| Elliott Horowitz, born in New York City in 1953, is (2003) an Associate Professor in the Department of Jewish History at Bar-Ilan University. He is coeditor of the Jewish Quarterly Review.
Abstract: Historical accounts of Jewish violence--particularly against Christians--have long been explosive material. Some historians have distorted these records for anti-Semitic purposes. Others have discounted, dismissed, or simply ignored the evidence, often for apologetic purposes.
In Reckless Rites, Elliott Horowitz takes a new and forthright look at both the history of Jewish violence since late antiquity and the ways in which generations of historians have grappled with that history. In the process, he has written the most wide-ranging book on Jewish violence in any language, and the first to fully acknowledge and address the actual anti-Christian practices that became part of the playful, theatrical violence of the Jewish festival of Purim. He has also examined the different ways in which the book of Esther, upon which the festival is based, was used by Jews and Christians over the centuries--whether as an ancient mirror of modern tribulations or as the scriptural basis for anti-Semitic claims regarding the bloodthirstiness of the Jews.
Reckless Rites reassesses the historical interpretation of Jewish violence--from the alleged massacre of thousands of Christians in seventh-century Jerusalem to later medieval attacks on Christian symbols such as the crucifix, transgressions that were often committed in full knowledge that their likely consequence would be death.
...
Table of Contents:
Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
PART ONE: BIBLICAL LEGACIES 21
CHAPTER ONE: The Book of Esther For and Against 23
CHAPTER TWO: A Pair of Queens 46
CHAPTER THREE: Mordecai's Reckless Refusal 63
CHAPTER FOUR: The Eternal Haman 81
CHAPTER FIVE: Amalek The Memory of Violence and the Violence of Memory 107
PART TWO: JEWS LIVING DANGEROUSLY 147
CHAPTER SIX: "The Fascination of the Abomination" Jews (and Jewish Historians) Confront the Cross 149
CHAPTER SEVEN: Mild Men or Wild Men? Historical Reflections on Jews and Violence 187
CHAPTER EIGHT: Ancient Jewish Violence and Modern Scholarship 213
CHAPTER NINE: Purim, Carnival, and Violence 248
CHAPTER TEN: Local Purims and the Invention of Tradition 279
Abbreviations 317
Bibliography 319
Index 325
|
No comments:
Post a Comment