Jews and Christians in the History of Empathy (1800 to the Present)

There is a lot of talk about empathy at the moment, and a widespread feeling that it is in short supply. The deep polarization over the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has led to bitter arguments over empathy: supporters of both sides accuse their opponents of failing to empathize with victims of violence on the other side. In order to understand why this disputes have been so highly charged, we need to set them in historical context. Emotional identification with Jews has a long history in Britain, extending back to the pioneering interest of early nineteenth-century evangelical Christians in Zionism. This is, though, a complicated story, intertwined with the history of antisemitism in Britain and with the high hopes invested in Holocaust education since the 1990s. An understanding of the twists and muddles over empathy as they relate to Jews in Britain over the past two centuries can help point the way, this lecture will suggest, to clearer communication and less emotional combat on this topic.

Professor Adam Sutcliffe is Professor of European History at King’s College London, and an expert on the place of Judaism and Jewish themes in Western thought. He is the author of What are Jews For? History, Peoplehood and Purpose (Princeton, 2020) and Judaism and Enlightenment (Cambridge, 2003), and co-editor of several books, including The Cambridge History of Judaism: 1500-1815 (Cambridge, 2018) and History, Memory and Public Life: The Past in the Present (Routledge, 2018).

This lecture is made possible through funding from the British Academy.

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