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This book traces the hardening of Christian attitudes to Jews, Judiasm and their history during the second half of the Middle Ages.
List of contents
Prologue; Part I. Jewish History: Classical Christian Constructions: 1. The Synoptic Gospels; 2. Paul; 3. Eusebius; 4. Augustine; Part II. Jewish History: Medieval Christian Constructions: 5. The crusading epoch and spirit: Peter the Venerable; 6. The discovery of Jewish sources: the Pugio Fidei; 7. Introduction of medieval slanders: the Fortalitium Fidei; 8. Looking backward and looking forward: Martin Luther; Epilogue.
About the author
Robert Chazan is Scheuer Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, where he was the founding chair of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. He has published many books on medieval Jewish history and numerous articles in American and foreign academic journals. His two recent books are The Jews of Medieval Western Christendom (2006) and Reassessing Jewish Life in Medieval Europe (2010), both published by Cambridge University Press. He is a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America and the American Academy of Jewish Research.
Summary
Chazan analyses how during the second half of the Middle Ages, damning imagery of Jews and Judaism proliferated, with a subsequent impact on broader Christian thinking about the trajectory of Jewish history. Portrayals of the Jewish past and future offered by major intellectual leaders, once ambiguous, became increasingly negative.
