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Cornell University Press - Andrea Sterk and Nina Caputo (Editors)

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289 pages

English

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Historians of religion face complex interpretive issues when examining religious texts, practices, and experiences. Faithful Narratives presents the work of twelve eminent scholars whose research has exemplified compelling strategies for negotiating the difficulties inherent in this increasingly important area of historical inquiry. The chapters range chronologically from Late Antiquity to modern America and thematically from the spirituality of near eastern monks to women's agency in religion, considering familiar religious communities alongside those on the margins and bringing a range of spiritual and religious practices into historical focus.Focusing on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the essays address matters central to the study of religion in history, in particular texts and traditions of authority, interreligious discourse, and religious practice and experience. Some examine mainstream communities and traditions, others explore individuals who crossed religious or confessional boundaries, and still others study the peripheries of what is considered orthodox religious tradition. Encompassing a wide geographical as well as chronological scope, Faithful Narratives illustrates the persistence of central themes and common analytical challenges for historians working in all periods.Contributors: Peter Brown, Princeton University; Nina Caputo, University of Florida; Carlos Eire, Yale University; Susanna Elm, University of California, Berkeley; Anthony Grafton, Princeton University; Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College; Phyllis Mack, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Kenneth Mills, University of Toronto; David Nirenberg, University of Chicago; Mark A. Noll, University of Notre Dame; David B. Ruderman, University of Pennsylvania; Lamin Sanneh, Yale University; Andrea Sterk, University of Florida; John Van Engen, University of Notre Dame.

Sujets

Histoire

Theology

History of religions

Historiography

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Publié par	Cornell University Press
Date de parution	24 janvier 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780801471056
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

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FAITHFUL NARRATIVES

FAITHFUL ARRATIVES

HI STORI ANS, RE L I GI ON, AND T HE CHAL L E NGE OF OBJ ECT I VI TY

E d i te d by A n d r e a Ste r k a n d N i n a C a p u to

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2014 by Cornell University Press

First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2014

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Faithful narratives : historians, religion, and the challenge of objectivity / Andrea Sterk and Nina Caputo, editors. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-5182-9 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8014-7857-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. History—Religious aspects. 2. Religion—History. 3. Religion—Historiography. I. Sterk, Andrea, editor of compilation. II. Caputo, Nina, editor of compilation. III. Elm, Susanna. Pagan challenge, Christian response. Contains (work): BL65.H5F35 2014 200.9—dc23 2013032205

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

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Co nte nts

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: The Challenge of Religion in History ANDREASTERKAND NINA CAPUTO

Pa rt O n e : L ate A nt i q u e a n d M e d i e va l R e l i g i o u s D e b ate s a n d Th e i r M o d e r n I m p l i c at i o n s 1. Pagan Challenge, Christian Response: Emperor Julian and Gregory of Nazianzus as Paradigms of Interreligious Discourse 15 SUSANNAELM 2. Between Syria and Egypt: Alms, Work, and the “Holy Poor” 32 PETERBROWN 3. Medieval Monks on Labor and Leisure 47 JOHNVANENGEN 4. Sibling Rivalries, Scriptural Communities: What Medieval History Can and Cannot Teach Us about Relations between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam 63 DAVID NIRENBERG Pa rt Tw o : E a r ly M o d e r n P e r s p e c t i ve s o n S p i r i t u a l i t y, Cu lt u r e , a n d R e l i g i o u s B o u n d a r i e s 5.Print andThe People and the Book: the Transformation of Jewish Culture in Early Modern Europe 83 DAVIDB. RUDERMAN

viCONTENTS

6.Book in The Jewish Christian Europe: Material Texts and Religious Encounters 96 ANTHONYGRAFTON 7.Narrative in the EarlyMission and Modern Spanish World: Diego de Ocaña’s Desert in Passing 115 KENNETHMILLS 8.How theIncombustible Weber: Protestant Reformation Really Disenchanted the World 132 CARLOSEIRE Pa rt Th r e e : F r o m t h e P r e m o d e r n to t h e M o d e r n Wo r l d : S a c r e d Te x ts , I n d i v i d u a l A g e n c y, a n d R e l i g i o u s I d e nt i t y 9.Religion and Gender in Enlightenment England: The Problem of Agency 151 PHYLLISMACK 10.Constructions of Jewish Identity through Reflections on Islam 169 SUSANNAHHESCHEL 11.Bible, Translation, and Culture: From the KJV to the Christian Resurgence in Africa 185 LAMINSANNEH 12.Reflections on the Bible and American Political Life 203 MARKA. NOLL Notes 221 Contributors 267 Index 271

A c k n o w l e d g m e nt s

The present volume is the result of a three-semester series at the University of Florida in 2008–9, followed by a ses-sion on the same topic cosponsored by the American Historical Society and the American Society of Church History in Boston in 2011. The idea to organize this series on religion in history was spurred partly by the personal interest of the organizers and our students, partly by the professional chal-lenges that we face on a daily basis in our teaching and research. Our goal was to foster a sustained cross-disciplinary discussion that would include undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and members of the general community. Toward this end, each of the twelve visiting scholars addressed the broader community in a public lecture and led a seminar for graduate students and faculty that engaged pedagogical challenges as well as research. We were pleased that this multilayered series fostered an ongoing conversa-tion that finds its most concrete expression in this book. Because this project has developed over the course of several years, we are indebted to a large number of institutions and individuals to whom we would like to express our gratitude. The initial funding for this project was provided by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Grants from both these institutions helped subsidize expenses associated with the graduate seminar that ran in tandem with the lecture series. While we could not have put together this series without these external sources of funding, the series and resulting volume would have also been impossible without the cooperation and support of numerous departments and centers at the University of Florida. At a time in which the humani-ties are under siege—both financially and intellectually—it was particularly gratifying that the lecture series received significant support from more than a dozen units on campus: the Department of History, the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Center for Jewish Studies, the UF Office for Research, the Alexander Grass Chair in Jewish Studies, the Rothman

vii

viiiACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Distinguished Lecture in Classics, the Richard J. Milbauer Chair in His-tory, the Department of Classics, the Department of Religion, the Center for African Studies, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research, and the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. The Christian Study Center of Gainesville also provided financial as well as institutional support for the project as a whole. Alongside institutional sponsors we would be remiss to omit a few specific individuals who contributed to the success of the series and its legacy in this volume: Jack Kugelmass, Richard Horner, Bonnie Effros, and Joseph Spillane, and our graduate assistants Anna Lankina and Valentina Istrate. Anna has been involved in the project from beginning to end, and we are especially grateful for her work on the index. We would also like to thank Peter Pot-ter, our editor at Cornell University Press, and the anonymous readers who reviewed the manuscript. We are perhaps most grateful to Mitch Hart and Howard Louthan, who endured the planning and execution of this project, from the first day to the very last, with excellent humor. (We would also like to thank them for taking Anthony Grafton to a local nature reserve to see the alligators, and even more, for bringing him back in one piece.) Finally, we are deeply indebted and grateful to the contributors them-selves. All of them were intellectually generous and gracious during their campus visits—even as they endured the difficulties of interminable airport layovers and breakneck schedules once they arrived. They were also encour-aging and supportive of our students, patient with the editors as the volume made its way through the long publication process, and unflaggingly enthusi-astic about the project as a whole. We hope that this book will be as engaging for the reader as it has been for the editors and contributors.

FAITHFUL NARRATIVES