Sapper Redux said:
The Banned said:
Nooooo. I'm showing that he thought heretics are lower than Jews and I'm showing that the language he used towards Jews he also used towards other Christians, pagans and pretty much anyone out of line with Christian doctrine. Maybe we have different definitions of anti-semitism but it's typically a specific discrimination reserved for the Jews alone. If he is using the exact same language for Jew and non-Jew alike, he isn't anti-semitic. He's anti-basically everyone.
But how can he be anti-everyone if he advocates for loving everyone, including our enemies.
Quote:
"Nothing makes us so like God as being ready to forgive the wicked and wrongdoers. When we love those who hate us, we are imitating God
He is arguing FOR the right doctrine and right living and AGAINST wrong doctrine and wrong living. This wasn't some sort of ethnic argument, and couldn't have been. Ethnic Jews are at the foundation of Christianity. His successor as bishop was of Jewish descent. This is a doctrinal issue. If having doctrinal disagreements with another religion makes you anti-X, that would mean you are very clearly anti-Christian and must hold hatred in your heart for all Christians. I'm pretty sure you'd disagree with that, which is why you shouldn't accuse Chrysostom of it.
If you want to paint Chrysostom as some crazy Jew hater, you're welcome to. It just requires you to ignore the facts and choose personal affront instead.
You're ignoring specifically how host arguments about Jews were used and carried forward. You're also ignoring how he specifies Jews as a defined category of people and not just individual sinners or people who conduct a bad act. He attacks every aspect of Jews and Judaism. There's a very good reason his writings were so popular with Medieval writers and the Nazis.
I'm not ignoring how he teaches vehemently against the Jews as a category of people. I think I've been clear in acknowledging that, but in case I haven't: I acknowledge this. It's the reason for categorization that you are getting wrong.
Can you acknowledge that category of Jew is NOT racially motivated at all, and is nothing like what the Nazis held to or what modern anti-semites hold to today? Can you acknowledge that it is doctrinally motivated? Why else would he write on his desire that Jews would repent and convert? His problem is not with a race of people, but an errant religion.
Quote:
"I do not hate the Jews, but I hate their wickedness. I wish that they might be saved, that they might receive the grace of God."
Homily 1 Against the Jews (PG 48.843844
"Though you have rejected the Savior, I still long for your salvation. Come back, lest you perish forever"
Also, will you please acknowledge that he attacks OTHER categories of people using the exact same language as he uses for the Jews? There are 6 or 7 specific heretical groups that he attacks. Will you also acknowledge that he attacks wealthy Christians with similar insults as he used for the Jews? Will you acknowledge he uses the same language against pagans?
You're making the same mistake anti-semites made: Your interpretation of Chrysostom suits your pre-concluded purpose. You purpose is 180 of what anti-semites want, clearly, but you are still letting your personal bias interpret Chrysostom versus just reading him. The only other reason for coming to this conclusion outside of it fitting your narrative is not reading his other writings. I guess poor reading comprehension could also be a cause, but I don't think that's your issue. Once you read his body of work you will realize he is railing against doctrines and beliefs that go against the faith, not ethnicities.
Lastly, I'm not addressing how his arguments were used 700-1600 years after he lived because that's not the I don't see it as evidence of him being an anti-semite. Lets say 600 years from now some Christian hating atheist picks up Nietzche or Dawkins or Harris and says "See! Proof that Christianity is horrible for society and it's worthy of violent removal" and goes on to do so, would you attribute those actions directly to the atheist writers? Or to the ******* who used their writings to justify violence?
