Some Christian Churches, Christian groups, and ordinary Christians express antisemitism toward the Jewish people and the associated religion of Judaism. These can be thought of as examples of anti-Semitism expressed by Christians or by Christian communities. However, the term "Christian Anti-Semitism" has also been used to refer to anti-Jewish sentiments that arise out of Christian doctrinal or theological stances. The term "Christian Anti-Semitism" is also used to suggest that to some degree, contempt for Jews and for Judaism inhere to Christianity as a religion, itself, and that centralized institutions of Christian power, as well as governments with strong Christian influence have generated societal structures that survive to this day which perpetuate anti-Semitism. This usage appears particularly in discussions of Christian structures of power within society, which are referred to as Christian Hegemony or Christian Privilege; these are part of larger discussions of Structural inequality and power dynamics.
The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's recognition of Jewish scripture to constitute the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, or values supposed to be shared by the two religions. The term Judæo Christian first appeared in the 19th century as a word for Jewish converts to Christianity. The term has received criticism, largely from Jewish thinkers, as relying on and perpetuating notions of supersessionism, as well as glossing over fundamental differences between Jewish and Christian thought, theology, culture and practice.
Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews".
Georg Ritter von Schönerer was an Austrian landowner and politician of Austria-Hungary active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A major exponent of pan-Germanism and German nationalism in Austria as well as a radical opponent of political Catholicism and a fierce antisemite, Schönerer exerted much influence on the young Adolf Hitler. He was known for a generation as the most radical pan-German nationalist in Austria.
New Christian was a socio-religious designation and legal distinction in the Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire. The term was used from the 15th century onwards primarily to describe the descendants of the Sephardic Jews and Moors baptised into the Catholic Church following the Alhambra Decree. The Alhambra Decree of 1492, also known as the Edict of Expulsion, was an anti-Jewish law made by the Catholic Monarchs upon the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula. It required Jews to convert to Catholic Christianity or be expelled from Spain. Most of the history of the "New Christians" refers to the Jewish converts, who were generally known as Conversos while the Muslim converts were known as Moriscos.
The German word Müller means "miller". It is the most common family surname in Germany, Switzerland, and the French départements of Bas-Rhin and Moselle and is the fifth most common surname in Austria. Other forms are Miller and Möller. Of the various family coats of arms that exist, many incorporate milling iconography, such as windmills or watermill wheels.
Jewish population centers have shifted tremendously over time, due in modern times to large scale population movements, and in earlier times due to a combination of population movements, religious conversions and assimilation. Population movements have been caused by both push and pull factors, with the most notable push factors being expulsions and persecutions, in particular the pogroms in the Russian Empire and the Holocaust.
Johannes Pfefferkorn was a German Catholic theologian and writer who converted from Judaism. Pfefferkorn actively preached against the Jews and attempted to destroy copies of the Talmud, and engaged in a long running pamphleteering battle with humanist Johann Reuchlin.
Eduard Julius Friedrich Bendemann was a German-Jewish painter.
Johann Andreas Eisenmenger was a German orientalist scholar from the Electorate of the Palatinate, now best known as the author of Entdecktes Judenthum, which was published in two volumes in 1711 and 1714.
"Wissenschaft des Judentums" refers to a nineteenth-century movement premised on the critical investigation of Jewish literature and culture, including rabbinic literature, to analyze the origins of Jewish traditions.
Karl Freiherr von Vogelsang, a journalist, politician and Catholic social reformer, was one of the mentors of the Christian Social movement in Austria-Hungary.
Monsignor John Maria Oesterreicher, born Johannes Oesterreicher, was a Catholic theologian and a leading advocate of Jewish–Catholic reconciliation. He was one of the architects of Nostra aetate or "In Our Age," a declaration which was issued by the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and which repudiated antisemitism.
Karl Otto Thieme was a German historian and political scientist. Thieme converted to the Catholic Church from Lutheranism and was part of an international intellectual network, along with figures such as Waldemar Gurian and John M. Oesterreicher, who initially argued against anti-Jewish sentiment and for Jewish conversion to Christianity. After the Second World War, he was a pioneer in Catholic-Jewish interfaith dialogue through his work at Gertrud Luckner's Freiburger Rundbrief and numerous personal correspondencies. Although Thieme died before the end of the Second Vatican Council, his activities, along with "his intellectual sparring partner" Oesterreicher, paved the way for Nostra aetate.
There is a long history of Jewish conversion to Christianity, both voluntarily and forced conversion. What follows is a partial history of some of the well known forced conversions.
Moritz Hall was a Polish Jewish-born Christian missionary, metalworker, timber merchant, and hotel proprietor.
