CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Lantos, Dóra |
|---|---|
| Title | Anthropomorphic Aspects of the Rabbinic Tradition in Thirteenth Century Jewish-Christian Polemics |
| Summary | In this thesis I examine the anthropomorphic aspects of the rabbinic tradition in thirteenth century Jewish-Christian controversy, and aim to answer the question what was the reason the Christian party attacked the anthropomorphic God, though it also used anthropomorphism excessively. For this research I study the texts of the two Talmud disputations (Paris, 1240; Barccelona, 1263), and the polemical handbook Pugio fidei by the Dominican friar Raymond Martí. I study the passages where the anthropomorphic rabbinic passages occur and show that the difference lies in the reaction the two parties gave to the challenge of rationalist philosophy; both Judaism and Christianity wanted to present their rational character, but whereas Judaism could only renounce the authority of its tradition where anthropomorphic descriptions occur, and claim that the intention of those passages was to provide lay people with the basic principles of the religion, Christians could designate the different qualities to the different persons in the Holy Trinity, therefore they were able to have a suffering anthropomorphic God, Christ, and the perfect God of the philosophers, God Father. Unfortunately by attacking the concept of God of the Jews the Christian party in the debate also undermined the legitimacy of Jewish existence, which lead to mockery at least, but to intolerance at worst. |
| Supervisor | Carsten Wilke; György Geréby |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/lantos_dora.pdf |
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