Fashioning Jewish Identity in Medieval Western Christendom

jan peczkis|Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Author Robert Chazan begins with an introduction to early Christianity. He acknowledges the sometimes-denied fact that TOLDOT YESHU (TOLEDOT YESHU) was in fact a derogatory Jewish counter-story of the life of Jesus Christ. (p. 6, pp. 74-75).


    Fashioning Jewish Identity in Medieval Western Christendom  
    Author Robert Chazan begins with an introduction to early Christianity. He acknowledges the sometimes-denied fact that TOLDOT YESHU (TOLEDOT YESHU) was in fact a derogatory Jewish counter-story of the life of Jesus Christ. (p. 6, pp. 74-75).

However, Chazan is not interested in Jewish parodies of Christian beliefs. Instead, he turns his focus on serious Jewish counter-claims against the Christian faith, and discusses doctrinal differences in arcane levels of detail. He takes a middle view of the Jewish understanding of Christian beliefs. On one hand, they seldom descended to the level of caricature, but, on the other hand, they failed to present a full and fair picture of twelfth- and thirteenth-century Christian thinking. (p. 329).

The content of this work is somewhat one-sided. The author focuses on Christian truth-claims and Jewish counterclaims, but devotes very little attention to Christian criticisms of Jewish religion, notably the Talmud.

IMPLICATIONS OF USURY

Jews and Christians sparred over whose members were, in general, more ethical. Interestingly, one of the arguments, presented by the Jewish side, was that, whereas many Christian usurers lend at interest to Jews and to Christians, Jewish usurers do not lend at interest to their fellow Jews. (p. 303). This was supposed to show that Jews are more ethical than Christians even in usury. (However, it could also show that Jews are more prejudiced than Christians--in that Jews follow a Talmudic-style dual morality, in their conduct towards Jews and non-Jews, much more strictly than Christians employ their softer version of dual morality in behaviors towards Christians and non-Christians.)

JEWS AND CHRISTIANS: DEEPER ISSUES

The differences between Christians and Jews went far beyond doctrines. Chazan writes, “To cite briefly two points of intense disagreement in assessment of Christianity and Judaism and of Christians and Jews, Christian thinkers believed that Judaism—and not Christianity—was steeped in obvious irrationality. For Christian thinkers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Judaism was mired in primitive conceptualization of the deity, conceptualization far inferior to that of Christianity. Yet more strikingly, Christian leadership saw Judaism and Jews—not Christianity and Christians—as mired in the corporeal and the material. Jews were alleged to be corporeal in theological thinking, in their reading of Scripture, in their sense of service to God, in their everyday lives and behaviors.” (p. 357).

To see my review of another one of Robert Chazan’s works, please click on Reassessing Jewish Life in Medieval Europe