Europe and the Jews

by Malcolm Hay

Book Overview

A detailed and moving account of the indignities and cruelties Jews have undergone at the hands of Christians and others in the West, from St John Chrysostom in the 4th century to Hitler in the 20th.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000QUFRIO
• Release Date: January 1961
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

europe and the Jews is startling

It's amazing what we don't know about antiSemitism and the role the Church has played in it. After reading this book, even though it was written by a Catholic, I might be embarrassed to reveal that I were Christian. I've discovered many friends who are unaware of the antiSemitism of Martin Luther. And the apathy of countries who refused to save even children during WWII--probably because of buried, or not so hidden, antiSemitic sentiments. It is a well-documented researched book that is definitely an eye opener that would be recommended to all Christians especially--or any religion for that matter. Jennie Shabel

Must Read Book

I have never been able to finish this book because the subject matter is so depressing. But, I can say that it changed my life. After reading this book, I could no longer call myself a Christian and turned to Judaism instead. Recently, I lent this book to a Jew. Every time I see him, he says to me, "I love that book! I love that book"! Now, he is lending out his copy. It does give one the feeling that perhaps we have been lied to!

An important and well written book

Yes, this is an excellent book. And the prefaces by Thomas Sugrue and by Walter Kaufmann are good too. As a Pagan, I've wondered about the horror some people have had for human rights. This goes for plenty of groups that have attacked others mainly in order to enslave them, kill them, and above all, deprive them of truth, justice, and human rights. Pagans are not immune from behaving badly. But I wanted to see just what Christians did, and when they did it. And while Christians managed to kill most of the European Pagans they came across in short order, many Jews were not so, um, lucky: quite a few survived to be further oppressed. Well, how did this all happen? Malcolm Hay asks this question after relating some of the horror of what happened to the Jews during World War 2. Where had this hatred and contempt come from? Why all the anti-Jewish propaganda? Was this contrary to Christianity? An integral part of it? Which Christian leaders were truly the most to blame for it? As a Christian, Hay clearly wants to know how to make sense of all this. Hay starts with the Gospel according to St. John, which refers to "the Jews" in a very negative way, and more important refers to them in general. He then goes to the fourth century, and looks at some of the language used about the Jews by the leading Christians. That includes St. John Chrysostom, who is still very highly regarded by Christian writers. However, "the violence of the language used by St. John Chrysostom in his homilies against the Jews has never been exceeded by any preacher whose sermons have been recorded." This hatred is traced through the Dark Ages down through the centuries, to the present. I think this confirms that a main source of the problem was from the time when Christianity first became powerful. And I think it raises the question of whether hatred was the main message of Christianity at that time. We then see how this hatred became part of the culture, so that violence could erupt without any real provocation at numerous times. We see St. Bernard's indifference to Crusader attacks on Jews. We see outbreaks of blood-libels. Of the Inquisition. And mistreatment by one Pope after another. And of the viciousness against Jews displayed by Martin Luther. And the Dreyfus affair. I think the most interesting part of the book is the description of how this culture contributed to slanders and injustices perpetrated against Zionists in the first half of the twentieth century. This book was written in 1950, and it is worth reading about the antisemitism of many Europeans towards the Levantine Jews (many of whom were of European origin). I think this helps one to see how European antisemitic attitudes supported some of the most racist Arabs and have helped perpetuate Arab intolerance for all non-Arabs and non-Muslims, not just for Jews. All in all, it is a superbly written book. It's depressing to read it, of course. One wonders what is wrong with a sp

A rare history book that affects you emotionally

Europe and the Jews is the definitive description of the birth and growth of anti-semitism in Europe, leaving the reader with a deep and disturbing understanding how the world can sit by and allow the systematic murder of millions of innocent people. The book is written clearly and with a surprisingly appropriate touch of irony. This book is an excellent companion to the "Hinges of History" books written by Thomas Cahill. It is a scholarly work that is extensively documented -- it would have to be considering the material covered, but it never becomes dry or impersonal. Mr. Hay never lets the reader forget he is describing the fate of millions of souls over the centuries. The lessons in this book should give us the courage to expose and resist those that would commit genocide anywhere in our world.

A masterpiece of history!

Malcolm Hay, a profoundly good man, wrote this book to document, once and for all, the history of Christian anti-Semitism (or: "Jew-hatred"). The whole history is here, folks. We have to start with the difficult facts that (1) all early Christians, including Jesus and St. Paul, were Jews, and (2) the entire "Christian Bible" had been written by Jews. Given these primary facts, it would seem insane, or preposterous, to allege that these very same Christians, and their children) would become the biggest Jew-haters in the world. [I am editing this review, because we now have a new champion, it appears. Muslim hatred of the Jews is so omnipresent and so ill-concealed that it is now holding First Place in Global Jew-Hating. That, of course, means Last Place Among So-Called "Civilized" Nations.] But it did indeed happen. At the beginning, everyone was Jewish -- Jew and Christian alike. But the differences in faith obviously created a schism. And so the "Christian Jews" were faced with the eternal problem of defining their own, separate, identity -- and various articles of the Jewish faith got tossed overboard. Just as one example, circumcision: mandatory for Jews, it was first discarded by St. Paul during his successful attempt to convert the Roman and Greek pagans (who, for obvious reasons, had no desire to endure this useless and painful surgery as adult males). That was just the beginning. In the end, circumcision became a way to identify persons of differing religions -- Christians were not circumcised, while Jews and Muslims were. Are human beings petty, or not? Malcolm Hay asks many of these questions as he moves beyond the early schism, and begins discussing such major Jew-haters as St. John Chrysostom. This marvellous "saint" preached and wrote a whole series of "Homilies Against the Jews." I could quote them here, but it would be too offensive for community standards. But I will note one curious fact, that hardly anyone else seems to have noticed: the Roman Catholic Church has finally disowned those "Homilies Against the Jews." If you go to a good religious library, you can often find the old edition of Chrysostom, which contains all those nasty volumes. The newer edition simply cuts the homilies against the Jews, without a word. As we move forward into history, into the Middle Ages, we begin to see people (i.e. Jews) being burned alive. But I'm not going to tell you the entire story. You need to get this book and read it yourself. And then look over your shoulder to see the latest world religion which has based itself on hating Jews.