Series: Judaism and Jewish Life
Topic Areas: Comparative Religion, Interfaith Dialogue
Level: Academic
Bibliographic Data: 1. Judaism – Relations – Christianity. 2. Christianity and other religions – Judaism. 3. Christianity and anti-Semitism – History. 4. Anti-Semitism – History. I. Title.
Summary: Persecution, Polemic, and Dialogue follows the interaction between Jews and Christians through the ages in all its richness, complexity, and diversity. This collection of essays analyzes anti-Semitism, perceptions of the Other, and religious debates in the Middle Ages and proceed to consider modern and contemporary interactions, which are marked by both striking continuity and profound difference. These include controversies among historians, the promise and challenge of interfaith dialogue, and the explosive exchanges surrounding Mel Gibson’s film on the Passion. This volume will engage scholars, students, and any reader intrigued by one of the longest and most fraught intergroup relationships in history.
Author: David Berger (Ph.D. Columbia University, 1970) is a former President of the Association for Jewish Studies and Ruth and I. Lewis Professor and Dean at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University.
Reviews:
“Few bring to the subject of Jewish-Christian relations the singular blend of insight, erudition, and passion that characterizes David Berger’s Persecution, Polemic, and Dialogue; and few collections of essays constitute as coherent and accessible an introduction to a difficult subject as this volume certainly does. Professor Berger’s studies of the major issues in the encounter between Jews and Christians during the Middle Ages, in the way that modern writers have understood that encounter, and in that encounter’s enduring impact on Jewish-Christian interaction today reflect keen critical scholarship on the one hand, and a resolute commitment to Jewish tradition on the other. Without compromising either, Berger boldly addresses the thorniest, most sensitive of issues – from the Crusades to the blood libels to the supersessionism of the present pope – with candor, fairness, and wit. No reader, of whatever faith or critical disposition, will leave this book unrewarded.”
-- Jeremy Cohen, Abraham and Edita Spiegel Family Foundation Professor of European Jewish History, Tel Aviv University
“This Masterful collection of essays is vintage David Berger – thoughtful, engaged, broad and insightful. Trained as a medievalist, specializing in the Jewish-Christian debate, Prof. Berger demonstrates that to understand the present relation between the two religions, one must go back in history and see what lessons can be derived from the past. Published over the course of a long career, these articles have stood the test of time and retain their vitality and liveliness, providing a model of careful and independent thinking on oftentimes sensitive subjects. “
--Daniel J. Lasker, Norbert Blechner Professor of Jewish Values, Ben-Gurion University of Negev
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