Songs of Faith and Violence : The Intellectual Horizons of Prague Jews at the Turn of the Fifteenth Century
2021
Abstract
A short overview of the intellectual profile of Prague Jews at the end of the Middle Ages. This period was a time of escalating political and religious tensions and a crisis of authority in Christian society.
In the second half of the 14th century, Prague was the centre of the activities of preachers proclaiming the renewal of the Church and religious life. Prague Jewish authors of the late 14th and early 15th centuries aimed at a similar renewal of spiritual life and traditional forms of Jewish piety.
At the same time, they used some elements of Christian theological discourse in their polemical arguments.