Severus of Minorca: Letter on the Conversion of the Jews - Letter on the Conversion of the Jews

Zusatztext This slim volume brings to light an important and absorbing text that will surprise and delight scholars of Jewish-Christian relations ... the editor of this edition establishes the letter's authenticity; and the edition itself provides a clean text. I am confident that this publication will stimulate much new scholarship ... The Latin text is presented in a critical edition that appears to have been prepared with great care. It is clear, well punctuated, normalized, and easy to read. The text is accompanied (on the facing page) by a fluent English translation that is a model of the genre. Klappentext This book provides an edited text, introduction, and the first English translation of a central document in the history of religious coercion in late antiquity: Severus of Minorca's Letter on the Conversion of the Jews. The Letter describes the forced conversion of the Jews of Minorca to Christianity in AD 418, allegedly under the influence of St. Stephen's relics. Although ostensibly a hagiographical work, the Letter is fundamentally an anti-Jewish document, and therein lies its interest for historians. It offers a fascinating perspective on Jewish-Christian relations in a Mediterranean town, and on the motives for religious intolerance in the unsettled age of the Germanic invasions. In addition, its wealth of information about a diaspora Jewish community in the Western empire makes it unique among the surviving sources. Zusammenfassung This book provides an edited text, introduction, and the first English translation of a central document in the history of religious coercion in late antiquity: Severus of Minorca's Letter on the Conversion of the Jews. The Letter describes the forced conversion of the Jews of Minorca to Christianity in AD 418, allegedly under the influence of St Stephen's relics. Although ostensibly a hagiographical work, the Letter is fundamentally an anti-Jewish document, and therein lies its interest for historians. It offers a fascinating perspective on Jewish-Christian relations in a Mediterranean town, and on the motives for religious intolerance in the unsettled ages of the Germanic invasions. In addition, its wealth of information about a diaspora Jewish community in the western empire makes it unique among the surviving sources....

Product details

• Authors: Severo, Severus of Minorca
• Assisted by: Scott Bradbury (Editor), Bradbury Scott (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 29.08.1996
• EAN: 9780198267645
• ISBN: 978-0-19-826764-5
• No. of pages: 154
• Series: Oxford Early Christian Texts; Oxford Early Christian Texts
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Judaism; RELIGION / Spirituality, RELIGION / Judaism / General, RELIGION / Christianity / History, RELIGION / Judaism / History, RELIGION / Ecumenism & Interfaith, RELIGION / Christianity / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Islamic Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Jewish Studies, Christianity, History of Religion, Jewish Studies, Judaism, Interfaith relations, Christian spirituality & religious experience, Spirituality and religious experience, Relating to Jewish people and groups, The Early Church, Social groups: religious groups and communities