| Millenarianism and Messianism in Early Modern European Culture: Volume I: Jewish Messianism in the Early Modern World 2001 Edition Contributor(s): Goldish, M. (Editor), Popkin, R. H. (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0792368509 ISBN-13: 9780792368502 Publisher: Springer OUR PRICE: $104.49 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: July 2001 Annotation: This volume brings together ten essays by leading scholars about Jewish messianic ideas and movements in the early modern world. While much of the previous literature in this field has focused on the internal dynamics of Jewish thought, these essays stress the broader historical and philosophical context. The papers deal with such topics as messianic ideology in the wake of the Spanish Expulsion, messianism and Renaissance philosophy, the Sabbatean movement and its impact on Christian thought, messianism and conversion, the relationship of Christian kabbalists to Jewish messianic ideas, the Frankist movement, and Freemasonry. As a group, the essays here represent a challenge to Gershom Scholem's reading of Jewish messianism in this era, offering a rich tapestry of relationships between the religious imagination of Jews and that of their neighbors. Scholars and students of early modern history, eschatology and religion will find much food for thought here. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Messianic Judaism - Religion | History - Religion | Judaism - History |
| Dewey: 236.9 |
| LCCN: 2001018637 |
| Series: International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives Inte |
| Physical Information: 0.88" H x 6.52" W x 9.62" (1.33 lbs) 246 pages |
| Themes: - Religious Orientation - Christian - Religious Orientation - Jewish |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The earliest scientific studies of Jewish messianism were conducted by the scholars of the Wissenschaft des Judentums school, particularly Heinrich Graetz, the first great Jewish historian of the Jews since Josephus. These researches were invaluable because they utilized primary sources in print and manuscript which had been previously unknown or used only in polemics. The Wissenschaft studies themselves, however, prove to be polemics as well on closer inspection. Among the goals of this group was to demonstrate that Judaism is a rational and logical faith whose legitimacy and historical progress deserve recognition by the nations of Europe. Mystical and messianic beliefs which might undermine this image were presented as aberrations or the result of corrosive foreign influences on the Jews. Gershom Scholem took upon himself the task of returning mysticism and messianism to their rightful central place in the panorama of Jewish thought. Jewish messianism was, for Scholem, a central theme in the philosophy and life of the Jews throughout their history, shaped anew by each generation to fit its specific hopes and needs. Scholem emphasized that this phenomenon was essentially independent of messianic or millenarian trends among other peoples. For example, in discussing messianism in the early modern era Scholem describes a trunk of influence on the Jewish psyche set off by the expulsion from Spain in 1492. |