Description
Book SynopsisRitual Dynamics in Jewish and Christian Contexts investigates questions that arise in modern ritual studies concerning Jewish and Christian religious communities: How did their religious rituals develop? Where did different ritual communities and their ritual texts interact? How did religious communities and their authoritative texts respond to change, and how did change influence religious rituals? The volume is a product of the interdisciplinary and international research efforts taken by the Research Centre “Dynamics of Jewish Ritual Practices in Pluralistic Contexts from Antiquity to the Present” at the Universität Erfurt (Germany) and unites the voices of important senior and emerging scholars in the field. It focuses on antiquity and the medieval period but also considers examples from the early modern and modern period in Europe
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments List of Figures Abbreviations Contributors Introduction Günter Stemberger Part 1: Ritual Dynamics in (Holy) Jewish and Christian Texts 1 Is Rabbinic Prayer a Liturgy, or Essentially a Reading of Texts? Stefan C. Reif 2 Ritualizing the Cleaning of the House before Passover in Medieval Ashkenaz: Image and Text in Illuminated Haggadot Katrin Kogman-Appel 3 The Ritualization of Manufacturing and Handling Holy Books by the Hasidei Ashkenaz between Halakah and Magic Annett Martini 4 Concepts of History and Tradition in Modern Liturgical Books Martin Klöckener Part 2: A Dynamic Relationship: Christian and Jewish Traces in Jewish and Christian Texts 5 Memories of the Temple and Memories of Temples Clemens Leonhard 6 Conceptual and Ideological Aspects in the Mishnaic Description of Bringing the First Fruits to Jerusalem Hillel Mali 7 Christian Presence in Jewish Ritual Yaacov Deutsch Part 3: Comparing and Contrasting Rituals 8 Initiation by Circumcision and Water Baptism in Early Judaism and Early Christianity Gerard Rouwhorst 9 Space, Ritual, and Politics in (the Reconstruction of) the Ancient Synagogue: an Exploration of the Historical Archive Anders Runesson Part 4: Dynamic Rituals and Innovation of Rituals in Modern Contexts 10 Olive Oil, Anointing, Ecstasy, and Ecology Jonathan Schorsch Index of Ancient Sources Index of Modern Authors
