Father, Forgive Us: a Christian Response To the Church's Heritage of Jewish Persecution

This passionate and scholarly work takes a hard look at the part Christians have played in Jewish persecution. Fred Wright has mustered extensive evidence demonstrating the legacy. Ignatius of Antioch (martyred in 117 AD) contended that Jews were in league with the devil. Other church fathers followed suit. Christian antisemitism continued through the medieval period, successive popes endorsed horrific measures, and Luther demanded that Jews be exported to Palestine and their synagogues burned. True healing begins when the past is acknowledged. Only thus can these generations-old barriers to the Messiah be overcome.