Christians And Jews: In The Twelfth Century Renaissance

Description: The 12th century was a period of rapid change in Europe. The intellectual landscape was being transformed by new access to classical works through non-Christian sources. The Christian church was consequently trying to strengthen its control over the priesthood and laity and within the church a dramatic spiritual renewal was taking place. This work reveals the consequences for the only remaining non-Christian minority in the heartland of Europe - the Jews. Anna Abulafia probes the anti-Jewish polemics of scholars who used the new ideas to re-define the position of the Jews within Christian society. They argued that the Jews had a different capacity for reason since they had not reached the 'right' conclusion - Christianity. They formulated a universal construct of humanity which coincided with universal Christendom, from which the Jews were excluded. Dr Abulafia shows how the Jews' exclusion from this view of society contributed to their growing marginalization from the 12th century onwards. Table of Contents: Preface Introduction I. The Twelfth-Century Renaissance 1. The Schools 2. The Tools of Reason and Christian Humanism 3. The Christianization of Reason II. Christians and Jews in the Twelfth-century Renaissance 4. A Changing Society 5. The Jewish Challenge III. The Jewish-Christian Debate 6. Christianized Reason at Work 7. The Testimony of the Hebrew Bible 8. Bodies and Money 9. Inclusiveness and Exclusion Epilogue