Marcela Andoková: The ambivalence of Augustine's rhetoric in relation to the Jews

Augustine's view of the Jews presented in his œuvre is not always clear. While in certain contexts he emhasizes their unique role in the history of salvation, on other occasions he rather underlines their portion of guilt as they refused and condemned Christ sent to them. The question of Augustine's relationship to the Jews in his early writings, especially those dating from the period of his anti-Manichaean polemic (the Contra Faustum, in particular), has been treated by several significant authors, including P. Fredriksen and A. Massie. However, Augustine's relationship to the people of Israel in his preaching activity has been so far examined in the scientific circles only marginally. Thus in my presentation I will focus mostly on Augustine's Enarrationes in Psalmos and his Tractatus in Iohannis Evangelium where he deals with the presented topic. On the analysis of selected Augustinian texts I will further try to demonstrate to which extent his understanding of the role of Jewish people in the history reflects the views of his contemporaries as well as the polemic contexts in which these texts were composed.