Memory and History in Christianity and Judaism

by Signer, Michael A.; Crown-Minow Conference University of Notre Dame

• ISBN13: 9780268034603
• ISBN10: 0268034605
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Notre Dame Pr

Summary

Both Judaism and Christianity are communities bound by rituals of commemoration. At significant moments of gathering, each community reaffirms its identity in the present by calling to mind images and words from the past. The rise of modernity, however, has significantly altered the intellectual and social contexts in which Jews and Christians gather for prayer. During the past hundred years, both groups have been engaged in a creative dialogue with the historical disciplines, and these conversations have significantly altered their respective approaches to theological and religious language. Modernity has undermined a naive conjunction between memory and ritualization and challenged the validity of memory grounded in the authority of divine revelation.

The essays and responses in this important volume reflect a unique effort to respond to the disjunction between history and memory that has developed in the modern period. They affirm both the difficulty and the desirability of joining history and memory.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Memory and History in the Jewish and Christian Traditions	ix
Michael A. Signer
Memory in Ancient Israel	1	(18)
Marc Brettler
Memory, History, Revelation: Writing the Dead Other	19	(22)
Edith Wyschogrod
Space, Time, and Memory	35	(6)
Mary Gerhart
Does God Remember? A Liturgical Theology of Memory	41	(44)
Lawrence A. Hoffman
Anamnesis in Modern Eucharistic Debate	73	(12)
Paul Bradshaw
Memory, Gender, and Identity in Modern Jewish History	85	(28)
Paula E. Hyman
The Feminization of Judaism	105	(8)
Thomas Kselman
Refractions of the Blood Libel in Modern Literature	113	(32)
Arnold J. Band
Trials of Modernity: Literary Responses to Blood Libel	134	(11)
Krzysztof Ziarek
The Celebration of the Sacraments and the Teaching of the Commandments in the Age of Religious Consumerism, or History and Memory in Christian Communities since the Second Vatican Council	145	(38)
Hanspeter Heinz
History, Memory, and Relationship	170	(13)
David Ellenson
One in Abraham? The Significance of Abraham for Jews, Christians, and Muslims Today	183	(30)
Karl-Josef Kuschel
Abraham: The One and the Many	204	(9)
Michael A. Signer
Continuing the Conversation: Some Conclusions	213	(4)
Lawrence Cunningham
Contributors	217	(2)
Index	219