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Hyam Maccoby: what Wikipedia removed

Hyam Maccoby was a Jewish British scholar who spent much of his career tracing the origins of Christian antisemitism to the Gospels’ account of Jesus’s death and the legend of Judas Iscariot. Through 2015 the opening said he “wrote extensively on the phenomenon of ancient and modern antisemitism” and identified the Gospel traditions blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus as “the roots of Christian antisemitism.” Today’s opening says only that he was “known for his theories of the historical Jesus and the origins of Christianity”; antisemitism appears 5 times elsewhere in the article. A reader arriving now does not learn that Maccoby’s defining scholarly project was tracing the theological roots of antisemitism.

The word “antisemitism” appeared 2 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2005. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 5. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.

The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot

Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”
word20052010201520206 October 20232025
antisemitism222000

Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.

What was taken out

Section titled “What was taken out”
  • The opening’s earlier two-sentence biography, later reworded to add his Hebrew name and dramatist credit.
  • A sentence naming his academic post at the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Leeds, dropped from the opening.
  • The clause crediting him with theories of the historical Jesus, reworded rather than removed.
  • The sentence naming antisemitism specifically as his scholarly subject, dropped from the opening.

How it opened then, and now

Section titled “How it opened then, and now”

2005 (revision 16983490):

Hyam Maccoby ( 1924 - 2004 ) was a British scholar specializing in the study of the Jewish and Christian religious tradition. He held an academic position at the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Leeds . Maccoby is widely known for his theories of the historical Jesus and the historical origins of Christianity . Maccoby also wrote extensively on the phenomenon of ancient and modern antisemitism . He considered the Gospel traditions blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus and especially the legend of Judas Iscariot (which he believed to be a product of the Gentile Pauline Church) as the roots of Christian antisemitism. Other topics of Maccoby’s scholarship include the Talmudic traditio…

2025 (revision 1258864517):

British scholar of religion (1924–2004) Hyam Maccoby ( Hebrew : חיים מכובי , 1924–2004) was a Jewish - British scholar and dramatist specialising in the study of the Jewish and Christian religious traditions. He was known for his theories of the historical Jesus and the origins of Christianity .

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