The Medieval Roots of Antisemitism

The Medieval Roots of Antisemitism PDF Author: Jonathan Adams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351120808
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description
This book presents a fresh approach to the question of the historical continuities and discontinuities of Jew-hatred, juxtaposing chapters dealing with the same phenomenon – one in the pre-modern, one in the modern period. How do the circumstances of interreligious violence differ in pre-Reformation Europe, the modern Muslim world, and the modern Western world? In addition to the diachronic comparison, most chapters deal with the significance of religion for the formation of anti-Jewish stereotypes. The direct dialogue of small-scale studies bridging the chronological gap brings out important nuances: anti-Zionist texts appropriating medieval ritual murder accusations; modern-day pogroms triggered by contemporary events but fuelled by medieval prejudices; and contemporary stickers drawing upon long-inherited knowledge about what a "Jew" looks like. These interconnections, however, differ from the often-assumed straightforward continuities between medieval and modern anti-Jewish hatred. The book brings together many of the most distinguished scholars of this field, creating a unique dialogue between historical periods and academic disciplines.

The Medieval Roots of Antisemitism

The Medieval Roots of Antisemitism PDF Author: Jonathan Adams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351120808
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 462

Get Book

Book Description
This book presents a fresh approach to the question of the historical continuities and discontinuities of Jew-hatred, juxtaposing chapters dealing with the same phenomenon – one in the pre-modern, one in the modern period. How do the circumstances of interreligious violence differ in pre-Reformation Europe, the modern Muslim world, and the modern Western world? In addition to the diachronic comparison, most chapters deal with the significance of religion for the formation of anti-Jewish stereotypes. The direct dialogue of small-scale studies bridging the chronological gap brings out important nuances: anti-Zionist texts appropriating medieval ritual murder accusations; modern-day pogroms triggered by contemporary events but fuelled by medieval prejudices; and contemporary stickers drawing upon long-inherited knowledge about what a "Jew" looks like. These interconnections, however, differ from the often-assumed straightforward continuities between medieval and modern anti-Jewish hatred. The book brings together many of the most distinguished scholars of this field, creating a unique dialogue between historical periods and academic disciplines.

Jewish Magic and Superstition

Jewish Magic and Superstition PDF Author: Joshua Trachtenberg
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812208331
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
Alongside the formal development of Judaism from the eleventh through the sixteenth centuries, a robust Jewish folk religion flourished—ideas and practices that never met with wholehearted approval by religious leaders yet enjoyed such wide popularity that they could not be altogether excluded from the religion. According to Joshua Trachtenberg, it is not possible truly to understand the experience and history of the Jewish people without attempting to recover their folklife and beliefs from centuries past. Jewish Magic and Superstition is a masterful and utterly fascinating exploration of religious forms that have all but disappeared yet persist in the imagination. The volume begins with legends of Jewish sorcery and proceeds to discuss beliefs about the evil eye, spirits of the dead, powers of good, the famous legend of the golem, procedures for casting spells, the use of gems and amulets, how to battle spirits, the ritual of circumcision, herbal folk remedies, fortune telling, astrology, and the interpretation of dreams. First published more than sixty years ago, Trachtenberg's study remains the foundational scholarship on magical practices in the Jewish world and offers an understanding of folk beliefs that expressed most eloquently the everyday religion of the Jewish people.

Medieval Stereotypes and Modern Antisemitism

Medieval Stereotypes and Modern Antisemitism PDF Author: Robert Chazan
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520917405
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
The twelfth century in Europe, hailed by historians as a time of intellectual and spiritual vitality, had a dark side. As Robert Chazan points out, the marginalization of minorities emerged during the "twelfth-century renaissance" as part of a growing pattern of persecution, and among those stigmatized the Jews figured prominently. The migration of Jews to northern Europe in the late tenth century led to the development of a new set of Jewish communities. This northern Jewry prospered, only to decline sharply two centuries later. Chazan locates the cause of the decline primarily in the creation of new, negative images of Jews. He shows how these damaging twelfth-century stereotypes developed and goes on to chart the powerful, lasting role of the new anti-Jewish imagery in the historical development of antisemitism. This coupling of the twelfth century's notable intellectual bequests to the growth of Western civilization with its legacy of virulent anti-Jewish motifs offers an important new key to understanding modern antisemitism.

From Anti-Judaism to Anti-Semitism

From Anti-Judaism to Anti-Semitism PDF Author: Robert Chazan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107152461
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
This book traces the hardening of Christian attitudes to Jews, Judiasm and their history during the second half of the Middle Ages.

The Jew as Ally of the Muslim

The Jew as Ally of the Muslim PDF Author: Allan Harris Cutler
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Book Description
Argues that after the rise of Islam in the seventh century, Christian-Jewish relations cannot be understood apart from Christian-Islamic relations. Shows that the outburst of antisemitism in Western Europe after 1000 was due primarily not to the deicide charge or socio-economic rivalry, but to the clash between Christianity and Islam, in which Jews were seen as dangerous allies of the Muslims. Analyzes the anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim polemical literature. The Spanish Inquisition, too, was motivated by racial and political motives in persecuting the Conversos who were sincere converts. The unprecedented mass conversions of the Jews of Spain and southern Italy in the late Middle Ages can also be explained by the attraction of Spanish Christian culture with its strong Muslim influence.

The Jew in the Medieval Book

The Jew in the Medieval Book PDF Author: Anthony Bale
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521863546
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
Bale examines the ways in which English writers, artists and readers used and abused the Jewish image in the period following the Jews' expulsion from England in 1290. He examines how anti-semitic images developed and came to endure far beyond the Middle Ages.

Anti-Judaism

Anti-Judaism PDF Author: David Nirenberg
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1781852960
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 782

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Book Description
A magisterial history, ranging from antiquity to the present, that reveals anti-Judaism to be a mode of thought deeply embedded in the Western tradition. There is a widespread tendency to regard anti-Judaism – whether expressed in a casual remark or implemented through pogrom or extermination campaign – as somehow exceptional: an unfortunate indicator of personal prejudice or the shocking outcome of an extremist ideology married to power. But, as David Nirenberg argues in this ground-breaking study, to confine anit-Judaism to the margins of our culture is to be dangerously complacent. Anti-Judaism is not an irrational closet in the vast edifice of Western thought, but rather one of the basic tools with which that edifice was constructed.

Toward a Definition of Antisemitism

Toward a Definition of Antisemitism PDF Author: Gavin I. Langmuir
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520908512
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Toward a Definition of Antisemitism offers new contributions by Gavin I. Langmuir to the history of antisemitism, together with some that have been published separately. The collection makes Langmuir's innovative work on the subject available to scholars in medieval and Jewish history and religious studies. The underlying question that unites the book is: what is antisemitism, where and when did it emerge, and why? After two chapters that highlight the failure of historians until recently to depict Jews and attitudes toward them fairly, the majority of the chapters are historical studies of crucial developments in the legal status of Jews and in beliefs about them during the Middle Ages. Two concluding chapters provide an overview. In the first, the author summarizes the historical developments, indicating concretely when and where antisemitism as he defines it emerged. In the second, Langmuir criticizes recent theories about prejudice and racism and develops his own general theory about the nature and dynamics of antisemitism.

Religious Violence Between Christians and Jews

Religious Violence Between Christians and Jews PDF Author: A. Abulafia
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 140391382X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
Exploring deep into the history of the conflict between Christians and Jews from medieval to modern times, this wide-ranging volume - which includes newly uncovered material from the recently opened post-Soviet archives - seeks to bring positive understanding to controversial issues of inter-faith confrontation. Here, a number of eminent scholars from around the globe, come together to discuss openly and objectively the dynamics of Jewish creative response in the face of violence. Through the analysis of the histories of both the Christian and Jewish religious traditions, we are brought to an understanding of their relationship as a modern day phenomenon.

A History of Antisemitism in Canada

A History of Antisemitism in Canada PDF Author: Ira Robinson
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 1771121688
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
This state-of-the-art account gives readers the tools to understand why antisemitism is such a controversial subject. It acquaints readers with the ambiguities inherent in the historical relationship between Jews and Christians and shows these ambiguities in play in the unfolding relationship between Jews and Canadians of other religions and ethnicities. It examines present relationships in light of history and considers particularly the influence of antisemitism on the social, religious, and political history of the Canadian Jewish community. A History of Antisemitism in Canada builds on the foundation of numerous studies on antisemitism in general and on antisemitism in Canada in particular, as well as on the growing body of scholarship in Canadian Jewish studies. It attempts to understand the impact of antisemitism on Canada as a whole and is the first comprehensive account of antisemitism and its effect on the Jewish community of Canada. The book will be valuable to students and scholars not only of Canadian Jewish studies and Canadian ethnic studies but of Canadian history.