Renee Levine Melammed
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195170719
- eISBN:
- 9780199835416
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195170717.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Although the Church insists that a convert to Catholicism is to be fully accepted by his co-religionists, the socio-economic and ethnic situation in Spain did not allow the conversos to fully ...
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Although the Church insists that a convert to Catholicism is to be fully accepted by his co-religionists, the socio-economic and ethnic situation in Spain did not allow the conversos to fully experience assimilation. Local laws were passed in the fifteenth century that essentially represented ethnic discrimination against the "New Christians," who were also deemed untrustworthy and insincere. As a result, the Church and Crown decided to establish a national (Spanish) inquisition in order to extirpate the Judaizing heresy. The development of the converso class resulted in serious repercussions for Church, State, and for the Jewish world.Less
Although the Church insists that a convert to Catholicism is to be fully accepted by his co-religionists, the socio-economic and ethnic situation in Spain did not allow the conversos to fully experience assimilation. Local laws were passed in the fifteenth century that essentially represented ethnic discrimination against the "New Christians," who were also deemed untrustworthy and insincere. As a result, the Church and Crown decided to establish a national (Spanish) inquisition in order to extirpate the Judaizing heresy. The development of the converso class resulted in serious repercussions for Church, State, and for the Jewish world.
Renee Levine Melammed
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195170719
- eISBN:
- 9780199835416
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195170717.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The rationale for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was ostensibly because they exerted a negative influence on the baptized conversos. In truth, Jewish-converso relations during the fifteenth ...
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The rationale for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was ostensibly because they exerted a negative influence on the baptized conversos. In truth, Jewish-converso relations during the fifteenth century were extremely complicated. In 1492, the reluctance of so many Jews to abandon their homeland led them to choose baptism, creating a new group of New Christians far more knowledgeable about Judaism than the descendants of the conversos of 1391. At the same time, some of the Jews who chose exile subsequently regretted their decision; those who opted for baptism between 1492 and 1499 formed a group of returnees. At the turn of the century, a Judaizing messianic movement transpired in Spain that resulted in increased inquisitorial activity.Less
The rationale for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was ostensibly because they exerted a negative influence on the baptized conversos. In truth, Jewish-converso relations during the fifteenth century were extremely complicated. In 1492, the reluctance of so many Jews to abandon their homeland led them to choose baptism, creating a new group of New Christians far more knowledgeable about Judaism than the descendants of the conversos of 1391. At the same time, some of the Jews who chose exile subsequently regretted their decision; those who opted for baptism between 1492 and 1499 formed a group of returnees. At the turn of the century, a Judaizing messianic movement transpired in Spain that resulted in increased inquisitorial activity.
Renee Levine Melammed
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195170719
- eISBN:
- 9780199835416
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195170717.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The small Jewish community of Portugal was rapidly vastly outnumbered by the incoming Spanish exiles who crossed their borders in 1492. In 1497, the king decided not to expel the Jews in his land, ...
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The small Jewish community of Portugal was rapidly vastly outnumbered by the incoming Spanish exiles who crossed their borders in 1492. In 1497, the king decided not to expel the Jews in his land, but rather subjected them all to forced conversions. Following this, anti-converso sentiment was expressed in riots in Lisbon in 1506 and eventually the Portuguese Inquisition was established in 1536 to deal with Judaizing. The conversos in Portugal could choose to remain there, as did many Lisbon bankers who even intermarried with Old Christians, or they could opt for emigration to nearby Spain once it united with Portugal in 1580, or, for that matter, they could go elsewhere. It is during this period that the converso, no matter where he lived, began to identify as a member of the Nation.Less
The small Jewish community of Portugal was rapidly vastly outnumbered by the incoming Spanish exiles who crossed their borders in 1492. In 1497, the king decided not to expel the Jews in his land, but rather subjected them all to forced conversions. Following this, anti-converso sentiment was expressed in riots in Lisbon in 1506 and eventually the Portuguese Inquisition was established in 1536 to deal with Judaizing. The conversos in Portugal could choose to remain there, as did many Lisbon bankers who even intermarried with Old Christians, or they could opt for emigration to nearby Spain once it united with Portugal in 1580, or, for that matter, they could go elsewhere. It is during this period that the converso, no matter where he lived, began to identify as a member of the Nation.
Stephen Andrew Cooper
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780198270270
- eISBN:
- 9780191603396
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198270275.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter surveys the various hypotheses suggested by scholars for establishing Victorinus’ motivations for commenting on the Pauline corpus. Reader-response criticism is employed to elucidate ...
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This chapter surveys the various hypotheses suggested by scholars for establishing Victorinus’ motivations for commenting on the Pauline corpus. Reader-response criticism is employed to elucidate Victorinus’ intentions toward his audience. The dating of the commentaries, in relation to that of his Trinitarian treatises, is closely examined. Two major thematic complexes emerge from a reading of the extant commentaries on Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians: the Trinitarian Controversy; and justification by faith, often accompanied by polemics against Judaizing Christians. Victorinus’ concern to articulate an understanding of God and Christ consonant with the creed of Nicea is patent, but the attempt to identify that concern as the major motivation for his authorship of the commentaries is unconvincing. Victorinus’ frequent polemics against Jewish practices derives his own concern about Christians engaged in Judaizing — such Judaizing being well-documented by a variety of fourth-century sources. Victorinus’ pioneering employment of the formulation ‘faith alone’ (sola fides) and his understanding of justification by faith does not reach the point of Augustine’s anti-Pelagian exegesis but is not itself reducible to an incipient Pelagianism.Less
This chapter surveys the various hypotheses suggested by scholars for establishing Victorinus’ motivations for commenting on the Pauline corpus. Reader-response criticism is employed to elucidate Victorinus’ intentions toward his audience. The dating of the commentaries, in relation to that of his Trinitarian treatises, is closely examined. Two major thematic complexes emerge from a reading of the extant commentaries on Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians: the Trinitarian Controversy; and justification by faith, often accompanied by polemics against Judaizing Christians. Victorinus’ concern to articulate an understanding of God and Christ consonant with the creed of Nicea is patent, but the attempt to identify that concern as the major motivation for his authorship of the commentaries is unconvincing. Victorinus’ frequent polemics against Jewish practices derives his own concern about Christians engaged in Judaizing — such Judaizing being well-documented by a variety of fourth-century sources. Victorinus’ pioneering employment of the formulation ‘faith alone’ (sola fides) and his understanding of justification by faith does not reach the point of Augustine’s anti-Pelagian exegesis but is not itself reducible to an incipient Pelagianism.
David Nirenberg
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226168937
- eISBN:
- 9780226169095
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226169095.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
“Judaism” was not only a religion practiced by living adherents but also a basic epistemological and ontological category in the thought of non-Jews. This chapter focuses on the interaction between ...
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“Judaism” was not only a religion practiced by living adherents but also a basic epistemological and ontological category in the thought of non-Jews. This chapter focuses on the interaction between “Jewish” figures of thought and figures of flesh to understand the tensely productive relationship between the two. What kinds of cognitive work did “Judaism” and “Judaizing” do in Christian thought? How did this work depend upon or relate to “real” Judaism or living Jews? And how did the disappearance of so many Jews in the flesh affect the kinds of work that “Jewish” concepts of thought could do? We pose these questions in order to appreciate the immense power that concepts like “Judaism” and “Judaizing” had in the production of Christian communities and identities. By focusing on how these concepts were deployed by the many (mostly Christian) poets writing in Castilian and Catalan in the years after the mass conversions, this chapter explores how those poets used ideas about Judaism in order to create a critical discourse about poetry, and how that discourse transformed and was transformed by the possibilities of existence for living Jews and Christians.Less
“Judaism” was not only a religion practiced by living adherents but also a basic epistemological and ontological category in the thought of non-Jews. This chapter focuses on the interaction between “Jewish” figures of thought and figures of flesh to understand the tensely productive relationship between the two. What kinds of cognitive work did “Judaism” and “Judaizing” do in Christian thought? How did this work depend upon or relate to “real” Judaism or living Jews? And how did the disappearance of so many Jews in the flesh affect the kinds of work that “Jewish” concepts of thought could do? We pose these questions in order to appreciate the immense power that concepts like “Judaism” and “Judaizing” had in the production of Christian communities and identities. By focusing on how these concepts were deployed by the many (mostly Christian) poets writing in Castilian and Catalan in the years after the mass conversions, this chapter explores how those poets used ideas about Judaism in order to create a critical discourse about poetry, and how that discourse transformed and was transformed by the possibilities of existence for living Jews and Christians.
Paula Fredriksen
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300225884
- eISBN:
- 9780300231366
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300225884.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter examines Paul's praise of the Law, its mandates, and its privilege, and how he urges its standards of behavior not only toward both God but also toward fellow Christ-followers on his ...
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This chapter examines Paul's praise of the Law, its mandates, and its privilege, and how he urges its standards of behavior not only toward both God but also toward fellow Christ-followers on his gentile communities. It first considers how the gospel's mission to Israel in the diaspora had absorbed sympathetic pagans without demanding that they receive circumcision. It then discusses the inconsistencies of the Law's rhetorical valence in Paul's epistles, along with the identification of “Christianity” with “Law-freeness” and what Paul has to say anything about Jews circumcising their own sons. It also analyzes Paul's negative statements about the Law to his communities mid-century, suggesting that they were intended to dissuade Christ-following pagans from Judaizing in any way other than in Paul's way.Less
This chapter examines Paul's praise of the Law, its mandates, and its privilege, and how he urges its standards of behavior not only toward both God but also toward fellow Christ-followers on his gentile communities. It first considers how the gospel's mission to Israel in the diaspora had absorbed sympathetic pagans without demanding that they receive circumcision. It then discusses the inconsistencies of the Law's rhetorical valence in Paul's epistles, along with the identification of “Christianity” with “Law-freeness” and what Paul has to say anything about Jews circumcising their own sons. It also analyzes Paul's negative statements about the Law to his communities mid-century, suggesting that they were intended to dissuade Christ-following pagans from Judaizing in any way other than in Paul's way.
Paula Fredriksen
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300225884
- eISBN:
- 9780300231366
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300225884.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter examines Paul's conviction that Jesus Christ was about to return in the way that a warrior-messiah—a messiah son of David—should return: conquering, triumphant, establishing the Kingdom ...
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This chapter examines Paul's conviction that Jesus Christ was about to return in the way that a warrior-messiah—a messiah son of David—should return: conquering, triumphant, establishing the Kingdom of God, in power. It was Christ's resurrection, communicated to Paul by his own vision, that convinced him of the nearness of the End. The chapter considers Paul's argument against apostolic competitors who want male believers to be circumcised, in which he insists that huiothesia, or sonship, comes through spirit and not flesh. It also discusses Paul's language of hagiasmos, “sanctification,” with respect to his gentiles-in-Christ, and the way that his thought integrates gentiles with Jerusalem's temple. Finally, it analyzes Paul's letter to the Romans, in which he addresses the issue of gentile Judaizing as well as the “fullness of the nations” and “all Israel.”Less
This chapter examines Paul's conviction that Jesus Christ was about to return in the way that a warrior-messiah—a messiah son of David—should return: conquering, triumphant, establishing the Kingdom of God, in power. It was Christ's resurrection, communicated to Paul by his own vision, that convinced him of the nearness of the End. The chapter considers Paul's argument against apostolic competitors who want male believers to be circumcised, in which he insists that huiothesia, or sonship, comes through spirit and not flesh. It also discusses Paul's language of hagiasmos, “sanctification,” with respect to his gentiles-in-Christ, and the way that his thought integrates gentiles with Jerusalem's temple. Finally, it analyzes Paul's letter to the Romans, in which he addresses the issue of gentile Judaizing as well as the “fullness of the nations” and “all Israel.”
Jeffrey Hart
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300087048
- eISBN:
- 9780300130522
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300087048.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Education
This chapter looks at Paul of Tarsus and how he played a major role in the coming together of biblical tradition and Greek philosophy. While he may not be so dramatic a figure as either Socrates or ...
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This chapter looks at Paul of Tarsus and how he played a major role in the coming together of biblical tradition and Greek philosophy. While he may not be so dramatic a figure as either Socrates or Jesus, Paul did play a major role in what can be called the birth of the Western mind, shaping events and being shaped by them. There was a predominated question in the mind of those Jews in and around Jerusalem at that time, and this involved the question of meaning. A Judaizing account of Jesus would place him in the tradition of the major Prophets, while for Hellenizing Jews, Jesus became intelligible through the lens of Greek philosophy. In a sense, both the Judaizing and Hellenizing Jews sought out a context of meaning in order to grasp and understand what had happened to Jesus. As a result, Paul attempted to effect in his own mind a synthesis between Athens and Jerusalem.Less
This chapter looks at Paul of Tarsus and how he played a major role in the coming together of biblical tradition and Greek philosophy. While he may not be so dramatic a figure as either Socrates or Jesus, Paul did play a major role in what can be called the birth of the Western mind, shaping events and being shaped by them. There was a predominated question in the mind of those Jews in and around Jerusalem at that time, and this involved the question of meaning. A Judaizing account of Jesus would place him in the tradition of the major Prophets, while for Hellenizing Jews, Jesus became intelligible through the lens of Greek philosophy. In a sense, both the Judaizing and Hellenizing Jews sought out a context of meaning in order to grasp and understand what had happened to Jesus. As a result, Paul attempted to effect in his own mind a synthesis between Athens and Jerusalem.
Yulia Egorova and Shahid Perwez
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199929214
- eISBN:
- 9780199332977
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199929214.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
What does it mean to be Jewish in contemporary world? This book casts a new theoretical light on this question by exploring the Bene Ephraim community of Madiga Dalits from rural Andhra Pradesh, ...
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What does it mean to be Jewish in contemporary world? This book casts a new theoretical light on this question by exploring the Bene Ephraim community of Madiga Dalits from rural Andhra Pradesh, India, who at the end of the twentieth century declared their affiliation to the Lost Tribes of Israel. Yulia Egorova and Shahid Perwez present an engaging and sophisticated ethnographic account of this community and argue that by embracing the Jewish tradition the Bene Ephraim have both expanded conventional definitions of ‘Who is a Jew’ and found a new way to celebrate their Dalit heritage and to fight caste inequality. Being Jewish in Andhra Pradesh focuses on the life of the community in the village, but also explores a wider range of ethnographic sites, including Israel and the USA, where it discusses how the time old Lost Tribes tradition is embraced today by groups and organization which support the Bene Ephraim and similar communities that declared Jewish descent in the twentieth century. Egorova and Perwez demonstrate how the example of the Bene Ephraim can throw light on a wide range of issues in national and international politics, such as the caste system and social mobility in India, the conflict in the Middle East, the rhetoric of the ‘war on terror’, and debates surrounding the Law of Return in Israel. The book will be of interest to scholars of Jewish and South Asian Studies as well as to general readers.Less
What does it mean to be Jewish in contemporary world? This book casts a new theoretical light on this question by exploring the Bene Ephraim community of Madiga Dalits from rural Andhra Pradesh, India, who at the end of the twentieth century declared their affiliation to the Lost Tribes of Israel. Yulia Egorova and Shahid Perwez present an engaging and sophisticated ethnographic account of this community and argue that by embracing the Jewish tradition the Bene Ephraim have both expanded conventional definitions of ‘Who is a Jew’ and found a new way to celebrate their Dalit heritage and to fight caste inequality. Being Jewish in Andhra Pradesh focuses on the life of the community in the village, but also explores a wider range of ethnographic sites, including Israel and the USA, where it discusses how the time old Lost Tribes tradition is embraced today by groups and organization which support the Bene Ephraim and similar communities that declared Jewish descent in the twentieth century. Egorova and Perwez demonstrate how the example of the Bene Ephraim can throw light on a wide range of issues in national and international politics, such as the caste system and social mobility in India, the conflict in the Middle East, the rhetoric of the ‘war on terror’, and debates surrounding the Law of Return in Israel. The book will be of interest to scholars of Jewish and South Asian Studies as well as to general readers.
Yulia Egorova and Shahid Perwez
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199929214
- eISBN:
- 9780199332977
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199929214.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The chapter introduces the history of the Bene Ephraim in the context of other Lost Tribes communities all over the world, the history of Dalit movements in India, and broader academic discussion ...
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The chapter introduces the history of the Bene Ephraim in the context of other Lost Tribes communities all over the world, the history of Dalit movements in India, and broader academic discussion about definitions of Jewishness, particularist and universalist tendencies in Judaism, opportunities for social mobility in India, and issues in conversion and the rhetoric of identity. The chapter also describes the methodology used in the study that this book is based on and discusses ethical considerations of our research.Less
The chapter introduces the history of the Bene Ephraim in the context of other Lost Tribes communities all over the world, the history of Dalit movements in India, and broader academic discussion about definitions of Jewishness, particularist and universalist tendencies in Judaism, opportunities for social mobility in India, and issues in conversion and the rhetoric of identity. The chapter also describes the methodology used in the study that this book is based on and discusses ethical considerations of our research.
Yulia Egorova and Shahid Perwez
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199929214
- eISBN:
- 9780199332977
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199929214.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter goes beyond the ethnographic context of the Bene Ephraim and presents a discussion of their relationship with international Jewish organizations that support ‘emerging’ Jewish ...
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This chapter goes beyond the ethnographic context of the Bene Ephraim and presents a discussion of their relationship with international Jewish organizations that support ‘emerging’ Jewish communities. The chapter explores what role this support and wider responses to the Bene Ephraim movement on the part of other Jewish communities may have played in the development of Bene Ephraim narratives, practices, and notions of relatedness. We show that though those who rendered economic and religious support to the community strived to avoid affecting what they saw as the ‘natural’ development of the Bene Ephraim Jewishness, they could not help but contribute to the community’s engagement with mainstream Judaism. Nevertheless, we argue that their relationship with the Bene Ephraim and other Judaizing groups demonstrates that in contemporary Judaism the ‘mainstream’ and the ‘marginal’ are mutually implicated, and that this relationship problematizes the perceived divide between ‘recognized’ and ‘emerging’ Jewish communities.Less
This chapter goes beyond the ethnographic context of the Bene Ephraim and presents a discussion of their relationship with international Jewish organizations that support ‘emerging’ Jewish communities. The chapter explores what role this support and wider responses to the Bene Ephraim movement on the part of other Jewish communities may have played in the development of Bene Ephraim narratives, practices, and notions of relatedness. We show that though those who rendered economic and religious support to the community strived to avoid affecting what they saw as the ‘natural’ development of the Bene Ephraim Jewishness, they could not help but contribute to the community’s engagement with mainstream Judaism. Nevertheless, we argue that their relationship with the Bene Ephraim and other Judaizing groups demonstrates that in contemporary Judaism the ‘mainstream’ and the ‘marginal’ are mutually implicated, and that this relationship problematizes the perceived divide between ‘recognized’ and ‘emerging’ Jewish communities.
Nathan J. Ristuccia
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198810209
- eISBN:
- 9780191848476
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198810209.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter evaluates various moments when detailed historical narratives survive for particular Rogation celebrations—such as for the Rogationtide of Paris in 580, a Rogationtide near Rheims in ...
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This chapter evaluates various moments when detailed historical narratives survive for particular Rogation celebrations—such as for the Rogationtide of Paris in 580, a Rogationtide near Rheims in 743, and the Rogationtide of the Milanese Patarenes in 1066. These events have much in common. In all, popular holy men split off their followers from the rest of the congregation, church hierarchies condemned these holy men as heretics, Judaizers, or magicians, and competing processions emphasized factionalism, rather than solidarity. Because the march embodied the local community, the Rogation Days were a period of danger. The procession’s formal unity clashed with actual divisions on the ground. This incongruity guaranteed that the ritual could upset the local order if performed improperly just as easily as the rite could reinforce order.Less
This chapter evaluates various moments when detailed historical narratives survive for particular Rogation celebrations—such as for the Rogationtide of Paris in 580, a Rogationtide near Rheims in 743, and the Rogationtide of the Milanese Patarenes in 1066. These events have much in common. In all, popular holy men split off their followers from the rest of the congregation, church hierarchies condemned these holy men as heretics, Judaizers, or magicians, and competing processions emphasized factionalism, rather than solidarity. Because the march embodied the local community, the Rogation Days were a period of danger. The procession’s formal unity clashed with actual divisions on the ground. This incongruity guaranteed that the ritual could upset the local order if performed improperly just as easily as the rite could reinforce order.