Between Cross and Crescent: Jewish Civilization from Mohammed to Spinoza

by David B. Ruderman

Experience the evolution of all of Jewish life during the 10 critical centuries from its rabbinic foundations in late antiquity until the dawn of modernity in the 17th century. During this time, Judaism was forever affected by its encounters with the surrounding social, economic, political, and intellectual environments of both medieval Islam and Christendom.

As a result of those encounters, new pathways of philosophical inquiry and religious spirituality would be formed. The Hebrew language would find new ways of artistic expression. And the role of Jews in the life of the surrounding community would be changed forever, sometimes even increased, as was the paradoxical case in Italy, by the very ghettoization meant to keep them isolated.

These 24 insightful lectures give you a unique perspective from which to examine the three major Western religions as they interact over time, and noting especially their ability or inability to tolerate and even appreciate the "other", as viewed from the vantage point of the Jewish minority. They also feature the emergence of two distinct intellectual threads: the rise of medieval Jewish philosophy and the appearance of Jewish mysticism and piety as the faith's primary expressions of religiosity.

These lectures span an enormous disciplinary range, moving back and forth among history, philosophy, religion, and art. No previous familiarity with Jewish, Islamic, or Christian history is necessary to enjoy this broad and detailed examination of the leading Jewish communities of the period, their political and economic structures, the social relations between Jews and non-Jews, and Jewish cultural and intellectual achievements in a premodern world dominated by two other faiths.

Genres: History, Religion, Judaism, Nonfiction, Jewish, Audiobook, Medieval

13 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for the general reader.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This course gave a more in depth look at Jewish history in the "Medieval" period. In response to some of the other negative reviews, it is not an intro to Judaism course and assumes you already have a basic understanding of Jewish culture. The Teaching Company has several other intro courses that would be more appropriate if that's what you were looking for. As a Jew, I appreciated the way this course was laid out and the information given. I like to consider myself a decently educated person, especially when it comes to Jewish culture and history since it's very important to me, but I learned some things I didn't know about my own ancestry. This course felt exactly as advertised and was well done. I like the teacher a lot and plan to also take his modern Jewish history course.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

this isn't a book it is an audiobook but it was pretty sweet
thanks man
i learned a lot. this is tight because even though I'm Christian and Jewish, my grandma is Muslim so this is tight thanks!

[Simon Eskildsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recently, someone Jewish joined my team and I realized how little I knew about Jewish culture and history. In particular, I wanted to understand more about Jewish history in the "middle." I felt I had a bit of an understanding of the beginnings, and of the last 100 years—however, what happened between the beginning and now was opaque to me. I thought this course (as an Audiobook) gave a decent walk-through, but I would've expected to have walked away with a stronger model of Jewish history from a 16-hour course.

The course walks us through The Jewish diaspora from the beginning of Christianity, the relationship with Islam, the emigration to Spain, and later the expulsion from Spain in 1492. The "eastern frontier" of Ashkenazi Jewry, and important Jewish philosophy throughout times. It goes into great depth with how the Jews interacted with the societies around them and trace anti-semitism far, far back to the first expulsion of Jews from England in 1290.

[Skuli Saeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruderman fjallar um rúmlega 10. alda sögu menningar gyðinga á umbrotatímum fram á árnútímann. Sem gefur að skilja er þetta ákaflega sundurleit saga því hann fylgir þjóðflutningunum um veldi Múhameðstrúarmanna, Íberíuskaga og um alla Evrópu. Athyglivert er að sjá hvernig viðhorf múslima var öðruvísi en kristinna og ekki síst hvernig viðhorfin breytast í aldanna rás. Ruderman gefur engar skýringar á þessum atriðum en dregur fram helstu áhrifavaldanna. Það er líka kostur að hann fjallar örlítið um kynjasögu gyðinga á þessum tímum en lætur þess þó getið að hún sé of lítið rannsökuð til að hægt sé að skoða hana fullnægjandi.

[Hayden Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruderman is a great lecturer and this series taught me a lot about Jewish culture and civilization and how it interacted with the early Christian and Islamic worlds.

I decided to listen to this because I'm taking a Spinoza seminar and was hoping this could provide some cultural context for Spinoza's work.

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lecture series about Jewish history. Very intense but well done. I learned a lot.

[Skylar Burris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't hold my interest. Didn't finish the entire series.

[Yitzchok]

2 Dvd's, Course Guidebook and 2 Course Transcripts