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Charity and Piety in the Middle East in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Continuity and Transformation | Israel Institute for Advanced Studies

Charity and Piety in the Middle East in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Continuity and Transformation

[RG #107] Charity and Piety in the Middle East in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Continuity and Transformation

September 1, 2006 - February 28, 2007

Organizers:

Miriam Frenkel (Ben-Zvi Institute)
Yaacov Lev (Bar-Ilan University)

Charity needs to be understood as deeply embedded in, and shaped by, the existing society's religious, social and cultural context. Charity is also capable of molding social structures and their attendant mental attitudes. Therefore, the group's basic assumption is that research on charity as a concept and as an institution may offer a promising way to understand a given culture and the changes it undergoes. In addition, it is also assumed that charity offers a valuable perspective from which to view historical change and intercultural encounters.

Charity practices create and give shape to individual social institutions. They may have a crucial impact upon rulers' policies and public image, and affect patterns of social solidarity, stratification and social control. They are capable of impinging upon the social position of individuals, the place ascribed to family, religious institutions and civil society, as well as influencing economic and daily life and certain aspects of the life cycle.

At the discursive level charity may both reflect and shape worldviews and concepts. It is a field in which social values and norms are competing and being tested. This discourse is conveyed in theological, liturgical, literary and documentary texts which may express the image of the ideal society, the ways in which societies treat the "other", and how they interpret such basic aspects of life as wealth, poverty, work, destiny, individuality etc.

We will ask the basic questions that might assist us in analyzing charity from various perspectives: What were the motivations for giving charity? Who were the recipients of charity? Who were the agents of charity distribution? What was the place of charity in society, its relation to religious institutions, gender, family structures, etc.? These questions have been presented in the past but only sporadically, and they were never applied to a number of interrelated cultures over a vast span of time. In dealing with these questions we will attempt to bridge over eras and cultures that are normally perceived as distinct and separate.

 

Members

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Miriam Frenkel

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Ben-Zvi Institute
Miriam is a professor in the Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East. Her research interests are: Geniza studies; Medieval Jewish history under Islam; cultural encounters between Islam and Judaism in the Middle Ages; and Jewish intellectual history in the Middle Ages.
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Stefan Heidemann

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Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Stefan is a professor in the Institute of Languages and Culture of the Near East at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. His research interests are political and economic history of the Islamic World from Mongolia to the Maghreb.
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Yaacov Lev

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Bar-Ilan University
Yaacov is a professor in the Department of History of the Middle East at Bar-Ilan University. His research interests are the social and economic history of Medieval Islam.
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Johannes Pahlitzsch

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University of Mainz
Johannes is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Mainz. His research interests are the history of the Eastern Mediterranean, and Christian-Muslim relations.
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Ze'ev Rubin

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Tel Aviv University
Ze'ev is a professor in the Department of General History at Tel Aviv University. His research interests are: history of late antiquity; Early Byzantine history; Sasanian history; and historiography.
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Ilana Silber

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Bar-Ilan University
Ilana is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar-Ilan University. Her research interests are: sociology of giving and philanthropy; comparative historical sociology; sociological theory; religion; and culture.
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Daniella Talmon-Heller

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Ben-Gurion University
Daniella is a professor in the Department of Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Her research interests are the history of the Middle East in the Medieval period.
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Amalia Zomeño Rodríguez

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Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Gentificas Granada
Amalia is a professor at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Gentificas Granada. Her research interests are: social history in Western Islamic countries, Islamic law, and Arabic documents.