August Rohling (15 February 1839 at Neuenkirchen,

Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia () was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

– 23 January 1931 in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

) was a German Catholic theologian, student of anti-Semitic texts, and

polemical Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

author. He studied at

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

and Paris, and became professor successively at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, and

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

, retiring in 1901. He wrote polemics against

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

and

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. Of his anti-Jewish works ''Der Talmudjude'' (Münster, 1871) became a standard work for

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

authors and journalists. It is a faulty abstract of the ''Entdecktes Judenthum'' of

Johann Andreas Eisenmenger Johann Andreas Eisenmenger (1654, Mannheim – 20 December 1704, Heidelberg) was a German oriental studies, orientalist scholar from the Electorate of the Palatinate, now best known as the author of ''Entdecktes Judenthum'' (''Judaism Unmasked''), ...

. The book first appeared when Bismarck inaugurated his anti-Catholic legislation, as a retort to the attacks made by liberal journals on the dogma of

papal infallibility Papal infallibility is a Dogma in the Catholic Church, dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Saint Peter, Peter, the Pope when he speaks is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "in ...

and on Jesuitic textbooks.The origin of Der Talmudjude is narrated in Allg. Zeit. des Jud. 1871, p. 674; and material on the lawsuits in which Rohling became involved by his polemical writings is found in Joseph Kopp, Zur Judenfrage nach den Akten des Prozesses Rohling-Bloch, Leipsic, 1886, and in the Jüdische Presse, 1902, No. 46. The book was extensively quoted by the Catholic press, but it did not become a political force until the appearance of anti-Semitism, and the Tiszaeszlár Affair in 1883.

Franz Delitzsch Franz Delitzsch (23 February 1813, in Leipzig – 4 March 1890, in Leipzig) was a German Lutheran theologian and Hebraist. Delitzsch wrote many commentaries on books of the Bible, Jewish antiquities, Biblical psychology, as well as a history of J ...

defended Judaism against the attacks of Rohling. At the same time Josef Samuel Bloch wrote articles in which he accused Rohling of ignorance and of forgery of the texts. Rohling sued Bloch for libel, but withdrew the suit at the last moment. Later on he greeted the appearance of

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

as the solution of the Jewish question and wrote a pamphlet against Güdemann's "Das Judenthum in Seinen Grundzügen," etc. Those of Rohling's works which concern the Jews are, in addition to "Der Talmudjude": *"Katechismus des 19. Jahrhunderts für Juden und Protestanten," Mayence, 1878 *"Franz Delitzsch und die Judenfrage," Prague, 1881 *"Fünf Briefe über den Talmudismus und das Blutritual der Juden," ib. 1881 *"Die Polemik und das Menschenopfer des Rabbinismus," Paderborn, 1883; *"Die Ehre Israels: Neue Briefe an die Juden," Prague, 1889 *"Auf nach Zion," ib. 1901 *"Das Judenthum nach Neurabbinischer Darstellung der Hochfinanz Israels," Munich, 1903. Of the polemical literature against Rohling the oldest work is Kroner's "Entstelltes, Unwahres und Erfundenes in dem Talmudjuden Professor Dr. August Rohling's," Münster, 1871. Distinguished by scholarship are the two pamphlets of Delitzsch, "Rohling's Talmudjude Beleuchtet" (Leipzig, 1881) and "Schachmatt den Blutlügnern Rohling und Justus" (2d ed., Erlangen, 1883).

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rohling, August 1839 births 1931 deaths 19th-century German Catholic theologians Late modern Christian antisemitism Academic staff of Charles University People from Steinfurt (district) People from the Province of Westphalia Academic staff of the University of Münster University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee faculty

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