Robert Chazan, ed., The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol. 6 – The Middle Ages: The Christian World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018) (original) (raw)
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2023
The essay provides an aerial view of selected key developments in recent academic explorations of Jewish religion, theology, and thought in medieval through incipient modern times. To provide an integrating perspective for so broad an overview in so brief a compass, it appends to the already bulky title a further specification: "with emphasis on the 'cultural turn.'" The aim is to evoke some high points, note conspicuous patterns and new departures, and venture a brief assessment of the state of the field (such as it is one) and its prospects.
Church History, 2007
The theme of Jonathan Elukin's elegant and well-argued book is Jewish-Christian coexistence in medieval Europe-how was it possible given Christian prejudice and anti-Jewish violence? Older medieval Jewish history stressed the themes of "scholars and suffering," embodying what the late Salo Baron termed a "lachrymose" view of Jewish history. In recent years historians have stressed how medieval Europe became a "persecuting society," following the work of R. I. Moore, The Formation of a Persecuting Society (1987), and David Nirenberg, Communities of Violence (1996). Elukin argues for a different approach to medieval Jewish experience, eschewing a "one-dimensional narrative of victimization" (p. 4) for a more nuanced inquiry that explores the social and political ties that bound Jews to medieval society. While other medieval Jewish historians such as Robert Chazan and Ivan Marcus have made some of the same points in the past, Elukin is the first to write a sustained book-length argument along these lines. The book consists of six chapters. The first three are chronological, covering late antiquity to the early Middle Ages, the Carolingians to the twelfth century, and the High Middle Ages. The final three chapters are more topical, covering social integration, violence, and expulsion and continuity. In making his argument, Elukin does not introduce any texts that were previously unknown to scholarship, but rather he discusses the usual texts cited in Jewish histories, while offering new insights concerning their context. For example, when discussing royal Jewish charters, Elukin asserts that such agreements should be understood as evidence of Jewish integration into medieval society. Since every medieval person was bound to more powerful people, the terms of these charters are indicative of a group's importance. Elukin points out that the provisions of these charters parallel those of the clergy, who were, after all, a privileged order of society (p. 63). Perhaps the most novel argument that Elukin makes in the course of his book is his interpretation of medieval violence against Jews. Elukin asserts that it is critical to understand how Jews viewed generalized violence in medieval
Robert Chazan, *Church, State, and Jew in the Middle Ages* (New York: Behrman House, 1980)
Reoue des etudes fuioes for "The Confessions of a Medieval Jewish Convert," by Solomon Grayzel, from Historia Judaica, XVII, © 1955. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations for selection from Jacob Marcus, The Jen in the Medieoat World. Library of Congresi CatalogiBg la Pablicadoa Data Main entry under title: Church, State, and Jew in the Middle Ages. (Library of Jewish studies) Includes index. 1. Jews-History-70-1789-Sources. 2. Jews-Legal status, laws, etc.-Sources. 1. Chazan, Robert.