Arc Humanities Press
Shared Saints and Festivals among Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Medieval Mediterranean
About this book
This book explores shared religious practices among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, focusing primarily on the medieval Mediterranean. It examines the meanings members of each community ascribed to the presence of the religious other at "their" festivals or holy sites during pilgrimage. Communal boundaries were often redefined or dissolved during pilgrimage and religious festivals. Yet, paradoxically, shared practices served to enforce communal boundaries, since many of the religious elite devised polemical interpretations of these phenomena which highlighted the superiority of their own faith. Such interpretations became integral to each group’s theological understanding of self and other to such a degree that in some regions, religious minorities were required to participate in the festivals of the ruling community. In all formulations, “otherness” remained an essential component of both polemic and prayer.
Author / Editor information
Reviews
Throughout the book, Cuffel weaves a dialogue with and offers her own contributions to relevant historical scholarship of recent decades, including, for example, studies centred on the regulations of religious practices amidst communal strife and studies dealing with intra-religious dynamics in face of religious conver- sion. Concurrently, she utilizes, challenges, and at times offers alternatives to “textbook” and recent efforts to theorize pilgrimage experience and pilgrimage discourse, categorize shared religious spaces, and illustrate the common dynamics of religious tolerance in shared sites. Contribution to extant theoretical discussions and case-based scholarly debates represents only a part of the overall value of this study. Cuffel’s choice to delve into the realm of discourse – carefully uncovering its layers, tracing its vast geographical dissemination, while analysing its diverse patterns and tracing their evolution in changing political and social contexts – contributes greatly to the study of inter-religious relations. It offers an illuminating and thought-provoking path to understanding the roles and meanings which the sharing of sacred sites, saints, and festivals had among medieval Mediterranean societies.
Topics
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Frontmatter
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CONTENTS
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
vi -
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ABBREVIATIONS
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INTRODUCTION
1 -
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Chapter 1 HOLY SPACES AND HOLY CORPSES DEFINING SANCTITY AND VENERATION OF THE DEAD FROM LATE ANTIQUITY TO THE MIDDLE AGES
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Chapter 2 THE OTHER AS WITNESS TO THE TRUTH POSITIVE RESPONSES TO SHARED RELIGIOUS VENERATION AMONG JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS TO THE MIDDLE EAST FROM WESTERN EUROPE
49 -
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Chapter 3 FORCEFUL SAINTS AND COMPELLING RITUALS REAL AND IMAGINED JEWISH AND MUSLIM PARTICIPATION IN CHRISTIAN RITUALS AND SAINT CULTS FROM BYZANTIUM TO WESTERN EUROPE
73 -
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Chapter 4 PRAISING, CURSING, OR IGNORING THE OTHER JEWS, CHRISTIANS, AND MUSLIMS AT ONE ANOTHER’S HOLY SPACES IN THE ISLAMICATE MEDITERRANEAN
109 -
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Chapter 5 OPPOSITION TO SHARED SAINTS AND FESTIVALS IN THE ISLAMICATE WORLD
157 -
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Chapter 6 UPHOLDING THE DIGNITY OF THE FAITH AND SEPARATING BELIEVERS AND UNBELIEVERS IN MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETIES
191 -
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CONCLUSIONS
243 -
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
251 -
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INDEX
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