David Nirenberg is a medievalist and intellectual historian. He is the Director and Leon Levy Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton,NJ. He previously taught at the University of Chicago,where he was Dean of the Divinity School,and Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Distinguished Service Professor of Medieval History and the Committee on Social Thought,as well as the former Executive Vice Provost of the University,Dean of the Social Sciences Division,and the founding Roman Family Director of the Neubauer Family Collegium for Culture and Society. He is also appointed to the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures,the Center for Middle Eastern Studies,the Joyce Z. and Jacob Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies.
He is notable for his landmark analysis in 2013 of antijudaism as a constitutive principle of the Western tradition,and his argument for a longue durée approach to historical understanding,a career about-face from the methodological approach taken in his 1996 work,Communities of Violence:Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages. He has a particular interest in Christian,Jewish,and Muslim thought in medieval Europe.
In 2024,he was elected to the American Philosophical Society. [1]
Nirenberg is Jewish. [2] The son of immigrants from Argentina who settled in upstate New York,his father Ricardo Nirenberg taught him Euclidean Geometry and had him memorize book I of the Odyssey in ancient Greek. [3]
David Nirenberg earned his AB from Yale, [4] where John Boswell introduced him to the study of minorities in Medieval Aragon. He holds a PhD from Princeton, [5] where he studied under Peter Brown,Natalie Zemon Davis,and William Chester Jordan. [6] He has held visiting professorships at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris,the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid,and the Berlin Institute for Advanced Study,is an Associate of Germany's Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science,as well as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, [7] and a former fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. [8]
In 2006 he joined the History Department at the University of Chicago and the Committee on Social Thought. Between 2014 and 2017 he served as dean of the Social Sciences Division of the University of Chicago. In 2017 he became Executive Vice Provost,and in 2018 he additionally took on the role of Interim Dean of the Divinity School,stepping down from the Provost's office a year later. [9] He became Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 2022. [10]
Nirenberg's 2013 book Anti-Judaism:The Western Tradition is not a history of racist anti-Semitism,rather,it focuses "on the role of anti-Judaism as a constitutive idea and an explanatory force in Christian and post-Christian thought—though it starts with Egyptian arguments against the Jews and includes a discussion of early Islam,whose writers echo,and apparently learned from,Christian polemics." [11] Pulling on an array of sources from across the centuries,Nirenberg demonstrates the potency of "imaginary Jews" in "works of the imagination,profound treatises,and acts of political radicalism." [12]
“Anti-Judaism should not be understood as some archaic or irrational closet in the vast edifices of Western thought,”Nirenberg observes in his introduction,as quoted and affirmed by Paula Frederiksen in her review. “It was rather one of the basic tools with which that edifice was constructed.”And as he ominously concludes,hundreds of pages later,“We live in an age in which millions of people are exposed daily to some variant of the argument that the challenges of the world they live in are best explained in terms of ‘Israel’.” [13]
Described by reviewers "an extraordinary scholarly achievement," [11] and as a "magisterial work of intellectual history," [14] Anti-Judaism argues "that a certain view of Judaism lies deep in the structure of Western civilization and has helped its intellectuals and polemicists explain Christian heresies,political tyrannies,medieval plagues,capitalist crises,and revolutionary movements." [11]
David A. Bell of Princeton University calls it "quite simply one of the most important pieces of humanities scholarship to appear in many years. Supremely learned,beautifully written,and powerfully argued,it takes on nothing less than the Western tradition itself. And it makes a case we cannot afford to ignore." [15] Christopher Smith of King's College London notices that Anti-Judaism represents,"the culmination of a career volte-face in respects to his methodological approach. His 1996 work Communities of Violence:Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages rejected a longue duree history of anti-Semitism." Whereas,"in Anti-Judaism,Nirenberg allows for a continuation of trends in the development of a shared concept of anti-Judaism built on and progressed over" a period of three thousand years. [16] Some historians,while praising Nirenberg's oeuvre,have expressed dissatisfaction with the parts concerning contemporary history. [17]
Nirenberg's 1996 book Communities of Violence:Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages challenged interpretations that set inter-communal medieval violence (specifically,attacks on lepers,Jews,and Muslims) into larger teleological frameworks. It argued that each event must be understood in its own terms,in the context of economic and social tensions available for exploitation in a specific time and place. He argues that primacy should be given to understanding the local meaning of inter-communal violent events,and that violent events can be better understood as one of the mechanisms that in fact contributed to social stability and kept the overall amount of violence low. The book makes these broader arguments by focusing on Aragon in the 1300s.
The preface to the French translation was given by Claude Gauvard,one of France's leading historians.
Nirenberg questions the longue duree approach that sets individual riots,attacks and pogroms into a series that he characterizes as a "march of intolerance" culminating in modern events,most notably the Holocaust. [18] The book has been understood as a challenge to the entire concept of minority history,reinterpreting groups often cast as "other" or "marginal" as integral parts of the societies in which they dwelt. [19] It has also been criticized for facile use of structural functionalism and of the essayist RenéGirard's model. [20]
Antisemitism is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against, Jews. This sentiment is a form of racism, and a person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Primarily, antisemitic tendencies may be motivated by negative sentiment towards Jews as a people or by negative sentiment towards Jews with regard to Judaism. In the former case, usually presented as racial antisemitism, a person's hostility is driven by the belief that Jews constitute a distinct race with inherent traits or characteristics that are repulsive or inferior to the preferred traits or characteristics within that person's society. In the latter case, known as religious antisemitism, a person's hostility is driven by their religion's perception of Jews and Judaism, typically encompassing doctrines of supersession that expect or demand Jews to turn away from Judaism and submit to the religion presenting itself as Judaism's successor faith—this is a common theme within the other Abrahamic religions. The development of racial and religious antisemitism has historically been encouraged by the concept of anti-Judaism, which is distinct from antisemitism itself.
Some Christian Churches, Christian groups, and ordinary Christians express religious antisemitism toward the Jewish people and the associated religion of Judaism. These can be thought of examples of anti-Semitism expressed by Christians or by Christian communities. However, the term "Christian Anti-Semitism" has also been used to refer to anti-Jewish sentiments that arise out of Christian doctrinal or theological stances. The term "Christian Anti-Semitism" is also used to suggest that to some degree, contempt for Jews and for Judaism inhere to Christianity as a religion, itself, and that centralized institutions of Christian power, as well as governments with strong Christian influence have generated societal structures that survive to this day which perpetuate anti-Semitism. This usage appears particularly in discussions of Christian structures of power within society, which are referred to as Christian Hegemony or Christian Privilege; these are part of larger discussions of Structural inequality and power dynamics.
Albert the Magnanimous, elected King of the Romans as Albert II, was emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and a member of the House of Habsburg. By inheritance he became Albert V, Duke of Austria. Through his wife he also became King of Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, and inherited a claim to the Duchy of Luxembourg.
Religious antisemitism is aversion to or discrimination against Jews as a whole based on religious doctrines of supersession, which expect or demand the disappearance of Judaism and the conversion of Jews to other faiths. This form of antisemitism has frequently served as the basis for false claims and religious antisemitic tropes against Judaism. Sometimes, it is called theological antisemitism.
Dhimmitude is a neologism characterizing the status of non-Muslims under Muslim rule, popularized by the Egyptian-born British writer Bat Ye'or in the 1980s and 1990s. It is a portmanteau word constructed from the Arabic dhimmi 'non-Muslim living in an Islamic state' and the French (serv)itude 'subjection'.
In Christianity, a martyr is a person who was killed for their testimony for Jesus or faith in Jesus. In the years of the early church, stories depict this often occurring through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake, or other forms of torture and capital punishment. The word martyr comes from the Koine word μάρτυς, mártys, which means "witness" or "testimony".
History of European Jews in the Middle Ages covers Jewish history in Europe in the period from the 5th to the 15th century. During the course of this period, the Jewish population experienced a gradual diaspora shifting from their motherland of the Levant to Europe. These Jewish individuals settled primarily in the regions of Central Europe dominated by the Holy Roman Empire and Southern Europe dominated by various Iberian kingdoms. As with Christianity, the Middle Ages were a period in which Judaism became mostly overshadowed by Islam in the Middle East, and an increasingly influential part of the socio-cultural and intellectual landscape of Europe.
The Rhineland massacres, also known as the German Crusade of 1096 or Gzerot Tatnó, were a series of mass murders of Jews perpetrated by mobs of French and German Christians of the People's Crusade in the year 1096,. These massacres are often seen as the first in a sequence of antisemitic events in Europe which culminated in the Holocaust.
The Catholic Church and Judaism have a long and complex history of cooperation and conflict, and have had a strained relationship throughout history, with periods of persecution, violence and discrimination directed towards Jews by Christians, particularly during the Middle Ages.
Convivencia is an academic term, proposed by the Spanish philologist Américo Castro, regarding the period of Spanish history from the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the early eighth century until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. It claims that in the different Moorish Iberian kingdoms, the Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in relative peace. According to this interpretation of history, this period of religious diversity differs from later Spanish and Portuguese history when—as a result of expulsions and forced conversions—Catholicism became the sole religion in the Iberian Peninsula.
Paula Fredriksen is an American historian and scholar of early Christianity. She held the position of William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Scripture at Boston University from 1990 to 2010. Now emerita, she has been distinguished visiting professor in the Department of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, since 2009.
The history of Christian thought has included concepts of both inclusivity and exclusivity from its beginnings, that have been understood and applied differently in different ages, and have led to practices of both persecution and toleration. Early Christian thought established Christian identity, defined heresy, separated itself from polytheism and Judaism and developed the theological conviction called supersessionism. In the centuries after Christianity became the official religion of Rome, some scholars say Christianity became a persecuting religion. Others say the change to Christian leadership did not cause a persecution of pagans, and that what little violence occurred was primarily directed at non-orthodox Christians.
The longue durée is the French Annales School approach to the study of history. It gives priority to long-term historical structures over what François Simiand called histoire événementielle. It concentrates instead on all-but-permanent or slowly evolving structures, and replaces elite biographies with the broader syntheses of prosopography. The crux of the idea is to examine extended periods of time and draw conclusions from historical trends and patterns.
Anti-Judaism is a term which is used to describe a range of historic and current ideologies which are totally or partially based on opposition to Judaism, on the denial or the abrogation of the Mosaic covenant, and the replacement of Jewish people by the adherents of another religion, political theology, or way of life which is held to have superseded theirs as the "light to the nations" or God's chosen people. The opposition is maintained by the adaptation of Jewish prophecy and texts. According to David Nirenberg there have been Christian, Islamic, nationalistic, Enlightenment rationalist, and socio-economic variations of this theme.
Antisemitism in the history of the Jews in the Middle Ages became increasingly prevalent in the Late Middle Ages. Early instances of pogroms against Jews are recorded in the context of the First Crusade. Expulsions of Jews from cities and instances of blood libel became increasingly common from the 13th to the 15th century. This trend only peaked after the end of the medieval period, and it only subsided with Jewish emancipation in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity is a description of anti-Judaic sentiment in the first three centuries of Christianity; the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd centuries. Early Christianity is sometimes considered as Christianity before 325 when the First Council of Nicaea was convoked by Constantine the Great, although it is not unusual to consider 4th and 5th century Christianity as members of this category as well.
John Victor Tolan is a historian of religious and cultural relations between the Arab and Latin-speaking civilizations of the Middle Ages.
Judaism's doctrines and texts have sometimes been associated with violence or anti-violence. Laws requiring the eradication of evil, sometimes using violent means, exist in the Jewish tradition. However, Judaism also contains peaceful texts and doctrines. There is often a juxtaposition of Judaic law and theology to violence and nonviolence by groups and individuals. Attitudes and laws towards both peace and violence exist within the Jewish tradition. Throughout history, Judaism's religious texts or precepts have been used to promote as well as oppose violence.
The persecution of Jews during the Black Death consisted of a series of violent mass attacks and massacres. Jewish communities were often blamed for outbreaks of the Black Death in Europe. From 1348-1351, acts of violence were committed in Toulon, Barcelona, Erfurt, Basel, Frankfurt, Strasbourg and elsewhere. The persecutions led to a large migration of Jews to Jagiellonian Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There are very few Jewish sources on Jewish massacres during the Plague.
The 1321 lepers' plot was an alleged conspiracy of French lepers to spread their disease by contaminating water supplies, including well water, with their powders and poisons. According to the American historian Solomon Grayzel, lepers were the most abused group of people during the Middle Ages: they were thrown out of settlements and treated as wild animals due to the widespread belief that their disease was highly contagious. However, other historians have contested such a view, pointing out that lepers often lived within communities in leper houses (leprosaria) and were supported by charitable donations.