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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Daniel Boyarin has argued something like this for the Hebrew faith, which he says was not "Judaism" until later. But, I don't remember this being argued of Christians. I would find it hard to believe that Christians living in Andalus before the reconquest had never met a Jew or Muslim. And what of the crusaders? Did they never have close encounters with Jews or Muslims ? Boyarin's argument is on different grounds. It seems to be that the Jews did not see themselves as a religion but a people. If you haven't read it already, you might find: _The Spectral Jew: Conversion and Embodiment in Medieval Europe_, Steven F. Kruger 2005; instructive in this regard. V. K. Inman On Fri, May 31, 2013 at 5:37 PM, John Shinners <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > Does anyone recall the name of the modern medievalist who has argued that > the concept of “religion” was not something most medieval people would even > think to use to define themselves (as in “I am a Christian”) because the > vast majority of Europeans were baptized Christians from birth and seldom > had opportunity to interact with non-Christians? Christianity was a given, > no more necessary to proclaim than "I am human." I’m not sure I buy the > idea since even if someone never met a Jew or Muslim, these groups had > become so demonized in the abstract that someone could not help feel > satisfaction in belonging to the “right” religion. Or am I imagining I > heard this not so long ago? Any insights are most welcome. > Thanks, > John > > -- > John Shinners > Professor, Schlesinger Chair in Humanistic Studies > Saint Mary's College > Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 > Phone: 574-284-4494 or 574-284-4534 > Fax: 284-4855 > www.saintmarys.edu/~hust > > "Learn everything. Later you will see that nothing is superfluous." -- > Hugh of St. Victor (d. 1141) > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: > unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to > report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] For further information, visit > our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion