Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Jewish converts'

The subject of this thesis is Jewish conversion to Christianity in medieval England. The majority of the material covered dates between 1066 and c.1290. The overall argument of the thesis contends that converts to Christianity in England remained essentially Jews. Following a discussion of the relevant secondary literature, which examines the existing discussion of converts and conversion, the principal arguments contained in the chapters of the thesis include the assertion that the increasing restrictiveness of the laws and rules regulating the Jewish community in England created a push factor towards conversion, and that converts to Christianity inhabited a legal grey area, neither under the jurisdiction of the Exchequer of the Jews, nor completely outside of it. Numerous questions are asked (and answered) about the variety of convert experience, in order to argue that there was a distinction between leaving Judaism and joining Christianity. Two convert biographies are presented. The first shows how the liminality that was a part of the conversion process affected the post-conversion life of a convert, and the second shows how a convert might successfully integrate into Christian society. The analysis of converts and conversion focusses on answering a number of questions. These relate to, among other things, pre-conversion relationships with royal family members, the reaction to corrody requests for converts, motives for conversion, forced or coerced conversions, the idea that a convert could be neither Christian nor Jew, converts re-joining Judaism, converts who carried the names of royal functionaries, the domus conversorum, convert instruction, and converting minors. The appendix to the thesis contains a complete catalogue of Jewish converts in medieval England. Among other things noted therein are inter-convert relationships, and extant source material. Each convert also has a biography.

Set in a small minority community in South Africa, the Orthodox Jewish com-munity in Johannesburg, this study explores why a person would actively and volun-tarily seek minority status by converting into an ethnic-religious minority group. Taking a social constructionist approach to understanding religious conversion, it is argued that religious conversion to Orthodox Judaism is also a social process of becoming ethnically "Jewish". In this study, two types of converts are considered, namely con-verts who come to Judaism through marriage and converts for religious purposes. Through in-depth-interviews with rabbis and converts, experiences of social inclusion and exclusion, and the meaning of conversions is understood. This study finds that regardless of the path to conversion, belonging and identity are key reasons for con-version, and that it is an ethnic process that serves group and individual needs recip-rocally. At an individual level, becoming Jewish through conversion helps avoid social exclusion and achieves other social inclusions by acquiring membership in new com-munities and by forming new social identities. At a group level, the research shows that religious conversion is part of the group's broader concern for maintaining ethnic boundaries and is therefore an element of the politics of belonging. The research shows how conversion to a minority ethnic group in a plural environment becomes a social means to protect ethnic identity and avoid assimilation. By understanding con-version as the politics of belonging, the research explores the subjective experiences of citizenship at a group and individual level.

O presente estudo procura compreender Edith Stein (1891-1942), personagem emblemática do século XX, através de uma perspectiva histórica, psicanalítica e de um método hermenêutico. De origem judaica, nascida em Breslau, Prússia, dedicouse aos estudos filosóficos e ao magistério. Foi aluna de E. Husserl e realizou importantes investigações fenomenológicas, em várias áreas. Discriminada por ser mulher e judia, não pôde seguir uma carreira acadêmica, apesar de suas importantes contribuições teóricas. Converteu-se ao catolicismo tornando-se monja carmelita descalça. Foi presa pela polícia nazista e assassinada em Auschwitz, na câmera de gás, em 1942. Beatificada pelo Papa João Paulo II em 1998, tornou-se co-patrona da Europa. Neste trabalho busquei, através de seu idioma pessoal, as raízes que fecundaram o seu pensamento e a maneira como tentou responder às questões cruciais que a habitaram como mulher, filósofa, judia-católica, vivendo a tensão entre o judaísmo e o catolicismo. As principais fontes utilizadas foram sua autobiografia, cartas, obras e escritos diversos, assim como a literatura produzida sobre ela e sua época, além de material iconográfico.
The focus of this research is to understand Edith Stein (1891-1942), an iconic XX century figure, using historical and psychoanalytical perspectives as well as an hermeneutical method. From Jewish origin, Stein was born in Breslau, Prussia, studied with E. Husserl and developed important phenomenological investigations, in education, womanhood, philosophy, theology and mystic. However could not be an academic because of discrimination against both women and Jews. Subsequently she converted to Catholicism and even became a Carmelite monk, neither of which was enough to escape persecution of the Nazis. She flew to Holland, but was arrested by the Gestapo, taken to Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942, where her life ended in a gas chamber. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1998. This work examines the roots and influences of her theoretical contributions as well as the way she answered the fundamental human questions that she dealt with during her lifetime as a woman, a philosopher and a Christian-Jew. The main sources are Steins autobiography, letters, writings and other literature dealing with her life and times.

Jean de Menasce, né en 1902 dans l’aristocratie juive d’Alexandrie et impliqué dans le mouvement sioniste, demande le baptême à l’âge de 23 ans, à la suite d’un jeune cousin passé du communisme au séminaire. Il entre dans l’ordre dominicain et le sacerdoce et intègre le réseau de sociabilité maritainien. Étudiant d’Émile Benveniste, il devient spécialiste du mazdéisme et enseigne de 1938 à 1948 l’histoire des religions et la missiologie à la faculté de théologie de l’université de Fribourg en Suisse avant d’occuper la chaire « Religions de l’Iran ancien » à l’École pratique. L’originalité de sa trajectoire est multiple. Elle tient d’abord au fait qu’il entre dans l’Église avec une expérience juive dense et complexe. Il se distingue par un regard porté non pas exclusivement sur le judaïsme des origines chrétiennes ou sur la théologie d’Israël, mais sur un judaïsme étudié dans sa consistance historique et sur le monde juif contemporain, avec une attention particulière à l’État d’Israël. S’il semble d’abord s’orienter à l’instar de nombreux convertis du judaïsme vers une spécialisation dans un renouvellement des relations entre juifs et chrétiens, cet engagement originel s’intègre à deux lieux plus vastes : d’une part les fondements et exigences de la mission et du « dialogue » avec les religions non-chrétiennes et le monde sécularisé, surtout le marxisme ; de l’autre, la science des religions et son épistémologie, dont on mesurera ce qu’elles doivent, à côté d’une formation philosophique et littéraire et d’une expérience de linguiste et de traducteur, à la théologie des religions
Jean de Menasce, born in 1902 in the Jewish aristocracy of Alexandria and involved in the Zionist movement, converted to Catholicism at the age of 23, following a young cousin who moved from Communism to the seminary. He entered the Dominican order and was ordained priest. A student of Emile Benveniste, he became a specialist of Mazdeism. From 1938 to 1948, he taught History of Religions and Missiology at the Theology Faculty of Fribourg, Switzerland, and then, Religions of Ancient Iran at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. The originality of his trajectory is multiple. Menasce had a rich and complex Jewish experience before his conversion. As a Catholic, he was not exclusively interested in Judaism related with the origins of Christianism, or in the theology of Israel. He studied Judaism in its historical consistence and paid attention to the contemporary Jewish world, in particular the young State of Israel. He first seems, like numerous converts from Judaism, to be inclined towards a specialisation in the renewal of the relations between Jews and Christians. This original commitment blended in two larger issues: on one hand, the foundations and demands of the mission, and of the “dialogue” with non Christian religions and the secularised world, especially Marxism; on the other, the science of religions and its epistemology, whose practice and development are linked with the theology of religions, alongside the influence of a philosophical and litterary training and an experience as a linguist and a translator

La present tesi , La societat jueva conversa en la Barcelona Baixmedieval, 1391-1440, té com objectiu principal estudiar en profunditat el grup social del conversos de Barcelona des de tots els aspectes: socials, econòmics, professionals, familiars, religiosos, així com la seva relació entre ells i la resta de la societat. El context històric en el que desenvolupem la nostra investigació parteix cronològicament de l’agost de 1391, data en la que es produïren les conversions en massa dels jueus barcelonins. Els avalots de 1391, produïts pel profund malestar social i econòmic dels estaments baixos de la societat, van significar la ruptura de la coexistència entre jueus i cristians barcelonins. Les conseqüències d’aquests fets foren letals per a la comunitat jueva de la ciutat: d’una part, el 10 de setembre de 1392 s’abolí per sempre més l’aljama jueva de Barcelona; per l’altra, la majoria dels jueus es convertiren al cristianisme. Per tant, un nou grup social irromp en el cor de la societat cristiana, ja que els conversos, com a cristians, entren a formar part d’aquesta en tots els seus àmbits (legals, religiosos, econòmics...). Els conversos es trobaren immersos en una societat que abans els excloïa. Així mateix, aquesta societat es veu obligada a absorbir un nou grup social, amb les seves característiques i costums propis, que ella mateixa ha creat i que ara presenta una dificultosa integració. Les primeres mesures preses per les autoritats van anar encaminades a impedir que els nous adeptes al cristianisme tornessin a la seva antiga fe. Aquestes mesures van provocar la separació entre membres de la família nuclear, ultra d’altres de grau més llunyà i amics, puix que no tots van abjurar de la fe mosaica. Davant aquesta situació part dels conversos van decidir fugir cap a altres indrets on pogueren continuant vivint en la seva vertadera fe. La resta es quedaren per tal d’integrar-se en la nova societat en la que els havien inclòs. Després del desastre de 1391, els conversos tenien davant seu un camí ple de dificultats. La societat cristiana, és a dir, aquells que els varen obligar a convertir-se, es va despreocupar completament del seu adoctrinament. Tret, és clar, dels coneixements que els conversos absorbien de les predicacions. Per tant, aquests van haver de conèixer la nova fe pels seus propis mitjans, puix que eren conscients que la seva fe estava sota sospita. Fins i tot, alguns conversos arribaren a formar part de l’estament clerical. Així mateix, hagueren de refer-se econòmicament i adaptar-se a la nova situació en la que es trobaven, ja que com a cristians el seu marc econòmic i mercantil es presentava diferent. També hem de tenir en compte les dificultats que sorgiren arran de la no conversió del cònjuge, fills o germans, propiciant separacions i ruptures econòmiques. Tot i les dificultats que se’ls presentaven, els conversos van anar integrant-se en la societat cristiana, convivint amb ella sense conflictes greus fins a l’arribada de la Inquisició castellana. Formaven, per tant, part de la nostra societat i de la nostra història. Com funcionava, però, aquest grup? Com i amb quin grau es relacionava amb els cristians de natura? Quants d’ells eren verdaderament cristians? Com funcionaven econòmicament i quin eren els oficis que dominaven? Com i on vivien dins de la ciutat? Com es relacionaven amb la seva família? I amb els seus membres jueus? Com veiem, l’estudi de la societat conversa barcelonina ens planteja aquestes i més preguntes, la resposta de les quals ens permetrà conèixer millor la nostra història.
The main objective of this thesis, La societat jueva conversa en la Barcelona Baixmedieval, 1391-1440, is to study in depth the social group of the converts of Barcelona from all aspects: social, economic, professional, family, religious, as well as their relationship between them and the rest of society. The 1391 revolts, produced by the profound social and economic malaise of the lower estates of society, meant the rupture of the coexistence between Jews and Christians of Barcelona. As a result, on September 10, 1392, the Jewish Aljama of Barcelona was abolished forever and most Jews were converted to Christianity. A new social group breaks into Christian society, since converters, like Christians, form part of it in all their fields (legal, religious, economic ...). The converts were immersed in a society that formerly excluded them. Likewise, this society is forced to absorb a new social group, with its own characteristics and customs. The first measures taken by the authorities were aimed at preventing the new enthusiasts of Christianity from returning to their old faith. These measures caused the separation between members of the nuclear family and friends. The Christian society, completely ignorant of its indoctrination. Therefore, they had to know the new faith by their own means. Even some converts came to be part of the clerical estate. They also had to rely economically and adapt to the new situation they were in, since, as Christians, their economic and commercial framework was different. In spite of the difficulties that were presented to them, the conversos were integrated in the Christian society, living with her without serious conflicts until the arrival of the Castilian Inquisition. They formed, therefore, part of our society and our history. How did this group work? How and to what degree was it related to the Christians of nature? How many of them were truly Christians? How did they work financially and what were the trades they dominated? How and where did they live in the city? How did they relate to their family? And with its Jewish members?

L'étude de l'Inquisition dans le district de Valence reposait essentiellement sur l'analyse menée par l'historien Ricardo García Cárcel en 1976. Nous avons voulu par l'étude exhaustive de différents documents : abécédaires inquisitoriaux, procès, mais aussi documents comptables, documents notariés, établir une nouvelle liste des condamnés entre 1478, date de l'implantation du Saint-Office à Valence et 1530, période où le filon judéo-convers se tarit, laissant place à des nouvelles stratégies et à la persécution de nouveaux groupes dissidents. À Valence, les années 1520-1530 marquent le déclin de la région au profit d'une Castille conquérante, dominatrice en Espagne et dans le monde. Le nouveau registre que nous avons établi, riche de 3 094 condamnés en grande majorité judéo-convers (93,39 %), nous a servi de fondement pour dresser les contours de ce que fut la répression dans cette région et comprendre le rôle d'une Inquisition qui, entre urgences financières du monarque et uniformisation religieuse et culturelle, bouleversa l'équilibre d'une communauté judéo-converse, de plus en plus intégrée à la société vieille-chrétienne à laquelle elle appartenait depuis sa conversion. À travers l'analyse des comptes du receveur des biens confisqués, limitée aux familles judéo-converses de trois des villes principales du royaume, Gandía, Xàtiva et Segorbe, nous avons voulu déterminer le niveau social de cette communauté et savoir quel fut l'impact de cette répression dans une région qui perdait ses prérogatives et son pouvoir au profit de la nouvelle monarchie des Habsbourg.

This thesis studies, through a literary and theological analysis of her writings and an examination of her background, how a fifteenth century Spanish nun called Teresa de Cartagena dealt spiritually with disability. She was physically disabled, having become deaf as an adult but also having endured many illnesses. Her first book, Arboleda de los enfermos, was written to pass on to other sufferers the spiritual lessons she had learned from her own suffering; that suffering was good because it had saved her from sin and had brought her to God. Her second work, Admiraçión operum Dey, was written to answer those who had criticised her for the act of writing because of her gender, at that time a disability for any woman wishing to write or teach. She justified her writing as a special work of God, but did not claim mystical direct divine inspiration. Teresa was a member of a prominent family of Jewish Christians (conversos). At the time she was writing, the second half of the fifteenth century, anti-converso prejudice and violence were growing in Spain. This culminated in the introduction of the Inquisition in order to deal with the so-called 'judaising conversos'. In these circumstances her conversa status was a distinct social disability, but there is no express mention of this in her writings. However, there are traces in her writings of converso concerns, and of a specifically converso theology. Although there have been many studies of Teresa de Cartagena from the viewpoints of medieval Spanish literature, disability studies, feminist history and her use of rhetorical techniques, there has been no in depth study of her theology and spirituality. This thesis demonstrates that, although in general these were orthodox and unoriginal, they were unusual for a woman of her time and background.

Amidst the decisive events of the 20th century - the Holocaust and the rebirth of the Jewish homeland - which impacted heavily on Jewish attitudes, emerged a broadening of religious doctrines creating diversity within Judaism. Previous insularist tendencies were replaced by revised outlooks on proselytisation, blending with the unique characteristics of South African Jewry. Clearly, local Jewish society and the Rabbinate have placed these updated perceptions high on its agenda. The inevitable mixed reactions have been reviewed in this work, which looks at the long road travelled by the convert from the viewpoint of current motivations, acceptance by the community and post conversion levels of observance. My own theory is a model encompassing the respective components of local proselytism looking at categories of converts, their motives, demands to be met and obstacles. To comprehend the contemporary position, a historical survey delved into the issue from its Biblical origins via the influences of centuries, reaching the South African scene. This inquiry investigated the development of conversion policies drawn from an evolvement of energetic Halakhic debate. These attitudes manifest themselves in archival sources from 1924, of which my analysis is the first of its kind. From these records, together with those of my own community and data available from the Cape Beth Din, the interpretative statistics thus compiled identified characteristics and motivations of applicants and procedural mechanics. This work proceeded a step further. Focus on the Durban model provided an ideal observation point for the post conversion stages. Personal knowledge of the candidates gained from my service to Durban Jewry enabled me to assess their respective adherences and absorption into the community. Furthermore, responses to a questionnaire sent to the local Jewry and interviews revealed attitudes both of Jews by birth and the converts themselves whilst added perceptions were obtained from a questionnaire sent to the Rabbis of South Africa. In the final chapter I submitted proposals and recommendations, some of which are radical. Covering the entire process of conversion this model attempts to address the future of conversions in South Africa as this is expected to remain a pivotal issue of immense momentum.
Religious Studies & Arabic
D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

In the summer of 1391 anti-Jewish violence spread across the kingdom of Castile and the Crown of Aragon. Unprecedented numbers of Jews were murdered and even more were forcibly converted. These converts, known as conversos, formed a new, self-perpetuating social group, which, together with the rest of Spanish society, remained deeply conscious of its distinct ethnicity and culture. A century later, testimonies to the Spanish Inquisition depict a converso community with a continued, if varied, affiliation to Judaism. This dissertation investigates the economic, social and political factors that promoted Jewish identification among the first two generations of conversos in Majorca following their baptism in 1391. It employs previously unexamined and unpublished archival sources to argue that corporate fiscal obligations had a major impact in shaping the converso community in Majorca, just as they shaped Jewish social and communal life prior to 1391. Conversos organized collectively in order to meet royal fiscal demands, settle their corporate debt and fund social welfare following the disruptions of 1391, adopting administrative models of the former aljama. The monarchy continued to relate to the conversos as a distinct corporate entity in the same ways it had dealt with them as Jews. Royal efforts to prevent converso emigration to the Maghreb, where many fled to renege on Catholicism, carried overtones of the same proto-mercantilist policies that motivated its failed attempts to revivify the island’s Jewish aljama. Publicized restrictions against conversos, many of whom continued to cultivate prior commercial and family relationships with Maghrebi Jews, contributed to popular assumptions that Majorcan conversos at sea were Judaizers, spurring targeted anti-converso and anti-Jewish piracy. Conversos thus remained entrenched in the same socioeconomic structures, and employed the same licit and illicit strategies to cope with royal exploitation, as when they were Jews. This perpetuated a group identity that was unmistakeably anchored in their Jewish past, and which could promote other aspects of Jewish affiliation. In 1404 the conversos established a formal confraternity which replicated the social welfare programs and administrative techniques of the former aljama within the framework of a Catholic pious society, representing one of the first necessary adaptations to Christian life.

'... [B]y constant reading of the rabbis, [he] became almost a rabbi himself. ..' In these words, Edward Gibbon in the eighteenth century described John Lightfoot, a seventeenth century Puritan scholar who taught at Cambridge University. In the seventeenth through early nineteenth centuries, Lightfoot's reputation as a Hebrew scholar was held in high regard, particularly in the area of Talmudic studies. Paradoxically, Lightfoot, for all his expertise in the language and literature of the Jews, held the Jews and their religion in contempt, as has been forcefully demonstrated by Schertz. Lightfoot expressed a deep hostility toward both the ancient Jews and the Jews contemporary to himself. An area in which he expressed his contempt for and hostility to the Jews most forcefully was in his attitude to attempts to convert Jews to Christianity. This dissertation will seek to examine Lightfoot's views on the conversion of the Jews to Christianity. In doing so, this dissertation will not attempt to serve as a systematic critique of Lightfoot's Talmudic and rabbinic scholarship. Schertz has already provided such a critique. Neither will this dissertation attempt to provide a systematic evaluation, from a twentieth-century perspective, of Lightfoot's importance in the development of historical-critical methods of studying the scriptures. Such a study has yet to be written and would demand greater space than the specifications of this dissertation would allow, along with greater technical and linguistic expertise in the disciplines of biblical studies than the author of this dissertation claims to possess. Of necessity, this work will assume a narrower focus on a single, albeit central, aspect of Lightfoot's thought. The first chapter will place Lightfoot's views in historical context by surveying attitudes regarding the conversion of the Jews to Christianity in seventeenth-century England. Among many English Puritans, particularly during the periods of the Civil War, the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, a growing conviction existed that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent and that the mass conversion of the Jews to Christianity was a necessary prerequisite to the Second Coming. The second chapter will examine Lightfoot's opposition to attempts to convert Jews to Christianity, as stated in A Parergon Concerning the Fall of Jerusalem. In this context, some consideration of Lightfoot's general views regarding Jews and Judaism will also be relevant. The third chapter will consider the impact of John Calvin's theology upon Lightfoot's views regarding the conversion of the Jews, particularly the doctrines of election and predestination. In the concluding section, Lightfoot's views on the conversion of the Jews will be evaluated. In this evaluation, the observation will be made that a significant common factor was shared by Lightfoot and by the advocates of the conversion of the Jews. Neither viewed Judaism as a religion in its own right. Instead, Judaism was viewed as either an under-developed form of Christianity or as a negation of Christianity. It will be the contention of this dissertation that this view of Judaism constituted a significant flaw in the thought both of Lightfoot and of the advocates of the conversion of the Jews. In this context, the author hopes that the irony (whether intentional or unintentional) of Gibbon's remark will become apparent, that Lightfoot, with his contempt for the Jews and their religion, was never ' . . almost a rabbi himself.'

Text in German
It is the aim of this study to present the problems concerning the conversion of Jews with communist background to Christianity. This way useful advice shall be won for the missionary work among Jews who came from the former Sowjetunion. At first the social, cultural, religious and political background of the Jews before the immigration into Zsar-Russia until their emigration from the former Sowjetunion are researched. Then, in order to research the processes of conversion, 18 former Sowjetunion Jews who live in Israel were given interview-questionaries to get an idea from personal experiences and knowledge. To get a more objective picture of the conversion subject, testimonies of messianic Jews, statements of pastors, information letters and messianic literature were also consulted. In the last part of this study the mission-theological conclusion of the conversion subject is given and reflected for the missionary work among Jews stemming from the former Sowjetunion.
Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology
M. Th. (Missiology)