Language:
English
Year of publication:
1998
Titel der Quelle:
Nordisk Judaistik
Angaben zur Quelle:
19,1-2 (1998) 123-139
Keywords:
Bastholm, Christian,
;
Jews History 1500-
Abstract:
A paper presented at a conference on "Toleration and the Enlightenment" in Cambridge, 1997. Surveys the social position of the Jews in Denmark in the 17th-18th centuries, characterized by both tolerance and restrictions. Bastholm was a leading theologian in Enlightenment Denmark. He wrote a three-volume history of the Jews (1777-82). He called for tolerance of the Jews, demanded that they receive access to higher education and public office, and distanced himself from Christian mission to the Jews. However, it is in the supplements to the third volume of his "History" where he relates to the relationship between Judaism and Christianity; although he attempted to be impartial, he condemned the Jewish religion and advocated conversion of the Jews. In 1813 a violent literary conflict broke out in Denmark when a German antisemitic tract was published in Danish. It was followed by other pamphlets and short tracts, some of them defending the Jews. A typesetter composed a compendium of Bastholm's "History" in which he emphasized the antisemitic features. Bastholm did not protest against this publication. On the contrary, in June 1813 he himself published an article in the newspaper "Dagen" attacking the Jews as harmful to the state. Concludes that Bastholm's attitude was characterized by both tolerance and prejudice.
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