Altercatio Ecclesiae et Synagogae

The Altercatio Ecclesiae et Synagogae ("Controversy between Church and Synagogue") is an anonymous early Christian pamphlet on the delegitimization of Judaism , erroneously attributed to Augustine .

The author has the allegorical figure of the church say about the synagogue: “You cannot change yourself, you always deny and argue in falsity about what is wrong. Certainly I said before that you reigned when the people of Israel had a great kingdom ... Look at the standards of the legions and you will find the name of the Redeemer: Behold, the confessors of Christ are the rulers, and know that you are from are excluded from the government and confess that you minister to us according to the promise of the will; you pay me tribute, you have no access to the government, you cannot hold a prefecture; a Jew cannot be a Comes , you are not allowed to enter the Senate; you will not be accepted into military service, you are not admitted to the table of the rich, you have lost your knighthood, everything is forbidden to you. Even to eat, with which you can survive your life, you do not get what you need ... Read what Rebekah was told when she gave birth to twins: Two tribes are in my womb and two peoples will part from your womb, and one people will be superior to the other, and the older will serve the younger (Gen 25:23). "

The writing is an example of how quickly the position as the state religion in the Roman Empire, which it had attained a century earlier, shaped the self-image of the church and its interpretation of the Bible. The factual privilege interprets the Altercatio as a divine judgment against the people of the first covenant and as a deserved humiliation of Israel, which is subsequently justified biblically. This means that writing is one of the building blocks of Christian anti-Judaism in the following centuries.

Text output

Jocelyn N. Hillgarth (Ed.): Altercatio ecclesiae et synagogae . Brepols, Turnhout 1999 ( Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, Volume 69A). ISBN 2-503-00694-9 . (with English translation)

literature

Hermann Josef Frede: Church writer. Directory and seal. (Repertorium scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum saeculo nono antiquiorum siglis adpositis quae in editione Bibliorum Sacrorum iuxta veterem latinam versionem adhibentur.) 4th edition Herder-Verlag, Freiburg 1995 (Vetus Latina 1.1). ISBN 3-451-00120-9 .

Individual evidence

^ Carmen Cardelle de Hartmann: Latin dialogues 1200-1400. Literary historical study and repertory. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2007 (Middle Latin Studies and Texts, Volume 37). ISBN 978-90-04-16033-0 . Here pp. 113–119, especially p. 118.

[1] Carmen Cardelle de Hartmann: Latin dialogues 1200-1400. Literary historical study and repertory. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2007 (Middle Latin Studies and Texts, Volume 37). ISBN 978-90-04-16033-0 . Here pp. 113–119, especially p. 118.