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The Altercatio Ecclesiae Et Synagogae As A Late Antique Anti-Jewish Polemic, Michael J. Brinks

Masters Theses

The Catholic Church's newfound influence in late antiquity led to the political marginalization of the empire's Jewish community, a marginalization that is evident in Christian polemic against Judaism written after the Empire's religious transformation had largely been consolidated. This thesis is an analysis of the Altercatio Ecclesiae et Synagogae, written anonymously in the fifth century. Its primary intention is to discover what earlier writers influenced its author, what can be known about him, when the text was written, and what kind of arguments against Judaism he used.

The thesis begins by comparing and contrasting the anti-Jewish writing of Cyprian …