Christians and Jews in the Twelfth-Century Renaissance

by Abulafia; ANNA BRECHTA SAPIR

• ISBN13: 9780415000123
• ISBN10: 0415000122
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-05-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The twelfth century was a period of rapid change in Europe. The intellectual landscape was being transformed through new access to classical works throught non-Christian sources. The Christian church was strengthening its control over the priesthood and laity; within the church, a dramatic spiritual renewal was taking place. Christians and Jews in the Twelfth Century Renaissancereveals the consequences for the only remaining non-Christian minority in the heartland of Europe: the Jews. Anna Abulafia probes the anti-Jewish polemics of scholars who used the new ideas to encourage persecution of the Jews. They argued that the Jews had a different capacity for reason since they had not reached the "right" conclusion--Christianity. They formulated a universal Christendom, from which Jews were excluded. Abulafia shows how the Jews' exclusion from this view of society contributed to their growing marginalization from the twelfth century onward.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
The Twelfth-Century Renaissance	p. 9
The Schools	p. 11
The Tools of Reason and Christian Humanism	p. 23
The Christianization of Reason	p. 34
Christians and Jews in the Twelfth-Century Renaissance	p. 49
A Changing Society	p. 51
The Jewish Challenge	p. 63
The Jewish-Christian Debate	p. 75
Christianized Reason at Work	p. 77
The Testimony of the Hebrew Bible	p. 94
Bodies and Money	p. 107
Inclusiveness and Exclusion	p. 123
Epilogue	p. 137
Notes	p. 142
Bibliography	p. 175
Index	p. 188
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