“The Jews are irreligious, atheistic, immoral bunch of bastards.” (President Richard Nixon, 1972). Throughout history, the Jewish community has been a target of constant discrimination and prejudice as a result of their historical interaction with the Christian Messiah. Often labeled as “God-killers” and portrayed as the faction who prevented the ultimate saving of humanity, governments and social groups have often used Jews as a scapegoat to deflect any political and/or social turmoil that might exist. Robert Grosseteste, a prominent philosopher of the twelfth century, heavily nurtured this sense of hate and abhor towards the Jews of England. In his letter to Margaret de Quincy, Countess of Lincoln, we see Grosseteste’s compelling desire …show more content…
Grosseteste starts his letter by reminding Margaret of the fact that Jews are responsible for “...killing the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ.” Through the portrayal of Jews as the people responsible for killing humanity’s savior, Grosseteste is able to justify his ideology regarding the treatment of the Jewish community. Furthermore, this short introduction helps set the tone for the rest of the letter. The strong imagery and graphic diction used permeates most sentences and leads to a tone that resembles hate and inspires discrimination against Jews. Grosseteste goes to far lengths to try to convince Margaret de Quincy to ensure that these new Jews are given the lowest status available in their communities and to prevent them from leading normal and successful lives due to their past. One of the major topics discussed by Grosseteste throughout the letter is the belief that Jews are condemned to hard labor as a result of their original sin. He comments on the fact that, “A curse is upon this people...not only the curse of sin, but also the curse of punishment.” Grosseteste constantly refers back to this statement to ensure that Jews are held below any Christian practitioner. This punishment often appears in the form of hard labor for their Christian leaders and the low yield of crops regardless of how much hard work and dedication is put into the task. Grosseteste further believes that it
Goldhagen presents his argument in a manner indicative of a person on the defensive; who seems hard-pressed at convincing the reader that anti-Semitic sentiments throughout Germany plays a key role in the genocide . The tenor of his presentation is quite rushed, yet this is somewhat understandable because his presentation is also quite authoritative and is filled with a remarkable amount of information that begs further consideration of its readers. Goldhagen challenges what he argues as being the prevailing views of historians concerning who is ultimately responsible for the atrocities that happened to German Jews in Nazi Germany. He sees the
Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Luther draw from their historical contexts and the writings of previous theologians to form conclusions on sin, grace, and human freedom. Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk and took ideas both from Augustine and Aquinas. Likewise, Thomas Aquinas drew from Augustine, and they share many similarities in thought. From these three theologians’ ideas on sin, grace, and human freedom people began thinking about Christianity outside the church.
mind to new things. He believed that the world can be explored through reason and not through faith. “For those with faith, no evidence is necessary; for those without it, no evidence will suffice” (Thomas Aquinas). When faith becomes a factor, it will cause the person not to be so accepting of what is new. Thomas Aquinas suggested that the universe and the natural life ran by two laws: the sector natural law and religious eternal law. In order for the world not to believe in God’s existence, it would have to run on natural law. Thomas Aquinas believed that eternal law does not apply when it comes to believing in God through natural law. Outside from human reason, God works through eternal law. Thomas Aquinas sought out his truth through atheists
In the book Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning tackles the question of why German citizens engaged in nefarious behavior that led to the deaths of millions of Jewish and other minorities throughout Europe. The question of what drove Germans to commit acts of genocide has been investigated by numerous historians, but unfortunately, no overarching answer for the crimes has yet been decided upon. However, certain theories are more popular than others. Daniel Goldhagen in his book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, has expounded that the nature of the German culture before the Second World War was deeply embedded in anti-Semitic fervor, which in turn, acted as the catalyst for the events that would unfold into the Holocaust. It is at this
In agreement with associate professor Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Jews were viewed as separate, inferior, and posed a possible threat to Germany leading to the harsh and cruel extermination of the Jews (29). The term "question"
While the anti-feminist will happily find a place for the woman in his world, the same cannot be said about the anti-Semite and the Jew. Unlike other forms of hatred, the anti-Semite does not cast his foe as an to be conquered, but as a devious opponent only fit for extermination. De Beauvoir herself held that anti-Semitism was distinct from anti-feminism and racism, believing that for the anti-Semite, “the Jew is more an enemy than an inferior, and no place on this earth is recognized as his own; it would be preferable to see him annihilated.” (33) The Jew is not merely an object of derision, but part of a metaphysical force that seeks to corrupt and destroy society. Every single bad thing can be traced back to the Jews in one form or another. In the early twentieth century, Jews were somehow both the financiers
In this short extract, the hatred in the lines radiates off the page. The reader is given a clear picture of how Racial discrimination was so evident in those days. The hostility and hatred between Christians and Jews is very well presented and written. It allows the reader to further understand how life was back then and how it may or may not have changed. The author’s use of language and literary devices was cleverly used to show the reader what he was trying to
“If the International Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be a Bolshevising of the Earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, But the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.”
“The Holocaust…” American historian Stephen Ambrose asserts, “... was the most evil crime ever committed.” Similar to Ambrose, many people consider the Holocaust to be among the worst catastrophes in human history due to the vast amounts of discrimination, hatred, and sheer violence experienced. As a consequence of this, various historians, psychologists, and sociologists have tried to develop a rational holistic theory that attempts to explain the reasoning behind the Holocaust and the events leading up to it. While many condemn and accuse the perpetrators for all the events that occurred, there exists an ideology that drastically deviated from this theory. This revolutionary ideology surprisingly put the blame of the Holocaust upon the Jews; instead of looking at Jews as victims,
The scientific investigations of Galileo, Bacon, and Peter the Great differ greatly. Galileo's scientific discoveries are based on the universe around us, in which Catholic Doctrine disapproved of for it contradicted the Bible. Galileo in this famous argument states "as if I had placed these things in the sky with my own hands in order to upset nature and overturn the sciences" (52-53, Galileo), which shows his shock of the Church not wanting him to improve the understanding of the world itself. Bacon is most famous for creating the Scientific Method we still use today, but he is genuinely interested in knowledge and inquiry of the human race. Peter the Great improved Russia from a small country to a European power, by improving its' arts
St. Thomas Aquinas persuaded me about the existence of God on the grounds that Aquinas five ways supply logical reasoning. Aquinas first way is that nothing can move itself without a mover, in other words, in order for an object to move it must have a mover. I concur with Aquinas assertion, it makes logical sense on the grounds that everything we do necessitates a mover. An illustration would be a car, in order for a car to move one must drive the car for it to move. Aquinas concludes that there must be a primary mover (God) that is not itself moved. In addition, Aquinas second way asserts that it is impossible for natural things to be the absolute and sufficient sources of their own existence, that there must be an uncaused cause proficient
St. Thomas Aquinas heralded as the most influential Western medieval legal scholar and theologist. St. Thomas revised the Medieval Christen thought, by bring back Aristotle naturalism and integrated it into Christian faith. All this could happen because the medieval world had changed political, social, economic and spiritual, intellectual and cultural since Augustine. St. Thomas is the person who freed Christians from the political constrains of St. Augustine, with the help of Aristotle's teachings.
In Summa Theologica Thomas Aquinas has argue that people closer to God can easily fulfill their needs. Need of any kind from Fame to honor, sadness to happiness and even from poor to rich. The closeness to God makes every seems to be coming to its place. Life became easier then it use to be. Happiness has a really strong connection with God who is itself is esoteric. God nature is unique itself and his ways are mysterious often unknown. Human can easily unfold this mystery if he try to understand him. Human usually gets confused as he see the incomplete representation of their creator, his thoughts gets covered with the cloudy questions. And when he tries to solve this puzzle no word or name support to define this divine essence. God existence
"Thomas Aquinas: Scholastic Theologian and the Creator of the Medieval Christian Synthesis" reinstated the mind of reasoning and the understanding of what education is. Aquinas indeed was a very intellectual person of his time and understood what it meant to be educated; as well as what it means to be a teacher. His beliefs and research shows that he is not only a great theologian but a man that understood the essence of education and reformed it to make it sensible to others. Thomism or the philosophy of Aquinas described how people were looked into two different ways and not just one; one being the supernatural and the other one being the natural. Another distinctive thing that he did was he own definitions of what education,
Niccolo Machiavelli and Saint Augustine differ greatly in their views and opinions on how one should act towards another in regards to compassion and Charity. Augustine was a theologian who came to light at the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire. Augustine’s views were heavily dependent on his Christian beliefs and perspective as well as believing there are two realms that interact with each other; the material realm, and the immaterial realm.