The Jews as the Killers of Christ in the Latin Tradition, from Augustine to the Friars
Jérémy Cohen
The noted Anglo-Jewish historian Cecil Roth, in a seldom quoted but highly provocative essay, argued some forty years ago that medieval European Christendom conceived of the Jew not as an infidel who had failed to perceive truth Christianity rather deliberate unbeliever, one knew refused accept its consequences. Only if Jews first-century Palestine recognized Jesus their redeemer, Roth claimed, could churchmen have sought proof for Christian beliefs Talmud and Midrash; only people deemed willfully evil been charged with unnatural atrocities Europeans attributed Jews: host-desecration, well-poisoning, ritual murder. To be sure, cautioned all Christians viewed precisely this way. Popes emperors often expended considerable energy controvert such popular opinion. ‘But it must very widespread conception, particularly among less educated; explains good deal religious mentality which otherwise remains incomprehensible.’
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