ABSTRACT
This chapter lists some peculiarities of antisemitism that would seem to call for philosophical reflection. The typical liberal intellectual or clergyman quickly draws parallels between them and anti-Semitism. There were accusations of antisemitism such as those of Manetho, the Egyptian priest, and of Apion, against whom Josephus wrote. Writers such as these balked at Jewish exclusiveness. The Roman Empire admitted Jews to citizenship; it had hardly become holy in the fourth century when their citizenship was revoked. More significant still, the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem under Hadrian lasted only four years; but for more than one Church Father, circumcision was given by God to the Jews not as a sign of Divine favour, but as a mark of their future reprobation, so that they might be recognized by those presently occupying the city and preventing them from entering it.
