For medieval Latin Christendom, authoritative texts such as the Bible
and the writings of the Fathers of the Church provided a skeleton that
gave form to Christian perceptions of Jews and Judaism. Eye-witness
testimony, hearsay, reports of converts from Judaism, and the testimony
of dreams, visions, and miraculous events helped fill in the body with
concrete detail. In this newest work, renowned author and scholar Irven
Resnick explores the additional support drawn from medieval science.
Resnick presents a captivating study of long-held medieval scientific
theories that predisposed Jews to certain types of offensive behavior or
even to communicate certain illnesses and disease. By arguing for a
Jewish "nature" dictated by specific physical characteristics, medieval
scientific authorities contributed to growing fears of a Jewish threat.
Through the use of several illustrations from illuminated manuscripts
and other media, Resnick engages readers in a discussion of the later
medieval notion of Jewish difference. Externally, these differences were
evidenced by marks that physically distinguished Jews--and especially
Jewish males--from their Christian neighbors, for example the mark of
circumcision. Internally, their melancholy humoral complexion, further
weakened by the Jews' dietary restrictions, was thought to dictate their
temperament and sexual mores, and to incline them toward leprosy,
bleeding hemorrhoids, and other infirmities. These differences were
viewed by some as ineradicable, even following religious conversion; or,
at best, erasable with only the greatest difficulty over several
generations.
This work clarifies that the one doctrine of modern anti-Semitism
typically thought to distinguish it so clearly from medieval
anti-Judaism--the impossibility of escaping one's identity as a Jew even
through religious conversion--had begun to appear by the end of the
Middle Ages.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Irven M. Resnick is professor of philosophy and religion, and Chair of
Excellence in Judaic Studies at the University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga. He is a corresponding fellow at the Ingeborg Rennert Center
for Jerusalem Studies at Bar-Ilan University and a senior associate at
the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. His most recent
publications include translations of Albert the Great's Questions
concerning Aristotle's "On Animals"; Petrus Alfonsi's Dialogue Against
the Jews; and Peter Damian's Letters, all published in the Fathers of
the Church Mediaeval Continuation Series by CUA Press.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
"This is a book of generous profusion. It should be read not just by
those interested in medieval Jews, but by all concerned to understand
the fears that lead majorities to persecute minorities as an enemy
within." --Catholic Historical Review
