History of Religion Commons^™

Descend To The Abyss: Jacob Frank's Going To Poland, Pawel Maciejko

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation examines several autobiographical fragments of the most important Frankist document, The Words of the Lord. It focuses on the motif of recurrent divine calls to 'go to Poland' and, ultimately, the justification of Frank's conversion to Christianity.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• The Collection of the Words of the Lord spoken in Bruenn

Mining An Unusual Ego Text (Or Two), Gershon D. Hundert

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The texts presented here are excerpted from a 329-page-manuscript Divrei Binah in cursive Hebrew entitled Divre binah. The book was completed in 1800 but never published. It is devoted mostly to the Sabbatian and Frankist phenomena; the genre to which the text belongs is open to discussion. Its author is Dov Ber Brezer or Birkenthal of Bolechów (1723-1805) in western Galicia.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Divrei Bina (Understanding Words) by Dov Ber Brezer (Birkenthal) of Bolechów

Emw 2011: Egodocuments: Revelation Of The Self In The Early Modern Period, Emw 2011

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The Early Modern Workshop in 2011, “Egodocuments: Revelation of the Self in the Early Modern Period,” seeks to examine how individuals in the early modern period wrote and thought about themselves. The workshop participants explore texts ranging from the obvious autobiographical texts to less obvious, such as ethical wills, Inquisition-prompted accounts of self, family diaries of births and deaths, travelogues, and others. Questions raised deal with issues of self-representation, reading, relationship with the divine, gender differences in self-representation, and motivations to write autobiographical accounts.

Religious Space In Transition: A Comparison Of Latter-Day Saint And Nonconformist Worship In Victorian England, Jaclyn Ann Beazer

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

July 19, 1837 was not a day to remember for the majority of the residents of Liverpool, England. For one small group of men, however, this was a day they had been anticipating for months. After a record breaking Atlantic crossing, the men hired a small boat to take them ashore rather than wait for the passenger steamer. Just before the boat reached the pier, several of the men jumped out and waded to shore, anxious to reach land and begin their work. These men were the first missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to arrive …

The Role Of Indulgences In The Building Of New Saint Peter’S Basilica, Ginny Justice

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

New St. Peter’s Basilica is the second largest church in the world and considered by many to be the most beautiful. Built mainly during the sixteenth century, it took over a century to complete, and withstood corruption, wars, the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, good popes and evil ones, and inched its way toward completion in 1626. The main funding for the early stages of building New St. Peter’s came from the sale of indulgences. Indulgences did more than help pay for the basilica, however. The abusive means of selling indulgences, including lies from priests and the papacy about their efficacy, resulted …

(Review) The Negotiated Reformation: Imperial Cities And The Politics Of Urban Reform, 1525–1550, Marc R. Forster

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Administrating The Non-Muslims And "The Question Of Jerusalem" After The Young Turk Revolution, Bedross Der Matossian

Department of History: Faculty Publications

The historiography on the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 in general has mainly concentrated on the impact of the Revolution on the Ottoman Turkish society. Rarely do we see works that deal with the impact of the Revolution on the non-dominant groups in the Empire from a comparative perspective. How did the different ethnic groups view the Revolution? How did the Revolution influence the dynamics of power inside these groups? What were the relations between the Revolution and the religious groups within the Empire? How did the local /central government view the transformations taking place among the non-Muslim communities in …

Fur Trade 07: Native Peoples And The Fur Trade, Rachel B. Juen, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 7. Shifting Political Alliances and Power, Transformations of Culture, and Religion and Worldview.

Fur Trade 01: Beaver: Mainstay Of The Trade, Rachel B. Juen, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 1. Hunting, Hides, and Hats, Environmental Effects, and Why Beaver?

Fur Trade 06: How The Fur Trade Worked, Rachel B. Juen, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 6. Government Regulation, From Montreal to the West, and Movement of Goods and Furs.

Fur Trade 09: Fur Trade Society, Rachel B. Juen, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 9. Interdependence, Mutual Influences, and Métis and Country Wives.

Fur Trade 02: Birchbark Canoes, Rachel B. Juen, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 2. A Joint Effort, Canoes Got Bigger, Why Birchbark?, and a Valuable and Renewable Resource.

Fur Trade 03: Trade Goods 1, Rachel B. Juen, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 3. Material Culture of the Fur Trade and Cloth and Clothing.

Fur Trade 04: Trade Goods 2, Rachel B. Juen, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 4. Firearms and Metal Goods.

Fur Trade 05: Getting Around In 17th And 18th Century New France, Rachel B. Juen, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 5. Routes and Transportation and Travels of a Voyageur.

Fur Trade 08: New France And The Place Of The Fur Trade, Rachel B. Juen, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 8. What Was New France?, More than Profits at Stake, and Imperial Rivals.

Fur Trade 10: Fur Trade Myths, Acknowledgements, Rachel B. Juen, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 10. Fur Trade Myths, Fiction vs. Fact.

Acknowledgements: Funding, Contributors, Image Credits, and Special Thanks.

A Catholic Reformations Of Manners, Lisa Clark Diller

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Heresy And Error, Eric Marshall White Phd, Rebecca Howdeshell

Bridwell Library Publications

From its inception the early Christian Church sought to suppress books believed to contain heretical or erroneous teachings. With the development of the printing press during the latter half of the fifteenth century, Christian authorities in Europe became increasingly aware of the need to control the mass production of unfamiliar and potentially unacceptable texts. Initially, censorship of the press was enforced locally. However, with the spread of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church required a more centralized and organized approach. Thus, the Council of Trent (1545–1563) ratified the Index librorum prohibitorum(“Index of Prohibited Books”), which listed individual banned titles …

Merchants And Rabbis - The Family Of Josko Of Lviv, Jerzy Mazur

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Josko of Lviv was one of the most important Jewish entrepreneurs in the late medieval Poland, specifically in the eastern provinces of Polish Kingdom, namely the voievodships of Russia and Lublin. Jossko engaged in the number of profitable commercial activities, but achieved real prominence as the leaseholder of royal customs in such important urban centers as Lviv, Lublin, Chelm and Belz. His successful service to Kazimierz Jagiellon, John Olbracht and Alexander Jagiellon became the point of contention during the session of Polish Diet in Lublin in 1505. In this year Polish parliament demanded that Josko would be removed from his …

Conjugal Disputes At The Jewish Court Of 18th Century Altona, Noa Shashar

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Disputes between married couples in 18th century were sometimes brought before the Jewish court ( the Beit-Din). Analysis of protocols of session which dealt with such disputes reveals facts about tensions caused by contemporary family structure and marriage customs as well as about the means which the court applied to enforce policy. The texts presented here are excerpts from one of the protocol books of the Jewish court of Altona. Altona, at the time subject to the Danish King, shared institutions with the neighboring Jewish communities in Hamburg and Wandsbeck, a union which produced several kinds of documents covering a …

Communication And Community : Multiplex Networks In The 18th Century Sephardi Diaspora, Evelyne Oliel Grausz

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In many aspects, the Sephardi diaspora functioned as a combination of overlapping circulations and networks, its many levels of communication and interaction involving family ties, economic partnerships, and official intercommunal links. Whereas the question of intercommunal networks has recently attracted some topical studies, little attention has been paid to the articulation between these various levels of circulation and interaction. I propose to explore this idea of a multiplex diaspora through a selection of documents emanating from the Amsterdam and London Sephardic community, essentially letters, addressed to Bordeaux, Safed, Surinam and Ferrara : these documents describe several paradigmatic situations of interaction …

The Early Modern Jewish Parliament: The Council Of Four Lands In Poland, Adam Teller

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation will examine the structure, functions, and internal tensions of the Council of Four Lands, based on a set of regulations drawn up in Polish by the Council at the request of the Treasury Commissioner, Dzialynski, in 1739. It will also attempt to examine the Council in its Polish and European contexts.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Regulations of the Jewish Council in Jaroslaw

The Price Of Power: Financing A Jewish Community, Cornelia Aust

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The communal pinkas (logbook) of the Jewish community in Frankfurt on the Oder from the second half of the eighteenth century provides a glimpse into the ways of the communal leaders – usually the wealthiest merchants of the community – to raise the increasing taxes and dues demanded by the Prussian state. It, thus, allows us to examine, first, the interrelation between economic position and social power within the Jewish community and what this power meant taking into account the limited degree of communal autonomy of Prussian Jews. Secondly, it helps us to explore the trans-regional networks Jewish merchants used …

Rabbinic Authority And Community In 18th Century Germany: Moses Brandeis Levi And The Jewish Community Of Mainz, Stefan Litt

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Moses Brandeis Levi (d. 1767) was one of the important rabbis of the early modern community in Mainz. Besides his local duties, he was also in charge for the rural communities in the territory of the archbishopric of Mainz. A number of sources indicate that his relations both to the local community and to the Gentile authorities were all but easy. In my presentation, I will introduce an unknown source from the records of the Jewish community in Mainz (Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem, D/Ma7/5, pp. 100-102). This Yiddish text is about a sharp dispute …

Regulating Communal Space: Mikvaot In Seventeenth-Century Altona, Debra Kaplan

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Over the course of a few years in the latter half of the seventeenth century, the community of Altona made several changes in the administration of local ritual baths. A series of entries in the communal pinkas, or logbook, elucidates how the community raised funds from mikvaot, how lay and rabbinic leaders worked together, and how communal leaders regulated ritual space both in homes and in communal space.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Pinkas/Communal Logbook of Altona (CAHJP AHW 14 [50])
• Pinkas/Communal Logbook of Altona (CAHJP AHW 14 [90])
• Pinkas/Communal Logbook of Altona (CAHJP AHW 14 [91])

Minhag And Migration: A Yiddish Custom Book From Venice, 1553, Lucia Raspe

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation focuses on a Yiddish book of customs written in Venice in the mid-sixteenth century, which describes synagogue and home observances over the course of the Jewish year. Comparing MS Oxford Can. Or. 12 to the fifteenth-century Hebrew custumal it is based on (MS Frankfurt hebr. oct. 227), the presentation will discuss the efforts of Ashkenazic émigrés to northern Italy trying to preserve their identity in the face of a Jewish world suddenly become complex.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Book of Customs (MS Frankfurt hebr. oct. 227)
• Book of Customs (MS Oxford Can. Or. 12)

Communities Developing In Association With Place: Testament Of Ginebra Blanis, 1574, Stefanie Siegmund

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Recent attention to Jewish demography and to the spatial characteristics of Jewish residential patterns has demonstrated that in more than one region, Early Modern Jews were associated with each other more loosely, and less locally, than has previously been imagined. The "communities" to which Jews may have felt they belonged are difficult to know as they are likely to have varied with economic or social status, gender, age, and ethnic origin. The testament translated below is that of a merchant woman in the first years of the existence of the Florentine ghetto (founded 1571). The study of early modern bequests …

Jewish Community And Identity In The Early Modern Period, Emw 2010

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The 7th Early Modern Workshop took place from August 15-17, 2010 at Wesleyan University. The topic was “Jewish Community and Identity in the Early Modern Period.”

The traditional approach to “Jewish community” has been focused on the formal communal structures of Jewish self-government. This approach often traced the presence of “autonomous” Jewish self-government in the diaspora from antiquity till the modern times, when, it was stressed, these “autonomous” structures were shattered by the interference of modern states in Jewish communal affairs.

Scholars discussed takkanot (decisions and regulations by Jewish community leaders), privileges granted to Jews, correspondence between Jews across different …

Filid, Fairies And Faith: The Effects Of Gaelic Culture, Religious Conflict And The Dynamics Of Dual Confessionalisation On The Suppression Of Witchcraft Accusations And Witch-Hunts In Early Modern Ireland, 1533 – 1670, William Kramer

Master's Theses

The European Witch-Hunts reached their peak in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Betweeen 1590 and 1661, approximately 1500 women and men were accused of, and executed for, the crime of witchcraft in Scotland. England suffered the largest witch-hunt in its history during the Civil Wars of the 1640s, which produced the majority of the 500 women and men executed in England for witchcraft. Evidence indicates, however, that only three women were executed in Ireland between 1533 and 1670. Given the presence of both English and Scottish settlers in Ireland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the dramatic discrepancy of these …