An Indigent Scholar’s Plea for Charity: A Geniza Letter

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents ix
3. Introduction 1
4. Part One. The World of Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages
5. The Early Byzantine State and the Christian Ideal of Voluntary Poverty 15
6. Charitable Ministrations (Diakoniai), Monasticism, and the Social Aesthetic of Sixth-Century Byzantium 45
7. Charity and Piety as Episcopal and Imperial Virtues in Late Antiquity 75
8. Healing the world with righteousness ? The language of social justice in early Christian homilies 89
9. Almsgiving, Donatio Pro Anima and Eucharistic Offering in the Early Middle Ages of Western Europe (4th–9th century) 111
10. Part Two. Medieval Islam
11. Christian Pious Foundations as an Element of Continuity between Late Antiquity and Islam 125
12. Charity and Piety for the Transformation of the Cities 153
13. Piety and Charity in Late Medieval Egypt and Syria 175
14. Forms and Functions of Charity in Al-Andalus 203
15. “When Death Will Fall Upon Him”: Charitable Legacies in 15th Century Granada. 217
16. Charity and Gift Giving in Medieval Islam 235
17. Charity and Repentance in Medieval Islamic Thought and Practice 265
18. Part Three. The Jewish World
19. Geniza Documents for the Comparative History of Poverty and Charity 283
20. Charity in Jewish Society of the Medieval Mediterranean World 343
21. Benefaction (Ni ma), Gratitude (Shukr), and the Politics of Giving and Receiving in Letters from the Cairo Geniza 365
22. An Indigent Scholar’s Plea for Charity: A Geniza Letter 391