came anti-Jewish to the extent that itnidentified itself with Roman civihzationnand absorbed a pre-Christian setnof prejudices. If Romanization was annecessary condition for the transmissionnof ancient civilization to Germanicnbarbarians, it was also the means bynwhich Roman anti-Semitism wasnspread. Christian Spain did not persecutenJews as long as it remained Arian,nnon-Roman, Christian. When thenVisigoths joined the Roman Churchnin the seventh century, they turnednfuriously against Jewish settlers innSpain.nChristians who have stressed thenHebraic and rejected the Roman rootsnof Christianity—e.g., Calvinists andnEvangelicals — have generally beennwell-disposed toward Jews. Jews havenfared best in Protestant, Christianncountries. This is not to discreditnRoman civilization, either its strongnfamily values or its legacy of literature,narchitecture, and law bequeathed tonthe Western world. The spread ofnRomanitis had the disagreeable sideneffect, however, of perpetuating ancientnanti-Semitism.nAnother bone to be picked with thenauthor is his tendency to contrast Judaismnas a religion “that corresponded tonthe natural feeling of what was right”nwith Christianity as a “conglomerate”nof oriental superstitions and of “magicnformulae” taken from the Gnostics.nAvi-Yonah’s understanding of Judaismnand Christianity shows the marks ofnthe Jewish Enlightenment. This is thentradition from which he seems to havencome and which in Germany, hisncountry of origin, goes back to MosesnMendelssohn and the mid-18th century.nMendelssohn, a Hebrew scholarnand philosopher, and his many epigonesnwere reacting to their Protestantncounterparts who claimed to have discoveredna “rational religion [Vernunftsreligion]”nin the primitive church.nNot to be outdone, Mendelssohn definednauthentic Judaism as a rationalnethical system. Jewish rationalists contrastednit with Christianity, which theyntried to present as a Judaized version ofnan Oriental mystery cult. The newnpolemical weapon proved strongernthan historical evidence. To the chargenof Christian rationalists that Judaismnwas an outworn code of ritual, Mendelssohnnand his successors respondednwith their own exaggeration: theynidentified Jewish ritual with naturalnreason, while equating Christianitynwith irrational, and therefore non-nJudaic, beliefs.nThis interpretative line has resultednin a misrepresentation of both earlynChristianity and Rabbinic Judaism. Itnhas eonvenientiy ignored the historicnoverlap between the two religions, ansubject which the great religious historiannSamuel Sandmel spent much ofnhis life exploring. As Avi-Yonah pointsnout. Christianizing Jews remainednwithin the Palestinian Jewish communityninto the middle of the secondncentury. Although they and the Rabbisnof the Mishnah (the first part of thenoral law, compiled around 150) engagednin heated disputes, ChristiannJews were considered (and considerednthemselves) to be Jews. The definitivensplit between the two groups occurrednin the 130’s, during the last Jewishnrebellion against Rome, led by thenresourceful guerrilla commander BarnKokhba.nRabbinic leaders rallied to Bar Kokhbanand even proclaimed him to benthe Messiah destined to rebuild thenTemple. Jewish Christians, in contrast,nrefused to join the revolt, beingnconvinced that their Messiah had alreadyncome. Christ had prophesied thenfall of the Second Temple, withoutngiving instructions to have it rebuilt.nThe bitterness caused by the ChristiannJews’ refusing to join the bloody, unsuccessfulnrebellion irreversibly poisonednthe relations between the twonJewish communities. The source ofnenmity was primarily this political riftn—and perhaps secondarily the lax attitudenof Christian Jews toward ritualnobservance, particularly for converts.nNo Jewish opponent of the earlynchurch accused it of introducing irrationalnbeliefs into the Jewish religion.nSuch an attack would have beennanachronistic before the 18th century,nwhen nonbelieving Christians andnWesternized Jews began to disputenover whose religion had more fullynanticipated the Enlightenment.nFinally one might question whethernRabbinic Judaism differed from thenearly Church by virtue of its stress onnrationality. Here the distinction mightnbe used which Max Weber draws fornearly Protestantism and modern rationalism,nbetween a systematicmethodicalnand a rationalist way ofnthinking. Like Calvinism, RabbinicnJudaism affirms the supernatural undergirdingnof its teaching, but alsontreats salvation as a problem to benplanned for. Normative,- or Rabbinic,nJudaism prescribes a life of ritual observancenand the intricate study ofnritual law as the path to salvation. Itnprovides the assurance that all Jewsnwho live in the appropriate way andnwho avoid heresy will have a place innthe world to come. To the extent thatnRabbinic Judaism teaches that thenJewish people, by systematic applicationnto its divinely revealed code ofnlaw, can achieve absolution from sin,nit does encourage the virtues of diligencenand self-improvement. Yet, it isndoubtful whether this belief systemncan be described as “natural religion,”na term that Avi-Yonah borrows fromnthe German Enlightenment.nAvi-Yonah speaks of the “heavynyoke of ritual commandments” andnthe “indissoluble bond between Judaismnand the Jewish nation” as factorsnthat may have driven away potentialnconverts. The ritual observances ofnJudaism were obviously not reduciblento simply ethical precepts unless ethicsnare made to include, among othernthings, the separation of meat andnWorking Mothers at Home:nThe Cultural Pohtics ofnthe Parental Leave DebatenAllan Carlson’s latest monthly report on thenAmerican family looks at the underlying causes ofnthe current debate over government-mandatedn”parental leave.”nBor your copy, return this coupon today, aftdwe willnsend you a FREE copy of “Work and Family: On anCollision Course in America?”, Allan Carlson’snimportant work on the problematic relationship ofnthe family and the markerplace.nn Yes, send me Working Mothers at Home.nEnclosed is my check for $2.00 (includes postagenand handling). Also send me a FREE copy of “Worknand Family: On a Collision Course in America?”nNamenAddressnnnCity StatenMail to: The Rockford Instituten934 N. Main St.nRockford, IL 61103nZipnPW128()nDECEMBER 1986 / 27n