DRAMATIZED DISPUTATIONS: LATE MEDIEVAL GERMAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF JEWISH-CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS DISPUTATIONS, CHURCH POLICY, AND LOCAL SOCIAL CLIMATES

Abstract

AbstractA comparison of the two Frankfurt Passion play manuscripts with two major dramatic works of Nuremberg dramatist Hans Folz reveals the impact of local social conditions on attitudes toward Christian-Jewish religious disputation between lay people. Though such debate was officially condemned by the Church from the thirteenth century onward, local attitudes determined whether the official condemnation would be respected or ignored. Further, dramatic engagement with theological issues produced, in Folz's work, toward a more benign depiction of Jews than commonly seen in late medieval German literature.