Abstract
In this chapter I show how interpretations of certain texts from the New Testament provided raw materials for hostility to Jews and document recent scholarly work to provide interpretations grounded in social-historical and literary contexts. The essay has two major sections. The first explores the complex ways in which Judaism and Christianity interacted in their formative periods. The second section recounts Catholic efforts to confront anti-Semitism, especially its anti-Jewish teachings that arose from failure to grapple with polemical elements in the New Testament and from an arrogant posture toward the religious other. A conclusion includes a brief reflection on implications for mental health practitioners.
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Boys, M.C. (2020). Countering Anti-Semitism: A Catholic Theologian’s Perspective. In: Moffic, H., Peteet, J., Hankir, A., Seeman, M. (eds) Anti-Semitism and Psychiatry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37745-8_3
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