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Essential Papers on Judaism and Christianity in Conflict: From Late Antiquity to the Reformation by Jeremy Cohen Review by: Michael J. Cook Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 113, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1993), pp. 283-284 Published by: American Oriental Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/603037 . Accessed: 10/06/2014 11:16 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Oriental Society. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.34.78.110 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 11:16:09 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: Essential Papers on Judaism and Christianity in Conflict: From Late Antiquity to the Reformationby Jeremy Cohen

Essential Papers on Judaism and Christianity in Conflict: From Late Antiquity to theReformation by Jeremy CohenReview by: Michael J. CookJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 113, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1993), pp. 283-284Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/603037 .

Accessed: 10/06/2014 11:16

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal ofthe American Oriental Society.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.110 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 11:16:09 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Essential Papers on Judaism and Christianity in Conflict: From Late Antiquity to the Reformationby Jeremy Cohen

Reviews of Books 283

Essential Papers on Judaism and Christianity in Conflict: From Late Antiquity to the Reformation. Edited by JEREMY

COHEN. Essential Papers on Jewish Studies. New York: NEW

YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1991. Pp. xiv + 578. $60 (cloth); $25 (paper).

This enriching collection of carefully chosen papers offers readers a nuanced study of the history of the Jewish-Christian conflict. Nineteen selections are grouped under four headings.

Late Antiquity (five essays): David Flusser, on the Dead Sea sect and pre-Pauline Christianity (1958; 50 pp.); Wayne Meeks, on Christianity's separation from Jewish communities (1985; 25 pp.); S. G. F. Brandon, on the theological underpin- nings of gospel trial narratives (1968; 17 pp.); Marcel Simon, on the origins of Christian antisemitism (trans. 1986; 43 pp.); and Rosemary Ruether, on anti-Judaism in Patristic writings (1979; 16 pp.).

The Middle Ages (six essays): B. Blumenkranz, on rela- tions between the early medieval Church and the Jews (1966; 38 pp.); Solomon Grayzel, on use of the Papal Bull Sicut Judeis to enhance Jewish security (1962; 29 pp.); H. Liebe- schiitz, on the Crusades' impact in defining Christian attitudes toward Jewry (1959; 16 pp.); Lester Little, on anti-Jewish sen- timent spawned by Christian ambivalence toward moneylend- ing (1978; 22 pp.); Cecil Roth, on medieval conceptions of Jews as "deliberate" unbelievers (1938; 12 pp.); and Jeremy Cohen, on the study and evaluation of Judaism in the medi- eval academy (1986; 32 pp.).

The Reformation (three essays): Mark Edwards, Jr., on the development of Luther's polemic "Against the Jews" (1983; 35 pp.); Salo Baron, on the unintended effects of Calvin's anti- Judaism (1965; 21 pp.); and Kenneth Stow, on sixteenth cen- tury Catholic attitudes toward the Talmud (1972; 28 pp.).

The Jewish Response (five essays): Lawrence Schiffman, on Tannaitic perceptions of the Jewish-Christian schism (1981; 27 pp.); Jacob Katz, on social and religious segregation (1962; 11 pp.); Ivan Marcus, on Hebrew treatments of the 1096 Crusade riots (1982; 15 pp.); David Berger, on Jewish- Christian debate in the High Middle Ages (1979; 30 pp.); and David Ruderman, on Abraham ben Mordecai Farissol as a champion of Jewish economic interests (1981; 22 pp.).

Particularly rewarding is the editor's introduction (36 pp.). Here he summarizes essentials of each entry, and advances his rationale for selecting these particular studies and also for ar- ranging them in their present grouping and sequence. (Absent from the volume, however, is biographical information about the contributors: institutional affiliations, career accomplish- ments, publications, etc., data which might have usefully pref- aced the individual essays.)

Collections of papers often lack the cohesion and unity one might like, and certain fields are so fraught with diversity of methodological approach as to defy adequate coverage. Such observations, pertinent in the present case as well, are hardly

criticisms-only a recognition of obstacles the editor has faced, as well as a sympathy for the decision-making process he has undergone.

His own explanation of procedure should thus be carefully heeded: an anthology of modern interpretations "must be eclectic and ... perhaps arbitrary" (p. 2); these essays, more- over, have been selected with an eye to graduate and advanced undergraduate courses devoted not to a comprehensive view of the field but rather to "the history of ideas ... the doctrinal substance of the Jewish-Christian dispute" (p. 3); further, if the authors enlisted seem overly heterogeneous (in date, repu- tation, general acceptance), this reflects the editor's effort to balance their "stature. .. historiographical influence and ... representation of the state of the field today" (p. 3).

In quality of content, the volume's two intermediate sec- tions (the Middle Ages and Reformation) are the most impres- sive. The selections are imposing and provocative; novice and expert alike are certain to benefit enormously from them.

The first section (Late Antiquity) is somewhat less satisfy- ing. Notwithstanding the editor's stated preoccupation with "the history of ideas," well served by each entry, certain rele- vant matters do not seem treated fully enough: e.g., the pro- cesses of gospel development; the interrelationships among the four gospels (particularly the Synoptics); and methodolog- ical concerns not only in evaluating competing images of Paul (that of his epistles vs. that of Acts) but also in assessing his possible formative influence on gospel portraits of Jesus. All these matters strike this reader, at least, as fundamentally im- portant in reconstructing and comprehending the evolving "doctrinal substance" of Christian anti-Judaism.

The essays in the fourth section (the Jewish Responses) are seminal indeed. Evidently, the editor considered interspersing them amongst those of the other three (rather than compart- mentalizing them as a separate grouping). But he concluded, quite correctly in this reader's judgment, that the quantity of Jewish responses to Christianity is so dwarfed by Christian anti-Jewish literature that interspersing such responses throughout the book would have obscured their noteworthy features and the special motivation of their development. Moreover, he advises that "the first Jewish works dedicated to anti-Christian polemic" date from too late a time (twelfth cen- tury) for studies focusing on them to be incorporated along- side essays treating earlier matters (p. 27). Nonetheless, the overall impact of this section might have been enhanced by in- clusion of at least one additional selection offering a fuller treatment of earlier material. For example, the gospels them- selves (in controversy traditions between Jesus and Jewish leaders), and Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho (in the speaking parts he assigns "Trypho"), evince, albeit indirectly, Jewish reactions to Christianity significantly earlier than the general thrust of this fourth section. Such responses may war- rant a sustained examination rather than the passing mention readers encounter in this last group of essays.

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Page 3: Essential Papers on Judaism and Christianity in Conflict: From Late Antiquity to the Reformationby Jeremy Cohen

284 Journal of the American Oriental Society 113.2 (1993)

Undoubtedly, limitations of space may have required exclu- sion of deserving material. The editor appears to have wres- tled earnestly with this problem, and his decisions obviously have been carefully rendered. In terms of the more appropriate focus-what he has included-unquestionably he is to be ap- plauded for assembling so fine a representation of valuable papers, and for introducing them with so splendidly crafted an analysis of his own.

MICHAEL J. COOK

HEBREW UNION COLLEGE-JEWISH INSTITUTE OF RELIGION

Ancient Turkey: A Traveller's History of Anatolia. By SETON

LLOYD. London: GUILD PUBLISHING; Berkeley and Los Ange- les: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, 1989. Pp. 240, 12

color plates, 8 maps, 17 drawings and 62 photographs.

This book is meant for the sophisticated traveller who wants to inform himself about the country which he is going to visit or in which he just has travelled. Its format and weight make it unsuitable for carrying about, and it is not a guide to the monuments themselves. The time range covered goes from prehistory to the Christianization under Constantine the Great. Thus the Islamic period is excluded, and the traveller will not find anything about the Seldjuk and Ottoman Turks, whose monuments he will see all over the country.

The chapter headings give a good impression of the scope of the book:

1 Anatolia: a Land-Bridge in History 2 Preludes to Civilisation: Prehistoric Anatolia 3 The Quest for the Hittites 4 Suppiluliumas and the Hittite Empire 5 The Trojan Enigma 6 The Kingdom of Midas 7 Carchemish and Zincirli 8 The Coming of the Greeks 9 The Reign of Croesus

10 Urartu: a Long-Forgotten Nation 11 The Persian Empire 12 The Journey of the Ten Thousand 13 Macedon: a Dream of Greek Unity 14 The Conquests of Alexander 15 A Cosmopolitan Culture: Hellenism in Asia Minor 16 Seven Cities 17 Resistance to Rome 18 Roman Rule 19 The Legacy of Augustus 20 St. Paul and the Early Christian Church

A chronological table of the most important historical events is given on page 9.

To do justice to a book of this scope, a reviewer should be well versed in the history of all the periods treated here. The present reviewer cannot claim such erudition. He may be per- mitted to dwell on some points regarding the periods with which he is familiar.

The story of the recovery of the Hittites and the outline of Hittite history are concise and instructive. A few points on which the reviewer has different opinions are not of great im- portance for the reader.

For the New Kingdom, both the Egyptian and Hittite, the author uses the old, high chronology according to which the battle of Kadesh of the year Ramesses 5 took place in 1300 B.C. The dates for the death of Muwatalli in 1294 and the treaty between Hattushili and Ramesses (year 21) in 1284 (p. 47) belong to this system. However, on page 45 and in the caption of fig. 16, page 46, the battle of Kadesh is dated 1286, according to a different system, which leads to some confu- sion for the reader. (Most scholars now use a still lower chro- nology for the New Kingdom. In it the battle is dated 1275.) A revolt in Carchemish at the death of Sarri-Kugukh (p. 45) is unknown to the reviewer.

The image of Cybele found at Bogazkoy is not "grotesque" and "half-naked" (p. 62). Of the upper torso nothing was found but a hand holding a round object. This object was at first be- lieved to be one of the figure's breasts. This was given up in the final publication. The Cybele reliefs from Aya?, Gordion, and Ankara exhibited in the Ankara Museum next to it show that the missing part should be reconstructed fully clad by a shawl or garment which covers both arms and lets only one hand emerge, which holds an object, in this case a pomegranate.

The reliefs decorating the Lion-Gate of Arslantepe (p. 73) are hardly re-used; their measurements and their sculptured short ends rather indicate that they were made for the struc- ture, excavated by Louis Delaporte. The reviewer agrees with the dating of the reliefs to the early 12th century and would date the whole structure to that time. The colossal statue found in the gate chamber he takes for the monument of an 8th-century conqueror comparable to the stela of Esarhaddon found in the same position in the gate chamber of Zincirli.

The notion that it was the Urartians who first planted vine-

yards and made wine (p. 98) will surprise cuneiformists, who are familiar with the existence of wine in Babylonia. The Hit- tite Laws of the Old Kingdom already mention vineyards. Wine is the most frequent liquid used for libation and its Hit- tite name wiyanas is akin to the Hebrew, Greek and Latin words for wine.

It is natural that the historical narrative becomes progres- sively detailed and lively in treating the later periods. Particu- lar emphasis is laid on the movements of persons and armies. Examples are the march of Darius I and his armies across the Straits and beyond the mouth of the Danube before turning south against Greece; the movements of Alexander from the

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