Jews often appear in Christian polemical literature as clichéd archheretics in the context of inter-confessional Christian polemics, rather than for their own sake, in a polemic directed against Judaism itself. In the multiethnic and multi-religious Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political conflicts often took the form of religious polemics, and religion served as a central channel for expressing not only religious feelings but also national and political identity. The use of Jews in polemical literature was widespread and can be found in Orthodox polemics directed against the union with Rome, Uniates’ defense of the union, Catholic-Protestant polemics in the context of the Counter-Reformation and in other contexts. This paper examines such use of Jews in inter confessional Christian polemics in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Jews often appear in Christian polemical literature as clichéd archheretics in the context of inter-confessional Christian polemics, rather than for their own sake, in a polemic directed against Judaism itself. In the multiethnic and multi-religious Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political conflicts often took the form of religious polemics, and religion served as a central channel for expressing not only religious feelings but also national and political identity. The use of Jews in polemical literature was widespread and can be found in Orthodox polemics directed against the union with Rome, Uniates’ defense of the union, Catholic-Protestant polemics in the context of the Counter-Reformation and in other contexts. This paper examines such use of Jews in inter confessional Christian polemics in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
