Philosophy and Jewish Society in the Late Middle Ages

2014 ◽  
pp. 59-93
Author(s):  
Marc Saperstein
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Dynamic Changes ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
Hebrew Language ◽  
Philosophical Texts

This chapter examines the influence of philosophy within Jewish society. It considers the dynamic changes which occurred when philosophical texts begin to penetrate a cultural environment where such texts had never before been studied or even accessible, and what happened when philosophical ideas started to appear in forms intended for the consumption of the ordinary educated Jew. The chapter goes on to seek out whoever paid for the scholars who translated Arabic (or Latin) philosophical texts into the Hebrew language or for the scribes who copied manuscripts of lengthy, specialized, technical works. From there, the chapter finds a setting for this study of philosophy in Jewish society, investigating whether or not philosophy was studied in formal Jewish academies or were merely private arrangements between teacher and student, or provider and consumer. The chapter then turns to a potential correlation between interest in philosophy and socioeconomic status. Finally, it considers whether or not philosophy undermined commitment to traditional beliefs and practices, or was used to rationalize a flagging allegiance to Jewish distinctiveness.

Knights, Cooks, Monks and Tourists: Elite and Popular Experience of the Late-Medieval Jerusalem Pilgrimage

2006 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 99-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryne Beebe
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Popular Interest ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The Church

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the late Middle Ages was the centre of a range of pilgrimage activity in which elite and popular beliefs and practices overlapped and complicated each other in exciting ways. The Jerusalem pilgrimage, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in particular, abounded in multiple levels of ‘elite’ and ‘popular’ experience. Through the pilgrimage writings of a fifteenth-century Dominican pilgrim named Felix Fabri, this paper will explore two specific levels: the distinction between noble and lower-class experiences of the Jerusalem pilgrimage (both physical and spiritual), and the distinction between spiritually ‘elite’ and ‘popular’ conceptions of pilgrimage itself – that uneasy balance between the spiritually-sophisticated, contemplative experience of pilgrimage promoted by St Jerome and the more ‘popular’ interest in traditional ‘tourist’ activities, such as gathering indulgences or stocking up on holy souvenirs and relics to take home. However, as we will see, even these tourist acts were grounded in the orthodox spirituality of late-medieval piety, and the elite and popular experiences of pilgrimage, whether social or spiritual, were not so distinct as they may first appear.

Jews Reading Arthurian Romances from the Middle Ages: On the Reception of Chrétien de Troyes'sYvain, the Knight of the Lion, based on Manuscript JTS Rab. 1164

AJS Review ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-401
Author(s):  
Rella Kushelevsky
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
French Literature ◽  
Chretien De Troyes ◽  
Arthurian Romance ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
Arthurian Romances ◽  
Christian Society ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
Cultural Interactions

Evidence of Jewish readerships for French literature in the Middle Ages, particularly romances, has been accumulating. This article focuses on a recently discovered tale from Italy, copied in Hebrew in MS JTS Rab. 1164, as a prism through which to explore the cultural interactions between Jewish and Christian society in Italy of the early Renaissance. I first analyze the Jewish tale, which I posit has an affinity with the Arthurian romanceYvain, The Knight of the Lionby Chrétien de Troyes, and expound on the thematic and poetic links between the two stories. I then examineYvain’s reception in Italy as part of a broader phenomenon involving the acceptance, copying, adaptation, and assimilation of French romances in Italy into vernacular Italian. Finally, I present the story and the factors that played a role in its reception in the context of Italian Jewish society. The entirety of the review offers an overall portrait of the story's reception as a unique socioliterary phenomenon shared by Jews and non-Jews alike in Italy in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

scholarly journals Bringing Pilgrimage Home: The Production, Iconography, and Domestic Use of Late-Medieval Devotional Objects by Ordinary People

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Blick
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Domestic Use

Tracing the devotional beliefs and practices of everyday people during the late Middle Ages through documents is tricky, as most were written with other purposes in mind. To make up for this, it is necessary to examine the abundant material culture that survives from this period. By analyzing a variety of finds and comparing them with well-known objects used by the upper classes, it becomes evident that ordinary people shared the same religious views and practices. Both classes were interested in pieces that inspired active devotional and amuletic practice. They were intended to be gazed at and handled, then rested on a tabletop or nailed to a wall. Some folded, some rang, some could be blown through, while others were gazed upon. Lower quality materials and production of pieces had no impact on their ultimate use in the home.

The church in the West Highlands in the late middle ages

2003 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-46
Author(s):  
A. D. M. Barrell
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The Church

Forma Dat Esse

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 423-446
Author(s):  
Sylvain Roudaut
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Progressive Decline ◽  
De Trinitate ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Middle Ages

Abstract This paper offers an overview of the history of the axiom forma dat esse, which was commonly quoted during the Middle Ages to describe formal causality. The first part of the paper studies the origin of this principle, and recalls how the ambiguity of Boethius’s first formulation of it in the De Trinitate was variously interpreted by the members of the School of Chartres. Then, the paper examines the various declensions of the axiom that existed in the late Middle Ages, and shows how its evolution significantly follows the progressive decline of the Aristotelian model of formal causality.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document