Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/41

9 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA The first generation of Jewish Apologists flourished from the beginning of the first century b.c. to the middle of the second century of the The common era. In this period are inFirst Apol- eluded those Apologists who encounogists. tered the attacks of the ancient heathens. The early Greek fashion of writing under a pseudonym had been transplanted to Alexandria works were issued purporting to be productions of the great men of antiquity. The first Jewish Apologists were, therefore, strictly in the fashion when they used pseudonyms in their replies to the ceaseless libels with which the an ti- Jewish writers assailed the religious literature, the manners, and the customs of the Jews. These Apologists drew a picture of the grandeur and moral elevation of Judaism, and, in accordance with the prevailing custom, ascribed their writings to heathen poets and prophets. The most important of these apologetic writings are the "Sibylline Books" and "The Wisdom of Solomon. " The " Sibylline Books, " composed partly in the middle of the second, partly in the first, century B.C., contrasted the lofty ethics of monotheism and the righteousness and morality of Ju" Sibylline daism with the follies of idol-worship, Books" and and with the selfishness and sensual" The "Wis- ity of heathendom. " The Wisdom of dom of Solomon " uses still darker colors to Solomon." paint the immorality and viciousness, the utter corruption and shamelessness of the heathen world, and portraj's, in contrast therewith, the moral atmosphere emanating from Jewish religious writings. The author of this book lived probably about the time of the Roman emperor Caligula (37-41). Among the Apologists in Alexandria mention must also be made of Philo, one of the most eminent philosophical thinkers of Judaism, who flourished about 40. Philo sought to illustrate to the heathen world the beauty of the Jewish Scriptures by endeavoring to prove that both Judaism and the better Hellenic thought in the writings of Greek philosophers aimed at one and the same mark; that the Jewish prophets and the Greek speculative thinkers strove afttr one and the same truth, and that, therefore, the difference between Judaism and Greek philosophy was one merely of external appearance or expression. The best apologetic work of this period, and indeed of any period, is that written in Rome by Flavius Josephus (born about 37), which he entitled " Against Apion, or Concerning the Ancient State of the Jewish Nation." Apion, who was a contemporary of Philo, had, at the request of several Alexandrians, handed to the emperor Caligula a calumnious memorial full of the worst accusations and Josephus. slanders against the Jews. He had

simply compiled

found added

everything

to

in previous writings of this character,

be

and

to it whatever he could devise in the way of malicious invention. This slanderous petition, no doubt, made its influence felt at the time Josephus was writing his history in Rome, and impelled him to publish his "Apology" (vindication), which consisted of two books. He controverts the allegation that the Jews have no history and are a new nation. The sting of the charge came from the circumstance

Apollos Apologists

according to the view then prevailing, the reand dignity of a nation were in direct proportion to its antiquity. He exposes the falsity of the calumnies circulated against Judaism, and illustrates the mental incapacity of his opponents to grasp historical truths. Through the whole work there breathes a spirit of warm admiration for Moses that,

spectability

and

his civil and religious legislation it acknowledges appreciatively whatever is great and good among all ancient peoples. This " Apology " of Josephus furnished the model after which the Church fathers patterned all their apologetic treatises, the writing of which they were frequently called upon to undertake in defense of Christianity. No further apologetics of this period have been preserved, although the venom that Apion injected into the minds of his contemporaries continued to work among Roman writers, who saw in the Jewish nation a stubborn enemy of Rome and an opponent of the national cult. But in the Talmud and Midrash many religious conversations have been preserved, in which prominent teachers like Johanan ben Zakkai, Joshua ben Hananiah, Akiba, and others defend Judaism and its doctrines. Dialogues, such as

these, between cultured representatives of Judaism and heathenism, were, as a matter of course, quite free from fanaticism they were, in tine, friendly contests of wit and wisdom without the least trace of

animosity or bitterness. The second series of Jewish Apologists covered the period from the second to the fifteenth century, and was concerned in repelling the attacks of Christianity and, to a small extent, of Islam. Christianity, having received from Judaism its doctrines of pure morality and of love of one's neighbor, was constrained, in order to furnish grounds for its distinction, to proclaim that it had come into existence to displace, and to fulfil the mission of, Judaism. It endeavored to prove the correctness of Attacks by this standpoint from the Bible itself, Christians the very book upon which Judaism was and founded. Wherefore Judaism had no Moham- further reason to exist! The Jews, medans. however, were not yet ready to accept this decree of self-extinction, nor to permit Christendom to take possession of the religHere, ious and ethical ground held by the Jews. then, was an occasion for some very sharp polemics between the offspring and the parent who declined to The fact that both sides appealed to the same die. source of authority the Scriptures served also to narrow and intensify the struggle. So long, however, as Christianity refrained from throwing the Brennus-sword of worldly power into the scales, the discussion partook of the same peaceful nature as those friendly passages of arms recorded in the Talmud and Midrashim, and displayed more of the nature of good-humored rallying than of serious debate. Jewish scholars, referring to Num. xxiii. 19, expressed their objections to Christianity in the single passage " If a man say that he is God, he is deceiving thee if he say that God is man, he will repent it. If he claim to ascend to heaven, he may say it, but he shall not

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—



do

it "

(Yer. Ta'anit

i.

1).

But with the growth of

political

power

in the

Church, the attacks of the bishops upon Jews and