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Millennial Pursuits - Apocalyptic Traditions and Expectations of the End among Medieval Jews and their Neighbors | Israel Institute for Advanced Studies

Millennial Pursuits - Apocalyptic Traditions and Expectations of the End among Medieval Jews and their Neighbors

[RG #83] Millennial Pursuits - Apocalyptic Traditions and Expectations of the End among Medieval Jews and their Neighbors

November 2000 - February 2001

Organizers:

Jeremy Cohen (Tel Aviv University)
Ora Limor (The Open University of Israel)

Our group originated in the conviction that a community's expectations of the end constitute a vital sign -- perhaps one of its most potent agents of social change -- and that the continuing role of religious tradition in nourishing those beliefs warrants scholarly attention. We took our point of departure from the premise that the history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from late antiquity until the end of the Middle Ages affords a singularly instructive context for the study of eschatology and its socio-cultural significance. This period is proverbially known as the "age of faith" in the annals of Western and Mediterranean civilization, when membership in society was defined first and foremost by one's religious affiliation, and when the prophetic ideals pervading the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Quran undergirded virtually all expressions of cultural creativity. Talmudic and medieval Jews, perennially obsessed with their displacement in galut, diaspora, cultivated numerous permutations of the messianic idea as a basis for persevering in Christian and Muslim societies; as Gershom Scholem aptly noted, they lived their lives largely "in deferment", finding fulfillment in hope for the future rather than in the realities of the present.

Eschatological creativity, however, was not limited to an alienated Jewish minority. Apocalyptic literature and spirituality flowered in patristic and medieval Christianity, among the empowered and the orthodox who identified with the prevailing establishments, as well as among the disenchanted who could not find a satisfying niche in prevailing social structures and institutions. Though often overlooked in recent scholarship, Muslim apocalyptic proved consequential, as well, and eschatological differences highlighted the rift between Sunni and Shi'ite communities. In the worldview shared by the Jews with the Christian and Muslim majorities around them, eschatology provided the basis for a comprehensive reading of history; in its longing for future, it imbued both past and present with significance. So deeply embedded was messianic expectation in the fabric of medieval experience that cultural historian Georges Duby, in his provocative book, An 1000, An 2000, 1995, has sought to unravel our modern premillennial predicament in the terms of its medieval precedents.

Our research will study the messianic expectations of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Europe and the Middle East from the conversion of Constantine to the Sabbatean messianic movement (4th-17th centuries). While the modern study of eschatology and millennialism has progressed fruitfully within numerous academic disciplines, our group will provide a forum for historical research and conversation, incorporating historians of religion, ideas, and art.

 

Members

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Jeremy Cohen

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Tel Aviv University
Jeremy is a professor in the Department of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. His research interests are: Jews and Judaism in medieval European Christendom; inter-religious polemic and Christian anti-Judaism; history of biblical interpretation.
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Ora Limor

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The Open University of Israel

Ora is a professor in the Department of History at the Open University of Israel. Her research interests are: Jewish-Christian polemics and dialogue; cultural encounters in the Middle Ages; sacred tradition and scared space in the Holy Land; pilgrimage: Christian Jewish-Moslem.

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Bernard McGinn

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University of Chicago
Bernard is a professor in the Divinity School in the University of Chicago. His research interests are: history of theology, especially in the Middle Ages; apocalyptic traditions in Christiantiy; history of mysticism and spirituality.
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Alexander Patschovsky

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University of Konstanz
Alexander is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Konstanz. His research interests are: medieval heresies; Hussitism; eschatology, especially Joachim of Fiore; medieval Jewish history.
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Steven Wasserstrom

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Reed College
Steven is a professor in the Department of Religion at Reed College. His research interests are: Jewish-Muslim relations under early Islam; Jewish-Isma'ili relations in the 11th-12th centuries; historiography of 20th century history of religions.
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Israel Yuval

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The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israel is a professor in the Department of the History of the Jewish People at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests are: history of Jews in medieval Germany; relations between Jews and Christians; the language of rituals.

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