Fashioning Jewish Identity in Medieval Western Christendom by Robert s> Chazan (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 531 context, however, the absence of focused attention on the prevalence of atrocity in the historyof the region is marked. King mentions the massacres, forced migration and human miserybrought on by war and political fiat, but the seeminglypeculiarand sharedcharacteristicsof the broaderregion in this respectmighthave deservedspecificattentionasa phenomenon. It is certainly a factorwhich, particularlyin its more recent manifestations,will need to be addressedin the context of the BlackSea countries'developing relationswith the EU and NATO. They will also have to be addressed somehow, independently of this, where the weak states of the region (which King notes as a phenomenon augmented by the compromising presence of what Dov Lynch has called defacto statehood) find ways to overcome the legacy of conflict marked by atrocity and forced migration. All this, once again, underscoresthe importance of Charles King's history. It is to be hoped that therewillbe otherswho will engage with it, but it is testimonyto the qualityof thisbook that it will surelystandup to allformsof scrutiny. King'sCollege London JAMES Gow Chazan, Robert. Fashioning Jewish Identityin MedievalWestern Christendom. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, 2004. xv + 379 pp. Notes. Bibliography.Indexes. ?5o.oo: $8o.oo. ROBERT CHAZAN in his new book analyses the worksof five late twelfth-and thirteenth-centuryJewish polemicists: Joseph Kimhi, Jacob ben Reuben, David Kimhi, Rabbi Meir bar Simon and Rabbi Moses ben Nahman. They were the firstJewish polemicistsin WesternChristendom.Through the study of theirresponsesto Christianclaims concerning the truthof Christianityand the error of Judaism, he unravels the construction of Jewish identity in the face of intense Christianpressureto convert. Chazan, an expert in medieval Christian-Jewishinteraction,and in particularpolemics, providesan authoritative account of a minority response to an aggressive majority. Jewish apologetic emerged at a specific time, in the mid-twelfth century, and in a particular geographical region, what is today northern Spain and southern France. Chazan describes the context of these works:the migration of Jews into Christendom from Islamic lands meant that the centre of the world Jewish population shifted to Christian Europe; and it was the new-found vitality of Christian culture, often characterized as the twelfth-century Renaissance, which led to a new type of Christianchallenge againstJudaism. This necessitatedaJewish responsefrom intellectualleaders:theiraim was to reassuretheircoreligionistsand strengthenthem in theirfaith. For those readers unfamiliar with the earlier history of Christian-Jewish disagreementover the truthof their respectivereligions, Chazan summarizes the key stages in the development of Christian thinking about the Jews. He describes the Gospel accounts of intracommunal Jewish conflicts between Jesus and his discipleson the one hand, andJewish leaderson the otherhand; the innovation of bringing the new religion to gentiles, and thus assertinga displacement of the Jews as the chosen people; and finally St Augustine's influentialvision of theJews as witnessesto the truth of Christianity.He also 532 SEER, 83, 3, 2005 presents the scant anti-Christian arguments of pre-twelfth century Jewish writing: there was no real guidance there on how to deal with Christian religiouschallenge. Chazan maintains that Southern European Christiansled the way in the new missionizingthrustagainsttheJews, thusnecessitatingaJewish response. After introducing the fiveJewish authors and their works, he focuses on the key themes found in their writings.Jewish writers understood that biblical citations used by Christian authors were the foundation of the Christian claims, and therefore they constructed careful counter-claims, based on the Hebrew version of the Bible. The main topic they addressedwas the claim that Jesus was the Messiah. They rebutted the Christian interpretationand provided an alternativeJewish interpretationfor biblical texts that were used by Christians to buttress the Christian claim concerning Jesus. Chazan provides detailed analyses of the biblical texts and theJewish interpretations in question. The Jewish authorsalso rejectedthe Christianclaim thatJewish sufferingwas a resultof sin, that is, of not accepting and killingthe Messiah; instead, they argued that Jews were the servants of God who suffered on behalf of others. They not only refuted the Christian claim that the Church replacedtheJews as the new Israel,but also constructeda positivecase for 'an unbreakable covenant between God and the Jews' (p. I97) and for God's commitment to redeem His people. To counter the argument that Christian success and Jewish failure demonstrated the truth of Christianity, the Jewish polemicists focused on Christiansetbacksand tensionswithin the Christiancommunity, aswell as on...