Jerome of Stridon: Innovative Christian supersessionist

Jerome, the late ancient Christian ascetic and exegete, introduces innovations into Christian supersessionism at a time when Christians had isolated themselves from Jews based on centuries of anti-Jewish sentiment. Jerome is set apart from many other early Christian writers in that he simultaneously rejects the legitimacy of the Jewish religion and holds a strong appreciation for Jewish understanding of the scriptures as well as the Jewish native land. After a survey of the scholarship of early Christian and Jewish relationships, I position my work around Jerome's three innovative expressions of his desire for "Hebrew truth" to enrich the Christian church. First, I examine Jerome's choice of the scriptural text for the Christian Old Testament. Jerome elevates the Hebrew text of the Christian Old Testament as the basis for his writings, claiming its supremacy over the supposedly inspired Greek text of the Septuagint. Second, I investigate Jerome's affirmation of rabbinic interpretations as he navigates between Jewish historical and Christian allegorical readings. His method of selecting which meanings are for the Jews and which apply to Christians is inconsistent and unpredictable. Jerome positions himself as the supreme mediator of sacred texts and the master architect of the boundary between Christians and Jews. The third expression I explore is Jerome's attempt to inscribe Christian identity onto the Jewish homeland. Jerome believes that he and other like-minded Christians who settle in Palestine are the rightful heirs of the Jewish homeland. His supersessionist mindset expands the notion to include the sacred space of Bethlehem in his image of a properly constructed Christian pilgrimage and identity. I conclude with the implications of Jerome's unwitting movements toward Jews in an attempt to project further openings onto the contemporary face of Christian encounters with Jewish people and their religion. In spite of the challenges facing a Christianity laden with two millennia of replacement theology, prospects are emerging in current scholarship for a feasible displacement of Christian supersessionism.