“You Acted in Ignorance”

2021 ◽  
pp. 133-140
Author(s):  
David Lloyd Dusenbury
Keyword(s):  
Close Reading ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Canonical Texts ◽  
Deep Vein

This chapter offers a close reading of certain texts of Paul and Luke-Acts which have been misread in Christian tradition. It is suggested, here, that the first Christian homily (meaning the first homily in Acts) sharply distinguishes between the killing of Jesus and the killing of the Christ. This distinction structures Peter’s homily in Acts 2, which begins with what his hearers know (that a man named Jesus had been crucified by Pilate on the insistence of Caiaphas), and it ends with what they do not know (that Jesus had been legitimated by his resurrection as the Christ). The logic of Peter’s homily is precisely that Jesus’ killers had killed the Christ; but it is no less precisely that Jesus’ killers had unknowingly killed the Christ. A crucial idea in the first Christian homily, then, is that there are no ‘Christ-killers’ (a venomous term of later centuries). Christian anti-Semitism not only reveals a deep vein of malice and bitterness, but a failure to comprehend the Christians’ canonical texts.

Dostoevsky and the Word “Jew”: A Quantitative Analysis of F.M. Dostoevsky’s Greatest Novels

Libri ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yigal Nirenberg ◽  
Gila Prebor
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Digital Humanities ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Distant Reading ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Great Writer ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The relationship of F.M Dostoevsky with Jews attracted the attention of numerous scholars throughout the years, many of whom attempted to grapple with the views of the great writer and their origin. In this article we will attempt to show this relationship by analyzing six of Dostoevsky’s greatest novels, written through the entirety of his career. We are analyzing these novels using Distant Reading in conjunction with Close Reading, tools that are commonly used in the field of digital humanities, which enabled us to show visually the extent of F.M. Dostoevsky’s engagement with this topic. The study poses two research questions: 1. To what extent did the writer use the more denigrating term “Zhid”? 2. Can we see a correlation between the writer’s portrayal of Jews with the definition of Anti-Semitism as it was known during his era? The obtained results show that there is clearly a correlation between the definition of anti-Semitism as it was understood at the time of Dostoevsky and the “Jew” as depicted in his novels, as the financial motif is paramount in the depiction of Jews as this is the central topic in 49% of the negative sentences in which the word “Jew” appears, with 59% of these sentences classified as stereotypes. The negative financial stereotype constitutes 32% of the entire corpus. In addition, we found the term “Zhid” is commonly used by the writer, a variation of which constitutes 75% of the total terms used to depict Jews.

A Matter of Distinction: On Recent Work by Jan Assmann

AJS Review ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 385-393
Author(s):  
Eliza Slavet
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
English Language ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
History Of ◽  
Canonical Texts

The study of memory and its collaborators (history, narrative, and trauma) has been at the center of both the German- and English-language academic worlds for at least the last fifteen years. While many of the “canonical” texts overlap, the anxieties and implications of recent scholarship have often been quite distinct, particularly in discussions of the memory and history of the Holocaust, and more generally, anti-Semitism, Jews, and Judaism. This phenomenon is played out in the debates about Jan Assmann's work, particularly since the publication of Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism (1997).

scholarly journals The First Witnesses. Martha, Longinus and Veronica in the Slavic Manuscript Tradition (Initial Observations)

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 101-126
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Skowronek ◽  
Marek Majer
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Manuscript Tradition ◽  
The One ◽  
Canonical Texts ◽  
Patron Saints ◽  
Popular Texts

The epithet ‘first witnesses’, conferred on the three saints in the title, is but a conventional designation; it seems fitting as common for the figures of saints, who gave proof of their devotion to Christ. Otherwise, although they make no simultaneous appearance in any of the canonical texts, there are – interestingly – far more interconnections between the three characters in pseudo-canonical and legendary literature than could be surmised from the lack thereof in the Bible. The aim of the paper is to present a literary picture of three New Testament heroes, as commemorated in different literary texts representing diverse cultural registers, even from the Ancient Christian Times until the close of the Middle Ages. Among them there are short and extended lives and passions of saints, liturgical poetry, as well as specific, more popular texts, such as ‘tales’ and legends. The material under discussion largely includes texts that form a part of the Slavic Orthodox tradition, depicting them on the background of fairly wellknown works belonging to the Western Christian tradition. It turns out that the legends are inspired by the canonical text on the one hand, while on the other hand they themselves infiltrate official texts – they become officially sanctioned as soon as their popularity is taken over and adopted by liturgical practice. It should be borne in mind that those legends – part of which is known both in the Eastern and in the Western Christianity – confirm one further crucial characteristic of texts constituting the canonical and pseudo-canonical tradition: the commonness of themes and motifs which can without exaggeration be called ‘wandering’. They determine the fact that there is hardly any originality in the formation of the characters of patron saints; moreover, on the level of creating the notion of sainthood and its reception, there seem to be far more common points than differences between both of the Early Christian traditions – the East and the West. The paper is an attempt to point out how the Christian tradition exemplifies various manifestations of holiness, what means it has for annotating, elucidating and embellishing the Biblical hypertext, and how it adapts pseudo-canonical legends for the purposes of liturgical use.

Environmental Political Theory and the History of Western Political Theory

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harlan Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Environmental Discourse ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
History Of ◽  
Canonical Texts

This chapter discusses how contemporary environmental political theories utilize “classic” or “canonical” texts in the history of political theory in the West from Plato to the twentieth century, primarily through appropriations and critiques of older conceptions of political society and “nature.” The chapter shows why appropriations and critiques of the works of older theories such as those of Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Burke, Mill, Marx, and Arendt matter, and should matter, for the new subfield of environmental political theory. Even if older texts cannot provide definitive answers to current questions, they can inform and invigorate environmental discourse as well as exhibit its essential politicalness. Conversely, close reading of the canon can help generate further questions about humans’ relation to their environments, thus encouraging, it is hoped, a more vital green public sphere.

scholarly journals Christopher Isherwood's "Right" and "Wrong" Anti-Semitism: A Political Reading

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesc Gámez Toro
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
Identity Theory ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Main Target

There are numerous references to Christopher Isherwood’s prejudices against Jews in scholarly literature; however, this subject has not yet been approached in depth. This study aims to fill that void by dissecting the author’s bias against Jews: its origin and nature. The article discusses the references to Jews in the writer’s novels, memoirs and diaries within the frame of reference of Tajfel and Turner’s social identity theory which holds that humans innately derogate those who are perceived as being opposed. A close reading reveals that Isherwood, in a specific social and political context, considered Jews alien to him and —in accordance with social identity theory predictions— he instinctually derogated them. Before his stay in Berlin, Judaism did not interest him and he disliked Jews because he regarded them as ‘exotic’. During the rise and rule of Nazism, the writer felt compelled to support Jews —although reticently— because they had become the main target of persecution of national socialism. Later, once in America, Isherwood distinguished between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ anti-Semitism and stated that Jewish politics were whining and belligerent. Even though he had Jewish friends, his diaries show a persistent instinctual dislike of Jews. Ironically, the anti-prejudice fighter could not help having his own prejudices.

From Dreyfus in the Colony to Céline’s Anti-Semitic Style

2020 ◽  
pp. 68-94
Author(s):  
David Fieni
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Majority Population ◽  
Dreyfus Affair ◽  
History Of ◽  
French Colonial ◽  
Anti Jewish ◽  
The Way

Orientalist philology brought people deemed Semitic together under the rubric of Semitism, and it subsequently broke up this forced grouping into the distinct categories of Jew, Arab, and Muslim. Chapter 3 demonstrates how the Dreyfus Affair exacerbated tensions between Jews, Muslims, and European residents of French colonial Algeria at the end of the nineteenth century. It explores the history of philological Semitism, discusses the legal status of Jews and Muslims in Algeria, and summarizes how the Dreyfus Affair affected Algerian politics and business. In order to think through the stylistics of French colonial anti-Semitism, the chapter examines pro-Jewish and anti-Jewish texts from the Algerian press of the 1890s. It ends with a close reading of Céline’s Bagatelles pour un massacre, demonstrating the way that popular literary philology reveals a lasting fracture between Jews, Arabs, and Muslims, while also exposing a process of psychological minoritization of the French majority population.

Recovering the Priority of Spiritual Experience: A Review of Elizabeth Dreyer's Holy Presence, Holy Power

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-319
Author(s):  
Dale Coulter
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Medieval Christianity

AbstractElizabeth Dreyer has made an important contribution to the issue surrounding the so-called neglect of the Spirit in western medieval Christianity. Her primary aim is to debunk the idea of an anemic western pneumatological tradition by recovering the image-laden language about the Holy Spirit in this tradition. To achieve this goal, she proposes a 'close reading' of the texts of ancient and medieval thinkers grounded in a particular method that she sketches in the opening chapter. The following review provides a survey of Dreyer's book and engages her on the question of methodology. In her attempt to hold together spirituality and theology, Dreyer raises the issue of how the past might be re-appropriated in a way that allows the Christian tradition to remain a living and vibrant force in contemporary Christianity.

From Fear to Awe in Luzzatto’s Mesillat Yesharim

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-299
Author(s):  
Jonathan Garb
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Great Awakening ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Divine Presence ◽  
Religious Influence ◽  
Canonical Texts

Abstract Perhaps the key term in musar writing is yir’ah. In early modern musar texts, usually incorporating kabbalistic discourse, this term is rendered as ‘fear.’ A striking exception is R. Moshe Ḥayyim Luzzatto’s Mesillat Yesharim, arguably one of the canonical texts of Jewish modernity. A close reading of the chapters devoted to yir’ah reveals that Luzzatto frames this term as ‘awe,’ moving away from the discourse on punishment and hell typical of early modern musar. An examination of the psychology behind this move shows that Luzzatto associates fear with the lower instinct of self-preservation, calling for its sublimation into self-abnegation in awe of divine presence. Mesillat Yesharim then became foundational for similar moves in later Jewish modernity. Without wishing to venture into claims as to inter-religious influence and response, it is instructive to compare Luzzatto’s approach to that of his Christian contemporaries, the ‘fire and brimstone’ preachers of the Great Awakening.

Zionism and Post-Holocaust Christian Theology: A Jewish Perspective

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-54
Author(s):  
Mark Braverman
Keyword(s):  
Political Process ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Holy Land ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
State Of Israel

Analysis of the Israel–Palestine conflict tends to focus on politics and history. But other forces are at work, related to beliefs and feelings deeply embedded in Judeo-Christian tradition. The revisionist Christian theology that emerged following the Nazi Holocaust attempted to correct the legacy of Christian anti-Semitism. In the process it has fostered an unquestioning support of the State of Israel that undermines efforts to achieve peace in the region. The conflict in Christian thought between a commitment to universal justice and the granting to Jews a superior right to historic Palestine permeates the current discourse and is evidenced in the work of even the most politically progressive thinkers. The article reviews the work of four contemporary Christian theologians and discusses the implications of this issue for interfaith dialogue, the political process, and the achievement of peace in the Holy Land.

scholarly journals We Spring from that History: Bernard Lazare, between Universalism and Particularism

Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 322
Author(s):  
Joel Swanson
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Textual Tradition ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Political Response ◽  
Dreyfus Affair ◽  
French Republicanism ◽  
Modern Jewish Thought

This paper examines the evolution of Jewish identity in the works of writer and critic Bernard Lazare. It suggests that Lazare’s oeuvre elucidates one of the central tensions in modern Jewish thought: the division between those thinkers who use the reputedly universalist Greek philosophical tradition as a lens to analyze and critique Judaism, and those who use the Jewish textual tradition to challenge and reconceive non-Jewish philosophy. Lazare situated himself on both sides of this divide during his life. In his early work, he used the universalist, laical ideology of French republicanism to attack what he perceived as the inflexible, regressive, anti-modernist character of Talmudic Judaism. Lazare’s thought later shifted in the wake of his involvement in the Dreyfus Affair, and he sought to reclaim an ethnic, nationalist conception of Jewish identity as the source for a communal Jewish political response to rising anti-Semitism. Yet through a close reading of Lazare’s writings, the paper suggests that Lazare’s intellectual evolution was never as complete or totalizing as he perhaps wished. His earlier work occasionally used Jewish sources to critique philosophical universalism, while hints of philosophical critiques of the particularism of Jewish texts such as the Talmud remained in his later revalorization of Jewish identity. Lazare thereby reveals how universalism and particularism remain mutually implicated within modern Jewish thought. The paper thus suggests avenues for Lazare to be productively read within the broader canon of modern Jewish thinkers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document