Overcoming the Teaching of Contempt *

During the past decade feminist Christian and post-Christian theologians have been alerted to the fact that some portrayals of Judaism as patriarchal reinstate traditional anti-Jewish patterns of arguments. ¹ This essay will briefly summarize how feminists have transformed the 'teaching of contempt' ² and examine the attitudes and arguments that perpetuate the continuation of anti-Judaism. In conclusion I suggest the development of a teaching of respect that actively confronts and neutralizes anti-Jewish conventions in feminist writings.