Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence
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About this ebook
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.
A book that calls for major changes in the way that Jewish history is written and conceptualized, Reckless Rites will be essential reading for scholars and students of history, religion, and Jewish-Christian relations.
Read more from Elliott Horowitz
Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World
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The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Beautiful Death: Jewish Poetry and Martyrdom in Medieval France Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Living Together, Living Apart: Rethinking Jewish-Christian Relations in the Middle Ages Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPower in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImperialism and Jewish Society: 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resisting History: Historicism and Its Discontents in German-Jewish Thought Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMothers and Children: Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scandal of Kabbalah: Leon Modena, Jewish Mysticism, Early Modern Venice Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Evangelicals in Egypt: Missionary Encounters in an Age of Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCultural Exchange: Jews, Christians, and Art in the Medieval Marketplace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bible in Arabic: The Scriptures of the "People of the Book" in the Language of Islam Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Handless Maiden: Moriscos and the Politics of Religion in Early Modern Spain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDefining Neighbors: Religion, Race, and the Early Zionist-Arab Encounter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Apple of His Eye: Converts from Islam in the Reign of Louis IX Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Andalus and Sefarad: On Philosophy and Its History in Islamic Spain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from London to Vienna Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lost Archive: Traces of a Caliphate in a Cairo Synagogue Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mirror of His Beauty: Feminine Images of God from the Bible to the Early Kabbalah Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In the Shadow of the Virgin: Inquisitors, Friars, and Conversos in Guadalupe, Spain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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