Therefore the Old Law should have been given to all nations, and not to one people only. (Aquinas: 811)
Aquinas responds in these words:
Although the salvation, which was to come through Christ, was prepared for all nations, yet it was necessary that Christ should be born of one people, which, for this reason, was privileged above other peoples, according to Rom. ix. 4: To whom, namely, the Jews, belongeth the adoption as of children of God... And the testament, and the giving of the Law;... whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to the flesh. (Aquinas: 813)
But while on the one hand, Aquinas tried to be sympathetic and tolerant, on the other, he created an undesirable duality when he refused to resist some stereotypical images of Jews as usurers and murderers of Christ. When he had the opportunity to dispel some old beliefs and add a new and refreshing angle to the age-old prejudice held against Jews, Aquinas failed miserably. In response to the objection that:
the Old Law mercifully forbade strangers to be molested; for it is written (Exod. xxii. 21): Thou shalt not molest a stranger, nor afflict him, for yourselves also were strangers in the land of Egypt; and (xxiii. 9): Thou shalt not molest a stranger, for you know the hearts of strangers, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. But it is an affliction to be burdened with usury. Therefore the Law unsuitably permitted them (Deut. xxiii. 19, 20) to lend money to strangers for usury. (Aquinas: 940)
What Aquinas said is definitely worth reading:
It was not the intention of the Law to sanction the acceptance of usury from strangers, but only to tolerate it because of the proneness of the Jews to avarice, and in order to promote an amicable feeling towards those out of whom they made a profit. (Aquinas: 942)
Aquinas thus had some fixed notions about Jews, just like many other thinkers and this created confusion among those who initially found him more tolerant on this subject. Upon closer exploration, it becomes clearer that duality on this issue arises not from Aquinas'...
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