If you are wondering about all the hate for Jews you are seeing in the news, it’s important to understand the deep historical roots of anti-Semitism.
Anti-Semitism—hatred and persecution of Jewish people—has existed for nearly 2,000 years. While most people recognize it's a serious issue, many do not realize where much of this hatred actually originated.
The surprising truth is that systematic anti-Semitism largely began within the Christian church. Starting in the first few centuries after Jesus's death, Christian leaders taught that Jews were collectively responsible for killing Christ and that God had rejected them as His chosen people. These ideas became deeply embedded in Christian doctrine and spread throughout Europe as Christianity grew.
However, as believers, we are reminded by Ephesians 3:6 that Jews are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and beneficiaries of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. This passage highlights that in Christ, there is no distinction—Jew or Gentile—because we are all one, sharing in the inheritance of God's promises.
What started as religious teaching eventually expanded beyond the church. Medieval Christians accused Jews of poisoning wells and murdering Christian children. Later, these religious prejudices merged with economic resentment, social fears, and racist ideologies. Each generation found new reasons to blame and persecute Jews, but the root remained the same—the theological hatred that began centuries earlier, now challenged by our shared inheritance in Christ.
Understanding this history helps us see why anti-Semitism has persisted and continues to resurface in different forms across cultures and centuries. As fellow heirs in Christ, we are called to recognize our shared identity and to oppose hatred with the love and unity exemplified in the gospel.
Anti-Semitism Timeline
Early Christian Period (50–400 CE)
The roots of antisemitism in Christian thought go back to the earliest days of the Church, as believers struggled to define themselves in relation to the Jewish people and Scripture.
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50–80 CE – Paul introduces the idea that Christians are the "true Israel"—a spiritual Israel, unlike the physical descendants of Abraham (Romans 9:6–8).
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145 CE – Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho the Jew becomes one of the first formal theological attacks against Jews.
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150–250 CE – Church Fathers solidify anti-Jewish doctrine:
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Tertullian argues that Gentiles replaced Jews because they were more worthy.
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Origen acknowledges Jewish history but condemns contemporary Jews for blindness to their own Scriptures.
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349–407 CE – John Chrysostom delivers vicious sermons declaring synagogues as "homes of demons" and calls for hatred toward Jews.
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354–430 CE – Augustine develops the witness doctrine: Jews are preserved by God in a state of suffering as proof of the truth of Christianity.
By the 4th century, three dangerous teachings had taken hold in Church tradition:
A) Jews killed Christ (deicide)
B) Judaism was spiritually bankrupt
C) Jews deserved dispersion as punishment
Medieval Period (400–1500 CE)
These “teachings of contempt” became entrenched and spread across Europe through Church power and cultural fears.
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10th–11th centuries – Church doctrine hardens due to division with the Eastern Church and fears of Islam.
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1095–1291 CE – The Crusades unleash widespread violence against Jewish communities.
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14th century – Jews are scapegoated for the Black Death and massacred across Europe.
Reformation Period (1500s)
Although the Reformation brought renewal in many areas, antisemitism remained deeply rooted.
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1543 – Martin Luther’s On the Jews and Their Lies advocates burning synagogues, destroying homes, and banning rabbis from preaching. Luther was hateful against the Jews.
Modern Period (1800s–1900s)
Scientific racism and nationalism merged with older religious bias to form deadly ideologies.
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1800–1870 – Under Pope Pius VII, Jewish ghettos are reinforced in Rome, and Jews are restricted until the fall of the Papal States.
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1879 – The term antisemitism is coined by Wilhelm Marr.
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1903 – The forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion fuels international conspiracy theories.
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1933–1945 – The Holocaust becomes the horrifying culmination of nearly two millennia of Christian antisemitism.
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1965 – Nostra Aetate (Vatican II) formally rejects replacement theology in the Catholic Church.
- Since 1960s – Many Protestant groups openly repudiate supersessionism and affirm God’s continued covenant with the Jewish people.
Modern Rejection (1960s–Present)
The tide begins to turn, but centuries of pain leave lasting scars.
Contemporary Crisis (2010s–2020s)
In recent years, antisemitism has resurfaced in Western institutions of higher learning, often masked as political or ideological activism.
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2015–2020 – Jewish students increasingly report hostility, vandalism, and academic bias—especially around anti-Israel rhetoric.
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2021–2023 – After rising tensions in the Middle East, pro-Palestinian protests escalate into open antisemitic threats and harassment at major universities in the U.S. and Europe.
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October 7, 2023 – After the Hamas terror attack on Israel, antisemitic incidents spike globally. On college campuses, Jewish students report threats, swastikas, and intimidation. Some feel unsafe walking with yarmulkes or expressing their identity.
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2023–2025 – High-profile universities, including Ivy League institutions, come under fire for failing to protect Jewish students. Congressional hearings and public backlash push some campuses to review policies, but fear and hostility persist.
Many young Jews now speak of being "exiled in plain sight"—isolated on their own campuses. In a tragic twist, the same halls once built to nurture free thought now echo with age-old hatred.
Despite theological reform, the historical record is clear: supersessionism—the belief that the Church replaced Israel—was a core doctrine in Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism for most of Christian history. Its fruit is still visible today in cultural hostility toward the Jewish people.
The Root Supports You
Remember that Paul's words in Romans 11:18 carry a powerful warning against antisemitism that the church must never forget: "do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you."
As Gentile believers, we are branches grafted into the rich root of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Our very faith flows from the Jewish people - Jesus himself was Jewish, the apostles were Jewish, and the scriptures came through Jewish hands.
To harbor antisemitism is to despise the very root that gives us spiritual life. When we encounter prejudice against Jewish people, whether subtle or overt, this verse calls us to remember our debt of gratitude and our shared humanity.
The Jewish people are not "rejected branches" to be scorned, but beloved of God, and we who have been grafted in must never forget that our salvation story begins with theirs. Let this truth guard your heart against pride and prejudice, filling you instead with love, respect, and protective care for the Jewish community, honoring the root from which your own faith springs.
