Legitimizing Rhetorics: Jewish “Heresy” in Early Modern Italy
Granted the weakness of Jewish institutions for social control, arguments for freedom of thought and criticism of authority could flourish relatively unimpeded within the community. Communities did use decrees of excommunication to expel individuals for various types of actions—especially those rela...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institut du Monde Anglophone
2017-10-01
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| Series: | Etudes Epistémè |
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| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/1764 |
| _version_ | 1818479098014466048 |
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| author | Bernard Dov Cooperman |
| author_facet | Bernard Dov Cooperman |
| author_sort | Bernard Dov Cooperman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Granted the weakness of Jewish institutions for social control, arguments for freedom of thought and criticism of authority could flourish relatively unimpeded within the community. Communities did use decrees of excommunication to expel individuals for various types of actions—especially those related to economic competition and taxation or crossing halakhic marital rules and other such malfeasance. But when it came to matters of belief and doctrine, demands to “excommunicate” deviants seem to have remained largely rhetorical, at least until the seventeenth century. What is remarkable is not only the open rejection of any claims to universal authority but the justification for freedom of thought, the importance of individual rational ethics in self-perfection, the rejection of blind credulousness, and the use of historical critical methods to establish the authentic Jewish tradition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T09:56:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-38272432f35b489abd11c9fff2727154 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1634-0450 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T09:56:44Z |
| publishDate | 2017-10-01 |
| publisher | Institut du Monde Anglophone |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Etudes Epistémè |
| spelling | doaj.art-38272432f35b489abd11c9fff27271542022-12-22T01:53:27ZengInstitut du Monde AnglophoneEtudes Epistémè1634-04502017-10-013110.4000/episteme.1764Legitimizing Rhetorics: Jewish “Heresy” in Early Modern ItalyBernard Dov CoopermanGranted the weakness of Jewish institutions for social control, arguments for freedom of thought and criticism of authority could flourish relatively unimpeded within the community. Communities did use decrees of excommunication to expel individuals for various types of actions—especially those related to economic competition and taxation or crossing halakhic marital rules and other such malfeasance. But when it came to matters of belief and doctrine, demands to “excommunicate” deviants seem to have remained largely rhetorical, at least until the seventeenth century. What is remarkable is not only the open rejection of any claims to universal authority but the justification for freedom of thought, the importance of individual rational ethics in self-perfection, the rejection of blind credulousness, and the use of historical critical methods to establish the authentic Jewish tradition.http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/1764Early Modern Italyfreedom of thoughtheresyJewish community |
| spellingShingle | Bernard Dov Cooperman Legitimizing Rhetorics: Jewish “Heresy” in Early Modern Italy Etudes Epistémè Early Modern Italy freedom of thought heresy Jewish community |
| title | Legitimizing Rhetorics: Jewish “Heresy” in Early Modern Italy |
| title_full | Legitimizing Rhetorics: Jewish “Heresy” in Early Modern Italy |
| title_fullStr | Legitimizing Rhetorics: Jewish “Heresy” in Early Modern Italy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Legitimizing Rhetorics: Jewish “Heresy” in Early Modern Italy |
| title_short | Legitimizing Rhetorics: Jewish “Heresy” in Early Modern Italy |
| title_sort | legitimizing rhetorics jewish heresy in early modern italy |
| topic | Early Modern Italy freedom of thought heresy Jewish community |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/1764 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bernarddovcooperman legitimizingrhetoricsjewishheresyinearlymodernitaly |