Medieval Exegesis and Religious Difference
Commentary, Conflict, and Community in the Premodern Mediterranean
Published on 1. May 2015
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-8232-6462-9 (ISBN)
Description
Jews, Christians, and Muslims all have a common belief in the sanctity of a core holy scripture, and commentary on scripture (exegesis) was at the heart of all three traditions in the Middle Ages. At the same time, because it dealt with issues such as the nature of the canon, the limits of acceptable interpretation, and the meaning of salvation history from the perspective of faith, exegesis was elaborated in the Middle Ages along the faultlines of interconfessional disputation and polemical conflict. This collection of thirteen essays by world-renowned scholars of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam explores the nature of exegesis during the High and especially the Late Middle Ages as a discourse of cross-cultural and interreligious conflict, paying particular attention to the commentaries of scholars in the western and southern Mediterranean from Iberia and Italy to Morocco and Egypt.
Unlike other comparative studies of religion, this collection is not a chronological history or an encyclopedic guide. Instead, it presents essays in four conceptual clusters ("Writing on the Borders of Islam," "Jewish-Christian Conflict," "The Intellectual Activity of the Dominican Order," and "Gender") that explore medieval exegesis as a vehicle for the expression of communal or religious identity, one that reflects shared or competing notions of sacred history and sacred text. This timely book will appeal to scholars and lay readers alike and will be essential reading for students of comparative religion, historians charting the history of religious conflict in the medieval Mediterranean, and all those interested in the intersection of Jewish,
Christian, and Muslim beliefs and practices.
Unlike other comparative studies of religion, this collection is not a chronological history or an encyclopedic guide. Instead, it presents essays in four conceptual clusters ("Writing on the Borders of Islam," "Jewish-Christian Conflict," "The Intellectual Activity of the Dominican Order," and "Gender") that explore medieval exegesis as a vehicle for the expression of communal or religious identity, one that reflects shared or competing notions of sacred history and sacred text. This timely book will appeal to scholars and lay readers alike and will be essential reading for students of comparative religion, historians charting the history of religious conflict in the medieval Mediterranean, and all those interested in the intersection of Jewish,
Christian, and Muslim beliefs and practices.
Reviews / Votes
"The quality of the studies in Medieval Exegesis and Religious Difference is of a very high level and many [of the essays] break new ground based on the close study of manuscripts or the examination of familiar texts from new perspectives." -- -Barry Dov Walfish University of Toronto Library "...the volume itself is well produced and rewards patient reading." -- -Matthew Gabriele Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean "An impressively coherent collection illuminating the rich cultural and historical importance of biblical exegesis in the medieval Mediterranean world. Medieval Exegesis and Religious Difference assembles a formidable cadre of creative scholars whose rigorous investigations render it a fascinating and important contribution." -- -Jeremy Cohen Tel Aviv UniversityMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
623 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8232-6462-9 (9780823264629)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Szpiech
Medieval Exegesis and Religious Difference
Commentary, Conflict, and Community in the Premodern Mediterranean
E-Book
05/2015
1st Edition
Fordham University Press
€53.99
Available for download
Ryan Szpiech
Medieval Exegesis and Religious Difference
Commentary, Conflict, and Community in the Premodern Mediterranean
E-Book
05/2015
1st Edition
Fordham University Press
€39.49
Available for download
Person
Ryan Szpiech is Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His most recent book is Conversion and Narrative: Reading and Religious Authority in Medieval Polemic (University of Pennsylvania, 2012), and he is also currently editor-in-chief of the journal Medieval Encounters.
Content
Note on Transliteration and References Introduction Ryan Szpiech Part I: Strategies of Reading on the Borders of Islam 1. The Father of Many Nations: Abraham in al-Andalus Sarah Stroumsa 2. Ibn al-Marmah's Notes on Ibn Kammnah's Examination of the Three Religions: The Issue of the Abrogation of Mosaic Law Sidney Griffith 3. Al-Biq Seen through Reuchlin: Reflections on the Islamic Relationship with the Bible Walid Saleh Part II: Dominicans and Their Disputations 4. Two Dominicans, A Lost Manuscript, and Medieval Christian Thought on Islam Thomas E. Burman 5. The Anti-Muslim Discourse of Alfonso Buenhombre Antoni Biosca i Bas 6. Reconstructing Medieval Jewish-Christian Disputations Ursula Ragacs Part III: Authority and Scripture Between Jewish and Christian Readers 7. Reconstructing Thirteenth-Century Jewish-Christian Polemic: From Paris 1240 to Barcelona 1263 and Back Again Harvey J. Hames 8. A Christianized Sephardic Critique of Rashi's Pesha? in Pablo de Santa Maria's Additiones ad Postillam Nicolai de Lyra Yosi Yisraeli 9. Jewish and Christian Interpretations in Arragel's Biblical Glosses Angel Saenz-Badillos Part IV: Exegesis and Gender: Vocabularies of Difference 10. Between Epic Entertainment and Polemical Exegesis: Jesus as Anti-Hero in Toledot Yeshu Alexandra Cuffel 11. Sons of God, Daughters of Man, and the Formation of Human Society in Nahmanides's Exegesis Nina Caputo 12. Late Medieval Readings of the Strange Woman in Proverbs Esperanza Alfonso 13. Exegesis as Autobiography: The Case of Guillaume de Bourges Steven F. Kruger Notes Bibliography Index