Jewish-Christian Polemics at the Turning Point: Jewish Evidence from the Twelfth Century* Daniel J. Lasker Ben Gurion University of the Negev I n 1968 Amos Funkenstein published an article in Hebrew entitled "Changes in the Patterns of Christian Anti-Jewish Polemics in the 12th Century." 1 In that article, Funkenstein argues that Christian attitudes to- ward Jews underwent a change in the twelfth century, a change discernable in the Christian polemical literature of the period. In contrast to the previ- ous Christian strategy of polemicizing against Judaism through a battery of prooftexts, or testimonia, the innovative polemics introduced three impor- tant elements—the recourse to reason, the attack on the Talmud, and the use of the Talmud to prove the truth of Christianity. These innovations signaled the beginning of the end of the relative Christian tolerance of Jews and Judaism inspired by the writings of Augustine. Jeremy Cohen vigorously attacked Funkenstein's theory, rejecting the conclusion that the twelfth century saw major changes in the Christian *This article is based on a talk first delivered at a colloquium entitled "The Jewish-Chris- tian Debate in the Twelfth Century. New Paradigms and Perspectives" at Wolfson College. Oxford University, in February. 1995. x Zwn 33 (1968) 125-44. Funkenstein's article has been reprinted a number of times and in various forms, for an English translation, see Funkenstein. Perceptions of Jewish History (Berkeley University of California Press. 1993) 172-201. 89 2(1996) 161-73