Ah, Reggie, there you go again. I didn't say the root of antisemitism began with Luther and Calvin, I said the root of German antisemitism began with them. And I still assert it. Facts are stubborn things and you cannot blame the Catholic Church for the deeper and broader levels of Nazi antisemitism within the German Protestants than Catholics. The root for that most assuredly lies in their Protestantism.
Sadly for you facts are facts. The fact is German anti-semitism began in Germany long before the advent of Luther or Calvin.
The fact is this anti-semitism originated in the Catholic Church.
Early Anti-Semitism
Anti-semitism took root as early as third century B.C. when Jewish people first came into contact with the Hellenistic world. It has remained a constant, underlying hatred ever since. In the ancient world, writings depicted Jews in a cruel way, demeaning their character. This hatred was largely religious in motivation. The Jews were seen to have shunned their Messiah. They were the ones responsible for the death of Christ. For this reason, Christians regarded the Jews as a blight on the moral order of the world; a blemish that had to somehow be removed.
The Role of the Catholic Church
During the Middle Ages, the Church made hatred of the Jews part of its dogma. It was believed that every good Christian had a “sacred duty” to oppress the Jewish population. Christians must show hostility toward Jews. The same hostility displayed toward evil and the devil. Medieval Christians came to see Jews as agents of both. Christians believed that, because the Jews had rejected Christ, they were no longer the “Chosen People.” Christianity now superceded Judaism as the one true faith. Consequently, it was Church policy that the Jews needed to disappear. By disappear they did not mean extermination. It was much too early for that mindset to take shape, although massive pogroms did occur sporadically, wiping out entire Jewish communities. The Church desired conversion of the Jews as the only just course of action to rid the world of this blemish to the soul of the world. This was crucial. If Christianity was the one true faith, Judaism had to be discredited. John Chrysostom, an important Church father, stated that, “if the Jewish rites are holy and venerable, our way of life must be false.” The thought that the Jews might be in the right did not sit well with most Christians. It served to strengthen their fear, hatred, and resentment of the Jews.
Religious Anti-Semitism - Anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church