RABBINIC MIDRASH: PUBLIC OR PRIVATE

2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Porton
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Literary Phenomenon

AbstractThis paper argues that Rabbinic Midrash is a definable literary phenomenon that has its primary locus within the Rabbinic schoolhouses of late antiquity. It argues against the claim that much of our current Rabbinic Midrash originated in the Rabbinic sermons of late antiquity. While some rabbis may have delivered sermons in synagogues or to the "community" in different public settings, we shall see that there are few specific indications of that fact. When we find rabbis within the context of synagogues, they most often are not delivering sermons. And when rabbis "preach" to the community, it is often in cities known for their Rabbinic academies. It therefore is unclear exactly to whom these "sermons" were delivered. Medieval and early modern sources indicate that Rabbinic sermons were a part of synagogue activity on Sabbaths as well as on special occasions, such as weddings and funerals. Even during these periods, however, the exact content of these sermons is in many cases far from certain. Also, changes that occurred within the Jewish communities and in their surrounding environments help to explain why Jewish sermons appear at that time. The existence of Rabbinic sermons during the medieval period accordingly does not testify to their presence in late antiquity.

scholarly journals Arheološke raziskave na lokaciji Bazoviška ulica 5a v Kopru / Archaeological excavations at the Bazoviška ulica 5a site in Koper

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-107
Author(s):  
Alenka Tomaž ◽  
Zrinka Mileusnić
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Late Modern ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

Numerous archaeological remains of settlement, economic and burial character have been preserved in the old town of Koper. The earliest settlement in the area of Koper’s city centre dates back to antiquity, more precisely to the 1st century AD, which was followed by a sequence of archaeological remains of the Medieval period, early Modern and late Modern Period. The article presents the results of the archaeological research at the Koper site, Bazoviška ulica 5a. Discovered archaeological remains can be dated on the basis of archaeological finds from the late Antiquity to the late Modern period.

From Crusades to Colonization: Violence in Secular and Religious Political Theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Xavier Scott
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
International Law ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
State Power ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Beliefs And Values

This paper examines the transition in political philosophy between the medieval and early-modern periods by focusing on the emergence of sovereignty doctrine. Scholars such as Charles Taylor and John Rawls have focused on the ability of modern-states to overcome conflicts between different religious confessionals. In contrast, this paper seeks to examine some of the peace-promoting features of Latin-Christendom and some of the conflict-promoting features of modern-secular states. The Christian universalism of the medieval period is contrasted with the colonial ventures promoted by the Peace of Westphalia. This paper’s goal is not to argue that secularism is in fact more violent than religion. Rather, it seeks to demonstrate the major role that religion played in early modern philosophy and the development of sovereignty doctrine. It argues against the view that the modern, secular state is capable of neutrality vis-à-vis religion, and also combats the view that the secular nature of modern international law means that it is neutral to the different beliefs and values of the world’s peoples. These observations emphasize the ways in which state power and legitimacy are at the heart of the secular turn in political philosophy. 

The Sahidic Tripartite Isaiah: Origins and Transmission within the Coptic Manuscript Culture

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-406
Author(s):  
Alin Suciu
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Manuscript Culture ◽  
Book Of Isaiah

Abstract This study shows that the book of Isaiah was sometimes divided by Coptic scribes into three parts, each of them being copied individually into a separate manuscript. By surveying the available evidence, the author argues that this practice originated in the 4th century CE and was in use until the 8th century CE. The origins and eventual disappearance of tripartite Isaiah must be connected with the transformations that affected Coptic codices and scribal traditions from late antiquity to the medieval period.

scholarly journals Whose Golden Age? Some Thoughts on Jewish-Christian Relations in Medieval Iberia

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Ray
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Social Standing ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Spanish History ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Interfaith Relations ◽  
Medieval Iberia

The medieval period in Spanish history has alternately been cast as a Golden Age of interfaith harmony and an example of the ultimate incompatibility of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities.  In this essay, I suggest that a better way to understand interfaith relations in medieval Iberia is to think about these religious communities in less monolithic terms.   With regard to Jewish-Christian relations in particular, factors such as wealth, social standing, and intellectual interests were as important as religious identity in shaping the complex bonds between Christians and Jews. 

Elisheva Carlebach. Divided Souls: Converts from Judaism in Germany, 1500–1750. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. xii, 324 pp.

AJS Review ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 388-389
Author(s):  
R. Po-chia Hsia
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
New Haven ◽  
Yale University ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Jewish Historiography ◽  
Modern Germany ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Late Eighteenth

Unlike the Sephardim, who accepted the concept of taqiyya and the practice of marranism to cope with forced conversions under Islam, the Ashkenazim, especially the Jewish communities of Germanophone Central Europe, developed an uncompromising rejection of Christian baptism. Instead of marranism and deception under Islam, the Ashkenazim, in the persecutions of the Crusades and after, developed a strong sense of martyrdom and detested baptism, whether forced or voluntary, as ritual and spiritual defilement and pollution. The small number of Jewish converts to Christianity were not so much sinners but apostates (meshummadim or the vertilgten). Given this Ashkenazi tradition, it is not surprising that converts were marginalized in Jewish historiography and scholarship. Nevertheless, as Carlebach argues persuasively in this book, they played a significant role in Jewish–Christian relations in early modern Germany; and given the fact that conversions rose rapidly in the late eighteenth century, it is all the more important to understand the prehistory of Jewish conversion and integration in Germany after Emancipation.

scholarly journals Jesuit Sanctity: Hypothesizing the Continuity of a Hagiographic Narrative of the Modern Age

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Franco Motta ◽  
Eleonora Rai
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
History Of

Abstract The introduction to this special issue provides some considerations on early modern sanctity as a historical object. It firstly presents the major shifts in the developing idea of sanctity between the late medieval period and the nineteenth century, passing through the early modern construction of sanctity and its cultural, social, and political implications. Secondly, it provides an overview of the main sources that allow historians to retrace early modern sanctity, especially canonization records and hagiographies. Thirdly, it offers an overview of the ingenious role of the Society of Jesus in the construction of early modern sanctity, by highlighting its ability to employ, create, and play with hagiographical models. The main Jesuit models of sanctity are then presented (i.e., the theologian, the missionary, the martyr, the living saint), and an important reflection is reserved for the specific martyrial character of Jesuit sanctity. The introduction assesses the continuity of the Jesuit hagiographical discourse throughout the long history of the order, from the origins to the suppression and restoration.

scholarly journals A primera sang: batalles nupcials en la Catalunya barroca. Els epitalamis al galant Alba de Francesc Fontanella

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 229
Author(s):  
Anna Garcia Busquets
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Critical Edition ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Double Reading ◽  
Metaphorical Language ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Baroque Poetry ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
Catalan Literature

Resum: A l’antiga Grècia i Roma els epitalamis actuaven com a preludi eròtic de la nit nupcial. Claudià, a l’antiguitat tardana, va tractar el motiu del desflorament com a pugna amoris amb lasciu refinament. A partir del Quattrocento italià, l’Europa moderna va reprendre amb profusió aquesta tradició laudatòria d’erotisme estilitzat amb cants consagrats a la unió de les famílies il·lustres. El poeta barroc Francesc Fontanella (1622-1682/83) va compondre quatre magnífics epitalamis dedicats a les noces d’un enigmàtic personatge: el ‘galant Alba’. Diversos estudis han intentat, sense èxit, desvelar-ne la identitat. En aquestes composicions, Fontanella va emprar un llenguatge refinat i metafòric per descriure gradualment els estadis que porten a la unió carnal entesa com a lluita amorosa: els versos, rics en imatges florals i minerals, s’han de reconvertir al seu sentit concret a través d’una doble lectura. L’estudi inclou l’edició crítica dels textos i la contextualització del cicle dins del corpus epitalàmic europeu, així com una argumentació sobre la possible identitat dels protagonistes. Paraules clau: literatura catalana moderna; poesia barroca; epitalami; Francesc Fontanella Abstract: In ancient Greece and Rome, epithalamia acted as an erotic prelude to the wedding night. In Late Antiquity, Claudian explored the theme of deflowering as pugna amoris with lascivious refinement. As of 15th century Italian poets, modern Europe recommenced this laudatory tradition of stylised eroticism with songs devoted to the union of illustrious families. The Baroque poet Francesc Fontanella (1622-1682/3) composed four magnificent epithalamia dedicated to the wedding of an enigmatic character: ‘gallant Alba’, of whom several studies have tried, unsuccessfully, to reveal his identity. In these compositions, Fontanella employed refined, metaphorical language to gradually describe the stages of carnal union understood as a love battle: the verses, rich in floral and mineral imagery, must be transformed into their particular meaning through double reading. The study includes the critical edition of the texts and a contextualisation of the series within the European corpus of epithalamia, as well as an argument on the possible identity of the protagonists. Keywords: Early modern Catalan literature; Baroque poetry; epithalamium; Francesc Fontanella

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