Fashioning Jewish Identity in Medieval Western Christendom [Paperback]

This 2003 study examines the techniques of persuasion adopted by the Jewish polemicists.This book studies in detail five twelfth- and thirteenth-century polemicists from southern France and northern Spain. These are the first known Jewish polemicists from western Christendom, who identified their perceptions of major Christian challenges, and the lines of response proposed to fellow Jews who came increasingly under religious pressure. The analysis suggests that these Jewish polemicists ultimately attempted to offer their followers a starkly contrasting portrait of Christian and Jewish society, the former powerful but irrational and morally debased, the latter weak but profoundly rational and morally elevated.This book studies in detail five twelfth- and thirteenth-century polemicists from southern France and northern Spain. These are the first known Jewish polemicists from western Christendom, who identified their perceptions of major Christian challenges, and the lines of response proposed to fellow Jews who came increasingly under religious pressure. The analysis suggests that these Jewish polemicists ultimately attempted to offer their followers a starkly contrasting portrait of Christian and Jewish society, the former powerful but irrational and morally debased, the latter weak but profoundly rational and morally elevated.Five twelfth- and thirteenth-century polemicists from southern France and northern Spain are the first known Jewish polemicists from western Christendom, who identified major Christian challenges, as well as appropriate responses for fellow Jews under ever-increasing religious pressure. This analysis suggests that the Jewish polemicists ultimately attempted to offer their followers a significantly contrasting portrait of Christian and Jewish society: the former as powerful but irrational and morally debased; the latter as weak, but profoundly rational and morally elevated.Foreword; Short titles for frequently cited texts; Introduction; Part I. lã×