Christians and Jews in the Twelfth-Century Renaissance

The twelfth century was a period of rapid change in Europe. The intellectual landscape was being transformed through new access to classical works throught non-Christian sources. The Christian church was strengthening its control over the priesthood and laity; within the church, a dramatic spiritual renewal was taking place. Christians and Jews in the Twelfth Century Renaissancereveals the consequences for the only remaining non-Christian minority in the heartland of Europe: the Jews. Anna Abulafia probes the anti-Jewish polemics of scholars who used the new ideas to encourage persecution of the Jews. They argued that the Jews had a different capacity for reason since they had not reached the "right" conclusion--Christianity. They formulated a universal Christendom, from which Jews were excluded. Abulafia shows how the Jews' exclusion from this view of society contributed to their growing marginalization from the twelfth century onward.