Inslag av judisk tradition hos en anti-judisk kyrkofader (Ephraem Syrus)

Authors

• Tryggve Kronholm Uppsala universitet

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.69360

Keywords:

Theology, Ephraem, Syrus, Saint, 303-373, Christianity and Judaism, Church history, Bible, Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, Jewish, Fathers of the church, Syriac, Antisemitism

Abstract

As well is known, the early Fathers of the Church repeatedly accuse their Jewish antagonists of a number of ‘heresies’, such as their disbelief as regards Jesus as the Son of God incarnated through the Virgin, and their keeping of Mosaic laws abrogated by Christ. In particular they accuse the Jews of having committed deicide. Ephraem Syrus (c. 306–373) – the most influential poet of the Syriac Church, one of the leading exegetes and theologians of Christendom, proclaimed a doctor ecclesia by the Pope Benedict XV in 1920 – transmits all the standard accusations against the Jews. Against this background it is remarkable to observe that in his biblical expositions Ephrem is over and over again found to be indebted to traditional Jewish exegesis.