Blurb:

In the Greco-Roman world, Jews were viewed
as alien and xenophobic. In Hellenistic society
the common view was that anything non-Greek
was uncivilized. In this context, Judaism was
regarded with contempt. With the emergence of
Christianity such hostility towards Jewry intensified.
Christianity absorbed pagan antipathy to the
Jewish people and utilized aspects of Pharisaic
Judaism to distance itself from the faith from
which it had evolved. Such anti-Jewish sentiment
became an essential element of Christianity.