ERC Starting Grant Project
Christosemitism: A History of European Christian Anti-Antisemitism 1945-2020
The project studies the history of the Roman Catholic and Protestant repudiation of antisemitism, which I term Christian anti-antisemitism, in Western Europe between 1945 and 2020. I argue that through its expression in multiple ecclesiastical declarations, theological works, liturgical events, educational projects, and professional appointments, anti-antisemitism is a core component of contemporary European Christianity. As such, it is inherently tied to the reconfiguration of Western Christianity in the late 20th and early 21st centuries within the context of liberal secular society, to the creation of orthodoxies and heresies, and to processes of secularization, decolonization, and the globalization of Christianity.
To grasp the role of Christian anti-antisemitism within these processes, the project explores three of its central aspects: First, the project analyzes the penetration of anti-antisemitism into the core of Christian European identity by examining its key theological concepts and historical development. Second, the project explores Christian anti-antisemitism as it was consolidated and negotiated in interaction with Jewish interlocutors, focusing on the dialectic between the severe disagreements between Jews and Christians regarding the nature of antisemitism and the role of Christians in facilitating and perpetuating it, as well as fruitful anti-antisemitic collaborations that were also harnessed for the cultivation of Europe’s postwar liberal ethos. Third, the project studies intra-Christian debates on antisemitism in ecumenical and global Christian settings and investigates the place of anti-antisemitism within the tensions between Western Christianity and World Christianity around racism and colonialism.
Based on its findings, the project suggests a new theoretical paradigm through which to grasp Christianity’s role in contemporary Europe, as well as that of religious phenomena in the history of secular societies more broadly.
For further inforamtion: Christosemitism@mail.huji.ac.il
- Call for applications