not robust. I feel confident that there are more balanced accounts of Augustine's legacy as it pertains to the Jews. The first chapter of Cohen's Living Letters of the Law: Ideas of Jews and Judaism in Medieval Christianity is where I found one such more balanced accounting. I'll be happy for others to suggest others because the subject is an interesting one. © Jeffrey L. Otto, December 3, 2021
January 24, 2019
A substantial study of Augustine, this work by Professor Fredriksen sets a fine foreground for some recent English language study of Augustine and the relationship between Jews and Christians. Augustine turns out to have been much more tolerant and understanding than his Christian contemporaries of Judaism. I would the Church had followed Augustine. The book requires some background in Patristic studies but the text and notes provide enough for the novice reader to benefit from this study. Please refer to other reviews posted here such as the one by Owen Gilden. But don't let these learned reviews frighten you from reading this work.
March 31, 2022
Fantástico libro. En realidad, la relación entre Agustín y el judaísmo es un pretexto para una exposición sistemática de la teología de San Agustín. Sobre este tema, construye una biografía intelectual del Santo y presenta los temas más importantes de su teología: en especial, su soteriologia y como esta ilumina el tema central del libro.
Muy recomendable.
Muy recomendable.
December 16, 2021
A fantastic book, which explores Augustine's attitude to the Jews with a great deal of sensitivity and good judgement.
November 8, 2011
This book is a fantastic resource that I suspect I will turn back to many times over the years. About the first half concentrates on contextualizing Augustine in his historical, geographical framework - it's a great intro to Greek philosophy and education if you need it, but if you already have that background, you can skip right to the Augustine sections. Great text!
June 20, 2013
Scholarship at its best: original, nuanced, and compelling. Fredriksen has done far more than simply collect references to Jews and Judaism in Augustine's writings. She has deeply probed his exegetical method and theology of history to show what a significant contribution Augustine made to Christianity on this point.
Want to read
October 9, 2010TLS 2 April 2010 - review written by Lucy Beckett - reviewed with Augustine of Hippo (Henry CHadwick)
July 15, 2016
Very informative book on anti-Judaism and Augustine's views, especially in his debates against the Manichees.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews