Description | David Nirenberg (Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Professor of Social Thought, Medieval History, and Middle East Studies and Dean of the Social Sciences Division, University of Chicago) presents “Anti-Judaism Past and Present." Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; Christians and Muslims of every period; even the secularists of modernity have used Judaism in constructing their visions of the world, and often in negative ways. What does this history of Anti-Judaism have to do with how we think about Judaism today? Do past ideas about Israel and Israelites affect how we think in the present? Nowadays we are often called upon to evaluate political claims about Israel, Zionism, and Judaism. How can we know, as we make our ethical decisions in the present, whether we are being truly critical citizens of the world, or merely acting out of historical habit? Nirenberg is the author of Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages (Second edition 2015), Neighboring Faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, Medieval and Modern (2014), and Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition, W.W. Norton (2013). |
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