Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism [Paperback]

Alone among the early Christian theologians Augustine taught that Jews continued to be a chosen and protected people and that Christians should neither harm them nor attempt their forcible conversion. He did not come to these views for what we today would call humanitarian reasons, still less because he was in favor of tolerance or of modern "multiculturalism." Indeed he favored coercion when it came to pagans and (especially) as it applied to "heretical" Christians such as the Donatists.

Instead Augustine had reached a theological conclusion unprecedented in Christian history. The Jews and their scriptures, argued Augustine, still had an important role to play in salvation history. Their books bore witness to the truth of Christianity. There were prophecies, of course, that could be seen by anyone to have been fulfilled by the events of the life of Christ. The events and people of Jewish history, moreover, were types for the events not only of Christ's life but of salvation history down to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE (which Augustine saw as God's punishment of the Jews and the beginning of the Diaspora). Even the continuing failure of the Jews to recognize and accept Christ helped the Christians because the Jews continually "witnessed" both the antiquity and the authenticity of their own scriptures, which in turn validated Christ as lord and Messiah. Augustine saw this as the mission that God imposed upon the Jews whom He had made willfully blind to Christ's truth just so that they could assist in Christianity's mission "to the nations."

The book chronicles how Augustine painstakingly worked out this position and what he based it on. He changed his thinking (but not his conclusions) somewhat over time. In order to do this, Prof. Fredriksen opens the book by describing the cultural and intellectual world that Augustine lived in, dominated as it was by Greek culture ("Hellenism"), Neo-Platonic ideas and the formal modes of rhetorical argument in which all educated men were thoroughly schooled (yes, the same schools of rhetoric which Plato had his Socrates inveigh against). She also explains how this milieu and these ideas dominated and affected Christian theological discourse from the earliest Christian scriptures to Augustine's time. She also describes (in summary form) Augustine's life, emphasizing his intellectual development and theological positions.

Fredriksen feels (rightly) that only such a background provides the context for a proper understanding of the intellectual problems that Augustine faced, what he brought to considering them and the ways in which he worked them out. The book is history, of course, not a critique of the validity of Augustine's theology and the explication deals with the what and the how of Augustine's positions, not with ultimate validity.

The book is written for the educated general reader. The amount of time that Fredriksen spends on explaining Hellenism and other aspects of the intellectual and social culture of antiquity shows this as these ideas are well-known to professional scholars of the period. It is beautifully and clearly written, making difficult concepts (that are also obscure to moderns) as accessible as I have ever seen. Fredriksen even occasionally succeeds in making some of these ancient personalities, especially Augustine, live on the page, not an easy thing to do given the paucity of personal information on ancient figures (of course Augustine is a partial exception to this).

For all its accessibility, however, the book is rigorous and requires close attention. It is a full-blown work of scholarship made accessible not by "dumbing down" but by the brilliant expository skills of someone who is clearly a dedicated teacher and one who believes that history belongs outside the often cloistered world of the academy as well as inside it.

Augustine is one of the more interesting figures of late antiquity. His exploration of Scriptures and theology was a significant factor in developing Christian doctrine. In the process, he changed the nature of rhetoric, shifting its focus from oratory to textual exegesis, what George Kennedy called "secondary rhetoric." His application of allegoresis to biblical interpretation laid the foundation for modern literary hermeneutics, and his CONFESSIONS provided a new model for autobiography.

A significant factor in the rise of early Christianity was the movement's hostility toward Jews, who--owing to the influence of Greek philosophy--were viewed as followers of the subordinate, "fleshly" God of the Old Testament and whose innate obstinance would not allow them to accept the True God, who existed outside the realm of the flesh.

Fredriksen examines how Augustine came to reject this view and to argue that the Jewish God and the Christian God were one and the same. In doing so, Augustine fundamentally altered the relationship between Christianity and Judaism and one might argue saved Jews from the widespread persecution that Christians carried out against all other religious groups between the 4th and 6th centuries.

Fredriksen is a first-rate scholar and a brilliant writer. Her book is beautifully written, thoroughly researched and documented, a sheer joy to read, and it certainly should be required reading for anyone interested in Augustine. Arguably, it is the best book written on Augustine since Peter Brown's classic AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO.

This book provided insights to both religious and to the historic background of the times. As someone who has read widely in this area, I find myself recommending this book to all the friends who have an interest in theology and history.

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