Randi Rashkover
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780823234523
- eISBN:
- 9780823240883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823234523.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter begins with an expanded account of Rosenzweig's phenomenology of revelation and argues that the event of revelation is the event of a divine, unconditional gift of love. As unconditional ...
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This chapter begins with an expanded account of Rosenzweig's phenomenology of revelation and argues that the event of revelation is the event of a divine, unconditional gift of love. As unconditional gift, divine love registers as divine command to receive or testify to this love. The link between love and command reflects the nature of divine law as the free affirmation of the difference between God and persons. As well, Chapter 6 analyzes the character of human freedom and in particular, what is means to say that persons are justified morally, existentially, and epistemologically in the law. Chapter 6 also offers an account of the impact of the logic of the law for understanding the meaning of religious truth and introduces a new post-polemical logic for Jewish-Christian relations.Less
This chapter begins with an expanded account of Rosenzweig's phenomenology of revelation and argues that the event of revelation is the event of a divine, unconditional gift of love. As unconditional gift, divine love registers as divine command to receive or testify to this love. The link between love and command reflects the nature of divine law as the free affirmation of the difference between God and persons. As well, Chapter 6 analyzes the character of human freedom and in particular, what is means to say that persons are justified morally, existentially, and epistemologically in the law. Chapter 6 also offers an account of the impact of the logic of the law for understanding the meaning of religious truth and introduces a new post-polemical logic for Jewish-Christian relations.
Adiel Schremer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383775
- eISBN:
- 9780199777280
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383775.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
This chapter introduces the reader to the theme of “Jewish and Christian relations in Late Antiquity,” as treated by students of early rabbinic Judaism. It describes recent developments in scholarly ...
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This chapter introduces the reader to the theme of “Jewish and Christian relations in Late Antiquity,” as treated by students of early rabbinic Judaism. It describes recent developments in scholarly views of the relations between classical rabbinic texts and early Christian texts, and critically discusses especially the contributions of Israel J. Yuval and Daniel Boyarin to the field. It suggests that the early rabbinic reaction to Christianity should be seen as part of the rabbinic discourse of minut, which, following a theory current in sociological literature, should be understood as a discourse responding to an identity crisis and re-establishing group identity, by the ousting of some of society's member and their placement beyond the pale. The chapter concludes with explicating the book's historical approach to rabbinic texts and their interpretation.Less
This chapter introduces the reader to the theme of “Jewish and Christian relations in Late Antiquity,” as treated by students of early rabbinic Judaism. It describes recent developments in scholarly views of the relations between classical rabbinic texts and early Christian texts, and critically discusses especially the contributions of Israel J. Yuval and Daniel Boyarin to the field. It suggests that the early rabbinic reaction to Christianity should be seen as part of the rabbinic discourse of minut, which, following a theory current in sociological literature, should be understood as a discourse responding to an identity crisis and re-establishing group identity, by the ousting of some of society's member and their placement beyond the pale. The chapter concludes with explicating the book's historical approach to rabbinic texts and their interpretation.
Caroline Johnson Hodge
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195182163
- eISBN:
- 9780199785612
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182163.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This concluding chapter begins with a discussion of whether the assemblies in Paul's letters would have been understood as ethnic groups or some other sort of community. While they did speak in terms ...
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This concluding chapter begins with a discussion of whether the assemblies in Paul's letters would have been understood as ethnic groups or some other sort of community. While they did speak in terms of common ancestry, they were not concerned with future generations like other ethnic groups in the ancient world and much of Paul's language comes from the practice of psychagogy, as in schools of philosophy. Some final reflections consider the relevance of this study for Christians today, for feminist concerns, and for Jewish-Christian relations. Ethnic discourses thus serve as tools not only in Paul's mythmaking, but also in the mythmaking engaged in by interpreters.Less
This concluding chapter begins with a discussion of whether the assemblies in Paul's letters would have been understood as ethnic groups or some other sort of community. While they did speak in terms of common ancestry, they were not concerned with future generations like other ethnic groups in the ancient world and much of Paul's language comes from the practice of psychagogy, as in schools of philosophy. Some final reflections consider the relevance of this study for Christians today, for feminist concerns, and for Jewish-Christian relations. Ethnic discourses thus serve as tools not only in Paul's mythmaking, but also in the mythmaking engaged in by interpreters.
Catherine Playoust and Ellen Bradshaw Aitken
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195380040
- eISBN:
- 9780199869077
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380040.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, World Religions
Christian literature of the first and second centuries CE contains few references to unborn children; where they are found, however, the unborn become an important rhetorical site for constructing ...
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Christian literature of the first and second centuries CE contains few references to unborn children; where they are found, however, the unborn become an important rhetorical site for constructing relationships between competing religious groups. The Gospel of Matthew’s genealogy for the unborn Jesus provides him with a rich and contended heritage that displays his destiny as well as his origin. In the Gospel of Luke, the narrative of the joyful recognition of the unborn Jesus in Mary’s womb by the unborn John the Baptist establishes not only the relationship between Jesus and John as adults but also the place of John’s disciples within the Christian movement. The second-century Protevangelium of James tells of Mary’s perception of “two peoples” in her womb, one lamenting and the other rejoicing; these “peoples” signify divergent social and religious responses to Jesus. The practices of joy and lamentation as projected onto the unborn provide a means for negotiating religious differences and shaping a genealogy of religious origins.Less
Christian literature of the first and second centuries CE contains few references to unborn children; where they are found, however, the unborn become an important rhetorical site for constructing relationships between competing religious groups. The Gospel of Matthew’s genealogy for the unborn Jesus provides him with a rich and contended heritage that displays his destiny as well as his origin. In the Gospel of Luke, the narrative of the joyful recognition of the unborn Jesus in Mary’s womb by the unborn John the Baptist establishes not only the relationship between Jesus and John as adults but also the place of John’s disciples within the Christian movement. The second-century Protevangelium of James tells of Mary’s perception of “two peoples” in her womb, one lamenting and the other rejoicing; these “peoples” signify divergent social and religious responses to Jesus. The practices of joy and lamentation as projected onto the unborn provide a means for negotiating religious differences and shaping a genealogy of religious origins.
Ruth Langer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199783175
- eISBN:
- 9780199919161
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199783175.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The birkat haminim is a prayer in the weekday Jewish liturgy for the removal of those categories of humans who prevent messianic redemption. Its earliest known texts, themselves medieval, curse ...
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The birkat haminim is a prayer in the weekday Jewish liturgy for the removal of those categories of humans who prevent messianic redemption. Its earliest known texts, themselves medieval, curse apostates (to Christianity), sectarians, Christians, enemies of Israel, and the insolent empire. Jewish sources place the origin of the prayer in the late first century, in response to an ambiguous group challenging rabbinic authority. Some Church Fathers knew of the prayer and complained that Jews were cursing Christians. The origins of this prayer, were they knowable, should illuminate early Christian-Jewish relations. However, the story of the prayer continues until today. Drawing on the shifting liturgical texts and polemics and apologetics surrounding the prayer, Langer traces the transformation of the birkat haminim from what functioned without question in the medieval world as a Jewish curse of Christians, through its early modern censorship by Christians, to its modern transformation into a generalized petition that God remove abstract evil. Christian censorship itself had opened the door to this transformation by destabilizing the prayer’s language. The true transformations in its meaning, however, accompanied Jewish integration into Western culture and consequent changes in mindset. Thus, even when censors ceased to concern themselves with Jewish texts, changes to the text only enhanced the trajectories already in place. The prayer both lost its function as a curse and its references to any specific categories of living human beings.Less
The birkat haminim is a prayer in the weekday Jewish liturgy for the removal of those categories of humans who prevent messianic redemption. Its earliest known texts, themselves medieval, curse apostates (to Christianity), sectarians, Christians, enemies of Israel, and the insolent empire. Jewish sources place the origin of the prayer in the late first century, in response to an ambiguous group challenging rabbinic authority. Some Church Fathers knew of the prayer and complained that Jews were cursing Christians. The origins of this prayer, were they knowable, should illuminate early Christian-Jewish relations. However, the story of the prayer continues until today. Drawing on the shifting liturgical texts and polemics and apologetics surrounding the prayer, Langer traces the transformation of the birkat haminim from what functioned without question in the medieval world as a Jewish curse of Christians, through its early modern censorship by Christians, to its modern transformation into a generalized petition that God remove abstract evil. Christian censorship itself had opened the door to this transformation by destabilizing the prayer’s language. The true transformations in its meaning, however, accompanied Jewish integration into Western culture and consequent changes in mindset. Thus, even when censors ceased to concern themselves with Jewish texts, changes to the text only enhanced the trajectories already in place. The prayer both lost its function as a curse and its references to any specific categories of living human beings.
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226745053
- eISBN:
- 9780226745077
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226745077.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book explores translation as a site for Jewish–Christian encounter and uses Jewish–Christian relations as a lens through which to study translation. This introductory chapter begins with the ...
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This book explores translation as a site for Jewish–Christian encounter and uses Jewish–Christian relations as a lens through which to study translation. This introductory chapter begins with the story of the author's father, Hillel Seidman, who calmed a group of Jewish refugees who arrived in Paris without proper documents. Speaking in Yiddish, Seidman assured them that they would not be mistreated; that he would keep track of where they were taken and that the Jewish community of Paris would arrange for their release as soon as possible. It is argued that beyond the content of what he was saying, Seidman's Galicianer Yiddish was itself performing his Jewish affiliations, announcing where he came from and where his sympathies could be assumed to lie. The chapter then discusses the meaning of Jewish translation. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This book explores translation as a site for Jewish–Christian encounter and uses Jewish–Christian relations as a lens through which to study translation. This introductory chapter begins with the story of the author's father, Hillel Seidman, who calmed a group of Jewish refugees who arrived in Paris without proper documents. Speaking in Yiddish, Seidman assured them that they would not be mistreated; that he would keep track of where they were taken and that the Jewish community of Paris would arrange for their release as soon as possible. It is argued that beyond the content of what he was saying, Seidman's Galicianer Yiddish was itself performing his Jewish affiliations, announcing where he came from and where his sympathies could be assumed to lie. The chapter then discusses the meaning of Jewish translation. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Ruth Langer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199783175
- eISBN:
- 9780199919161
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199783175.003.0000
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Christian censorship of the birkat haminim destabilized a statutory Jewish prayer. Study of the history of this prayer and the polemics surrounding it provides a window onto relationships between ...
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Christian censorship of the birkat haminim destabilized a statutory Jewish prayer. Study of the history of this prayer and the polemics surrounding it provides a window onto relationships between Jews and Christians throughout their shared history. This introduction provides basic background for the reader unfamiliar with the birkat haminim and its liturgical context before moving to a discussion of relevant methodological issues in the study of Jewish liturgy and then an overview of the book as a whole and its historical sweep. While the book offers an inner-Jewish liturgical history, it also contributes to contemporary Christian-Jewish relations, offering a self-critical study of an aspect of Jewish liturgy that becomes “difficult” in light of today’s dialogue.Less
Christian censorship of the birkat haminim destabilized a statutory Jewish prayer. Study of the history of this prayer and the polemics surrounding it provides a window onto relationships between Jews and Christians throughout their shared history. This introduction provides basic background for the reader unfamiliar with the birkat haminim and its liturgical context before moving to a discussion of relevant methodological issues in the study of Jewish liturgy and then an overview of the book as a whole and its historical sweep. While the book offers an inner-Jewish liturgical history, it also contributes to contemporary Christian-Jewish relations, offering a self-critical study of an aspect of Jewish liturgy that becomes “difficult” in light of today’s dialogue.
Randi Rashkover
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780823284603
- eISBN:
- 9780823286102
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823284603.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Rashkover explores the encounter between Frank Clooney’s approach to comparative theology and Barth’s confessional theology with an eye to their implications for Jewish-Christian relations. Building ...
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Rashkover explores the encounter between Frank Clooney’s approach to comparative theology and Barth’s confessional theology with an eye to their implications for Jewish-Christian relations. Building on her work in Freedom and Law: A Jewish-Christian Apologetics, she offers appreciation for Barth’s confessional approach, which in theory permits the possibility of revelatory encounter beyond the Christian community because of God’s freedom coupled with the lawful limit of that freedom. However, she argues, Barth’s critical theology needs a “covenantal repair,” a theological supplement that pays closer attention to the positive role of sanctification through the community’s living apprehension of the Word in time. This “repair” is needed not only for Christians, but for Christian-Jewish comparative exchange, so that both communities can describe how a claim about God’s revelation makes sense in divine-human conversation. She finds resources for this repair in the work of Robert Jenson, with its analysis of the “covenantal character of the Word.” She concludes that this covenantal logic of scripture “renders both Judaism and Christianity viable participants in the adventure of Clooney’s comparative learning.”Less
Rashkover explores the encounter between Frank Clooney’s approach to comparative theology and Barth’s confessional theology with an eye to their implications for Jewish-Christian relations. Building on her work in Freedom and Law: A Jewish-Christian Apologetics, she offers appreciation for Barth’s confessional approach, which in theory permits the possibility of revelatory encounter beyond the Christian community because of God’s freedom coupled with the lawful limit of that freedom. However, she argues, Barth’s critical theology needs a “covenantal repair,” a theological supplement that pays closer attention to the positive role of sanctification through the community’s living apprehension of the Word in time. This “repair” is needed not only for Christians, but for Christian-Jewish comparative exchange, so that both communities can describe how a claim about God’s revelation makes sense in divine-human conversation. She finds resources for this repair in the work of Robert Jenson, with its analysis of the “covenantal character of the Word.” She concludes that this covenantal logic of scripture “renders both Judaism and Christianity viable participants in the adventure of Clooney’s comparative learning.”
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804774420
- eISBN:
- 9780804779050
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804774420.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
In Alsace during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Jews had extensive contacts with their Christian neighbors, which challenges Jacob Katz's claim that Jews and Christians had no communication ...
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In Alsace during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Jews had extensive contacts with their Christian neighbors, which challenges Jacob Katz's claim that Jews and Christians had no communication whatsoever. The Alsatian countryside in fact constituted a shared space, where Jews and Christians lived side by side and interacted with each other every single day. The social interactions and relationships between them were informal. In addition, Jews and Christians could enter or work in one another's homes. A look at laws and actual cases indicates that both Jewish and Christian authorities tried to limit Jewish–Christian relations. The exchanges between Jewish and Christian neighbors in the Alsatian countryside is evident in a 1563 court case involving a Jewish mother and her sons living in Hagenau. Both Christian and Jewish leaders also prohibited social and sexual relationships between Jews and Christians.Less
In Alsace during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Jews had extensive contacts with their Christian neighbors, which challenges Jacob Katz's claim that Jews and Christians had no communication whatsoever. The Alsatian countryside in fact constituted a shared space, where Jews and Christians lived side by side and interacted with each other every single day. The social interactions and relationships between them were informal. In addition, Jews and Christians could enter or work in one another's homes. A look at laws and actual cases indicates that both Jewish and Christian authorities tried to limit Jewish–Christian relations. The exchanges between Jewish and Christian neighbors in the Alsatian countryside is evident in a 1563 court case involving a Jewish mother and her sons living in Hagenau. Both Christian and Jewish leaders also prohibited social and sexual relationships between Jews and Christians.
Leonard B. Glick
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195176742
- eISBN:
- 9780199835621
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019517674X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book traces the history of male infant circumcision from its origins in ancient Judea, through centuries of Christian condemnation and Jewish defense, to its current role in American culture and ...
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This book traces the history of male infant circumcision from its origins in ancient Judea, through centuries of Christian condemnation and Jewish defense, to its current role in American culture and medical practice. Genesis 17 is the biblical text where infant circumcision was mandated by Judean priests in the 6th century BCE; they characterized it as confirming a covenant, but the deeper meaning of the practice was male supremacy and dominance. Early Christians vehemently rejected circumcision, while Jews defended it with equal vigor in the Talmud and other rabbinic texts. The circumcision rite, embellished by folk practices and raised to new heights of significance by Jewish mystics, evolved into its contemporary form in medieval and early modern Europe. Meanwhile, Christian theological writings and medieval European folk beliefs — including those connected with fantasies about ritual murder — contributed to the enduring negative image of circumcision in the non-Jewish world. In the modern period, a few Jews began to question circumcision for the first time. In Germany, where Reform Judaism originated, German-Jewish physicians debated whether ritual circumcision should be either modified or eliminated. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, infant circumcision became a widely accepted medical practice in Britain and the United States, not as a ritual practice but as a preventive or therapeutic procedure. A key element in the new attitude to circumcision was the belief that the practice explained Jewish health and longevity. In the United States, Jewish physicians became especially prominent advocates for the practice, but physicians throughout the country endorsed it with equal enthusiasm. The contemporary circumcision debate in America finds expression in a wide variety of media: most notably, fiction, guides to Jewish parenting, and television sitcoms. The book closes with an epilogue assessing whether circumcision is beneficial or harmful, and whether parents have the right to request genital alteration for their infants or children.Less
This book traces the history of male infant circumcision from its origins in ancient Judea, through centuries of Christian condemnation and Jewish defense, to its current role in American culture and medical practice. Genesis 17 is the biblical text where infant circumcision was mandated by Judean priests in the 6th century BCE; they characterized it as confirming a covenant, but the deeper meaning of the practice was male supremacy and dominance. Early Christians vehemently rejected circumcision, while Jews defended it with equal vigor in the Talmud and other rabbinic texts. The circumcision rite, embellished by folk practices and raised to new heights of significance by Jewish mystics, evolved into its contemporary form in medieval and early modern Europe. Meanwhile, Christian theological writings and medieval European folk beliefs — including those connected with fantasies about ritual murder — contributed to the enduring negative image of circumcision in the non-Jewish world. In the modern period, a few Jews began to question circumcision for the first time. In Germany, where Reform Judaism originated, German-Jewish physicians debated whether ritual circumcision should be either modified or eliminated. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, infant circumcision became a widely accepted medical practice in Britain and the United States, not as a ritual practice but as a preventive or therapeutic procedure. A key element in the new attitude to circumcision was the belief that the practice explained Jewish health and longevity. In the United States, Jewish physicians became especially prominent advocates for the practice, but physicians throughout the country endorsed it with equal enthusiasm. The contemporary circumcision debate in America finds expression in a wide variety of media: most notably, fiction, guides to Jewish parenting, and television sitcoms. The book closes with an epilogue assessing whether circumcision is beneficial or harmful, and whether parents have the right to request genital alteration for their infants or children.
Caitlin Carenen
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814741047
- eISBN:
- 9780814708378
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814741047.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter details a new approach to Israel among American Protestants. Theological assessments of traditional Protestant teachings toward Jews and Judaism reflected a new sensitivity toward ...
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This chapter details a new approach to Israel among American Protestants. Theological assessments of traditional Protestant teachings toward Jews and Judaism reflected a new sensitivity toward Jewish–Christian relations, as mainline Protestants continued to grapple with the reality of Israel and the meaning of Judaism. The societal upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s, however, created a crisis for mainline Protestants. These mainline denominations lost members to evangelical Protestant churches that emphasized adherence to orthodox theology. The decline of mainstream Protestantism signaled the abandonment of the pragmatic and humanitarian advocacy for a strong U.S.–Israeli alliance. The alliance indeed grew stronger but for prophetic and eschatological reasons that were anathemas to the liberal Protestants preceding it. A new alliance would arise, more politically powerful than the one it preceded, and would alter the relationship between American Protestants, Jews, and Israel.Less
This chapter details a new approach to Israel among American Protestants. Theological assessments of traditional Protestant teachings toward Jews and Judaism reflected a new sensitivity toward Jewish–Christian relations, as mainline Protestants continued to grapple with the reality of Israel and the meaning of Judaism. The societal upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s, however, created a crisis for mainline Protestants. These mainline denominations lost members to evangelical Protestant churches that emphasized adherence to orthodox theology. The decline of mainstream Protestantism signaled the abandonment of the pragmatic and humanitarian advocacy for a strong U.S.–Israeli alliance. The alliance indeed grew stronger but for prophetic and eschatological reasons that were anathemas to the liberal Protestants preceding it. A new alliance would arise, more politically powerful than the one it preceded, and would alter the relationship between American Protestants, Jews, and Israel.
Rebecca Rist
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198717980
- eISBN:
- 9780191787430
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198717980.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion, European Medieval History
This chapter explores Jewish ideas about popes and the papacy through a range of contemporary and later sources including folktales, chronicles, responsa, and disputational literature. Jewish writers ...
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This chapter explores Jewish ideas about popes and the papacy through a range of contemporary and later sources including folktales, chronicles, responsa, and disputational literature. Jewish writers were obviously concerned to ensure the safety of their communities in western Europe and grateful for statements of papal protection. They were also highly critical of Christian beliefs about the papacy, in particular the theory of apostolic succession. Yet they fully acknowledged that popes had always played and would continue to play an important role in safeguarding their well-being and determining their future. Nevertheless, although contemporary and later Jewish writers often valued papal protection more highly than that of monarchs, emperors, or other clergy, they also knew it had its circumscribed limits. Though respectful of the papacy’s power, both spiritual and temporal, they were dismissive of the Scriptural and theological formulations on which Christian claims for apostolic authority rested.Less
This chapter explores Jewish ideas about popes and the papacy through a range of contemporary and later sources including folktales, chronicles, responsa, and disputational literature. Jewish writers were obviously concerned to ensure the safety of their communities in western Europe and grateful for statements of papal protection. They were also highly critical of Christian beliefs about the papacy, in particular the theory of apostolic succession. Yet they fully acknowledged that popes had always played and would continue to play an important role in safeguarding their well-being and determining their future. Nevertheless, although contemporary and later Jewish writers often valued papal protection more highly than that of monarchs, emperors, or other clergy, they also knew it had its circumscribed limits. Though respectful of the papacy’s power, both spiritual and temporal, they were dismissive of the Scriptural and theological formulations on which Christian claims for apostolic authority rested.
Ram Ben-Shalom
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113904
- eISBN:
- 9781800341036
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113904.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The focus in this book is on the historical consciousness of the Jews of Spain and southern France in the late Middle Ages, and specifically on their perceptions of Christianity and Christian history ...
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The focus in this book is on the historical consciousness of the Jews of Spain and southern France in the late Middle Ages, and specifically on their perceptions of Christianity and Christian history and culture. The book shows that in these southern European lands Jews experienced a relatively open society that was sensitive to and knowledgeable about voices from other cultures, and that this had significant consequences for shaping Jewish historical consciousness. Among the topics discussed are what Jews knew of the significance of Rome, of Jesus and the early days of Christianity, of Church history, and of the history of the Iberian monarchies. The book demonstrates that, despite the negative stereotypes of Jewry prevalent in Christian literature, they were more influenced by their interactions with Christian society at the local level. Consequently, there was no single stereotype that dominated Jewish thought, and frequently little awareness of the two societies as representing distinct cultures. The book demonstrates that in Spain and southern France, Jews of the later Middle Ages evinced a genuine interest in history, including the history of non-Jews, and that in some cases they were deeply familiar with Christian and sometimes also classical historiography. The book enriches our understanding of medieval historiography, polemic, Jewish–Christian relations, and the breadth of interests characterizing Provencal and Spanish Jewish communities.Less
The focus in this book is on the historical consciousness of the Jews of Spain and southern France in the late Middle Ages, and specifically on their perceptions of Christianity and Christian history and culture. The book shows that in these southern European lands Jews experienced a relatively open society that was sensitive to and knowledgeable about voices from other cultures, and that this had significant consequences for shaping Jewish historical consciousness. Among the topics discussed are what Jews knew of the significance of Rome, of Jesus and the early days of Christianity, of Church history, and of the history of the Iberian monarchies. The book demonstrates that, despite the negative stereotypes of Jewry prevalent in Christian literature, they were more influenced by their interactions with Christian society at the local level. Consequently, there was no single stereotype that dominated Jewish thought, and frequently little awareness of the two societies as representing distinct cultures. The book demonstrates that in Spain and southern France, Jews of the later Middle Ages evinced a genuine interest in history, including the history of non-Jews, and that in some cases they were deeply familiar with Christian and sometimes also classical historiography. The book enriches our understanding of medieval historiography, polemic, Jewish–Christian relations, and the breadth of interests characterizing Provencal and Spanish Jewish communities.
Ruth Nisse
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501703072
- eISBN:
- 9781501708329
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501703072.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book examines how Jews and Christians in medieval England articulated their theological and temporal differences through the translation, rewriting, and circulation of ancient noncanonical or ...
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This book examines how Jews and Christians in medieval England articulated their theological and temporal differences through the translation, rewriting, and circulation of ancient noncanonical or classical texts. Drawing on the themes of language, translation, and transmission, it considers how certain texts defined as “external,” “apocryphal,” or outside these two categories demonstrate the Jewish–Christian relations, and more specifically their conflict over temporality and narrative—how to interpret the past and future. The book analyzes a variety of ancient texts, including Berekhiah ha-Nakdan's translations, the Latin Joseph and Aseneth, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and a constellation of texts that establish the terms of Jewish Diaspora through competing claims to Flavius Josephus's Greek historical works and to their Jewish counterparts.Less
This book examines how Jews and Christians in medieval England articulated their theological and temporal differences through the translation, rewriting, and circulation of ancient noncanonical or classical texts. Drawing on the themes of language, translation, and transmission, it considers how certain texts defined as “external,” “apocryphal,” or outside these two categories demonstrate the Jewish–Christian relations, and more specifically their conflict over temporality and narrative—how to interpret the past and future. The book analyzes a variety of ancient texts, including Berekhiah ha-Nakdan's translations, the Latin Joseph and Aseneth, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and a constellation of texts that establish the terms of Jewish Diaspora through competing claims to Flavius Josephus's Greek historical works and to their Jewish counterparts.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804759502
- eISBN:
- 9780804786843
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804759502.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter focuses on Jewish–Christian relations in early medieval Ashkenaz. It examines the soundness of the conclusion that the massacres of the First Crusade were the predictable and inevitable ...
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This chapter focuses on Jewish–Christian relations in early medieval Ashkenaz. It examines the soundness of the conclusion that the massacres of the First Crusade were the predictable and inevitable denouement of a century and a half of accelerating hostility to European Jews and Judaism. The chapter considers both the primary and secondary sources about the incidents that have served as landmarks on the historiographical map. It offers no new data; on the contrary, the point is that the familiar, traditional sources have yet to receive careful scrutiny in the context of the adumbration thesis.Less
This chapter focuses on Jewish–Christian relations in early medieval Ashkenaz. It examines the soundness of the conclusion that the massacres of the First Crusade were the predictable and inevitable denouement of a century and a half of accelerating hostility to European Jews and Judaism. The chapter considers both the primary and secondary sources about the incidents that have served as landmarks on the historiographical map. It offers no new data; on the contrary, the point is that the familiar, traditional sources have yet to receive careful scrutiny in the context of the adumbration thesis.
Hillary Kaell
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814738368
- eISBN:
- 9780814738252
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814738368.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Since the 1950s, millions of American Christians have traveled to the Holy Land to visit places in Israel and the Palestinian territories associated with Jesus's life and death. Why do these pilgrims ...
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Since the 1950s, millions of American Christians have traveled to the Holy Land to visit places in Israel and the Palestinian territories associated with Jesus's life and death. Why do these pilgrims choose to journey halfway around the world? How do they react to what they encounter, and how do they understand the trip upon return? This book places the answers to these questions into the context of broad historical trends, analyzing how the growth of mass-market evangelical and Catholic pilgrimage relates to changes in American Christian theology and culture over the last sixty years, including shifts in Jewish–Christian relations, the growth of small group spirituality, and the development of a Christian leisure industry. Drawing on five years of research with pilgrims before, during, and after their trips, the book offers a lived-religion approach that explores the trip's hybrid nature for pilgrims themselves: both ordinary—tied to their everyday role as the family's ritual specialists, and extraordinary—since they leave home in a dramatic way, often for the first time. Their experiences illuminate key tensions in contemporary US Christianity between material evidence and transcendent divinity, commoditization and religious authority, domestic relationships and global experience. This is the first in-depth study of the cultural and religious significance of American Holy Land pilgrimage after 1948. It sheds light on how Christian pilgrims, especially women, make sense of their experience in Israel–Palestine, offering an important complement to top-down approaches in studies of Christian Zionism and foreign policy.Less
Since the 1950s, millions of American Christians have traveled to the Holy Land to visit places in Israel and the Palestinian territories associated with Jesus's life and death. Why do these pilgrims choose to journey halfway around the world? How do they react to what they encounter, and how do they understand the trip upon return? This book places the answers to these questions into the context of broad historical trends, analyzing how the growth of mass-market evangelical and Catholic pilgrimage relates to changes in American Christian theology and culture over the last sixty years, including shifts in Jewish–Christian relations, the growth of small group spirituality, and the development of a Christian leisure industry. Drawing on five years of research with pilgrims before, during, and after their trips, the book offers a lived-religion approach that explores the trip's hybrid nature for pilgrims themselves: both ordinary—tied to their everyday role as the family's ritual specialists, and extraordinary—since they leave home in a dramatic way, often for the first time. Their experiences illuminate key tensions in contemporary US Christianity between material evidence and transcendent divinity, commoditization and religious authority, domestic relationships and global experience. This is the first in-depth study of the cultural and religious significance of American Holy Land pilgrimage after 1948. It sheds light on how Christian pilgrims, especially women, make sense of their experience in Israel–Palestine, offering an important complement to top-down approaches in studies of Christian Zionism and foreign policy.
Ellen D. Haskell
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190600433
- eISBN:
- 9780190600457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190600433.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter addresses the sense of threat that permeated Spanish Jews’ lives, explaining how the Zohar deploys its rhetoric of the Other Side’s evil powers to defame Christians and those who ...
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This chapter addresses the sense of threat that permeated Spanish Jews’ lives, explaining how the Zohar deploys its rhetoric of the Other Side’s evil powers to defame Christians and those who associate with them. Using coded words normally applied to demonic forces, such as “Other,” “Other Side,” “Other God,” and “Kingdom of Idolatry,” the Zohar condemns Christian dominion, gives advice regarding Jewish behavior under Christian oppression, and imagines a future of Jewish empowerment. This rhetoric responds to Christian missionizing, the threat of religious conversion, and the damage to Jewish communities associated with prominent converts who traumatized the Jews of Spain and France during the thirteenth century, such as Paulus Christiani. The chapter also discusses anticonversion teachings that critique Christian celibacy, which the Zohar explains as a divine strategy for Christian containment.Less
This chapter addresses the sense of threat that permeated Spanish Jews’ lives, explaining how the Zohar deploys its rhetoric of the Other Side’s evil powers to defame Christians and those who associate with them. Using coded words normally applied to demonic forces, such as “Other,” “Other Side,” “Other God,” and “Kingdom of Idolatry,” the Zohar condemns Christian dominion, gives advice regarding Jewish behavior under Christian oppression, and imagines a future of Jewish empowerment. This rhetoric responds to Christian missionizing, the threat of religious conversion, and the damage to Jewish communities associated with prominent converts who traumatized the Jews of Spain and France during the thirteenth century, such as Paulus Christiani. The chapter also discusses anticonversion teachings that critique Christian celibacy, which the Zohar explains as a divine strategy for Christian containment.
Ellen D. Haskell
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190600433
- eISBN:
- 9780190600457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190600433.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter is the first of two dealing with the Zohar’s reinvention of the gentile prophet Balaam to challenge Christian claims regarding Jesus’ death and ascension. It shows how the Zoharic ...
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This chapter is the first of two dealing with the Zohar’s reinvention of the gentile prophet Balaam to challenge Christian claims regarding Jesus’ death and ascension. It shows how the Zoharic authors adapted Balaam traditions from ancient and medieval Jewish sources, wherein Balaam does not represent Jesus but does highlight Jewish concerns regarding gentiles to construct a character that is neither fully Christ nor fully Balaam, but a Balaam reimagined to intersect with Christianity. It identifies two texts known in Spain during the Zohar’s composition, the medieval midrash Numbers Rabbah and the anti-Christian folk narrative Toledot Yeshu, as the Zoharic Balaam’s main sources. The theme that ties these works together is a villain who flies and falls—the perfect vehicle for critiquing Christian ascension theology. This chapter’s topic is continued in chapter 4.Less
This chapter is the first of two dealing with the Zohar’s reinvention of the gentile prophet Balaam to challenge Christian claims regarding Jesus’ death and ascension. It shows how the Zoharic authors adapted Balaam traditions from ancient and medieval Jewish sources, wherein Balaam does not represent Jesus but does highlight Jewish concerns regarding gentiles to construct a character that is neither fully Christ nor fully Balaam, but a Balaam reimagined to intersect with Christianity. It identifies two texts known in Spain during the Zohar’s composition, the medieval midrash Numbers Rabbah and the anti-Christian folk narrative Toledot Yeshu, as the Zoharic Balaam’s main sources. The theme that ties these works together is a villain who flies and falls—the perfect vehicle for critiquing Christian ascension theology. This chapter’s topic is continued in chapter 4.
Ellie R. Schainker
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780804798280
- eISBN:
- 9781503600249
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804798280.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
Thematically, the introduction first probes the role of the Russian government in managing religious diversity and toleration, and thus the relationship between mission and empire with regard to the ...
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Thematically, the introduction first probes the role of the Russian government in managing religious diversity and toleration, and thus the relationship between mission and empire with regard to the Jews. Second, it explores the day-to-day world of converts from Judaism in imperial Russia, including the social, geographic, religious, and economic links among converts, Christians, and Jews. This exploration of daily life is attuned to convert motivations and post-baptism trajectories, and perhaps more significantly, it focuses on everyday relations of trust and attraction between Jews and their neighbors in the imperial Russian borderlands. Finally, the introduction examines the challenges of constructing, transgressing, and maintaining ethno-confessional boundaries by casting the convert as a boundary-crosser who exposes and thus renders violable the borders of faith, community, and nationhood.Less
Thematically, the introduction first probes the role of the Russian government in managing religious diversity and toleration, and thus the relationship between mission and empire with regard to the Jews. Second, it explores the day-to-day world of converts from Judaism in imperial Russia, including the social, geographic, religious, and economic links among converts, Christians, and Jews. This exploration of daily life is attuned to convert motivations and post-baptism trajectories, and perhaps more significantly, it focuses on everyday relations of trust and attraction between Jews and their neighbors in the imperial Russian borderlands. Finally, the introduction examines the challenges of constructing, transgressing, and maintaining ethno-confessional boundaries by casting the convert as a boundary-crosser who exposes and thus renders violable the borders of faith, community, and nationhood.
Ellen D. Haskell
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190600433
- eISBN:
- 9780190600457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190600433.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter is the second of two dealing with the Zohar’s reinvention of the gentile prophet Balaam to challenge Christian claims regarding Jesus’ death and ascension. It presents the Zohar’s ...
More
This chapter is the second of two dealing with the Zohar’s reinvention of the gentile prophet Balaam to challenge Christian claims regarding Jesus’ death and ascension. It presents the Zohar’s dramatic death-of-Balaam narrative, in which the villainous prophet and magician flies into the air to escape Jewish authority. Detailed analysis of this text reveals how it critiques Christian theological traditions and ritual practices that include the relic cult, the eucharist, the Antichrist, and gospel narratives like the Stilling of the Storm. In conjunction with chapter 3, this chapter explains how the Zoharic Kabbalists developed Balaam into a character neither fully Balaam nor fully Christ, but a Balaam reimagined to intersect with Christ and Christianity.Less
This chapter is the second of two dealing with the Zohar’s reinvention of the gentile prophet Balaam to challenge Christian claims regarding Jesus’ death and ascension. It presents the Zohar’s dramatic death-of-Balaam narrative, in which the villainous prophet and magician flies into the air to escape Jewish authority. Detailed analysis of this text reveals how it critiques Christian theological traditions and ritual practices that include the relic cult, the eucharist, the Antichrist, and gospel narratives like the Stilling of the Storm. In conjunction with chapter 3, this chapter explains how the Zoharic Kabbalists developed Balaam into a character neither fully Balaam nor fully Christ, but a Balaam reimagined to intersect with Christ and Christianity.