An Early History of Compassion
Emotion and Imagination in Hellenistic Judaism
Published on 13. September 2017
978-1-108-51553-5 (ISBN)
Description
In this book, Francoise Mirguet traces the appropriation and reinterpretation of pity by Greek-speaking Jewish communities of Late Antiquity. Pity and compassion, in this corpus, comprised a hybrid of Hebrew, Greek, and Roman constructions; depending on the texts, they were a spontaneous feeling, a practice, a virtue, or a precept of the Mosaic law. The requirement to feel for those who suffer sustained the identity of the Jewish minority, both creating continuity with its traditions and emulating dominant discourses. Mirguet's book will be of interest to scholars of early Judaism and Christianity for its sensitivity to the role of feelings and imagination in the shaping of identity. An important contribution to the history of emotions, it explores the role of the emotional imagination within the context of Roman imperialism. It also contributes to understanding how compassion has come to be so highly valued in Western cultures.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
File size
4,46 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-108-51553-5 (9781108515535)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
10/2017
Cambridge University Press
€127.72
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Person
Francoise Mirguet (Ph.D., Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, 2007) is an Associate Professor of Hebrew and Near Eastern Cultures at Arizona State University, where she is also a member of the Center for Jewish Studies. She has been the recipient of a post-doctoral fellowship from the Belgian Research Council (2007-2010); she has also been a fellow at the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies (2013), at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (2015), and at the Harvard Center for Jewish Studies (2016-2017). Her first book was published in 2009; she has also published several peer-reviewed articles.
Content
Introduction; 1. Between power and vulnerability; 2. Found in translation; 3. Within the fabric of society; 4. Bonds in flux; 5. In dialogue with the Empire; Conclusion. A discourse of the other.
