Washington University in St. Louis - Religious Studies Program

Web page: click here for his history department webpage

Office: Eliot Hall Room 222

Office Hours:

Phone number: (314) 935-5450

Mailing Address:
     Washington University in St. Louis
     Campus Box 1062, One Brookings Drive
     St. Louis, MO 63130

Recent Research: The Talmud and Its Discontents: Denunciation, Apologetics, and Practices of Reading at the Fin-de-Siecle.

Recent Publication:
     Blood Inscriptions: The "Ritual Murder” Trial in Modern Europe,
California, forthcoming.
     “Ritual Murder (modern),” in Encyclopedia of Antisemitism, Anti-
Jewish Prejudice and Persecution, ed. Richard S. Levy, ABC-Clio,
2005.
     “Neighbors, Strangers, Readers: The Village and the City in Jewish-
Gentile Conflict at the turn of the Nineteenth Century,” Jewish Studies
Quarterly, 2005.
     “Choosing to Bridge: Rethinking the Phenomenom of Cultural
Mediation,” Bohemia, 2005.
     Languages of Community: The Jewish Experience in the Czech
Lands, California, 2000.

Courses:
Europe's "Jewish Problem": Antisemitism & Jewish-Christian Confrontation in European History: Not every conflict in Europe's past involving Christians and Jews was predicated on religious intolerance, and not all hostility toward Jews comprised antisemitism. Yet since the high middle ages, the presence of Jewish communities in much of Europe and their place in European society was understood to be highly problematic. And Jews-real or imagined-came to represent a dangerous threat to the integrity of Christian notions of community. This seminar engages the theme of cross-cultural conflict through a selective examination of key episodes in Jewish-Christian misunderstanding or persecution, including: medieval accusations of ritual murder and Host desecration; expulsions and popular violence; modern formulations of the "Jewish Question;" ethnic and national antagonisms; and the reemergence of ritual murder discourse in the late 19th and early 20th century. While we will consider the theological underpinnings of hostility toward Jews, we will also explore other avenues of explanation. The course will NOT focus on the Holocaust. PREREQ: SEE HISTORY HEADNOTE. 4 units. Same as home course L22 History 4942.



Religious Studies Campus Box 1065 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 (314) 935-8677		Hillel Kieval Chair of History Gloria M. Goldstein Professor of Jewish Thought


	Web page: click here for his history department webpage Office: Eliot Hall Room 222 Office Hours: E-mail: hkieval@wustl.edu Phone number: (314) 935-5450 Mailing Address: Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1062, One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130 Recent Research: The Talmud and Its Discontents: Denunciation, Apologetics, and Practices of Reading at the Fin-de-Siecle. Recent Publication: Blood Inscriptions: The "Ritual Murder” Trial in Modern Europe, California, forthcoming. “Ritual Murder (modern),” in Encyclopedia of Antisemitism, Anti- Jewish Prejudice and Persecution, ed. Richard S. Levy, ABC-Clio, 2005. “Neighbors, Strangers, Readers: The Village and the City in Jewish- Gentile Conflict at the turn of the Nineteenth Century,” Jewish Studies Quarterly, 2005. “Choosing to Bridge: Rethinking the Phenomenom of Cultural Mediation,” Bohemia, 2005. Languages of Community: The Jewish Experience in the Czech Lands, California, 2000. Courses: Europe's "Jewish Problem": Antisemitism & Jewish-Christian Confrontation in European History: Not every conflict in Europe's past involving Christians and Jews was predicated on religious intolerance, and not all hostility toward Jews comprised antisemitism. Yet since the high middle ages, the presence of Jewish communities in much of Europe and their place in European society was understood to be highly problematic. And Jews-real or imagined-came to represent a dangerous threat to the integrity of Christian notions of community. This seminar engages the theme of cross-cultural conflict through a selective examination of key episodes in Jewish-Christian misunderstanding or persecution, including: medieval accusations of ritual murder and Host desecration; expulsions and popular violence; modern formulations of the "Jewish Question;" ethnic and national antagonisms; and the reemergence of ritual murder discourse in the late 19th and early 20th century. While we will consider the theological underpinnings of hostility toward Jews, we will also explore other avenues of explanation. The course will NOT focus on the Holocaust. PREREQ: SEE HISTORY HEADNOTE. 4 units. Same as home course L22 History 4942.