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Early Christian texts are replete with descriptions of and statements and ideas about or attributed to Jews and "Judaism". Short thread /1
Whereas earlier scholars argued that polemics against Jews were largely the product of actual conflict with Jews & Judaism, perhaps revealing ongoing Jewish missionizing, more recent scholars recognize the tendentiousness of our sources & the uses to which they put "Jews" /2
A parade example of the so-called "rhetorical" or "imaginary" Jew is the letter that "the Hebrews" supposedly wrote to the Emperor Marcian following the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE. /3
This text was, as Luk van Rompay has shown, composed by a Miaphysite to cast aspersion on the Council of Chalcedon, arguing that it rendered Christ too human at the time of his crucifixion, & therefore negated any concept of collective or vicarious punishment for later Jews. /4
"The Letter that the Jews have written to Marcian, the Emperor, after the dismissal of the Synod of Chalcedon.
“To the merciful Emperor Marcian, the people of the Hebrews. For such a long time we have been regarded as though our fathers had crucified God and not the man... /5
“To the merciful Emperor Marcian, the people of the Hebrews. For such a long time we have been regarded as though our fathers had crucified God and not the man... /5
Since however this Holy Synod of Chalcedon has assembled and has assembled and has demonstrated that they crucified the man, and not God, we request for this reason that this fault should be pardoned to us and (that) our synagogues should be returned to us." /6
This is a relatively straightforward case of "mapping," in which a view or practice is attributed to "Jews" to mark and stigmatize it as unacceptable for good Christians. /7
This phenomenon, in the Syriac tradition, has been studied by Christine Shepardson.
https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Judaism-Christian-Orthodoxy-Fourth-Century-Patristic/dp/0813215366
/8
https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Judaism-Christian-Orthodoxy-Fourth-Century-Patristic/dp/0813215366
/8
More complex uses of "imaginary Jews," for the construction of Christian selves, identities, holy places, empires, and more, are also prevalent, as @drewjakeprof and others have shown. /9
Another noteworthy example in Syriac was published by myself and Aaron Michael Butts. https://www.gorgiaspress.com/the-history-of-the-slave-of-christ
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