Reckoning With the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism: Frances Haidt Memorial Lecture 2024

In 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, antisemitism and anti-Black racism converged as White supremacists, in a highly choreographed and violent protest against the removal of a statue honoring a Confederate general, carried Confederate flags and chanted “Jews will not replace us.” This convergence is not just a product of American history; its roots go far deeper. In this talk, Magda Teter, author of Christian Supremacy: Reckoning With the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism, will explore the interplay between Christian theology and law to demonstrate how the theological framework of Christian supersessionism articulated in antiquity and its subsequent application in law led to the creation of social hierarchies, legal exclusion of and a denial of equality to Jews and Black people also in modern times. Teter is a professor of history and the Shvidler Chair of Judaic Studies at Fordham University.