Jacob's Shipwreck

Diaspora, Translation, and Jewish-Christian Relations in Medieval England

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Medieval, Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, Church, Church History
Cover of the book Jacob's Shipwreck by Ruth Nisse, Cornell University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ruth Nisse ISBN: 9781501708312
Publisher: Cornell University Press Publication: April 18, 2017
Imprint: Cornell University Press Language: English
Author: Ruth Nisse
ISBN: 9781501708312
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication: April 18, 2017
Imprint: Cornell University Press
Language: English

Jewish and Christian authors of the High Middle Ages not infrequently came into dialogue or conflict with each other over traditions drawn from ancient writings outside of the bible. Circulating in Hebrew and Latin translations, these included the two independent versions of the Testament of Naphtali in which the patriarch has a vision of the Diaspora, a shipwreck that scatters the twelve tribes. The Christian narrative is linear and ends in salvation; the Jewish narrative is circular and pessimistic. For Ruth Nisse, this is an emblematic text that illuminates relationships between interpretation, translation, and survival.In Nisse's account, extrabiblical literature encompasses not only the historical works of Flavius Josephus but also some of the more ingenious medieval Hebrew imaginative texts, Aesop's fables and the Aeneid. The Latin epic tradition, as it happens, includes a fascinating Hebrew intervention. While Christian-Jewish relations in medieval England and Northern France are often associated with persecutions of Jews in the wake of the Crusades and Christian polemics against Judaism, the period also saw a growing interest in language study and translation in both communities. These noncanonical texts and their afterlives provided Jews and Christians alike with resources of fiction that they used to reconsider boundaries of doctrine and interpretation. Among the works that Nisse takes as exemplary of this medieval moment are the Book of Yosippon, a tenth-century Hebrew adaptation of Josephus with a wide circulation and influence in the later middle ages, and the second-century romance of Aseneth about the religious conversion of Joseph’s Egyptian wife. Yosippon gave Jews a new discourse of martyrdom in its narrative of the fall of Jerusalem, and at the same time it offered access to the classical historical models being used by their Christian contemporaries. Aseneth provided its new audience of medieval monks with a way to reimagine the troubling consequences of unwilling Jewish converts.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Jewish and Christian authors of the High Middle Ages not infrequently came into dialogue or conflict with each other over traditions drawn from ancient writings outside of the bible. Circulating in Hebrew and Latin translations, these included the two independent versions of the Testament of Naphtali in which the patriarch has a vision of the Diaspora, a shipwreck that scatters the twelve tribes. The Christian narrative is linear and ends in salvation; the Jewish narrative is circular and pessimistic. For Ruth Nisse, this is an emblematic text that illuminates relationships between interpretation, translation, and survival.In Nisse's account, extrabiblical literature encompasses not only the historical works of Flavius Josephus but also some of the more ingenious medieval Hebrew imaginative texts, Aesop's fables and the Aeneid. The Latin epic tradition, as it happens, includes a fascinating Hebrew intervention. While Christian-Jewish relations in medieval England and Northern France are often associated with persecutions of Jews in the wake of the Crusades and Christian polemics against Judaism, the period also saw a growing interest in language study and translation in both communities. These noncanonical texts and their afterlives provided Jews and Christians alike with resources of fiction that they used to reconsider boundaries of doctrine and interpretation. Among the works that Nisse takes as exemplary of this medieval moment are the Book of Yosippon, a tenth-century Hebrew adaptation of Josephus with a wide circulation and influence in the later middle ages, and the second-century romance of Aseneth about the religious conversion of Joseph’s Egyptian wife. Yosippon gave Jews a new discourse of martyrdom in its narrative of the fall of Jerusalem, and at the same time it offered access to the classical historical models being used by their Christian contemporaries. Aseneth provided its new audience of medieval monks with a way to reimagine the troubling consequences of unwilling Jewish converts.

More books from Cornell University Press

Cover of the book Regime Shift by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book The Populist Persuasion by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book Eyewitness to a Genocide by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book From Convergence to Crisis by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book Strategic Adjustment and the Rise of China by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book What Galileo Saw by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book The End of Satisfaction by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book Priests of Prosperity by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book And the Sparrow Fell by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book She Hath Been Reading by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book The Invisible Camorra by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book National Interests in International Society by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book Machines as the Measure of Men by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book A Not Too Greatly Changed Eden by Ruth Nisse
Cover of the book Killing Others by Ruth Nisse
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy