LEADER 05700nam 2200925 a 450 001 9910806851103321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-283-89866-7 010 $a0-8122-0761-0 024 7 $a10.9783/9780812207613 035 $a(CKB)2550000000707682 035 $a(OCoLC)822017933 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10642215 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000786977 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11446317 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000786977 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10813453 035 $a(PQKB)10665439 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse19136 035 $a(DE-B1597)449636 035 $a(OCoLC)979833941 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780812207613 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3441880 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10642215 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL421116 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3441880 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000707682 100 $a20120503d2013 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aConversion and narrative $ereading and religious authority in Medieval polemic /$fRyan Szpiech 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aPhiladelphia $cUniversity of Pennsylvania Press$dc2013 215 $a1 online resource (326 p.) 225 1 $aThe middle ages series 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-8122-4471-0 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $t Frontmatter -- $tContents -- $tNote on Names, Titles, Citations, and Transliteration -- $tIntroduction -- $tChapter 1. From Peripety to Prose -- $tChapter 2. Alterity and Auctoritas -- $tChapter 3. In the Shadow of the Khazars -- $tChapter 4. A War of Words -- $tChapter 5. The Jargon of Authenticity -- $tChapter 6. The Supersessionist Imperative -- $tConclusion -- $tAbbreviations -- $tNotes -- $tBibliography -- $tIndex -- $tAcknowledgments 330 $aIn 1322, a Jewish doctor named Abner entered a synagogue in the Castilian city of Burgos and began to weep in prayer. Falling asleep, he dreamed of a "great man" who urged him to awaken from his slumber. Shortly thereafter, he converted to Christianity and wrote a number of works attacking his old faith. Abner tells the story in fantastic detail in the opening to his Hebrew-language but anti-Jewish polemical treatise, Teacher of Righteousness.In the religiously plural context of the medieval Western Mediterranean, religious conversion played an important role as a marker of social boundaries and individual identity. The writers of medieval religious polemics such as Teacher of Righteousness often began by giving a brief, first-person account of the rejection of their old faith and their embrace of the new. In such accounts, Ryan Szpiech argues, the narrative form plays an important role in dramatizing the transition from infidelity to faith.Szpiech draws on a wide body of sources from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim polemics to investigate the place of narrative in the representation of conversion. Making a firm distinction between stories told about conversion and the experience of religious change, his book is not a history of conversion itself but a comparative study of how and why it was presented in narrative form within the context of religious disputation. He argues that between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, conversion narratives were needed to represent communal notions of history and authority in allegorical, dramatic terms. After considering the late antique paradigms on which medieval Christian conversion narratives were based, Szpiech juxtaposes Christian stories with contemporary accounts of conversion to Islam and Judaism. He emphasizes that polemical conflict between Abrahamic religions in the medieval Mediterranean centered on competing visions of history and salvation. By seeing conversion not as an individual experience but as a public narrative, Conversion and Narrative provides a new, interdisciplinary perspective on medieval writing about religious disputes. 410 0$aMiddle Ages series. 606 $aApologetics$xHistory$yMiddle Ages, 600-1500 606 $aConversion$xChristianity$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aReligious biography$xHistory and criticism 606 $aIdentification (Religion)$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aChristian converts from Judaism$xHistory 606 $aJewish converts from Christianity$xHistory 606 $aMuslim converts from Christianity$xHistory 606 $aChristianity and other religions$xJudaism 606 $aChristianity and other religions$xIslam 606 $aJudaism$xRelations$xChristianity 606 $aIslam$xRelations$xChristianity 610 $aCultural Studies. 610 $aLiterature. 610 $aMedieval and Renaissance Studies. 610 $aReligion. 610 $aReligious Studies. 615 0$aApologetics$xHistory 615 0$aConversion$xChristianity$xHistory 615 0$aReligious biography$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aIdentification (Religion)$xHistory 615 0$aChristian converts from Judaism$xHistory. 615 0$aJewish converts from Christianity$xHistory. 615 0$aMuslim converts from Christianity$xHistory. 615 0$aChristianity and other religions$xJudaism. 615 0$aChristianity and other religions$xIslam. 615 0$aJudaism$xRelations$xChristianity. 615 0$aIslam$xRelations$xChristianity. 676 $a248.2/460902 700 $aSzpiech$b Ryan$01612310 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910806851103321 996 $aConversion and narrative$93941030 997 $aUNINA