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This social and religious history of European Jews in the early modern period is unique in placing Jewish experience in the context of Christian society. Beginning with late medieval Jewry and the expulsion from Spain in 1492 of Jews who refused to convert to Christianity, John Edwards goes on to analyse the role of Jews during the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, and ends with the early development of religious toleration and the Enlightenment. He examines the complexity of personal and communal belief and practice, and also describes the social, political and economic experience of Jews and Christians, bringing together Christian and Jewish historiography in order to enrich our understanding of the social relations between the two.
List of contents
Preface Introduction: From medieval to modern times? 1 Jewish expulsion and dispersion from Spain 2 Renaissance, Reformation, and the Jews 3 Jews in Italy and the Counter-Reformation 4 Jews under Catholicism and Protestantism: the Netherlands, the Empire, and Poland 5 A ‘modern’Jewish life? 6 Spiritual crisis and toleration 7 Jews and Christians on the eve of the Enlightenment Select bibliography Index
About the author
Dr John Edwards, University of Oxford, UK.
Summary
This social and religious history of European Jews in the early modern period is unique in placing Jewish experience in the context of Christian society. Beginning with late medieval Jewry and the expulsion from Spain in 1492 of Jews who refused to convert to Christianity, John Edwards goes on to analyse the role of Jews during the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, and ends with the early development of religious toleration and the Enlightenment. He examines the complexity of personal and communal belief and practice, and also describes the social, political and economic experience of Jews and Christians, bringing together Christian and Jewish historiography in order to enrich our understanding of the social relations between the two.
Additional text
`Those who work on contemporary Jewish-Christian relations would do well to read this book.' - The Tablet
`The social history of religion is a relatively new branch of the discipline. The publishers are to be commended for devoting to it their new series on Christianity and society in the modern world.' - Social History Society Newsletter
`This is a useful, learned and thought-provoking study.' - History
