Robert Grosseteste And Thomas Aquinas - 1832 Words

â€Å"The Jews are irreligious, atheistic, immoral bunch of bastards.† (President Richard Nixon, 1972). Throughout history, the Jewish community has been a target of constant discrimination and prejudice as a result of their historical interaction with the Christian Messiah. Often labeled as â€Å"God-killers† and portrayed as the faction who prevented the ultimate saving of humanity, governments and social groups have often used Jews as a scapegoat to deflect any political and/or social turmoil that might exist. Robert Grosseteste, a prominent philosopher of the twelfth century, heavily nurtured this sense of hate and abhor towards the Jews of England. In his letter to Margaret de Quincy, Countess of Lincoln, we see Grosseteste’s compelling desire†¦show more content†¦Grosseteste starts his letter by reminding Margaret of the fact that Jews are responsible for â€Å"...killing the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ.† Through the portrayal of Jews as the people responsible for killing humanity’s savior, Grosseteste is able to justify his ideology regarding the treatment of the Jewish community. Furthermore, this short introduction helps set the tone for the rest of the letter. The strong imagery and graphic diction used permeates most sentences and leads to a tone that resembles hate and inspires discrimination against Jews. Grosseteste goes to far lengths to try to convince Margaret de Quincy to ensure that these new Jews are given the lowest status available in their communities and to prevent them from leading normal and successful lives due to their past. One of the major topics discussed by Grosseteste throughout the letter is the belief that Jews are condemned to hard labor as a result of their original sin. He comments on the fact that, â€Å"A curse is upon this people...not only the curse of sin, but also the curse of punishment.† Grosseteste constantly refers back to this statement to ensure that Jews are held below any Christian practitioner. This punishment often appears in the form of hard labor for their Christian leaders and the low yield of crops regardless of how much hard work and dedication is put into the task. Grosseteste further believes that it