IMC 2017: Sessions
Session 1204: Obligation and Reward in Medieval Jewish and Christian Charity
Wednesday 5 July 2017, 14.15-15.45
| Organiser: | Adam J. Davis, Department of History, Denison University, Ohio |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Eva Frojmovic, Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Leeds |
| Paper 1204-a | Lending to God: The Redemptive Almsgiving of 13th-Century Christians (Language: English) Index terms: Canon Law, Lay Piety, Sermons and Preaching, Theology |
| Paper 1204-b | Why Give to the Poor?: Rabbinic and Lay Perspectives from 13th-Century Europe (Language: English) Index terms: Lay Piety, Sermons and Preaching, Social History |
| Paper 1204-c | 'Sufficient for His Needs': Medieval Jewish Interpretations of a Late Antique Rabbinic Charity Concept (Language: English) Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Law |
| Abstract | This session explores several strands of medieval Christian and Jewish perspectives on charity. All three papers consider how traditional ideas and laws about charity were reworked and redeployed during the High Middle Ages, whether the notion of redemptive almsgiving and the hundredfold reward, or the biblical (and Talmudic) injunction to provide a poor person with sufficient provisions for what he lacks. The papers will draw on diverse types of 13th-century literature (Christian sermon exempla, theological writings, rabbinic legal works and responsa, and ethical and pietistic literature) to uncover not only clerical and rabbinic approaches, but also those that emerge from the broader population. Attention will also be paid to the relationship between ideas about charity and charitable practices. |