Jewish deicide

Jewish deicide is a belief that places the responsibility for the death of Jesus on the Jewish people as a whole. This deicide accusation is expressed in the ethnoreligious slur "Christ killer".

Jewish deicide is a long-held common belief in Christianity that laid the responsibility for the death of Jesus on the Jewish people as a whole. The ethnoreligious slur "Christ-killer" used as the rallying cry of mobs intent on violence against their Jewish neighbours contributed to the effectiveness of many centuries of pogroms , the Crusaders' decimation of Jews , the Inquisition , and the Holocaust . At the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI repudiated belief in collective Jewish guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus. Without mentioning Matthew 27:24–25 of the New Testament , which has been taken as grounds for the charge of deicide , it declared that the charge can be made neither "against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today".

Belief that Jews bear collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus Jewish deicide is the belief that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for the death of Jesus , a belief which is held by some Christians . Mobs used the antisemitic slur "Christ-killer" to incite violence against Jews and its use also contributed to many centuries of pogroms , the murder of Jews during the Crusades , the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust . In the catechism which was produced by the Council of Trent , the Catholic Church affirmed the belief that the collectivity of sinful humanity was responsible for the death of Jesus, not only the Jews. In the deliberations of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI repudiated belief in collective Jewish guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus. It declared that the accusation could not be made "against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today".

Belief that Jews bear collective responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus Jewish deicide is the notion that the Jews as a people will always be collectively responsible for the killing of Jesus , even through the successive generations following his death. A Biblical justification for the charge of Jewish deicide is derived from Matthew 27:24–25 . Some rabbinical authorities, such as 12th-century scholar Maimonides and, more recently, ultranationalist Israeli rabbi, Zvi Yehuda Kook (1891–1982), have asserted that Jesus was indeed stoned and hanged after being sentenced to death in a rabbinical court . The notion arose in early Christianity , the charge was made by Justin Martyr and Melito of Sardis as early as the 2nd century. The accusation that the Jews were Christ-killers fed Christian antisemitism and spurred on acts of violence against Jews such as pogroms , massacres of Jews during the Crusades , expulsions of the Jews from England , France , Spain , Portugal and other places, and torture during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions . In the catechism that was produced by the Council of Trent in the mid-16th century, the Catholic Church taught the belief that the collectivity of sinful humanity was responsible for the death of Jesus, not only the Jews. If one were to claim that only the Jews were responsible for Jesus’ death, the logical corollary to this would be that Jesus’ redemptive suffering, death and resurrection was for the sins of Jews alone and not all of humanity, as is taught by the Church. In the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI issued the declaration Nostra aetate that repudiated the idea of a collective, multigenerational Jewish guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus. It declared that the accusation could not be made "against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today". Most other churches do not have any binding position on the matter, but some Christian denominations have issued declarations against the accusation.