Isaac On Jewish and Christian Altars: Polemic and Exegesis in Rashi and the Glossa Ordinaria
Isaac On Jewish and Christian Altars: Polemic and Exegesis in Rashi and the Glossa Ordinaria
DEVORAH SCHOENFELD
Mary C. Erler
Richard F. Gyug
Copyright Date: 2013
Published by: Fordham University Press
Pages: 240
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x05wf
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Book Info
Isaac On Jewish and Christian Altars: Polemic and Exegesis in Rashi and the Glossa Ordinaria
Book Description:

Devorah Schoenfeld's new work offers an in-depth examination of two of the most influential Christian and Jewish Bible commentaries of the High Middle Ages. The Glossa Ordinaria and Rashi's commentary were standard texts for Bible study in the High Middle Ages, and Rashi's influence continues to the present day. Although Rashi's commentary and the Glossa developed at the same time with no known contact between them, they shared a way of reading text that shaped their interpretations of the central religious narrative of the Binding of Isaac. Schoenfeld's text examines each commentary unto itself and offers a detailed comparison, one that illustrates the similarities between Rashi and the Gloss that derive not merely from their shared late antique heritage but also from their common twelfth-century context, and the Jewish-Christian polemic in which they both, implicitly or explicitly, take part.

eISBN: 978-0-8232-4639-7
Subjects: Language & Literature
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-iv)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. v-vi)
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (pp. vii-viii)
  4. NOTES ON FORMAT
    NOTES ON FORMAT (pp. ix-x)
  5. INTRODUCTION
    INTRODUCTION (pp. 1-13)

    TheGlossa Ordinariaand Rashi’s commentary were two of the most influential Christian and Jewish Bible commentaries of the High Middle Ages. Both were standard texts for Bible study for at least two centuries after their composition, and Rashi’s influence continues to the present day. The Gloss was the foundation of twelfth-and thirteenth-century monastic and cathedral education and the basis for supercommentaries (commentaries on the Gloss itself) through the end of the Middle Ages and into the modern period. Volumes of the Bible with the Gloss were more widely copied in the twelfth century than any other book,¹ and it...

  6. CHAPTER ONE THE DEVELOPING JEWISH–CHRISTIAN POLEMIC
    CHAPTER ONE THE DEVELOPING JEWISH–CHRISTIAN POLEMIC (pp. 14-30)

    Rashi and the glosses of theGlossa Ordinariaon Genesis 22 are similar in both method and content. Such similarity develops out of their shared historical context. These two commentaries developed at a time of scholarly ferment and intensification of the Jewish–Christian polemic. The authors of these commentaries (or their schools) were part of both these developments. This chapter will survey developments in Jewish–Christian polemic during the eleventh and twelfth centuries and situate Rashi and the Gloss in the context of these developments.

    The polemical themes in Rashi and in the Gloss on Genesis 22 relate to polemical...

  7. CHAPTER TWO RASHI AND HIS SOURCES
    CHAPTER TWO RASHI AND HIS SOURCES (pp. 31-60)

    Rashi and the Gloss both build on their rabbinic and patristic traditions. This chapter, on Rashi, and the next chapter, on the Gloss, will show that they both draw selectively on a range of different sources and adapt them using a variety of strategies to present their exegesis as arising directly from the biblical text. These strategies of adaptation and change allow them to present themselves as in continuity with their respective exegetical traditions.

    At the same time, as these chapters will show, both commentaries represent themselves as reading the Bible as a self-glossing text: Difficult passages in one part...

  8. CHAPTER THREE THE SOURCES AND MANUSCRIPT EVOLUTION OF THE GLOSSA ORDINARIA ON GENESIS 22
    CHAPTER THREE THE SOURCES AND MANUSCRIPT EVOLUTION OF THE GLOSSA ORDINARIA ON GENESIS 22 (pp. 61-87)

    TheGlossa Ordinaria, like Rashi’s commentary, is a carefully constructed commentary in which every nearly comment has an earlier source. TheGlossa Ordinariaon Genesis 22, like Rashi’s commentary, truncates, paraphrases, and rearranges it sources to give the impression of unified authorship. Both Rashi and theGlossa Ordinariablur the lines between continuity and change, and between tradition and originality.

    The nature of the source material and the unevenness of the resources available necessitate a different treatment of Rashi and the Gloss. Because many early and late manuscripts of the Gloss have been preserved it is possible to trace its...

  9. CHAPTER FOUR ISAAC ON JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN ALTARS: POLEMIC, FAITH, AND SACRIFICE IN RASHI AND THE GLOSS ON GENESIS 22
    CHAPTER FOUR ISAAC ON JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN ALTARS: POLEMIC, FAITH, AND SACRIFICE IN RASHI AND THE GLOSS ON GENESIS 22 (pp. 88-123)

    The structure of this book has been a four-way comparison between Rashi, the Gloss, and their respective sources. While previous chapters have highlighted the differences, this chapter will show that the most important elements in Rashi and in the Gloss on Genesis 22 are themes that they have in common. Both Rashi and the Gloss read the near-sacrifice of Isaac polemically, in a way that uses the story of Abraham as evidence for the greatness of Abraham—representing their own faiths—over “other” figures—different nations or religions. The Gloss specifically names Jews and polemicizes against them. Although Rashi does...

  10. APPENDIX A A CRITICAL EDITION OF THE GLOSSA ORDINARIA ON GENESIS 22: OVERVIEW OF EXISTING EDITIONS OF THE GLOSS AND RATIONALE FOR PRESENT EDITION
    APPENDIX A A CRITICAL EDITION OF THE GLOSSA ORDINARIA ON GENESIS 22: OVERVIEW OF EXISTING EDITIONS OF THE GLOSS AND RATIONALE FOR PRESENT EDITION (pp. 124-163)
  11. APPENDIX B MAJOR MANUSCRIPT VARIANTS IN RASHI’S COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 22: EXISTING EDITIONS AND RATIONALE FOR PRESENT EDITION
    APPENDIX B MAJOR MANUSCRIPT VARIANTS IN RASHI’S COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 22: EXISTING EDITIONS AND RATIONALE FOR PRESENT EDITION (pp. 164-173)
  12. NOTES
    NOTES (pp. 174-206)
  13. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    BIBLIOGRAPHY (pp. 207-222)
  14. INDEX
    INDEX (pp. 223-229)
  15. Back Matter
    Back Matter (pp. 230-230)
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