The gift and its wages : the land of Israel and the Jewish people in the spritual life of medieval Russia. / by Joel Raba.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Raba, Joel.

Contributor:

Class of 1939 Fund.

Series:

Collection "Diaspora" ; 1.

Collection "Diaspora"

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Russians--Relations with Jews.

Russia--History.

Christianity and other religions--Judaism.

Christianity and other religions.

Judaism.

Eretz Israel--In Christianity.

Eretz Israel--Foreign public opinion, Russian.

Local Subjects:

Russians--Relations with Jews.

Russia--History.

Eretz Israel--In Christianity.

Eretz Israel--Foreign public opinion, Russian.

Physical Description:

xii, 420 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout : Brepols, [2014]

Summary:

Respect for the Old Testament and its heritage was an integral feature of Russian medieval culture and played a major role in determining Old Russia's value system and its attitude toward past and contemporary events. Jerusalem and the Holy Land were ideals, and the Chosen People and Old Testament heroes were role models and standards for both the past and the present. Yet, in its ongoing effort to be recognized as the 'New Chosen People' within the family of nations, Old Russia rejected 'the Other', that is the descendants of the 'Old Chosen People'. The almost total absence of Jews in Russia throughout the ancient period, along with the central role played by Jewish tradition in the development of its culture, are a contradiction. This book presents the story of this dichotomy during the Old Russian millennium, from its inception to the late seventeenth century. The material is organized chronologically, beginning with the creation of the Kievan state in the far reaches of the Khazar polity in the ninth century, and ending with the great transformation, the reforms of Peter the Great. This is preceded by a survey of two sources that shaped the image of the land and people of Israel in the erudite world of ancient Russia: a description of the Holy Land by Abbot Daniel in the early twelfth century, and the ancient Slavic translation of Josephus's Wars of the Jews. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Between Yearning and Spurning: The Church and the Jewish Problem 5

Chapter 2 An Explorer of the Holy Land: Abbot Daniel and his Pilgrimage 17

Chapter 5 The Fighting People and Its Fate: Josephus's History of the Jewish War in Old Russian Culture 29

Chapter 4 Confrontation or Integration: Slavs, Khazars, and Jews at the Dawn of Kievan Rus' 53

Chapter 5 The New Chosen People: The Influence of the Holy Scriptures on Literature and Art in Kiev 77

Chapter 6 Building a Historical Memory: Perceiving the Past through the Lens of the Bible 117

Chapter 7 The Jewish People in World History: Legends and Holy Scriptures as Historical Works 135

Chapter 8 The Land of the Bible as Dream and Reality: Russia and the Land of Israel in the Late Middle Ages 163

Chapter 9 Reality and Fiction: The Chronicle, Literature, and Art in the Thirteenth through Fifteenth Centuries 185

Chapter 10 The Absorbing Power: Culture and Thought at the Dawn of the Muscovite State 205

Chapter 11 The Suppression of Thought: The Judaizers' Crisis 237

Chapter 12 Creating Support ex Nihilo: Autocratic Absolutism on Trial 271

Chapter 13 The End of Yesterday's Confrontations: Authority and the Individual in Times of Transition 309

Chapter 14 The End and the Beginning: The Gift Accepted, the Giver Rejected 345.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [351]-403) and indexes.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1939 Fund.

ISBN:

9782503534381

2503534384

OCLC:

891348917

Publisher Number:

99960165441