Brandon Daniels  

Haliczer, Stephen. “The First Holocaust: The Inquisition and the Converted Jews of Spain and Portugal .” Studies in Medieval Culture 13 (1987): 7-22.  

Stephen Haliczer wrote this article with several main focuses in mind.  He explains how the Inquisition started, how it developed over time and its effects on the surrounding lands, and finally, in his opinion, how it eventually dissolved away.  The article presents the material in chronological order, beginning in 1215, when the Christian population was increasing.  He explains that, as a side effect, even though Spain had maintained a high tolerance up to this point, the Jewish community began to suffer discrimination. Slowly, more and more sermons start attacking Jews and started inciting mobs against them.  Haliczer writes that, in 1391 “...something that had only affected a small minority became a mass phenomenon as the mobs had forced thousands of Jews to convert.” He goes on by saying, “...[The popular masses] hoped that by shattering the Jewish community they would deprive the social elite of a powerful tool of oppression, since the Jews had played a major role in tax and revenue collections for crown, church and nobility.” This article, as implied by the title, focuses on how the inquisition effected the Iberian Peninsula .  Haliczer goes on to explain how the inquisition began to develop and later how the economic status of Spain began to slow the Inquisition down.  The Inquisition ends, according to Haliczer, when Jose I’s chief minister Marquis de Pombal wanted to “...build up the nation economy and colonial trade.  In order to do this, it was essential to stop the unbridled depredations of the Holy Office and end discrimination against the [newly converted Christians] who still played a vital role in the colonial economy and Portuguese overseas trade.”  

Haliczer uses a formalist criticism of the works he cites in his article.  He is able to use all of his sources very effectively and develops a very good argument.  I do agree with his interpretation, although I would like to think that the Inquisition ended because of moral reasons instead of just economic ones.  I also do not necessarily believe that the Inquisition has to be studied in chronological order, even though it may be the most logical.  The Inquisition has so many emotional and psychological elements involved with it, that I feel it should be told in terms of the reasoning behind the inquisitors’ actions.  This article was easy to comprehend and allows room for discussion.  In conclusion, I feel that this article explains the Inquisition well from a historical viewpoint and is useful for further study.

Langmuir, Gavin. “Anti-Judaism as the Necessary Preparation for Anti-Semitism.” Viator 2 (1971): 383-389.  

Gavin Langmuir explains in his article that a major problem in Christianity is, as he puts it, “how Christians can remain Christians and avoid anti-Judaism.”  Langmuir explains that Christianity grew out of Judaism and that the denial of the Jewish faith has been central to Christian theology.  He goes on to explain that “Christian anti-Judaism can be separated into three aspects: the doctrinal, the legal, and the popular.”  The doctrinal anti-Judaism set out to prove Christians are superior to Jews or at least polar enemies of Judaism.  The legal aspect was the act that no Jew should exercise control over any Christians.  The popular aspect of anti-Judaism is basically the downplaying of Jews because a majority of the people were already doing it.  Langmuir then explains that Christian anti-Judaism is the leading cause of future Jewish oppression.  

Gavin Langmuir uses a sociological approach although sometimes it seems like he is writing in a historical context. Langmuir is able to effectively defend his position because he is able to not only generate original opinions about Christianity, but provoke thoughts in the reader’s mind.  For the most part, I am in agreement with his thoughts, although, I don’t necessarily believe that Christianity is focused on anti-Judaism as much as it is focused on pro-Christianity.  Christianity is much more positive.  Langmuir has obviously tried to make his article as concise as possible and as a result, his long and complex sentences can be quite confusing.  In general, this article was very informative and offers a very interesting view point on anti-Judaism.

Lasker, Daniel J. “The Impact of Christianity on Late Iberian Jewish Philosophy.” In Iberia and Beyond. Ed. Bernard Dov Cooperman. Newark , DE : University of Delaware Press, 1998. 175-190.  

This article is an examination of the impact or influence the Christian religion had on Jewish thinkers in the Iberian Peninsula .  Lasker gathers together numerous Jewish primary documents and analyzes them in terms of the Christian thinkers of the time period.  He also examines the way that not only the persecution of Jews effected the works, but also the influence of the dominate Christianity.  He begins his argument by saying that, “By the fourteenth century, most likely every Iberian anti-Christian Jewish polemicist [person who is skilled in argument] knew Latin.”  This, according to Lasker, proves that Jewish philosophers were able to understand or read Christian documents from the time period.  The article later lists numerous examples of how Jewish scholars wrote studies on Judaism while allowing Christianity to control their writings.  The article is summed up by Lasker stating, “...it seems safe to assert that interreligious polemic was on the cutting edge of the Jewish-Christian interaction.  The more involved a Jewish author was with anti-Christian polemics, the more impact Christianity had on his works.”  

Lasker’s article uses both a psychological and biographical criticism.  He is able to cite examples from the Jewish works and relate them to his thesis by describing the thoughts of the author as well as explaining who the author was historically.  Although I do agree with the Lasker’s interpretation, I found his article to be somewhat repetitive.  Not repetitive in the way that he mentions the same things over and over, but in how he uses the exact structure in all of his paragraphs.  It involves saying who the author was, then, explaining how they could have used Christianity, and finally, different examples of how they did use Christianity.  This article was informative, although it is only really useful if you are looking for examples of anti-Christian Jewish authors.

Leschnitzer, Adolf F. “The Wandering Jew: The Alienation of the Jewish Image in Christian Consciousness.” Viator  2 (1971): 391-396.  

I found this article by accident after I read the Langmuir article.  At first it did not seem to pertain to any topics discussed in class, but upon further reading, I realized it discusses some of the reasoning behind the fore-mentioned anti-Judaism.  Leschnitzer explains the concept of “the Wandering Jew” as the medieval theory that Jews will last forever or at least until Christ returns.  In his article, Leschnitzer describes the history of the Wandering Jew as “the medieval legendary figure of a man who treated Christ mockingly or with contempt on his way to the crucifixion and who is condemned to wander upon the earth until the return of Christ.” He goes on to say that according to this theory, Jews will never completely go away and that they will always remain a minority until Christ returns and they will be given the chance to convert or spend eternal life outside of Heaven.  He also explains that the concept of the Eternal Jew is abnormal.  Instead of being born, living, achieving, and dying like normal peoples, the Eternal Jew is like a “living corpse.”   In a contrast, Leschnitzer believes that the alienation of the Jewish image, although started by Christians, is now done by un-Christians or anti-Christians.

Leschnitzer criticizes his sources historically and does so effectively.  He is able to explain in an unbiased way that the concept of the Wandering Jew is the reason behind the alienation as well as the reason behind the survival of the Jewish faith.  This article was quite interesting and as a reader, I agree with Leschnitzer’s interpretation of his medieval sources.  I suppose the theme of the Wandering Jew could be studied from the perspective of a Jew in medieval times.  Leschnitzer wrote the article assuming the reader already has knowledge of the idea of a Wandering Jew, so it is hard to follow his arguments at times, but other than that, he offers some very interesting ideas.  This article is very useful in understanding some historical reasons behind Jewish persecution and it is a useful resource.

Ricapito, Joseph V. “People, Characters, and Roles: A View of Characterization in ‘Celestina.’” Fernado de Rojas and Celestina. Ed. Evy A. Corpus and Joseph T. Snow. Madison , WI : Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1993. 181-191.  

Joseph V. Ricapito begins his article by explaining the ideas of, as he puts it, “...two scholars who have contributed decisively to the notion of characterization in Celestina.”  These first few paragraphs explain the basic foundation of his article before he moves on to present his thesis.  Ricapito believes that Fernando de Rojas based all of his characters on the generic characters from both Plautian and Terentian models.  Ricapito states that Rojas presents his characters in a way that the reader will expect certain characterizations and this gives Rojas the room he needs in order to take the characters in unexpected directions.  He then goes on to explain the characters’ roles.  Just to give a brief example of how Ricapito aproaches the characters, here is what he says about Calixto and Sempronio.  He believes that Calixto is presented in the role of the enamored lover or the one who is inspired by love.  He also proposes that Sempronio is presented as the witty slave and servant of Roman and humanistic comedy.  Ricapito explains that at the end of the work “Sempronio’s deed of homicide is a part of the hidden dimension of the character which Rojas had originally constructed as less volatile.” At the end of the article, Ricapito explains that Rojas’s characters pertain to one of three categories: 1) “...those that follow a fairly conventional profile of types...” 2) “...those that are allowed a variation or departure from the stricture of conventional typology...” and 3) “...those that are permitted a major departure from typologies...”  

Ricapito cites useful and applicable examples from Celestina to support his statements, making his argument much stronger.  His opinions do seem somewhat abstract to me and this makes it difficult to be in full agreement with him,although I am sure that if I knew Spanish instead of having to translate it, I could agree more completely.  There are a few portions of the article which are completely in Spanish which make interpreting it quite difficult for the average reader.  I would like to say that the article should have been written completely in English, but I think by writing portions in Celestina’s original context, the article seems more credible.  The article does point out specific examples from Celestina which could prove helpful to someone researching Celestina itself.