Marks of Distinction : Christian Perceptions of Jews in the High Middle Ages

Irven M Resnick

ISBN 10: 0813235693 / ISBN 13: 9780813235691

Published by Catholic University Of America Press Mai 2015, 2015

About this Item

Neuware - For medieval Latin Christendom, authoritative texts such as the Bible and the writings of the Fathers of the Church provided a skeleton that gave form to Christian perceptions of Jews and Judaism. Eye-witness testimony, hearsay, reports of converts from Judaism, and the testimony of dreams, visions, and miraculous events helped fill in the body with concrete detail. In this newest work, renowned author and scholar Irven Resnick explores the additional support drawn from medieval science. Resnick presents a captivating study of long-held medieval scientific theories that predisposed Jews to certain types of offensive behavior or even to communicate certain illnesses and disease. By arguing for a Jewish nature dictated by specific physical characteristics, medieval scientific authorities contributed to growing fears of a Jewish threat. Through the use of several illustrations from illuminated manuscripts and other media, Resnick engages readers in a discussion of the later medieval notion of Jewish difference. Externally, these differences were evidenced by marks that physically distinguished Jews--and especially Jewish males--from their Christian neighbors, for example the mark of circumcision. Internally, their melancholy humoral complexion, further weakened by the Jews' dietary restrictions, was thought to dictate their temperament and sexual mores, and to incline them toward leprosy, bleeding hemorrhoids, and other infirmities. These differences were viewed by some as ineradicable, even following religious conversion; or, at best, erasable with only the greatest difficulty over several generations.

Seller Inventory # 9780813235691

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Marks of Distinction : Christian Perceptions of Jews in the High Middle Ages
• Publisher: Catholic University Of America Press Mai 2015
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813235693
• ISBN 13: 9780813235691
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 152H x 23D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 23 millimeters depth
• Weight: 599 grams

About this title

Synopsis

For medieval Latin Christendom, authoritative texts such as the Bible and the writings of the Fathers of the Church provided a skeleton that gave form to Christian perceptions of Jews and Judaism. Eye-witness testimony, hearsay, reports of converts from Judaism, and the testimony of dreams, visions, and miraculous events helped fill in the body with concrete detail. In this newest work, renowned author and scholar Irven Resnick explores the additional support drawn from medieval science. Resnick presents a captivating study of long-held medieval scientific theories that predisposed Jews to certain types of offensive behavior or even to communicate certain illnesses and disease. By arguing for a Jewish ""nature"" dictated by specific physical characteristics, medieval scientific authorities contributed to growing fears of a Jewish threat.

Through the use of several illustrations from illuminated manuscripts and other media, Resnick engages readers in a discussion of the later medieval notion of Jewish difference. Externally, these differences were evidenced by marks that physically distinguished Jews―and especially Jewish males―from their Christian neighbors, for example the mark of circumcision. Internally, their melancholy humoral complexion, further weakened by the Jews' dietary restrictions, was thought to dictate their temperament and sexual mores, and to incline them toward leprosy, bleeding hemorrhoids, and other infirmities. These differences were viewed by some as ineradicable, even following religious conversion; or, at best, erasable with only the greatest difficulty over several generations.

About the Author

Irven M. Resnick is professor of philosophy and religion, and Chair of Excellence in Judaic Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is a corresponding fellow at the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies at Bar-Ilan University and a senior associate at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. His most recent publications include translations of Albert the Great's Questions concerning Aristotle's "On Animals"; Petrus Alfonsi's Dialogue Against the Jews; and Peter Damian's Letters, all published in the Fathers of the Church Medieval Continuation Series by CUA Press.