1st Edition

The Medieval Roots of Antisemitism Continuities and Discontinuities from the Middle Ages to the Present Day

Edited By Jonathan Adams, Cordelia Heß Copyright 2018
    488 Pages
    by Routledge

    488 Pages 45 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book presents a fresh approach to the question of the historical continuities and discontinuities of Jew-hatred, juxtaposing chapters dealing with the same phenomenon – one in the pre-modern, one in the modern period. How do the circumstances of interreligious violence differ in pre-Reformation Europe, the modern Muslim world, and the modern Western world? In addition to the diachronic comparison, most chapters deal with the significance of religion for the formation of anti-Jewish stereotypes. The direct dialogue of small-scale studies bridging the chronological gap brings out important nuances: anti-Zionist texts appropriating medieval ritual murder accusations; modern-day pogroms triggered by contemporary events but fuelled by medieval prejudices; and contemporary stickers drawing upon long-inherited knowledge about what a "Jew" looks like. These interconnections, however, differ from the often-assumed straightforward continuities between medieval and modern anti-Jewish hatred. The book brings together many of the most distinguished scholars of this field, creating a unique dialogue between historical periods and academic disciplines.



    Introduction  1. Volcanic Archives: Towards a Direct Comparison of Pre-Modern and Modern Forms of Antisemitism  Jonathan Adams and Cordelia Heß  Part I: Longest Hatred versus Invented Tradition  2. The Medieval (and Ancient) Roots of Antisemitism  Steven Englund  3. The Making of Antisemitism in Nineteenth-Century Europe as an Invention of Tradition  Ulrich Wyrwa  4. What is Antisemitism Like?: An Analogical Approach  Brian Klug  Part II: Antisemitism Without Jews  5. Reception of Medieval European Anti-Jewish Concepts in Late Medieval and Early Modern Norway  Yvonne Friedman  6. The Imitation Game?: Japanese Attitudes Towards Jews in Modern Times  Rotem Kowner  Part III: Christianity and Antisemitism  7. The Role of Medieval Northern Europe in Generating Virulent Anti-Jewish Imagery  Robert Chazan  8. Between Anti- and Another Modernity: Anti-Judaism, the Imaginary Jew, and Catholic Antisemitism in Fin-de-Siècle Poland (1880–1914)  Grzegorz Krzywiec  9. The Gospel According to Gibson: Medieval Passion Plays, a Mean-Spirited Nun, and What One Movie Can Tell Us about Jewish-Christian Relations at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century  Jonathan Adams  Part IV: Islam and Antisemitism  10. Narrating Antisemitism in Historical and Contemporary Turkey  Behruz Davletov and Tahir Abbas  11. Arab Antisemitic Discourse: Importation, Internalisation, and Recycling  Esther Webman  Part V: Bodies, Gender, and Antisemitism  12. What’s in a Nose? The Origins, Development, and Influence of Medieval Anti-Jewish Caricature  Sara Lipton  13. Jewish Bodies in Postcards and Street Art: Changes in Anti-Jewish Visual Polemics  Isabel Enzenbach  14. Masculinities, Carnal Israel, and Antisemitisms  Victor Seidler  Part VI: Blood Libel and Ritual Murder Allegations  15. The Ritual Murder Accusation as Medieval Invention: Linking Libels and Boy Martyrs  Miriamne Ara Krummel  16. Norwich 1144: Origins and Afterlives  Miri Rubin  17. A Rational Model for Blood Libel: The Aftonbladet Affair  Jonathan Adams and Cordelia Heß  Part VII: Neighbours  18. "...and order was upset": Easter, the Eucharist, and the Jews of Prague, 1389  Milan Žonca  19. Towards 1391: The Anti-Jewish Preaching of Ferrán Martínez in Seville  Maya Soifer Irish  20. "The Present Causes of Past Effects": The Background Beliefs of the Kielce Pogrom (4 July 1946)  Joanna Tokarska-Bakir  Part VIII: Economy and Finance  21. Jewish Usurers, Blood Libel, and the Second-Hand Economy: The Medieval Origins of a Stereotype (from the Thirteenth to the Fifteenth Century)  Giacomo Todeschini  22. The Deeper the Roots, the Deadlier the Antisemitism?: Comparing Images of Jewish Financial Control in Modern Germany and the United States  Richard E. Frankel  Part IX: Land and Home  23. The Theology of the Land in Jewish-Christian Relations and its Role in Misunderstandings Between Jews and Christians  Jesper Svartvik  24. Yearning for Zion in Jewish Tradition  Ruth Langer  25. Between Eternity and Wandering: The Anti-Jewish Discourse on the Wandering Jew in the Long Nineteenth Century in Germany and Austria  Tuvia Singer  Part X: Medieval Roots and Anti-Judaism  26. Europe, Christianity, Violence, and Jew-Hatred  Victor Seidler  27. Postface  Carlo Ginzburg  28. Which Past for Which Present?: A Reply to Carlo Ginzburg’s "Postface" on Anti-Judaism  David Nirenberg

    Biography

    Jonathan Adams is a researcher for the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, and docent in the Department of Scandinavian Languages at Uppsala University.



    Cordelia Heß is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg.