Judaism, from the beginning, in all of its multiple forms, had a built-in inter-family debate over what the proper way of being Jewish is. Everything we have written in the New Testament is Jewish literature, and part of this inter-family argument, debating principally over whether Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. Yes, the argument can become strident, harsh and difficult, but not necessarily anti-Jewish, as it's happening within Judaism itself.

We've established during this series that Rabbinic Judaism and what came to be known as Christianity are the two forms of Judaism that emerged from the post temple, first century Jewish environment. Over the centuries and millennia, as these two traditions and theologies ceased to recognize each other as being from one family, this rhetoric that was once part of a family dispute, now takes on a different character.

When the Jew is no longer me, or my family, or the tradition I believe I'm part of, but rather the "other", we start to see the divisions and anti-Jewish stereotypes even in our teaching, preaching and worship. Jesus is no longer the quintessential Jew, living out the best of Judaism, but rather the rebel which saves us from the Law. We read back this othering and anti-Judaism back into the epistles and gospel teachings, and it becomes the seed bed from which antisemitism grows.

Fr Yuri and Fr Geoffrey explore the difference between anti-Judaism and antisemitism, parallel this whole othering process with marriage, separation and divorce, and also discuss Justin Martyr and his Dialogue with Trypho (both the good and the bad!).